The day I set off a burglar alarm…

...ya, you read the title right…yet another major goof up which makes me go ROFL whenever I think of it, but scared me to death when it actually happened.

Last Sunday the wireless adapter of my laptop went kaput and I was running about the house and trying to get it to work...but it just wouldn’t. As it was already evening and the shops would be closed, I could do nothing further that day.

It was a long agonizing wait for Monday evening to rush to the shop to buy a new wireless adapter, and I couldn’t wait to get home after making the purchase; I walked as quickly as I could to get home and chose ‘The Shortcut’.

The Shortcut -  A store ‘TKMax’ is situated at the farther end of the Orchard Square shopping center. We can walk into the store, enter it and immediately exit through the other set of doors to save, well, almost 0 distance and 0 time. I have no idea why I feel it is a ‘Shortcut’ and always end up using this route.

So far so good till last Monday…

I approached the store – The Shortcut, happily swinging the carry-bag with the wireless adapter in it, when suddenly a guy overtook me. I was a bit annoyed but I continued walking into the store right after this guy. No sooner had that guy and then immediately I entered the store, than the burglar alarms went off and a Salesperson approached the guy. He immediately said, ‘I just entered the store’ and she nodded and went off. She did not approach me, but I had a gut feeling that it was something on me that had caused the alarm to go off...most probably the damn wireless adapter.

Fine, now I think that the adapter could’ve caused the alarm to go off; now how the hell do I get out of the store? I had assumed that the guy was also using the store as a shortcut, but he apparently wasn’t and no one else had gotten that great, amazing idea. Here I was, stuck in the store like an idiot, fully knowing that if I exit the store, the burglar alarms might set off again. I cursed myself a thousand times for taking idiotic decisions and just stood flabbergasted between the two doors, occasionally staring at the second door – my door to freedom!

A thought, with no apparent logic, struck me that maybe it WAS that guy who caused it, maybe I was scared for nothing…now my biggest fear was that since almost everyone at the store had noticed me entering it, if they saw me exiting almost immediately, they would probably say that using the store that way was not allowed and I would be forever banished from my beloved shortcut.

So now all I had to do was linger around the store for some time and then make way for the exit, so I just walked around the store, dazed, for about 5 minutes and made way for the exit and…

The alarm went off again.

This time, it was only me at the exit and I almost turned into a stone, facing the inside of the store, waiting for a Salesperson to come and start interrogating me. Of course a chant of curses on myself was running through my head.

The lady asked me if I bought anything from the store…I spat out a ‘No’ and in a zombie-like way outstretched my hand with the carry-bag dangling between my fingers and broke into a sweat. The lady peeped inside the bag, saw the box and said ‘Oh! That thing might have set it off!’ and what she said/ did next were drowned in my relief. The next thing I knew, I was almost 10 feet away from the store, walking on the street.

I thank my stars that, that day I was ‘lazy’ enough and excited enough not to put the carry bag in my backpack, else…gulp!

Persistence

Persistence is good right? I too thought so. 

I now scoff and am oft irritated by that word…

…thanks to a few recent incidents which I have heard about or witnessed myself.

Scenario 1:

Guy1 needs some help, he calls up Guy2.

Guy2 is the helpful kind; he would never say no if anyone approaches him for help, especially a person in a situation as Guy1.

Guy1 keeps calling up Guy2 for the so called help; Guy2 keeps giving the gyan and advice required. As time passes the calls are more frequent and Guy1 even takes the liberty to drop in at Guy2’s place without informing beforehand and starts eating up his time.

And then the calls stop, coz Guy1 seems to be out of his problem. Guy2 heaves a sigh of relief. It so happens that once or twice, Guy1 and Guy2 pass by each other at the neighborhood marketplace, and Guy1 completely ignores Guy2, like he never even existed. Guy2 is hurt, but is happy he got rid of Guy1 anyways!

Then again, Guy1 lands himself in trouble and wants Guy2’s help. Guy2 has in fact no obligation that he should help Guy1, it was just out of kindness and so he helps him, but is now cautious about Guy1’s attitude. But unfortunately for Guy2, Guy1’s problem seems to increase by the day and so do his questions and the amount of Guy2’s time consumed.

Guy2 puts a full stop to this and tells Guy1 that he is willing to help, but not at the cost of his own work and so much time.

But, to no avail.

On a day when Guy2 has a wedding to attend, Guy1 ends up at his doorstep and seeks his help, or rather demands his help. Guy2 refuses. Guy1 persists. Guy2 says he cannot help as the wedding is too important…then Guy1 starts emotionally blackmailing Guy2, saying things like ‘If you do not help me, I can never do it and then I will be doomed. It is ok if you miss the wedding, but I cannot live if you do not help me’ and ‘It is YOU who got me into this situation’ although Guy2 knows there’s absolutely no truth to it, but is threatened by all the blackmailing and obliges…and loses his chance to attend the important wedding.

What does Guy1 do? Once the help required is done, he fails to even recognize our Guy2 when he comes across him.

Guy2 once calls up Guy1 for a favour; Guy1 says ‘I’m busy, I’ll call you later’ and hangs up the call…And he calls back Guy2 after 2 days…

Guy2 is shocked and in disbelief at such an attitude. He has never before seen such a person, even though he has seen a lot in life. And he is now scared to offer a helping hand to anyone :(

Scenario 2:

A girl (Gal1) is having a heart-to-heart talk with her sister on the phone; her sister (Gal2) lives with husband and children in another city, but the sisters continue to keep in touch regularly via phone.

Face to face or via phone, sibling rivalry is bound to happen. Gal2 says something and hurts Gal1. Apparently Gal2 is the more sensitive one and is upset very very easily, so Gal1 informs her that she is hurt and says she will call up Gal2 after some time, after she recovers from what Gal2 has said; Gal1 patiently says ‘Bye, I’ll call you later, take care’ and cuts the call.

Gal2 calls her and prolongs the topic and says she’s sorry, and still prolongs the topic. Gal1 is hurt further, but says she will call after some time, all she needs is some time to recover.  Gal2 is persistent, she demands that Gal1 should talk to her ‘properly’ right now, or she will be ‘upset’, Gal1 says she will call, but after some time as she is in a bad mood right now. But Gal2 demands again and again that Gal1 should speak to her ‘nicely’ at that instant. Gal1 is irritated and cuts the call. Gal2 calls again and again and gives Gal1 not less than 10 missed calls.

Gal1 relents and answers the call. She can almost feel Gal2 smiling with pride at her victory at the other end of the call.

Gal2 says ‘I will speak to you tomorrow’ and cuts the call, leaving Gal1 seething with frustration.

I was initially surprised that people can be so egoistic at times, irrespective of how much they are troubling the other person, be it a friend or a relative.  Some people want to have their say and get their things done and always put themselves first no matter what, even if they realize they are placing immense pressure on the other person.

I had always thought the word ‘Persistent’ was a good one, until I heard the word in the above two contexts.

Why such attitude? If it is out of ignorance, it can be forgiven…but the above mentioned Guy1 and Gal1 seem a far cry from ‘innocent’ or ‘ignorant’.

Has anyone else come across such people? Or is it only these two people who have been unfortunate to face such things?

Disclaimer: As much as I was frustrated and shocked by the above incidents, I do not wish to disclose the names of the persons involved or those impacted. I also modified the scenarios a bit to protect the identities of those involved without affecting the essence of what I wanted to convey.