"My money will be safe, right?"
"Trust me, ma'am"
The widow in her 40s was finally convinced. She smiled and left. Mani looked at the 50,000 cheque in his hand & whistled.
"So, successfully duped another helpless lady with your charms, sunny boy"
Mani stopped and looked across the table where Alisha was standing. There was that bewitching smile on her face that had helped her immensely in getting a lot of money out of the wallets of the despo wealthy middle-aged fools.
"My forte is sales acumen, Ali. I don't make use of my 'charms' to get the business for the company"
"Well, the bottom line is that I am the one getting the gala tickets for my boyfriend and me. You and your wife can have some quality time at home over the weekend, Ciao!" Alisha chuckled and left for her desk.
"Bitch" Mani was seething, but there was little he could do about it. At that very moment, Sr. Manager Bali called him.
"Mani, your performance is not up to the mark. This is the third successive month when you're falling short of target. Bansal Sir won't be happy after seeing the report."
"I'm trying hard sir. It's a difficult time for mutual funds industry, you know ...."
"That's why you need to be more aggressive. We announced these expensive gala tickets as reward to charge you up for the task in hand. But you have disappointed me so far. Do something about it, ASAP. In fact, ANYTHING that you should" Bali's voice was stern.
Dejected Mani returned to his desk and slumped into his chair. This year was turning out to be one of the worst of his life. In the very first month his wife had a miscarriage and 2 months later his father had succumbed to a liver disease. Now he was facing one of the worst phases in his career.
'Try to be upright, always' his father would often tell him. Mani's father had served his position in GWD for 40 years with honesty and dignity. People remembered him even today. Sales isn't something where you can expect the honesty to be at the forefront. In spite of that, Mani had always tried to ensure that he was fair & straightforward with the clients. But not everyone thought in that way.
Around lunch Mani was summoned to Branch Manager's office. He was expecting this to happen since his meeting with Bali. He found Bali right there, but there was someone else too. An elderly gentleman with an hearing aid was looking at few papers in his front. Bansal had just finished a call.
"Come in, Mani. I want you to meet Mr. Khan. We live in same apartment. He is a retired Govt. employee." Mani exchanged pleasantries with Mr. Khan as Bansal kept on speaking.
"Mr. Khan has received some money from the sale of a small piece of land and he wants to invest it in mutual funds. I want you to give him some information about our flagship fund. Mani will be answering rest of your questions. I am right here in my cabin, for any further query you have."
This was a happy surprise for Mani. He stole a quick look at Bali who looked miffed. He would have tried to convince Bansal to consider Alisha for the job, Mani thought, but wasn't successful.
"One thing Mani. Mr. Khan had a throat operation sometime back and so he still finds it very difficult to talk. Try to give the maximum information from your side so that he needn't speak much to ask you anything" Bansal smiled as Mani closed the door behind him.
Alisha left the mood in a terrible mood. Mani saw her storm out of the office in a hurry and smiled. The tables had turned within few hours. The cheque worth Rs 5 lakh was in his desk. He had achieved the target before Alisha and was the winner of the gala tickets now. And it had been one of the easiest deals he had closed in last few months. Mani had spent close to an hour explaining every detail of the fund to Mr. Khan and the elderly gentleman had asked only a couple of questions. He had left with a huge satisfying smile on his face too.
Mani had almost walked out of the office when he remembered something. He had forgotten to thank his boss for showing faith in his abilities. This could have easily gone into Alisha's kitty, especially after the backing from Bali. But Bansal had put his faith in him. He should at least thank him for that.
Bali had just entered the office and door was ajar. 'I will cherish this thanksgiving even more', Mani smiled. He could hear faint voices of his bosses. They were talking about Khan deal only.
"Alisha could have done that, Sir"
"We've got the business, Bali. That's what matters the most. I know this chap for last 2 years. He is a typical retired govt. employee. They have got issues with all the private businesses. I came to know few days back that he had got some money from the land deal. He was thinking about putting it in some govt. bank. I couldn't have let that happen, you see" Bansal chuckled "I had a small chat with him and invited him here just for a casual chat. I was sure once he comes here, we'll secure the business"
"But why Mani, sir? He has not been doing well, and I had warned him this morning only"
"You still don't get it, Bali. That Khan is a typical old fool. They don't get convinced easily. You need to have an ace to ace them."
Mani pressed his ears closer to the door
"I told him that Mr. Rameshchandra Sharma's son works for us, 'Mr. Upright's son'. That was enough to convince him to come down here. I knew rest will be handled by Mani. Let him bask in glory for a moment. There is always a new month and new targets." And they laughed.
Mani slowly moved away from the door. The laughter, though, kept on following him.
