PQ

that is not his real name.
i have known him for about 4 years now.
his role was 'office boy' - though he has children in the school going age. his main responsibilities were to keep the office clean and take care of any urgent requirements related to admin.
his salary was hardly enough to make ends meet, but his ambitions to provide a good education for his children were very serious.
a couple of years ago, when he coould no longer have free lunch in the office, it hit him hard.
when he approached me for help, i tired to refer his name to a few of my contacts.
lack of formal secondary schooling was a big challenge.
i suggested that learn driving and get a driver's license. that would have got him a significant increase in the monthly income.
to be fair to him, he did try. but, somehow could not get sufficient confidence to drive.
it was fortunate for him to get a break in a slightly different role - a role that made him responsible to get signatures on cheques.
the complication was that no two signatories on cheques would be available in the same building - and even in different locations, but not at the same time.
he had to now not only keep track of the cheques to be signed, but also the movement of the signatories.
i do not know how he does that, but would sense a signatory's presence in the office and bring the cheques for signature.
he would also have sorted the cheques based on importance and urgency - saying things like : this has to go to the bank in the next 30 minutes, so please sign these right away and the others can wait.
or, warn in advance about a big backlog or a hundred cheques to be signed that day, positively, as there were either vendors waiting for payment or ex-employees waiting for settlement or employees waiting for their claims to be processed etc..
i like the way he takes complete ownership of his job. and doing it with a cheerful smile always.