It’s easy to take what we watch or read online at face value, especially with content shared widely over various social media platforms.
But a video which poked fun at a slow-moving female bank teller in India by sarcastically calling her the “world’s fastest cashier”, initially went viral before being hailed as an important message of tolerance for people who move at a snail’s pace because they are advanced in years or have a medical condition.
It was shared on Facebook on Oct 24 and drew over 11 million views in just five days.
While references were made to the customer service sloth character in the Disney animated film Zootopia, which drew not only laughs but memes, the latest video ended up turning the tables on its mean critics.
This was after it was revealed that the subject of ridicule in the video, bank teller Premlata Shinde, had been recuperating after a harrowing paralysis following a stroke, on top of two heart attacks..
In the clip, Madam Shinde is seen handling a customer’s money in a sluggish manner at the Pune branch of the Bank of Maharashtra in India. The story was first reported by News Crunch.
Someone who saw the footage recognised her and made a Facebook post explaining her condition.
“Let me tell the truth to all the brainless people who is making fun of her. She is Premlata Shinde, retiring in Feb 2017 from ‘Bank of Maharashtra’, Pune,” wrote Kundan Srivastava.
Madam Shinde is a widow and her only son lives overseas with his wife and child.
“So far she has survived a paralysis stroke and 2 heart attacks. She had just resumed her duties after a prolonged duration of leave for treatment. She has enough leave stocked up that she can avail them and continue getting paid at home till her retirement. But, she wants to finish her service period honourably (sic),” he added.
Mr Srivastava called on people to share the video again, in the hopes that it would promote understanding of the difficulties a person like her has to endure every day in order to do their job well.
chenj@sph.com.sg
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