Is long service being cut and thrown?

Time was when the service of those who worked for long in the same company was considered award-worthy. Today have they become a liability, being replaced in droves by technology?

I would have missed him in the Sunday rush at the vegetable market if he had not almost fallen on me. He was trying to fit in some long and unruly snake gourds in an already-crowded bag that had a few stubborn ridge gourds unwilling to yield room, while simultaneously trying to ensure another bag, packed with fruits, on his other shoulder stayed in place.

Only after I caught him did I realize that he was Mukesh uncle. He thanked me multiple times before he recognized he was talking to a long-time friend of his son.

“Oh, it’s you! Thanks a lot!”

I decided to return to the market later. Right now, he needed help with the bags. I started walking with him to his house which was, fortunately, not too far from the market.

“Do you know Arpit has completed 20 years at work?” As expected, it did not take long for the conversation to turn to Arpit, his son and my friend.

“I hope he will also get a Long Service Award soon. Have I told you about the Long Service Award I got from my company?” He had, many times over the years, but it was only polite to let him tell me yet again.

“I had completed 25 years. The whole company gathered to honor me with a gold medallion, which the big boss gave me personally. Imagine! Next time remind me to show you that when you come home.”

Not again, I sighed. But he was not finished.

“Then one by one they spoke about me. When I had joined. About my work over the years. Then they wanted me to speak. I was about to cry and could hardly speak. I tell you, it was not a company. It was a family.

So many they had honored. When someone could not make it for the function on the day she completed 25 years because she was unwell, some of us, including her boss, went to her house and presented her the award.”

I politely refused his invitation to step in for a cup of tea when we reached his house. After I carefully placed the bags down with all the gourds intact, he asked me to wait. I knew what was coming.

He rushed in and came back with the Long Service Award. “When Arpit gets his award from his company, I will keep it right next to this.”

He moved a little closer and whispered: “I have told my son that when I am gone, he must publish the name of my company in my obituary and say for how long I had the good fortune to work there. I still feel I really belong there.”

As I walked away, I realized what Arpit had not told him, at least not yet.

Soon after Arpit returned to the US after his last visit home, his company had made him an offer. The same offer hundreds of his colleagues had received. “Now that the total of your age plus the years you have put in with us has crossed 50, we are offering you the benefit of opting for voluntary retirement.”

The offer was delivered not in person but as one of the routine emails from HR. Some accepted. Others, like Arpit, who had declined the offer, were prepared to be kicked out sooner than later. He was now busy looking for other options. However, it was not easy. His intelligence and experience stood no chance. Every company he approached was busy shedding.

I could only hope he would succeed. And that he would be able to make his father understand that long service was no longer award-worthy but a liability. Because it was long.
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The glittering medal in the glass case would never have a companion. Even after it was immortalized in an obituary.