So much for poems, for now.
Sitting in the movie hall of a recently opened multiplex near my house, I was chatting with my brother before the movie started (Star Trek, in case you were wondering).We were interrupted by a, ummm… for lack of a better word steward who asked us if we wanted to place any popcorn/drink orders.
Remarking mentally on aggressive selling strategies, I replied that we didn’t want to. He nodded, as if expecting it and turned quickly to the family up ahead along the aisle and repeated the act. As he did that I happened to look up. I started as his expression struck through my frivolous mood. It led me to wonder what circumstances must have made this young man so dejected. It was a strange sorrow, a despondency.
He waited, after one round of collecting orders, along with a co-worker, no doubt hoping for the kids’ success in bullying their parents into placing more orders.
Then, as the national anthem started, he quietly slipped away.
Maybe he was well educated; maybe he had lost a good job during the recent slowdown. Maybe he had been forced to take this up in financial desperation.
Whatever the cause, I couldn’t help sympathizing with him. To bring refreshments day after day, night after night, to people who are probably irritated at your presence anyway, to watch people have a ball with their friends and family while being on duty oneself, to be a nameless faceless utility for their entertainment and comfort is not exactly a dream job. He may have been one of the thousands of kids who say” I wanna be a pilot when I grow up” every time they see a plane in the sky. Or the next Amitabh Bachchan . . .
It’s just one of those things that help me realize how lucky I am to be able to expect dignity and affection from the people I work/study with.
Come to think of it, maybe his girlfriend had ditched him that day!
