This scene is vaguely familiar. Sitting in front of my computer at work blogging because The Boss is away for the week. Except he's not completely away, he's still in town, and had already paid us an unexpected visit at 10:30am this morning. He walked through the front door dressed in an unfamiliar green parka with an orange cap. I thought he was the electrician or something. We were all standing near the front desk bitching about work, only one of us recognized him and she walked up front to greet him. But as she approached him he was already walking towards us and caught us in the middle of discussion. Luckily we were weren't saying too much.
There's a heavy tension in the air between the staff and The Boss. I can sense the day approaching when he's going to get rained on by all of us. It's already happening, one member at a time, by the two bravest (most confrontational) one's, of course. So far, I just sit back and listen to their triumphant stories and wish I had the nerves to step up and give him a piece of my mind. Except I need to formulate my thoughts thoroughly before I step in there and get fired or end up quitting myself.
Listening to all the bickering is probably one of the best learned lessons for myself. At some point I will become The Boss and I only hope the bitching that goes on behind my back will not be as intense. I'm not ignorant to the fact that this sort of office gossip does happen and there will be several occasions when I will be disliked. But this environment sure doesn't shed light on how to keep your staff happy.
Anyhow, to brighter things. I drove down to Irvine to visit some cousins from Taiwan. A 6 hour drive through 152 and I5. 152 was really nice. I5 was boring as usual. If you stole a car on I5 with THE CLUB on it, you can probably drive pretty far on that straight road. To make that road worse, there was heavy fog that slowed traffic down from 100mph to 50mph. It's those drivers who think their fast (driving on the fast lane) that blocks up all the traffic. oh wait, brighter subjects..... it was nice seeing my two not so little cousins again. 18 and 19 with make up on and shopping for V-neck sweaters that drop down to their belly. The sweater was made of light see through cashmere. "What do you wear underneath that?", "nothing" replied the 18 years old, with eyes wide not understanding the point of my question. Fine.
For dinner we went to this really good Japanese restaurant, newly opened by two chefs who branched off on their own. We ordered loads of Sashimi and bottles of cold Sake. Damn, those girls can shop AND drink. Then again, anyone can out drink me. The following night their mom calls me asking me to remind her girls to "study hard" "behave", the typical chinese stuff. I was actually thinking how nice it is that they've finally caught up to age and can "play" with the rest of us.
4 comments:
OK that post made me LOL twice. Driving with a club on and the V neck sweater to their bellies. What is it exactly that your boss does that inspires all the gossip? I think part of being a good manager is making yourself part of the in-crowd with your employees without overstepping borders of professionalism.
I absolutely agree with Van: it's a tough balancing act to be chummy with the subords, while still maintaining that professionalism of hierarchy. I'd like to think I was able to balance decently in my short stint.
And yes, it's true that anyone can outdrink you. Even monks. The kind that don't drink. Heck, even Ray can. :D
Does that mean that you gave your underage cousin's alcohol in the States? Haha...not a big deal cause I'm sure we all do that with our relatives...but i'm glad they had fun drinking with you.
first of all - what CHIU girls CANNOT drink? oh, ya, YOU. we were trained to drink. we'll all end up like grandpa! HA! I'll be the first one.
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