JOIN USIf you can’t say no...
These days, I'm reminded of my maiden experience of office inspection during my initial posting, carried out by the Accountant General Office (AGO) team comprising honest officers who were known to maintain dignity, neutrality and a degree of anonymity. Those days, government officials were generally afraid of audit remarks against them.
After verifying all records in my office to date, the officers asked me to show the contingency amount of Rs 20 sanctioned. My clerk, with some trepidation, came to me and whispered that he had forgotten to keep Rs 20 in the cash chest. Sensing the coming storm, I gave him Rs 50 and asked him to manage the issue. The clerk kept the currency of Rs 50 itself in the cash chest and showed it.
The AG officer sought an explanation for finding an excess amount of Rs 30. I explained that since the salary and contingency amount were drawn on the same day, my clerk had kept Rs 50 as he didn’t have change, and by oversight, had forgotten to withdraw the excess amount.
Furthermore, the officer, upon physically verifying the service postage stamps, observed that 50 five-paisa stamps were missing. This happened because, when I took charge from my predecessor, a senior to me by 10 years, I did not physically verify the service postage stamps out of my faith in him. Since I did not want to mention the same, I replied that rats had eaten those 50 five-paisa service postage stamps.
After a fortnight, I received a letter from the AG office, in which they had stated that the reason mentioned by me for the excess amount in the cash chest was accepted. They gave a warning to me to be careful in future and asked me to not mix personal money with the government's money. But, I was instructed to clarify why the rats had attacked only the five-paise denomination stamps and not the other denominations, although they were stacked together.
I wrote back to them, stating that the rats nibbled only on the five-paise denomination stamps as they found the gum behind these stamps attractive. I handed over the letter in person to the officer at the AG office and explained the real reason behind the shortage and all the turmoil I had undergone, purely owing to my inability to say 'no' to my senior.
The officer, after going through my reply, exploded in laughter and remarked that I was clever! He told me that in government service, if you can’t say 'no' out of obligation, you will fail miserably, losing both peace of mind and relationships. I followed his advice till my last day of service and retired peacefully.