First Real Day ... and the truth continues

Dear Diary,

I woke up this morning and ARGH the gout is there. As there is no definite schedule on what to do today or who to meet, I hobbled to the lobby and met Agnes, Security MISTRESS (hah). We had breakfast together and then she went off as she had her agenda all spelt out. Me? I hobbled around, back to room and out again


Thought to check out what's going on in the Finance department only to find out that most are not in yet. Apparently they have a "unique" schedule. This is going to be a recurrence throughout the rest of my stay. Ah well each country has it s own culture and each company its own as well

So the rest of the day was spent in quiet frustration talking to people here and there and that's about it. Lunch was around one of the poolsides and I ran into a bunch of other head office people. Seemed like a great number of them exists for such a small group - oddly reminded me of my just ex-employer, Meritus. So if they are not careful ...

What happened in the evening? Nothing.

Nice to sit out on the balcony and watch the sunset and sipped on drinks and doing nothing

Wish my foot is not aching so I can actually go out and DO SOMETHING - luckyAgnes!

[COPIED N PASTED FRM MSWORD]

Dear Diary,

I am typing this in Belle Mare Plage, our flagship hotel in Mauritius. It's such a beautiful room, unique in its design. I was definitely wowed when I stepped down from the car. If there is one thing I want my parents to enjoy, it is this - the wow factor of really nice hotels instead of just those where we go to sleep and head out the whole day. I want them to experience true luxury just once!



Anyway the day started optimistically until I reached office. Koshi sent me an email that said he was not joining - another Senarath! Apparently, after sooooo many months of silence, BT recalled him for RAK! And he supposedly got a whopping salary increase from them! So we are back to panic button

Other than that, nothing much happened except I went to the airport, waited and flew off to beautiful Mauritius

All along the journey, there was not a single cutie anywhere in sight - adult, that is

When we touched down in Mauritius, the ride was bad. The car we had was dirty and run-down. The driver was less than pleasant. Aside from the initial greeting like a word and that was it the whole way until we arrived at the hotel. He must be in a real bad mood. So that pretty much spoilt the journey. Oh yes! I was travelling with our Security Manager, the lady.

Thank goodness we were greeted with such a great WHAM view of the hotel and the people when we arrived. Now that was more or less great all the way through

Then came the "somewhat" cutie JCJ the guy who first interviewed me for this position and whom I had such a lovely chat with. He is definitely good-looking. If he is a PLU and wanted one with me ... well I don't know if I am able to resist him. That body, the smile, the hair, the voice and I already know the personality. He is quite frankly adorable.

After the pleasantries were done, we were given the rest of the evening and day off. Dinner was in the buffet restaurant. Not a single dish was nice. And the macchiato that I ordered was ridiculously bad. It comes in a tall thin glass with 2 straws. I mean, this is a hot drink, mind you! Freaky!

And of all the bad luck, my gout is giving me a nightmare of all days! It hit me just now!

Going to rest, good nite!

(Copied & Pasted from MSWORD)

Dear Diary,

What a long and stressful day today was! I spent the first 4 hours happily enough doing the format of the budget followed by a really nice lunch at the canteen. So much for my diet again! I really have no discipline. Year in and year out, I bitched and supposedly diet but nothing works and I just get fatter and FATTER! I have a serious case of a weakness for food - almost all foods! I really need to just clamp down hard and be disciplined ... sigh ...

(View from the road of the resort and beyond - Seychelles is awesome!)

Anyway, the moment I reached the office, the swamp of work was unbelievable with phone calls, people dropping by and the annoyance of Ms Celine (not Dion!). Yes, I thought she was this pleasant elderly, large lady during the interview process and the slightly dumpy look I put it to cultural differences. But last Sunday before she started work should have been a warning already when I had to call her and let her know to start work on Wednesday. Why? Because she called me three times on the same day just to confirm with the last call coming at night!

(The preserved swamp)

True enough, that was how she really worked! She seemed to be oh-so-slow in her work and uncoordinated. On top of that, she is annoying always waltzing into my office even when the door is closed without knocking. If this continues ..........

(Ongoing building of the bridge to resort)

Then my new assistant who joined is really taking his full 1 hr and even an additional 30 min lunch break! I guess this is the bad habit of spending 20 years in China ... and now becoming like them! Worse case, he went home each day pretty much on time and doesn't come out after that except for meal breaks. That is so odd!

