A friend of mine rented a new place for his office. His business was expanding and present place was not able to accommodate all the offices. After months of hard work, he was able to find a perfect place. The place was in the last phase of construction and owner had already made up his mind to give it on rent. It was a big place and in a city like Kabul where houses are built with poor and rather queer designs and architecture and especially the way people choose color is really strange and funny and looks as if a village girl has tried to beautify herself by applying a blend of colors on her face, the place was really well-designed and built. It was designed in a way that every inch of the available space should be used efficiently. Beautiful but nicely chosen tiles were used inside and outside the building and there was an underground parking. The agreement was finalized in a way that my friend was able to bring changes according to the requirements of his office. I often used to visit his old office and met his staff which mostly included of technicians who did the maintenance job for the organization. But there were present four of his employees who used to live permanently in the office building. One was cook who had to prepare and serve the meals for all the three times to the office employees. One was a technician whose house was very far from Kabul and remaining two were guards who had to stay all the time in office for security. They used to go to their homes once in a week or two weeks.

When they were busy in giving final touch to the decoration and set-up of new building, my friend called me to show the new place. I appreciated him for his clever choice as not only the building was beautiful but it was also located at a very good location. Then we went inside and he showed me different sections of the office. First floor was kept for reception and a beautifully designed and decorated display area. On second floor, there were offices of different employees like CEO, accountants, managers and others while the third and final floor was allotted for a number of strange rooms. There was a big conference hall which was quite reasonable. Then there was a rest room for senior staff, which was something new in our business organizations of Kabul. Another room was kept for recreation with friends and I was a bit puzzled. With a surprise in my tone, I put a question, ‘What is this room for actually?’ My friend gave a broad smile and said, ‘You know, sometimes I wish that there should be a place to sit with my friends and have some moments of joy and laughter.’ Not understanding so much, I just nodded my head. Then there was another big room decorated with a nice sofa set and a grand bed. Seeing question in my eyes, my friend gave out a smile and said, ‘Sometimes, we have guests from abroad. We have nicely furnished this room and reserved it for those guests’. My next question was, ‘How often do you have such guests?’ To this, he seemed a bit puzzled and said, ‘Well I am not sure that much but we receive two or three such guests in a year’. Then I said, ‘Do you think that your foreign guests will be willing to stay in this place in this condition of insecurity? Don’t you think that a well-guarded four or five star hotel would be a better selection for them?’ ‘Yes, we have also thought about this but anyhow, now we can’t change our decision’. When all the rooms finished, I was a bit surprised for not finding the room of workers who stayed in the office. Then he took me to the underground parking where a room was built of wood at the corner of this dark place. He told me that this room was kept for four of his employees. I at once got disappointed and entered the room. It was so small that four men could not be able to sit by spreading their legs. In summer, it could have been tolerable but it was a worst place to stay in the long and harsh winter of Kabul. I at once recalled the memories of my village where sheep, goats and cattle were kept in such a dark room. I was disheartened for this treatment of those who really earned the glory and success for the organization. My friend also realized my situation and then we did not say anything about these things.

On another occasion, I was in one of these so-called ‘Institutes of Higher Education’ where high fees are charged for low education and where shameful practices are utilized. In this institute, classes started at 6 in morning and continued till 8 at night. No breakfast or lunch was served while tea was available for some limited staff members. The cleaners started their work before six and they were allowed to go homes after the classes finished at 8. I was sitting in the institute that lunch time came and staff started collecting money for it. A sweeper was called and sent for bringing lunch from a nearby restaurant. The lunch came and those who had paid money took their lunch boxes and started eating. The sweepers were still busy in their work. It was a sad discovery that the limited salary of sweepers could not allow them to buy a lunch so they used to bring bread and ate it with water. In such a developed city, this treatment of humanity was both shocking and painful. The administration earned more than 3000 dollars from each class in a month but a small proportion of it was not spent on the poor but helpless staff.

Either these things have increased or I have become too much sentimental that I observe such inappropriate and cruel treatment of lower staff many times a day and every new observation and discovery adds to my pain and displeasure. Majority of people think that these workers are all cheaters and if you want to get work from them, keep them under the constant load of work and never let them to relax. Also, if you give them facilities, they will misuse them and bring financial harm to you. It is the reason why, there is a long list of such cruel practices with the lower staff like long working hours (from 10 to 16 hours every day without any extra benefits or payments), meager salaries, no transport or food facility, no proper working place and many others. At the same time, they are treated very insultingly. Their works are unnecessarily criticized, they are scolded or called by bad words and they are never appreciated or addressed with due respect.

It is the reason why, these workers are also filled with severe disgust and hatred towards their bosses and high-ups. Whenever they get any better job, they switch their jobs. They also try to steal time and effort from their jobs and they feel fully justified for their conduct.

On the other hand, there are also present a lot many people who treat their lower staff nicely and in return, they get complete dedication, honesty and productivity for them and this has turned out to be more fruitful than by forcing the workers to work with a stick in hand. Same observation has been done with those who work with foreigners who usually treat their employees decently and in return, employees also work for them nicely. Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) repeatedly advised his fellows to be good with their slaves and servants. He even advised the same in his last words while taking his final breaths. It is said that a society of infidels or atheists can survive but a society based on cruelty will never survive for long. I don’t know why, having a look at the deteriorating situations of both the country and the society, I feel that our system also promotes cruelty and it may not survive for long.