Skip to main content

Pointless Emails

Caught up with a friend over the weekend after many months and we got talking about the needless emails from the company CEOs we received over the holidays. There are exhortations to reflect on the year that been, the amazing things we have accomplished together and be grateful for friends and family. I find it particularly offensive to be in receipt of such emails from the powers that be - unless you are expressing your gratitude for the work of your employees in very tangible way don't bother with the platitudes, they are rude and condescending specially in such times as we live in - we have lost loved ones needlessly in the year that we are meant to be reflect upon, our kids have had their lives and plans upended by a pandemic that introduced variables they did not know how to process, we got burnt out from lack of work-life separation, we got tired on being on video all day long when things were falling apart at home and we still need to put our game face on for all to observe. 

Notwithstanding, we are well aware of what we have in life that we should be grateful for - yes that paycheck is on our list too, we are unlikely to forget that one as we count our blessings - no reminder is needed. The single parent working extra hours to have enough to make a nice holiday for her four school age kids would appreciate a holiday bonus, two days of paid time off or a gift card for her kids - none of that is typically forthcoming from these fine folks who send us emails to remind us to spend time with friends and family an enjoy the holidays. In lieu of walking the talk of "gratitude" that we have these cringe inducing homilies from CEOs who believe they have to take on the role of the shepherd to herd their sheeple out of their misery. 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Part Liberated Woman

An expat desi friend and I were discussing what it means to return to India when you have cobbled together a life in a foreign country no matter how flawed and imperfect. We have both spent over a decade outside India and have kids who were born abroad and have spent very little time back home. Returning "home" is something a lot of new immigrants like L and myself think about. We want very much for that to be an option because a full assimilation into our country of domicile is likely never going to happen. L has visited India more often than I have and has a much better pulse on what's going on there. For me the strongest drag force working against my desire to return home is my experience of life as a woman in India. I neither want to live that suffocatingly sheltered existence myself nor subject J to it. The freedom, independence and safety I have had in here in suburban America was not even something I knew I could expect to have in India. I never knew what it felt t...
111 comments
Read more

Under Advisement

Recently a desi dude who is more acquaintance less friend called to check in on me. Those who have read this blog before might know that such calls tend to make me anxious. Depending on how far back we go, there are sets of FAQs that I brace myself to answer. The trick is to be sufficiently evasive without being downright offensive - a fine balancing act given the provocative nature of questions involved. I look at these calls as opportunities for building patience and tolerance both of which I seriously lack. Basically, they are very desirous of finding out how I am doing in my personal and professional life to be sure that they have me correctly categorized and filed for future reference. The major buckets appear to be loser, struggling, average, arrived, superstar and uncategorizable. My goal needless to say, is to be in the last bucket - the unknown, unquantifiable and therefore uninteresting entity. Their aim is to pull me into something more tangible. So anyways, the dude in ques...
6 comments
Read more

Changing Pace

This blog has been a big part of my life for the last five years. Besides giving me the opportunity to connect with a number of interesting people and share my thoughts and ideas with them, it has been a form of daily meditation for me. No matter what the day threw my way, I made a very deliberate effort to find a little quiet time to write.The process of thinking about what to write and then the act of writing itself worked as an antidote to aggravations big and small. Five and half years ago, when I started Heartcrossings both my personal and professional lives left a lot to be desired for. The only real happiness I had was in being J's mother. While that was often enough to make me forget what I did not have, I sorely needed a third place to call my own and shape in the likeness of my dreams. This blog has been where there were no limits or constraints and that was absolutely exhilarating - it is the reason I have been able to nurture it for as long and as much as I have. A lot ...
25 comments
Read more