Living in a condominium is a valuable experience and it provides opportunities to deal with crisis situations. One learns important life lessons and, if one is receptive enough, there are significant management takeaways too. Recently, I encountered a classic case of management by shared responsibility and decision-making by delay. I also learnt a useful lesson in problem-solving through out-of-the-box thinking.
The crisis was caused by the sudden drop in temperatures in late November when winter finally decided to arrive. Quite unsuspectingly, I entered the lift one day and was stunned by a blast of cold air on my large forehead. To say that I was miffed would be an understatement. I was annoyed, irritated and chafed. But the cold breeze continued to freeze my head as the lift descended from the 20th to the ground floor. I could not turn off the lift fan because the control panel was locked behind a steel panel. So, I upbraided the watchman, who doubles as the liftman, and told him to switch the fan off. But he refused, declaring that he had no instructions to do so.
I then marched to the maintenance office, where a prissy young woman sits behind her desk to record complaints. I made my annoyance known in no uncertain terms and demanded that all lift fans be switched off. “Oh, but we can’t do that, sir. We have no orders,” she said. “So, get your blooming orders,” I replied curtly. But she did not budge. “The orders have to come from the RWA — the Residents’ Welfare Association.”
Realising that the woman was but an underling, I decided to take up the matter with the secretary general of the RWA. Despite the impressive designation, he, too, refused to take any decision, bold or otherwise. “I think it would be advisable to have a board meeting on this matter,” he muttered. I insisted that no one needed fans in winter. That blighter pointedly looked at my bald head and smirked, “Well some might not.” The man will never know how close he came to being murdered.
I checked with the secretary general every day thereafter. He reluctantly informed me that the RWA Board had decided to call a general body meeting to take a decision and that might take a month or more. I begrudged my helplessness and each time I entered the lift, I chafed and fumed and raged because of the blast of cold air on my pate.
The problem was solved last week when I was in the lift and a snot-nosed boy got in on the 10th floor. He prised open the steel cover of the control panel with a coin and switched the fan off. When we reached the ground floor, he switched it back on! Now, if the powers that be cannot decide whether to switch the fan off in freezing January or to switch it on in sweltering June, I am not the least bit concerned. You see, I now always carry a coin in my pocket!
(Tribune – 27/12/2023)