Time: 3:00

Place: Conference Room

I was tired, had braved the horrible heat and come all the way to office just to listen to 40 mins of non-stop preaching and crap.

"So how has the past year been?"

"Fine, I have worked on a couple of projects, have led them to the completion stage sucessfully. I have worked overtime to see to it that all the projects have been submitted within the deadline. There have been quite a few appreciation mails from the client, not a single escalation."

"You mean to say you dont have any drawbacks?"

"I never said that sir. I do need to improve upon adhering to quality guidelines and all that."

"Of course, of course. You have been doing a pretty good job. What queries and issues do you have?"

"Well, I feel the job has become monotonous. I need a change. I need to be exposed to other technologies. And why no onsite opp--"

I was cut short. The preaching begun

"Monotonous! I hate the word." He looked at my PL who was sitting to my right

"The problem with IT industry is people have toooo many opportunities. Hence too many complaints. You go and inquire in banks, factories and other places. This term is new to them. Nothing called monotonous. People do the same job for years together. That is when something called expertise comes in. "

"No sir. What I meant is-"

"No, No, listen to me. I dont say stick to a particular technology. I agree that you should be exposed to technologies, but look at things from my viewpoint.."

I switched off my mind. I think he finished 25 mins later.  He had droned about various case studies, team spirit, management problems, perseverance, positive attitude, future vision,value additions and similar jargon. I smiled faintly.

"Anything else?" he inquired.

"No, nothing". I smiled faintly.

"We all appreciate your good work, but appraisal is not the end of the world"

"Sir?"

"I mean, we all will hope for the best, but in case the rating is not satisfactory, you know it is beyond my control."

I walked out fuming.

One thing was sure, I would redefine my attitude towards work. No more staying late, con-calls would have to be postponed. And yeah, I would start looking for another job. Probably, another set if problems there, another set of managers. Have I become disillusioned with life? Probably..