Maryam was working at an office. Her boss assigned her a simple task. She was supposed to contact the main customers of her company and ask them to open LCs (letters of credit) for financial transactions. Such a thing was important for the company and mutually beneficial for all the business partners. But after three months, no progress had been made. Time was running out. The LCs needed to be opened before the new year's holidays, which were close. Maryam's boss, assuming she was too busy, assigned another employee, Mona, to help her with the task. Mona called Maryam to get some information on the job.

Ring... Ring... Ring.

Maryam picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Maryam. It's Mona. How are you doing? Boss asked me to help you with the LCs."

"With what?"

"The LCs... You know, it's crucial to open them before the holidays. Otherwise, the company may get into trouble. So, how is the job going?"

"I... I don't know."

Mona was surprised by her answer. She was expecting Maryam to have at least a general idea about the situation and tell her about the problems she was facing.

"Have you received any response from the companies?"

"No."

"But you told them about the LCs, didn't you?"

"Yes. That was long ago."

"Any idea why they are hesitating? It's in their interest if they act sooner."

"I have no idea."

"I understand you are busy Maryam. Boss told me about it. Just tell me how you calculated the needed credit, and I'll get the job done."

"I'm not busy. I don't know why the boss told you that. I was just watching a movie. As I said, I contacted the companies long ago. So, the job is done."

Mona was taken back by her answer. She had assumed Maryam couldn't get the job done because she was busy.

"But why didn't you write what you have done about the letter the boss sent you? I can see the boss's orders in the automation. The letter was addressed to you three months ago, but it's like nothing has been done about it. If you have done something, you should explain it in the automation."

"I haven't seen the letter."

Mona was gradually getting scared by Maryam's responses.

"But it's there. Is your office automation open now?"

"No."

"Open it."

"How?"

"What do you mean how? Just open it."

"I don't know how to open it."

"Maryam, you have been working here for six months now. Are you saying you don't know how to open the automation?"

"Yes... I didn't need to use it, so..."

"Does that mean you haven't checked your automation messages at all?"

"I haven't opened it, so..."

Mona felt like she was in a nightmare, but tried to pull herself together and make sense of the situation.

"Maryam, can you see the icon shaped like a mail on your desktop?"

"Yes."

"Open it. Type your username and password."

"I don't have a username and password. How can I get them?"

"If you have forgotten, just ask the IT office. They can reset your password."

"I haven't forgotten. I never had them."

"MARYAM!"

Mona was going to yell at her, but managed to contain her fury.

"Just call the IT office, ask them for your password, and call me when your automation is ready."

Mona hung up the phone. She was expecting Maryam to call her in a few minutes, but it took Maryam more than two hours to call.

Ring... Ring... Ring.

Mona picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mona."

"Maryam! Finally! Is your automation open now?

"Yes. I took my username and password from the IT office. I don't know why they keep waiting for us to beg them for something. They should have handed me what I needed in the first place. Don't we outrank them? So, why should we run after them? They are just lazy and arrogant, and rude too. I just told them what I wanted, and they laughed at me. It took me some time to make them do their job. You know, if the boss knew how to set everyone to work, things would have been different. No one is in a proper place. That's the problem with this whole country. That's why we are called a third-world country and fail to progress. In advanced countries, everyone is in a proper place. I have a cousin who lives in Canada. He migrated there two and a half years ago. He was an engineer here and had a desk job. But when he got there, he realized that he should start from scratch. He told me..."

"Maryam! Can we focus on the task at hand?!"

"Okay, what should I do?"

"Type this number in the letter's number field."

Mona told her the number of the letter that was assigned to the task. It came up as Maryam typed it.

"See? That's your order. It was referred to you three months ago."

"I'm just seeing it now. They should have given me a hard copy."

"We can't print every single letter. It wastes tons of paper. That's what the automation is for. Besides, even if you didn't see it, the boss talked to you about it, right? You said that you contacted the companies about it, didn't you?"

"Yes, I asked all of them to open an LC for themselves."

"And? What happened then?"

"Nothing. They had no idea about the reason for doing it."

"Why didn't you explain the reason?"

"Because I didn't know. Boss just asked me to tell them to open an LC. I called and told them that."

Mona closed her eyes as she realized the gravity of the situation.

"What exactly did you tell them, Maryam?"

"I told them that the boss has told me to ask them to open an LC."

"That's it?!"

"Yes. That was what I was supposed to do. I did it three months ago."

"Maryam, you can't just tell them to do something this big without explaining why. We are talking about large-scale financial transactions here."

"I don't know about that. I just did what I was told."

"Ahhh! Have you at least calculated the credit each company needs?"

"No."

"Why not?! And please... Don't tell me you weren't told to do that! The calculations automatically come with the job."

"Sorry, but I wasn't supposed to do that either. I was just supposed to tell them to open the LCs. I didn't know where the LCs were, how they should have been opened, or what was supposed to be done with them."

"Maryam, do you know what an LC is? What do L and C stand for?"

"I don't know."

"Aha... I wish I had asked it at the start. Sorry for wasting your valuable time, Maryam! Go back to watching your movie!"