Episode 71 : St. Edward Hyde

An amusing title, isn't it?

It started with three companies starting a discussion regarding the possibility of employment with them, and within a few days of each other.

The first one looked promising. The second one decided to make an offer in less than thirty minutes. And the third was too early to say anything.

After three weeks, the first one decided things would not work out. The second offer was still valid. And the third looked like going the way of the first.

I thought perhaps I should go with the second even though it was never in my scheme of things. A week later, the third made an offer.

Before I could tell the second about the third, I fell ill. When they called me, in my disoriented state, I told the second the date I would join them.

So the first thing I did after recovering, was to tell the second that I was not going to join them.

Which led to the second offering a higher compensation package. I told them it wasn't the money but the job profile.

That began a long sermon. On ethics, moral values and professionalism. With advice on how I should conduct myself in the future if I wanted any employer to take me seriously.

And I thought, the first time I seek out multiple possibilities of employment, I get to hear a discourse on ethics and morality.

Normally I get furious when people start lecturing on what I should do. But that day I let him go on. Maybe because I was in an area where any number of colleagues could hear my part of the conversation. Or maybe it was because I realised he wasn't going to let me get a word in between. Despite reminding him that I did tell him about another employer with whom a discussion was in progress.

Instead of disconnecting the call when the sermon ended, I should have asked him a question.

'If I took the offer you made to lure me back to you, would it have made me a saint?'