The Materialistic CAD operator vs Iphone guys

Yesterday, I was a witness to an interesting discussion during lunch break.  We were on our way to take lunch.  I was accompanied by two guys, lets name them Iphone 4 & Iphone5S.  Needless to say, these guys are diehard users of the mentioned iphone models.

Walking ahead of us was our Autocad operator.  Now let me tell you something about this guy.  He has joined our Head office two months back.  Before that he was a site worker, his exact occupation is still a matter of debate, as some say he was electrical helper, some say electrician, some say lineman.  Whatever the post, one thing is sure, the young man has risen from the very bottom of the organizational line.  He is of short, frail built, has a famished look on his face.  The earlier CAD operator had trained him during weekends and after office hours in their living quarters.  From the day he had joined Head office as Autocad operator, he had made it a point to come impeccably dressed.  However, his dressing style most of the time resembled that of Munna of Rangeela (Amir Khan) .   Now today, he was dressed in a skin tight brown pant, brown shirt, black shoes and to beat it all, a brown tie.

He was walking just ahead of us.  Now, the Iphone 5S guy has a habit of making fun of people.  Basically, this 5s guy is a nice person, but as they say old habits die hard.  Just before we had started our walk, I had switched myself off from the talks that Iphone 5S and Iphone 4 were having (they were discussing Autocad operator, what else).  My reverie was broken by Iphone 5s’s patented “ho ho” “hoohoo” “hooohoooo” laughter, which always triggers some sort of irritation alarm in me.

I have tried to reason with 5s many times before, so I knew the effort was futile.  I addressed Iphone 4 this time.  I told him, “Listen Iphone 4, I know you are a good & kindhearted young man, but since you are keeping company with 5s, you will unknowingly pickup this habit of making fun of people without even realizing it, so please be careful”.  Now Iphone 4 was really taken aback by my acerbic comment.

He said, “No, no, I am not making fun of him.  I know him from earlier project where he worked as electrician.  That time, he was wearing normal dress.  Now that he is transferred to Head office, he has started coming dressed like CEO.  I said, "So what is the problem in that?.  May be he feels, (rightly so) that he has been promoted, and he has to keep up with the increased prestige status that comes with promotion".  “No no, you are missing my point” said Iphone 4.  "When he is coming dressed up like this, people are casting strange glances at him.   If I was in his place, I would not have worn any dress which makes me look funny.”  "Look funny ? In whose eyes?", I asked. “Onlookers eyes” said iphone 4.  “Why should he care for onlookers, when he himself is feeling comfortable in the dress that he wears.  For me, as long as he is not coming naked to office, it is fine.  Even though I don’t agree with his color selections, I like his attitude.”

Now, iphone 5s, who had been quite all the time, jumped in.  “You got us wrong completely.  We were not making fun of him personally.  We were ridiculing his materialistic attitude."  Materialistic attitude? Now this was turning out to be interesting.  Yeah, continued Iphone 5S, he was working as electrician, then he was transferred to HO as CAD operator.  Now, he is trying to show off people by wearing tie, coat etc.

I said, “Both you Iphone4 and 5s are engineers.  Okay, your family may not be filthy rich, but still I believe, they supported you till your engineering.  Both of you are drawing good salary, (at least compared to this AUTOCAD guy).  Both of you are Iphone users (so unmaterialistic).  Now coming back to this Autocad guy, he has this famished and fragile built.  He speaks Urdu, and can talk broken English.  It can be quite safely assumed that he comes from not a very strong family background (financially) and is not much educated too.  When I see him, I feel inspired, because this guy has traveled a rough and tough path.  He is still learning daily on his job.  When you people feel that he is showing off or whatever, just look at this from his angle.  Perhaps he feels a kind of satisfaction coming up dressed like this, may be he just wants to keep up with the image of Head office.  If you feel, you have something constructive to offer to him, go and tell him personally .  That you are talking behind his back and making fun of his so called 'materialistic tendencies' is not going to make you feel better.  It is just negative talk.  I hope my point is clear."

The rest of the way, both (Iphone 5s & Iphone 4) were silent.  Either they had got the point, or they thought may be keeping mouths shut in front of yours truly was a safe way to keep away from his boring lectures ;).