A man can't save his face and his ass at the same time.
Song:
Nature Boy
Good thing:
Automated wake-up calls
Annoying thing:
The "Culture Club" Forum. I stupidly joined and thought I'd play a
little devil's advocate which is very difficult. But it's doing my
head in, destroying my soul and breaking my heart!! They are the
real forces of evil, I am lost for words to describe my horror.
Stupidity and ignorance are one thing, but the other thing are
brutal vileness and SLYNESS. Inhumanity. Reading their posts really
makes me cry. Discussion is not an option.
Munich
Three down, one more to
go. I have just returned from my trip to the Munich office. Not the worst
type of open-plan office, but still not as nice as Sheffield.
I have eaten too much chocolate and have drunk too much. It's not good.
I flew from Stansted on
Wednesday night and suffered through the longest security line I have ever
witnessed! On a bloody Wednesday afternoon at Stansted?!
The first thing I did when I arrived at the hotel in Munich was to have a
drink from the minibar and pay 5 euros for a couple of minutes of
overpriced internet access. In Stansted I had been able to pick up a free
wireless access from some airline, so I was still mailing Helen when
boarding started.
In Germany they were promising the "hottest October day in history", so I wisely left my coat at the hotel when I made my way to the office the next morning. I took the underground, even though that meant 3 changes, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out the extensive tram and bus system.
The girls were friendly
enough but seemed somehow wary; possibly typical German reluctance. I
couldn't detect any noticeable sense of humour either. But a good deal of
fear, worrying, concerns... complaints - that type of vibe.
The sessions were all late to start because nobody found their way into
the meeting room on time. They just wouldn't come, and I wouldn't drag
them in either! It's their bloody training they're wasting. Shy people,
nobody in charge, no "organizer". I found it rather tedious, but happy to
spend more time surfing the internet in my little room.
I bored them for a couple of hours, nobody asked too many questions. Chats
revealed that they still didn't get the idea that they had to dramatically
increase the headcount of the Microsoft team if they ever wanted to get
into the "workable" range with their projects. Complaints about demanding
and fickle freelancers were ripe, but they really didn't want to believe
that dedicated teams of freelancers could be maintained. Jana asked how
other sites were managing, and when I said that they were better organized
and worked with 4 to 5 freelance teams and also used in-house translators
on jobs, she immediately claimed that the other offices were getting less
work than the German office. Not true.
How can they be so lame-ass and unorganized when they're German?! It
depresses me.
When we went out Friday for lunch with Andreas the same questions were
raised again, and Andreas actually told me that they were:
a) unable to add new people the Microsoft team because THEY HAD NOWHERE TO
PUT NEW DESKS, and were contractually bound to the small office for two
more years, and:
b) they were reluctant to hire new people because they are worried that
MICROSOFT MIGHT PULL OUT.
I didn't know what to say. This explains a lot. A lot. It may have been
just a foolish of Andreas to say, but I will definitely pass it on to
Marek, and there will be something done about it. Fucking hell! If
Microsoft pulls out, we can shut down the whole company anyway, and German
is definitely not a language for which they will reduce volumes.
(Well, if Munich keep messing up and failing LQS review due to their
daftness, we just might lose German after all.) And what's the alternative
of not having any staff to do the jobs? Not working at all? Der Letzte
macht das Licht aus. Blimey!
I paid for my own food, and drinks - because they "came with the menu" and
Andreas was unable to calculated them out of the bill. He had been told to
get the drinks. How generous indeed!
I did two more sessions on Friday which dragged on into the afternoon due to the above mentioned delays. But there was a lot of email to take care as well, so it didn't bother me. The GIAA servers were down temporarily all week, which understandably caused a lot of issues and aggression with the teams all across the world. NOT MY FAULT. Most countries have at least one bank-holiday next week, so there's even more deadline trouble than usual.
I still managed to leave relatively early in the afternoon to go to the Jack Wolfskin store in town and buy a new strap-on wallet. Then I went to the Pinakothek der Moderne. Very impressive building. I want a house like that, then I would have no trouble finding white walls to hang my paintings! They had a Baselitz special exhibition, which I barely glanced at. I don't mind his style of painting, but I just don't get him. I don't get his anger. I don't understand what he's on about. I very much liked Max Beckmann though. I prefer expressionist art anyway. And I've noticed that expressionist works really "work" completely different when you stand in front of the original. A small reproduction just won't do. They have a special vibe about them, and the colours are so vibrant.
In the evening I had
another meal, and then 2 more alcoholic beverages from the minibar! What
am I like?! Now that I've started considering mini-bar contents as
actually purchase-able items I will never be safe in a hotel room again!
My eyes still swell up in the morning, by the way. It must be a mixture of
late nights, travel, and alcohol - and age.
Saturday morning I paid
my debts at reception, checked out and caught my EasyJet flight back to
Stansted. It was very busy at the airport again - lots of happy
holiday-makers, I assume.
I'm on the train back to Sheffield now, and just remembered that next time
I will book the "Quiet Coach". Stupid idiots with music-players, mobiles,
children... argh!
George should be off to Kiev today. It's quite far, so maybe he travelled Friday night already? No youtube video tonight, I assume...
Next week is my last
scheduled flight (to Granada), after that there's a GAP of flightless time
- until Frank makes the November and December dates public! It's almost
Christmas...
Amanda is pressuring everybody to book their holidays now, but I can't
book anything yet! I will be fine to take mine in February, but I also
have to consider Stephen. If I had the new dates I could plan something
around them, but I'm not booking anything without knowing where George
will be! LOL - I wonder if Australia is still being considered?! If yes, I
am stuffed - and Lees will get lucky!
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Here's my latest painting. I might still touch it up some more, ...or bin it. I could call it "Wonky":
Oct 31: I've updated it. But the photo is shite...
