Prank

Venkat was an insolent person since his childhood. He was a menace at school and even now in his office, he would prank his colleagues. One day he removed the checklist containing the 'to-do' list for the following day, from his colleague Krishnamurthy's table. On enquiry, he arrogantly replied, "Since we are working in a computerised environment, sticky notes of a computer are to be used and not paper." This hurt Krishnamurthy a lot as he had to redo the checklist and complete his work.

In one instance he placed a plastic snake in colleague Savitri's bag when she had been to a meeting with the manager. While searching in her bag for something she found it and was frightened. She asked him why he had done so, and he countered her by asking why she had taken it out of the bag.

Many instances of pranks like swapping files between tables, hiding pen drives, removing the connecting USB of the mouse, and others like that were committed by him. He had become a menace in the office, and so the staff complained to the Manager about him. The Manager put down his hands saying, "I am not going to interfere in this case. If I act on your complaints, then he will trouble me the next day. I plan to leave this office once I get promoted next year. I don't want to confront him now. He is the senior in the office. You deal with him yourselves." On coming to know of this Venkat was emboldened further, and his harassment increased. 

Time passed and a new employee named Kausalya joined the office. While colleagues cautioned her about Venkat, they couldn't tell her how to deal with him. She was very perturbed as she had left her earlier job due to harassment from the Manager. She wondered how many jobs she could change, just because someone else caused her trouble. 

One day, the employees were surprised to find Venkat staring at his computer, with a very worried look on his face. He talked to the Manager as well. All were surprised. They went up to the Manager to enquire. He replied, "He received a mail from Head office terminating his job. I am not aware of it as such things do happen in our company. There is no requirement that I should have prior intimation. However, I have not received any copy of the mail, which is unusual. I'm sure all of you would be very happy if I could terminate him." They went back to their work. 

The next day onwards, Venkat remained indoors at home with no idea what to do next. Soon a month passed and had become very dull and unhappy. He reflected on his past and wondered what mistake had he committed that led to his dismissal. He had no idea where he went wrong. He opened his mailbox and saw a new mail. It was from the Head office asking for an explanation as to, why his services should not be terminated as he had been absent from office for a month. 

He was perplexed…"I did not go to the office, as they terminated me. Now, why are they asking for an explanation?" He was confused. Many thoughts arose in his mind. He re-opened the earlier mail. On comparing, he noticed anomalies in the spelling of the company's name and domain address in the mail received a month ago. He felt that he was a victim of fake mail and rushed to the office to meet the Manager. The Manager listened to Venkat and said, "I fail to comprehend this. I shall clarify with the Head office and let you know." Clarification was sought and it was confirmed that no email was sent to Venkat a month ago. The email that he had received earlier was fake.

Now it dawned on Venkat that he had been taken for a ride. He had suffered a lot in solitude. He realised that someone had taken revenge on him for his past actions. He repented and decided not to bother or trouble anyone hereafter. He went to the Manager and said. "Sir, I shall behave myself and not trouble anyone at the office."

Kausalya, who was observing all this from a distance, smiled.