The legacy that I inherited

The virtue called Honesty

My father has been a banker all his life. He worked in a nationalized bank and after his job tenure retired respectfully from his organization. During his job tenure he faced lots of office politics and manipulations but one thing he never parted with, and that is his integrity and honesty.

His commitment towards his organization hit me...yes I am using the word 'hit'. It was when he was going through the tough patches in his career; we made a practice to criticize his bank's policies and management. He never said a word to stop us. He used to look quietly at us and smile. Then the time came when he had to retire.

We attended his retirement party, and was astonished by the applause he got when he rose to give his speech. After the party when we rose to leave I saw him avoid stepping on the foot matt placed at the entrance of bank building...I saw him bend down and touch it. I asked him why he didn't step on the foot matt...he quietly said that he has never stepped on it as it had his bank's name written on it; and when he bent down to touch it he was thanking the bank for giving him such an honest life...making him capable enough to support his family and bring up his kids the way he wanted. He just looked at me and said ' How could I step on the name of my bank...I belong to this place...and have worked here for 40 years'. His eyes were moist and now when I am telling you the incident that happened six years back I still have tears in my eyes.

The truth about truth:

Another virtue rather weakness that I inherited from him is the habit of telling the truth always. I don’t lie...ever and that is the toughest part. I can't lie about getting late to office, going on leave, getting job offers, during appraisals...I just tell the truth.
There was a time when I use to lie sometimes to save my skin. But then again an incident changed me completely. I was looking for the job after graduation. I was called for an interview by a Private bank. I was surprised when I received the call from the branch head. He confirmed my name, my father's name, his profession and blah blah.... He called me and told me if possible bring along your dad. I was a new comer in the corporate world and took my dad along. After interviewing me vaguely he called my dad in. He asked my dad whether he is still in inspection department. My dad was seriously surprised...but said yes. Then this guy tells my dad that he will offer me a managerial position in his bank if my dad could issue him a No Objection Certificate for his FOREX account.

My father's face clouded...and his expressions were thunderous...I have never seen him so angry. He just said that "Mr Singh I will not lie...I have never lied not even jokingly in my life. I would rather have my child's career halted for a while than lying to my organization. I would rather die than lie to anyone".

And trust me guys, at that moment I felt so proud that I just looked straight in the eyes of that guy and took my resume back from his hand. I felt so proud of him…surely the kind of feeling that a celeb’s child would get watching his/her dad do something grand. The glow of honesty and truth shows on his face till date.

Now when my friends, family members and co workers sometime tell me that I am a misfit for the corporate world...coz I am stupid as I am too honest, have no interest or rather tact of office politics and manipulations, I just remember that day when my dad gave me a life long lesson of commitment and honesty.

I would rather be called stupid, than lie or be dishonest.