Integrity Is Expensive!

Integrity is expensive, it really is. Doing right things in the face of time, no matter what the frame of reference is, is difficult. Full Stop!

It becomes all the more difficult when it involves people you care about. I remember a story from tenth grade English textbook, wherein an executioner was quiet all the time, since the arrival of a new prisoner to all the way till he wound up the work assigned to him, turned on the crematorium and waited till incineration of that prisoner's body. The readers were taken a back(including me) when they found out at the end of the story that the prisoner was no one else but executioner's own son. I highly admired his character and have not yet forgotten the gist of the story.

It was kind of funny and weird, the way, a reputed company organized campus placement for our batch. Since, I already had an offer letter by that time, I just signed up as a volunteer to see my friends going through the process. Beginning of group discussions round, I was given a list, including batches, 10 students each, to be sent in for the next discussion in three different rooms. Well, it was funny and peculiar, the way they were evaluating students in all these 3 rooms. I had the liberty to get inside any of these rooms and may be just listen to all the discussions. I chose not to. For then, I could know the difficulty level, the list of topics etc. Few of my friends and other students I knew, requested(yeah, college mates ask you and never request you until it's..) me to reshuffle groups of students so they could get into room where it could be easier to get through. My job was to stick to the list and oversee that everything went fine.

After half an hour or so, one of the company representatives suggested me to grab a chair next to him/her, I guess maybe, since I was running around to manage things. Next I called in that room, another group of students(this group comprised of some of my friends) and I knew almost everyone personally. The reps were so upset about this group's performance that they asked me out of anger, about my opinion. I ignored the question until this person asked me again, for that wasn't my job anyway. I could as well see the despair in the eyes of the attendees. I couldn't avoid the question, the third time, when it was appended with the another string of words, why don't you recommend somebody and we pick him/her, for we don't think anybody was up to par. I knew some of those in the group were very good programmers and a great teammate to have. But, firstly, to recommend somebody was not my job and to be honest, they were off the topic since the beginning. I didn't even know if my recommendation would be useful anyway. I bounced it back to them saying that they could judge this much better than me. This tells how hollow, rudimentary and useless the campus placement process usually is. People often don't look for the attributes they should really look for. Not to say, everyone in that group was rejected.

End of this round was an hour long lunch break. I was chatting with a couple of friends in canteen, when someone stepped in, to trash all the anger at me, suggesting what I did was wrong. (S)he was from the group described above. Nevertheless, I could understand the very source of frustration and just kept quiet to simply avoid any further argument.

End of this break, the reps gave me all 3 lists marked with green dot next to the names of those who were selected to get them a new list, with just names of people who were selected. Utter non-sense, I could easily manipulate the list if I wanted to and put in names of people who were not selected but I did not do so. Since, I was the only college rep allowed to be in the room allocated to these folks, the campus training and placement officer asked me if I can tell him how many were selected and you know, if there was a room to get more students on the list. I told him the number,  and suggested him to talk to company reps for anything else. Some people were upset with the way I dealt with the situation and the rest partied with me in the evening, in spite of rejection. I think I chose to do the right thing, and believe me it's never that easy. Nor is it easy to spot what's right(sometimes).

Everything happens for good, almost everyone of those in that group is doing much better than they would have had, if they had joined that company.