Another Surprise – Excellent Waiting Lounge at Dhaka

On my way back to Pakistan from Dhaka, I got the opportunity to wait for my flight at Business Class Lounge managed by Ruposhi Bangla Hotel. This lounge was earlier managed by Sheraton Dhaka. Since Sheraton has now stopped operating its chain in the city, the lounge is now managed by this local hotel.


In my pervious visit, I used Biman Airline lounge, and I was shocked at the poor quality of that lounge.

So my expectations were low this time around too!

However, when I entered Ruposhi Lounge, I was happily surprised! It was a well managed and neat place with hi speed wifi, nice choice of snacks and beverages. Staff was very friendly. I particularly like to mention that Chief Captain Sarwar Hosain and his waiter Prince were actively taking care of their guests.

Mr Hosain told me that this lounge serves about 250-300 customers on a daily basis and they prepare fresh food and keep it properly replenished. It is operated around the clock.

This lounge is supervised by Mr Harun Ur Rashid Mollah, who is the Operation Manager for this lounge.

I recommend spending time at this lounge at your next flight from Dhaka

Dealing with Workplace Conflicts

“I am upset”, how frequently do you hear this phrase? Off course uncountable times, at home or at work. Reason is simple – people are generally frustrated!


The above phrase is the beginning of “anger”, symptoms can affect the individual badly and spread like an epidemic, causing damage to the organization.

In my recent discussions with senior executives, one key feature which registered to me very strongly was, all workplace related anger issues initiate with “ego”! Hurt by a remark or attitude of a colleague, reaction starts. Perhaps uncontrolled emotional reaction is human nature, but certainly workplaces aggressions mostly caused by some underwater currents within the organizations.

Generally speaking, the key reason for workplace anger is to do with attitudes about themselves and predisposed judgments about others, which influence them to display disrespecting behavior towards others. People acknowledge that exhibiting aggression isn’t a sign of rightfulness or being energetic. There is no doubt that those who engage in angry behavior, lack maturity and insight about influencing behavior of a fellow human. Whether you are the one who is an aggressor or are the one on the receiving end of these emotional outbursts, the key to manage workplace anger is to make conscious choices for one’s actions. One must pause and reflect whether the behavior is going to contribute towards resolution of exacerbation of the problem. This one choice is likely to spell the difference.

Having said above, managers often find themselves in a challenging situation while dealing with such issues. Please realize that “Anger is mostly caused by conflicts” – period.

Now if this realization soaks in, managers need to understand the reasons for conflict and deal with it accordingly. My extensive discussions with HR guys reveal that there are three major reasons for workplace conflicts:

• Communication barriers
• Lack of recognition
• Ethical issues

And often dealing with workplace conflicts become easier managers are focused on the three points given above.

While dealing with an angry staff members, first thing is to listen and take notes, ask simple questions, repeat if answers are not satisfactory, get your facts right.

Caution: Do not react even if a direct comment is passed; remember angry person is “out of his mind”

Slowly you will see fire dying, this is the time to start your move towards discussing the solutions – Be prepared, as angry guy can’t give you one – You are now in lead. Enjoy!

Simple Experiments can Improve Sales

Effective Product display is a technique used by large stores and branded product outlets. However, small businesses often neglect the importance of this important tool.


In the year 2000, I was working as a part time cashier at Dairy Queen outlet in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Owners were two Italian friends who had other businesses as well. This outlet was managed by a Senior Staff member. His name was Mark. He was a great guy. He trained me in the art of ice cream making (I am still good at it!).

We used to make ice cream cakes and other products from raw ice cream. I am sure not many of you have heard RAW ICE CREAM. This means ice cream coming direct from the freezer. The process is simple, plastic container full of homogenized and pasteurized milk is attached with the freezer via pipes. Freezer sucks milk and rotates it at a certain speed, raw ice cream is ready to use in 30 minutes.

We had cold displays cabinets in which ice cream cakes and other packaged products were displayed. I observed that specific products were staked in a specific cabinets, and customers pick the first available container only, and the rest of the containers remained unsold. It was our duty to replenish these cabinets.

I had an idea, without asking Mark. I changed the display setting, which allowed customers to see every flavor available in the cabinet. Two benefits, customers were selecting from a wider variety, and sales increased the same day this change was made. Mark asked me how I got this idea, I said simple – I placed myself as a customer and quickly learnt what needed to be fixed.

You know what, I got a 1$ raise in my hourly pay – I was making $5 extra everyday!

Simple things can bring major changes; one does not need to know ROCKET SCINECE. Message is “keep experimenting!”