But hey, everyone is new yet. So let's see what happens in the days ahead. I will be energetic and try to see if I can get the whole team moving in the right direction - hopefully

[COPIED N PASTED FRM MSWORD]

Dear Diary,

Today is Sunday and what started as a beautiful day ended up in a pissing off type of day. Why? We had the psycho session today. That's what I called it. Psycho. Unfortunately the husband wanted to "do" me. It was generally fine until we got to a few personal issues which I felt he was way out of line

First up, he commented that I was young for my age. And he immediately attributed this to the fact that I am Asian. He is Indian but of Mauritian nationality. Is he not "Asian"? I told him if he really knew Asians, we have distinct racial descents. Indians, Malays and Chinese are vastly different. So how can he claim I am Asian? What does that even mean?

After a few minutes, he asked about my values. I requested him to clarify and he again said that because I am Asian he knows we are tight about family. I explained to him that in my case, I come from a family of travellers and migrants and so we are tight but not in that manner

Then he got slightly cheesed off when he tried to press me to say that there is a dichotomy in the way I said I try to be positive but I do have a short temper. I told him that it all depends on the scenario. If someone says they are perfect or whatever, it is just saying the right thing, not the truth. Everyone has their anger issues ... and the things that torqued them off, right?

I tested him towards the end by telling him I won't be there for his full blown team building session. He took the bait and immediately tried to muscle in on me to show his strength. When I couldn't be cowed, he asked who I have spoken to. Then he said he would discuss with Jean-Marc and like a really spoilt child, he used his clout to get his way. Of course I could have also threatened him back but I decided not to because now the ball is in my court and I can use it when there are delays etc subsequently to say that they placed their priorities wrong during this critical pre-opening phase!

But I did tell JMM off when he tried to force me to attend. I told him that if someone is not a team player right off the bat, 2 days of this session, will not change them unless they are like an empty bottle rattling until the first wave filled them up. If any of us are such a bottle, we shouldn't have been hired in the first place because pre-opening is not the place for such a person and it reflected badly on the person who hired. On top of that, we are all experienced expatriates. So we know what it is like to buckle down and keep work to work and not take anything personally!

So for me if I were to attend, the next 2 days will be a paid vacation

[COPIED & PASTED FROM MSWORD]

Dear Diary,

Well I just got back from a night on the town wherein I talked so much that I think I must have bored Michele from the software company, Sicorax! Hehehe! We went out around 7:00pm along with the Meds, Paymaster driving via La Misere to Beau Vallon. Dinner was at Coco D'Or but it was a disappointment on the hot dishes (buffet). Everything was salted ... salted shark, salted pork, salted fish, etc. And no lovely local salads and chutneys! Sigh!


After that we took a stroll to Coral Strand down the road and to the right and went via the beach before walking back through the hotel. It was lovely, not too cold with a nice breeze. Then we took a slow drive all the way back via Victoria and Anse Royale. To my surprise, Meds left the car at Les Canelle!

Okay. Now that the boring part is over and done with, let's get to the juicy bits! It's about the Brit Georgie girl. She came over to my office to borrow the car this morning. She said she was going to the airport. I asked if she was picking up someone and you should have seen her face. She was so uptight. She said she had some stuff (?). I thought she was referring to physical things. Anyway when she came back she gave me a receipt for fuel to claim! I asked what it was for and she said she put in some fuel. I said she would need to write the reasons on the form in order for it to be approved and reimbursed

Then I asked the Dust man, Mr Shelter for Depressed Chicks and he said she went to the airport to meet her ex who she supposedly dumped the last week and was supposed to have dumped a couple of weeks ago already! See? He is the shelter! Hahahahaha!

Apparently the ex was on his way to Mauritius for his home leave or some such. Well if they have broken up and he was going home to his WIFE, why the heck did she went to the trouble of being at the airport for him? Obviously it wasn't over yet at least emotionally and obviously she has feelings for him because the ball, in this instance, is in her court!

What a mess right? And she had the nerve to try and claim back the fuel for something that is personal in nature. Always have to be alert!

Ah well! Here's to life in Seychelles!