Filter Coffee #039
On "Personal reasons" and Holi
Dear Readers,
đ FC #38 on spring cleaning fetched clean reviews, and I now have a spring in my step! Thanks to all my readers who took the time out to write reviews. Many expressed their interest in Marie Kondo. If you want to know more or want expert advice on Marie Kondo methods, you can reach out to our family friend đ§ Prachi.
Vodka went down as an incentive to spring cleaning but as one reader Jyotsna jocularly remarked, it will be a case of âmore of Vodka and less of Colinâ. My regular reader Shahji confessed to being a âjunk dealerâ. He finds it very hard to discard old things but tells me: âOne thing, however, I have decided is to follow your advice. Next time I clean the house - will keep a bottle of vodka handyâ. Dear Shahji, advice should be followed in letter and spirit and not âspiritâ alone. I hope you donât call it spiritual cleansing đ
My longtime friend Shyam Mohan lives in a large house on Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. He says he has âancestral collectionsâ and some may have acquired antique status. But he laments that it is a case of âout of sight, out of mindâ. If his house were not so large he would have felt the need to âspring cleanâ. Anyway, my newsletter has had some effect for now he says ânot consulting the better half has led to this and I will now free up space for future needsâ. Shyam, please make sure it is not a case of junk-out and junk-in.
Lynn from Washington DC says I inspired her to hold a garage sale and donate the proceeds for a good cause. She is encouraging her grandchildren to get rid of old stuff and buy what they need with the cash they get. Wow!
đ€« Personal Reasons
At some point in your life, you will have come across (or even used yourself!) this much-deployed phrase: âfor personal reasonsâ. If one were to ask what these words actually mean, the answer could vary from situation to situation.
If you analyse the two words you can read into each one of the many meanings. âPersonalâ could mean private or confidential or could be a mystery to those who are not privy to the situation. âReasonsâ are of course the reasons which cannot be made public but constitute a subjective justification for an individual's action. So, personal reasons can seldom be considered as objective or transparent. Thereâs a certain opacity to the phrase âpersonal reasonsâ.
The mystery surrounding âpersonal reasonsâ prompt roving enquiries, probing questions and even rumour-mongering. Speculation will not be far behind. You can see all these aspects playing out when a CEO or CFO abruptly resigns with immediate effect citing personal reasons.
Imagine if the resignation comes close on the heels of either a whistleblower complaint or a POSH complaint (thereâs nothing posh about a complaint. It is a serious one under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act.)Â The situation gets more interesting when the resignation is immediately accepted âwith much regretâ.
Personal reasons are aimed at withholding the real reasons which, if disclosed, could cause discomfiture to either or both parties. Some of the situations where âpersonal reasonâ is cited are:Â
Difficult boss
Not a happy place to work
Found a new job
Unethical practices
Uncooperative colleagues
Asked to leave
There are situations where not citing âpersonal reasonsâ may tantamount to shirking responsibility or even accountability. For example, a director of a company decides to quit his post on the Board as he detects certain financial irregularities. Instead of reporting the matter to the powers that be, he opts to exit quietly. One could say he has compromised on his integrity and another person could say it is his discretion to leave without kicking up dust. It may also be argued that as a matter of governance, the real reasons need to be stated and hiding behind âpersonal reasonsâ may be inappropriate. Writing a detailed letter to the Chairman of the Board may well help the departing director shift the onus on the Chairman to answer questions.
There are cases where the person leaving the organisation uses the expression personal reasons in italics and within quotes, like this âpersonal reasonsâ. This fuels more speculation about the reasons for leaving.
Some prefer to use surrogate expressions like âgarden leaveâ or âsabbaticalâ.Â
Using a sabbatical as a reason to be away from work may be inappropriate given the true meaning of that term. Sabbath is derived from the Hebrew word Shabbat. It is the seventh day of the week observed as the day of rest, typically Sunday but the Jewish community observes Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
Sabbatical is then derived from Sabbath and it alludes to the practice of teachers taking time off in the form of âstudy leaveâ once every seven years. Now you see how a sabbatical can never be a substitute for personal reasons. I am not ruling out the possibility of an organisation granting leave and some financial assistance too for an employee to pursue higher studies while keeping a lien on the job OR agreeing to serve the employer for a stated period when he or she returns.
