The Authority

People love to manifest their authority, real or otherwise. Possibly it is an essential ingredient of human nature.
They love to impress other people with this tool. Sometime, may be, just to enjoy it or to get some work done out of turn or to show how special they are.
It happened like this…

I was at sub post office to send a money order towards subscription to a magazine. It was 1 p.m. and time to close the office for lunch break. I saw people were still coming in to lengthen the queue. There was only one lady to handle the customers for all their needs. The lady single handedly serving them, right from giving out postal stamps to registering letters, accepting cash against various postal banking accounts. She was really busy and overburdened. A pitiable situation, for both, the employee and also for the customers, as they were made to wait for comparatively more time than required. The lady asked the attendant, possibly the postman attached to the office, to close the door to bar entry of any new customer. Idea was to clear the customers by the time of the closer of the office for the break. Had she allowed more people to turn in beyond 1 p.m., they would have continued to pour in and she would have left with no alternative but to attend them, which would have stretched her working hours beyond stipulated time schedule for the office. This is the usual practice in the offices where general public is entertained for different types of services.

While the boy was closing the door, one person tried to enter the room. He was stopped. The man burst at the boy, saying `how you are closing it now as office time is up to 1.15 p. m. ` He retreated, but told it loudly enough to be heard by everyone present in the room, that he was also central government employee.
Actually, that was unnecessary. He might have felt let down or might have irritated with the idea to come back there later to get his work done. He tried to make known to all and especially the staff their, his `authority`. People have this tendency in their genes. It` s manifestation is ignited by petty reasons.
(Reflections:1)