The Doubting Tom ( Revised)

  

When you get to meet somebody, you get to talk about things of interest. It might be yours’ or his’. Many will calmly listen to your view point and will not show agreement or disagreement.

Some vehemently, counter the points made by you. The odd ones demand substantiating proof for every word you have used. This is a difficult person to handle and satisfy with your arguments. He is Mr Doubting Tom. His questions are really the uncleared doubts spoken aloud.

Bystander happened to stand behind him in a railway ticket booking counter and overheard the following conversation with the booking clerk:

 

The ticket says I am wait-listed and you say it will surely get confirmed. How sure you are?

 

The clerk replies, “Normally, up to this number, tickets get confirmed. You need not worry sir”

 

Tom has questions. He wants to know what will happen if he is  not lucky?

 

Exasperated the clerk says, “You can cancel your un-confirmed ticket, sir”

 

Hissing noise from the serpentine queue scares Tom from asking further questions at the counter.

 

Next time, Bystander chanced upon him in the electronics goods shop. Tom had lot of doubts and the hapless salesman tried to weather the storm as best as he could.

 

Here the guarantee card says that the defective components will be replaced. Now my question is whether the replacement will be with a newer component or with a used component from another device?

 

The salesman mumbles that the replacement will be with a newer component.

 

Not satisfied with the answer, Tom asks, how are you so sure, you will not be personally present at that time of replacing the component in my device?

 

The tongue tied salesman quietly withdrew under the pretext of serving another, non-existent customer. Overhearing, this conversation, the man at the cash counter starts to squirm in his seat fearing a confrontation.

 

Disinterested, Tom makes an exit from the shop, as Bystander watched his departure with a wry smirk.

Another unplanned encounter was at a fruit stall. As usual Tom had probing questions and remembering the earlier occasions, Bystander impulsively decided to side with the vendor on whatever questions. Tom might pose.

 

The vendor said, this basket of fruit is fresh and tastes superb. Tom jumps into the fray, asking how the vendor could certify to the taste. Did he actually taste one from the basket shown to him?

 

Vendor’s meek reply did not satisfy him. Changing his choice of fruits, Tom wanted to know the cost. Bitten shy by the earlier sting, the vendor said, “Sir this fruit is supposed to taste equally good”. The vendor deftly shifted the source of certification to a third party and this did not escape Bystander’s attention.

Then, Tom asked, why the vendor did not say that this basket of fruit also is from a fresh supply. The vendor cursed himself for not having added that statement to this basket of fruit also.

 

For reasons best known to him, Tom decided to buy a different kind of fruit, without enquiring about freshness, taste or haggling over the price. This surprised the vendor as well as Bystander.

 

The anger in Bystander has been welling up to vent out on Mr Tom. The moment the cash was exchanged and the fruit basket changed hands, the volcano burst out.

 

Bystander stopped the vendor from pocketing the money and asked him, “How do you know that this currency notes are genuine?”

 

In a harsher tone he asked Tom, “Why are buying this basket of fruit without tasting one and how do you know this is a fresh stock and will be tasty?”

 

The vendor afraid of losing business stared at Bystander.  Tom, taken aback by the well directed questions, stood speechless. Doubting Tom walked away demoralized and the vendor readied himself to attend on another customer.

Bystander went about visiting other stalls in search of the kind of fruits he came to buy. However a fleeting thought occurred in his mind “Why did not do I this at the ticket counter or in the electronics goods shop itself?”