Garden leave is again a poor substitute for personal reasons. This kind of leave is typically taken by an employee to use up all accrued leave before his retirement. But if garden leave is taken by an employee who has resigned for âpersonal reasonsâ it is simply to exclude them from coming to work during the notice period by granting them their accrued leave with full pay and denying them access to business information.Â
Here are three âpersonal reasonsâ for quitting:
A guy resigns citing personal reasons. When asked what those might be, he says âI donât like the person I am working with and that person is the reason for my quitting â
An HR guy who was not good at handling people left the job for personal reasons when in fact it was for âpersonnel reasonsâ.
A guy resigned as he was overlooked for promotion. He cited personal reasons and quit. When quizzed about how that could be a personal reason, he said âI, as a person, consider denial of promotion to me as the reason.âÂ
Exit interview: Most organisations do not take this exercise seriously. If properly structured and conducted in a friendly manner it can provide a lot of insight into the working of the organisation, the internal politics, favouritism, factors that impeded performance and also interpersonal relationships. Problems and issues identified by the outgoing employee can be addressed to the extent possible before onboarding his successor.
đ This Dilbert comic strip sums up in one go âpersonal reasonsâ & exit interview.
đ Holi
As you read this letter you will be in the midst of Holi, the festival of colours. It marks the arrival of spring and also symbolises the victory of good over evil. It also celebrates the eternal undying love of Radha and Krishna.
I am told that today, the 28th of March is the day of Dahan of demoness Holika.
Hiranyakashipu was an evil king and wanted everyone to worship him. His son Prahlad disobeyed his father and worshipped Vishnu, so his father planned to kill him. The king asked his sister Holika to help kill Prahlad. Holika had a special cloak that would protect her from fire. So she planned to trick Prahlad by taking him into a fire. But because she was using her powers for evil, the plan failed and the cloak flew from Holika and covered Prahlad. Prahlad was safe and Vishnu then defeated the evil king.
This is symbolised by lighting a community bonfire. In some parts of North India, this also marks the end of winter. This festival is the second biggest festival after Diwali.
Unfortunately, due to social distancing, the festival may have lost its original colour but the spirit of celebration is unlikely to abate.
Amid fears of a second coronavirus wave and a surge in infections in Karnataka, the state government has decided to ban public gatherings for upcoming festivals such as Holi, Ugadi, Shab-e-Barat and Good Friday across the state. I urge my readers to celebrate the festival in a âHoli-Bubbleâ and not participate in any community celebration. Have a safe Holi! Iâll see you all next week!
Last week, I was in Jammu. I went to that place to meet an ayurvedic doctor. When I saw the people there, I was shocked to see their behaviour. Unfortunately, people were not observing social distancing. It appeared to me that the Holi festival may be celebrated as usual by these people in its original colour and with the spirit of celebration.
Maybe, people may take a very long time to realise their responsibilities.
Viswanath
Yogamasterji.com
Yes, it is always suspect when someone quotes personal reasons for quitting from anywhere. That something fishy could be there is always a feeling that most generally have.
Let me now state that I often find most people referring to Good Friday as a festival. In real terms it is not a festival at all. It is actually a day that venerates the death of Jesus Christ. And any death cannot be termed a festival. Hence it cannot be a festival of any sort. I am well aware Pras, that you did not have any such intention. Far be from me any such doubt. The rising up of Jesus Christ on Easter day could, of course, be termed as a festival. So also Christmas which celebrates the birth of Christ.
In fact, I just had a discussion on this subject on Friday at my office when someone again referred to Good Friday as a festival. In fact the person didnât know the real reason and in fact did ask me why we called it Good Friday then. Legitimate question indeed. In fact I remember once, during my earlier avatar as a Banker, I had subscribed to a journal of the Asian Institute of Bankers (Sorry I forget the exact name of the institute). I remember receiving a greetings from them once which said Happy Good Friday.
In fact my present colleague was thankful to me for pointing out the mistake, lest she make a faux pas of greeting someone like that! This post is just to avoid a similar mistake by any reader of FC.