Indian Ameri

'1,2,3,do do do do, tto tto..... Hmmm... DEFINITELY less than 20', I counted the multitude of food and juices that lay in my cart, and I rolled towards the counter 3 of Walmart. As I saw, the service provider zip and zoom through the scanner of a previous customer, I thought 'Damn! He is good.... Great! Now let me help him go with his groove by keeping my stuff on the counter'.
As he finished billing his previous customer, he watched me finish packing his counter with all my stuff 'organized by size and quantity for his easy access'. He gave me a 'Kewl. Everythings already set' look and said, "How you doing sir?"

I: Fantastic. How about you Mr. No Name Tag?
Him (H): Huh????? (His scan pace reduced by a factor)
I: (Pointing to his shirt pocket) I like to call people by their names (and gave him a smile)
H: Oh Sorry! I just came from my break. Here I go (as he took his name tag from his pocket and clipped it)... I am Mike
I: So, again, How about you 'MIKE'? (and gave him a smile)
H: Doing just fine (and he concentrated back on his scan pace and vroomed through the counter).
H: All done. The total is 19.04.
I: Thanks Mike. You are fast (and I placed the last bag of my stuff back in the cart) (Took my wallet to get my credit card while I was interrupted by Mike)
H: (Tapping the counter comp) Your done sir. No need to swipe. It's one me.
I: Huhhhhh???????? (What the hell just happened?)
H: (While I was still figuring out what the frick just happened) I am the night manager for today and it's good to see someone calling me by my name. I prefer all employees to have their name tag always on. You get this one for free.
I: (Woah! Did I hear it correct?) Huhhhh????
H: (Smiling from his heart) You're fine SIR (Waking me up from my question)
I: No. I'll pay for it. (blank)
H: YOU'RE FINE SIR!
I: (kewl. Lemme scoot before he changes his mind) Kewl. Let me leave before you change your mind (Did I just say what I just thought?)
H: Thanks for shopping in Walmart (Still bearing his warm smile)

I: (As I walked past the automatic doors - Three years of noticing name tags and calling unknown people with their names - - - - - Good job Hari. And I smiled at what I had achieved)

(Three years, friends and people who dined with me ask or give me a questionable look for noticing servers name tags and calling them with their names, for what and why I do it, and now I have an additional event to answer their query)

Off the name tag: My name in the MCT and OICT cricket tournaments has been mentioned as Hari 'Iccha' and it is fun to correct people. Coming to it, this weekend I captain my side in the finals of MCT against UCC. PS, I need four more wickets (Fielding) to become the best fielder this year (and also the highest wickets taken by a fielder from the start of MCT tournament in 1997). 1 game 4 wickets to lead or 3 wickets to tie with another guy who has less run outs and stumpings (Who gets the lead is still the question in the case of a tie). Somehow I am just aiming for the much needed victory rather than the best fielder title (While the team thinks the other way round :D). Fourth time in 13 years we are entering the finals and never had we won in the finals (or so the tournament). Much of it rests on my shoulders being the captain.
After 3.5 weeks of giving the completed and final version of my paper, finally today he confirmed that he is going to submit the paper into Langmuir. This is by far most the longest and most result filled paper from the lab ever (34 pages) and am keeping my fingers crossed for this big break. PS: This is the only paper which was entirely written by a student in the lab and it is therefore big for me and my advisor. Too many things happening at the same time and I need loads and loads of luck (which somehow I want to believe in). I need 2 more first authors and 2 more second authors and if possible a book chapter in 12 months time to finalize my resume for post doc. It's time to work till I get into mercy killin mode.... :)