BPO Intrigues???

BPO Intrigues???

The night shift had ended at 5.00 am Indian time. It was now 5. 30 am and increasing silence had made him bold. It was the same as every other morning at the Medical Billing Call Center in one of the best cities in India, Chennai. He knew the lay-out of the 100-seater facility much better that any other employee at the facility.

The Office was mostly dark due to the heavy curtains and most of the lights were turned off. Only the server room was bright and Thomas – the IT Manager had always kept the lights burning all the time. He hated Thomas for it, since it made his work more insecure. The bright lights haunted him in his sleep everyday and if somebody saw him, it would be his doom.

He moved silently to the 3 rd bay in the first row. It belonged to Sita – the Senior Analyst. At the thought of her, he was filled with loathe. She had an American name – Claudia, but could not speak a word of English. Headstrong she was, understandably though, with her vast knowledge of the Chemotherapy Billing she had been doing for the past 5 years. She had just been given her appraisal report and pay-hike papers and she had forgotten to take the letter home. He knew how to access her drawer. Skillfully, he drew out the letter and shredded it to pieces.

Tomorrow, Sita would search for her letter in vain in her drawer and complain that somebody had opened her drawer without her permission and had stolen the letter. There would be confusion in the Office since there would be other complaints also, from other employees, thanks to his dubious activities. But all this confusion would help to mask his presence in the Office, that too after all had left.

He continued to the bay where Kanchana sat. She was Julie to the Americans and she was a good girl. She worked hard and was always hungry. She worked the night –shifts and always stashed snacks in her bay. So to him she was KanD (Candy). The smell of food pervaded the area since it was air-conditioned with split a/c s. The Office was air tight and the air-conditioners worked to cool the air inside the Office. Well, nobody could blame him if his gastronomy was stimulated by the smell of the snacks, it was a primordial feeling, specially for him. However he took care not to open new packets. There was a packet of cookies half-eaten and some peanut cakes in a re-sealable plastic pouch. He helped himself to just one cookie. The Plastic pouch was slightly open. The poor girl hadn’t closed it well. He opened a little more, just enough to pull out one peanut cake. He took care to munch through the cookie and the cake, without leaving a trace!

He moved over to the bay where her boss, Ram, sat. The California Client knew him to be Steve Williams. Ram was 44 years old and was turning out to be a bit of the show-off nowadays. He sported a french - beard and was proud of his newly acquired flat-belly. A barrel that he had been, he owed his flat-belly to the green- tea he had been using over the past 3 years. Steve’s perseverance with the green-tea had paid off!

So he too wanted to try it out. He too was getting fat these days! He carefully picked up the tea-leaves which were strewn in Steve’s drawer and moved over to the waste water container in the pantry. The container was shallow and he stepped into it. He placed the tea leaves in the water and scrubbed himself. The water barely came up to his chin. It smelt of coffee and tea. He was fortunate to be spending his life in an air-conditioned Office and bathe every day in the left - over of coffee and tea. He completed his ablutions and picked the tea leaves and chewed on them and drank a little of the water. Shaking himself briskly to rid his fur off the water, Mickey – the BPO mouse  scampered purposefully, for a nap, towards his home, which was a  currently the drawer of the CEO, who had put in his papers a week ago, after starting his own Company by poaching on this Company’s Clients.