Work is going very well, the training has been received well and we have only lost a tiny amount of people. We are way ahead of target regarding the number of people we need which is one worry out of the way. The first part of the week was fairly painless. Reviewing the performance of the managers from last week, beginning to get processes in place for when we go live and dealing with weird and wonderful issues such as a manager calling herself "KitKat". This is one thing that is quite unique over here. People have nicknames and this is how they are addressed by their friends and colleagues. Another classic i heard this week was a young lad who called himself "Toxic". I'm not sure my bosses would be too pleased if this is the way we greet our customers when they call us! (anyone who wants to know why i think Toxic is part of his online gaming name).
As many of you may be aware the Philippines is a place where gay and cross gender people is commonplace. Again we have a slight issue in the fact we have a "John" who is in the process of becoming "Abby". Each to there own and all that but it does cause a slight issue with which name we use at work because customers on the phones like to know exactly who they are talking to! I think we are going with Abby :-). The first of our 5 expert process team arrived on wednesday morning. Emma travelled on her own so i went to the airport to pick her up with our hotel driver. Manila airport as you can imagine is not like the airports in the UK, it's quite disorganised and noone has a clue where they are meant to go. So i arrive at the airport just in time. The driver tells me that we pick people up from area "F". I was soon to find that area F was in exactly the same place as ABCDE and the place was just full of Filipinos waiting. There is a picture below of what it looked like. So baring in mind that the average person out here is probably a ft shorter than in the UK there i was stood in the middle of hundreds of 5FT people stood right in the middle. I'm sure you can imagine with my complexion and hair colour i stood out an absolute mile! There was certainly no need for me to stand with a big sign for Emma to see. It was kind of embarrassing. It's nice having a friendly face arrive and it was also nice showing the first of many around the local area and where to find essentials such as Starbucks and MCDS, this was me a couple of weeks ago.
Martin our transition manager left this week, it would have been rude not to have gone for one last drink in the La Verdi bar (The bar from the previous weekend). Martin is a local celebrity there and not only are we going to miss him being in the office doing the fantastic job he does but we will also miss his endless desire to socialise with the locals. So Sean, Emma, Martin and i had a few that night and it was sad to see him go. As always though the night didn't pass without something else crazy being seen. A girl joined us at our table, she was Martins friend and came to say goodbye. She brought her food over to the table too. People who know me know i like my food, but there was something about this dish that i hadn't seen before. "What are you eating there" i asked her as she chomped down on this chopped up mixture. The reply was not expected; "Pigs Face"..... Yes Pigs face is on the menu. I didn't even bother asking if she was telling the truth as i looked closer i could see a small ear on the plate. MMMMM! Those of you who would like to try this i have been told the cheek is the nicest cut from the face - I wish i was joking.
Thursday brought a trip to the supermarket. Chocolate stores brought from the UK had run out and it was about time i put some food into my fridge and cupboards. The market is literally a 10 minute walk away and although we have a driver i wasn't going to be that lazy so i walked. It must have been 31/32 degrees and just the walk there felt like a workout. There are pictures of the supermarket below. It was similar to the UK but obviously different brands and some of the well known brands were quite expensive. The meat is all just thrown into a big fridge in a huge pile. I'm sure its good, very edible stuff but you wouldn't see it like this in the UK. It is also your responsibility to make sure that the food is still in date. If it looks good you eat it, if you slip up and get food poisoning it would be your own fault. We shall wait to see how long i last before i mess that one up.
So having spent approx £40 i get to the till. 2 assistants immediately rushed to pack my food for me but it soon became clear that plastic bags don't exist here. My shopping was being put in a box, a second hand box which they reinforced with tape right in front of my eyes, baring in mind i had walked this could have gone very wrong. The assistant carried the box (which was almost the same size as him) to the door and asked me where my car was - i didn't have one, so i picked it up and started to walk in the blistering heat back to the hotel.
I approached the crossing at the road and by this time i had sweat dripping off my face, i was probably also getting sun burnt and my freckles were multiplying by the second but i could hear something to the side of me. There was a man on his hands an knees painting the curb of the pavement, he was looking at me in the eye and laughing out loud at me. This guy had a mini umbrella stuck to his head to guard him from the sun, ridiculous as that sounds he was still ruining me - i guess it was kind of funny.
Work came and went without too many issues. Apart from my laptop still being broken everything seems to be going according to plan - so far. We are now 3 weeks away until we officially begin. We are certainly on count down now. Below is a picture of the management team onsite. These people have been handpicked and are the best out here so lets hope everyone meets their expectations - Including me!
Friday came, this meant one thing.. drinks we in order in the evening. This time it was kept quite chilled, i cant say the same for one of our trainers (who will remain unnamed). Her whole training group went to the bar straight after work. She was still going into the early hours. A fatal mistake would be proved the next day as it was Beverleys birthday. Bev is one of the trainers from Middlesbrough so food and drinks were again in order.
We went to Sophia's resteraunt. It was very nice and sold every kind of food you can imagine. It was the first time i managed to hunt down a chicken Madras... i miss my curries! Below is a picture of us all. We are already saying its going to be a shame when the training has been completed and they leave. We have become like a family here and its made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.
Approximately £90 for 11 of us to eat starters and main including drinks tells you how much a good resteraunt costs over here and the quality was good. Especially the chicken wings you can see infront of me in the picture :-).
Down to La Verdi bar again where we had a table reserved especially to embarrass Bev on stage, only problem with this was that it seems she enjoyed the happy birthday songs and dancing instead of being embarrassed which was the plan. Sean decided that instead of buying everyone a tequila it would be more financially feasible to buy a whole bottle, so there it came, possibly the most disgusting straight there is in that bar and we had a whole bottle of it. No wonder everyone plucked up the courage to sing when the band stopped and Karaoke started. I am ashamed to say that this included me. The microphone was shoved into my hand and the words came up on the screen. "you are not alone" my Michael Jackson. Deary me one of my main personal objectives for the rest of this time here is to never, ever have that microphone in my hand again!
Once again it was a great night mixing with some of the locals and getting to know the team a little better. One question remains from this night. Where exactly did Jimmi go for that 20 minutes??? (people who are here will understand).
Another late night and several drinks meant it was again 7am ish when we got in local time. Straight to bed when i got in was a must and i was out for the count in seconds... unfortunately for me i didn't put my "do not disturb" on my door so the cleaner rang my doorbell 2 hours later. I was exhausted. What followed would only be done by me; I wasn't wearing too many clothes in bed (sorry if that offends people) so i walked with my eyes half closed towards the door. I didn't have the speed of mind in that state to grab a towel so instead i grabbed a hoody and tied it round me to cover the area noone should ever see. I opened the door and asked the cleaner to clean but to leave the bedroom. Without thinking i turned around and walked back to my bed. I lied down and i suddenly realised that by turning around i had just displayed by entire backside to that poor lad, i'm not sure i will be able to look at him straight in the morning!
Tomorrow sees the arrival of Mr Salter-Duke the one guy on the BT directory who beats my double Barrel. James Salter-Duke will become my new boss soon and its going to be great to meet him after several good conversations over the last few weeks. It will be good to have another UK manager on board to help make this place a success and i am sure there are lot of fun and exciting times ahead too!
Below are a few extra pictures mentioned plus couple more from this week. Week 3 starts tomorrow and i am already looking forward to seeing what this will bring.
Miss you all as ever
JLB
Finally well done to my bro on passing his driving test, look out everyone on the roads of Tiverton!
And well done to Jo for having a great report from the school inspectors, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
:-)
Those pictures get me all nostalgic!!
ReplyDelete*Wipes a tear from his eye..