The Billing section in a super market can be quite boring....that is when you're not the one sweating with worry as the amount on the cash counter computer goes on jumping unbelievably high with every added item. So yes, i was bored when the billing was going as my daddy dear (a lawyer) was the one paying. There was small make shift stall next to the billing counter showing some kind of demonstration of an electronic appliance. This (as was the big plan of the corporate bad asses) caught my attention and i went to check it out. They were demonstrating a roti maker worth Rs.2000/-. The sales person very convincing. he had actually memorized his entire demo speech and was not afraid to flaunt it. i must say i fell for it. they offered a free demo of the roti maker at my place....and i fell for it.
So i paid the advance of Rs500/-, and told them to come the next day. Dad wasn't happy about my decision. i said " hey!!....my money....i can throw it around anyway i want to." So he didn't bicker much. The next day the demonstration person came to our place and got all equipment set up. It was nothing less than magic for me, you put the dough and voila!!! the rotis are out in a second. As i was in my make believe disneyland thanking every God for inventing scientists who in turn invented rotimakers, the Lawyer in my dad struck...and struck hard. He noticed that the manufacturing company's name and address is not written on the warranty card. So he inquired for the address of the company. the Demonstration guy (the foot solider of the sales department) worked up all the sales talk his masters must have taught him and said that since the company in located in Chennai, the address given is of the dealer who's also a partner of the company(he seriously expected a lawyer to buy that statement...i mean really! what was he thinking).
Now that fuels the suspicious mind of a lawyer....the conflict between the Partnership Act and the Companies Act. "NOW LISTEN YOU!!!" growled my father " a Partnership Firm is very different from a Company! if you say your boss is a partner of the the manufacturing company....then the Company is not a Company! its a firm! and what if your boss dissolves the partnership firm! where do we go with the warranty!" The saleman was stumped....and confused....I'm pretty sure he didn't understand a word my dad was saying. He called his superior who fed some story to my dad and told him he'll text the address. The address sent by him was incomplete and did not have the manufacturer Company's name. The lawyer in my father struck twice. He called the superior again who asked him why he needed the address (big mistake!). " So that i can send SUMMONS!" yelled my dad. And so it went, for another forty five minutes. By that time i had asked the salesman to have a seat, had given him water to drink and a charger for his mobile phone....all the while holding the balance of Rs.1500/- rolled in my fist....ready to pay.
By the end of the hour, me, the salesman and his superior( the Senior Sales Manager) all had surrendered to the lawyer. the superior asked the salesman to return the advance and with a heavy heart he did so. With an equally heavy heart, i helped the salesman wrap the roti maker. And off he went! with my rotimaker!
"DAD!!!" i exclaimed in frustration, " My friggin' shoes are more expensive than that rotimaker! Why would you create a ruckus over two grand!"
"Hey! don't blame me!" said my dad, palms out defensively, "I am not around when you buy those shoes!"
And people wonder why i dont want to marry a lawyer.
