My father’s wit ran legendary.
This story dates back to the days when he ran his own computer manufacturing company. One of the services provided was attendance recording systems, where they would undertake turnkey jobs, providing the attendance logger systems, the cards and the setup. Probably the largest client was Hindustan Motors, makers of the legendary ‘Ambassador’ cars. During discussions prior to placing an order, they had informed my father that they had multiple entry / exit points and each gate would require a attendance logger machine. Specifically, the main gate, by far the busiest, would need two machines. Therein lay the problem. They insisted the gate was critical (as indeed it was) and they required that my dad’s company maintain an additional machine as a backup, lest one of the installed systems gave trouble.
And therein lay the problem. These attendance logger machines were the most expensive component of the entire setup, and having to buy an extra to keep as a backup would render the project economically unviable. My father kept requesting them to reconsider, promising any malfunctioning equipment would be attended to promptly, but to no avail.
At a subsequent meeting with Hindustan Motors, he waited for the issue to be broached again and with a smile, spoke about his experiences with HM to the gentlemen. He spoke about in his younger days, when he transferred to Calcutta. He needed to buy a car, and it being ‘those’, days you would need to visit a Ambassador showroom to get one. He spoke to the store, selected the model, and completed preliminary negotiations.
Till that point it was completely factual.
He then went about regaling the gentlemen about how he approached the showroom management and impressed upon them that the car was indeed a very crucial piece of equipment in his scheme of things as he would have to drive it to work and back home every day. It was imperative that it provide him failsafe service. He expressed his apprehension about the engine failing at some point of time and asked the showroom if he could be provided an additional engine just to cover those exigencies. The showroom staff smiled embarrassedly at his request and gently told him such a request was not at all possible to fulfil.
He managed to get his point across! Insistence for a backup attendance logger was never broached again.