Week of 2/25/2008

Not sure what else I did that first week. I know I went to work. I had to set up stuff like settings on my computer, etc. Get use to what I am suppose to be doing since it is different than what I do in the States. Fill out the lunch preferences spreadsheet...that was interesting, trying to read the menus and figuring out what it really means (yeah it was English but that's not very helpful here). My body was still use to getting up early and going into work early so I was waking up at 6:30 am each morning...not to say that I was getting out of bed at that time...just waking up :) I would stay in bed and go back to sleep.

The only other major thing I can think of is Friday treats. So in India they are required to go to the office on Saturday. They mostly do training. Well when Brian was here he would tell them Happy Friday because the weekend was coming, sort of like we do in the States. I think the India staff got a kick out of this. Oh and at that time they were still Hi-Tech employees that worked specifically for KJWW. So anyways some how Friday treats were born. Brian would bring treats on Friday for the staff...I am pretty sure this was not every week but....So then Mike came to be the on-site mentor. I am pretty sure he either felt bad or got talked into bringing treats every week. Granted I am pretty sure they were small chocolates about the size of Tootsie roll and they are cheaper here but...Then Rob came and I am pretty sure he kept it up. Now I was told about Friday treats repeatedly in the States by some India staff...they just wanted to make sure I had heard about them...The US staff here also told me about them in warning. Both Steve and Jason had fallen into doing Friday treats every week.

Those of you who know me well will have already guessed what happened. But I will tell you all anyways. I thought it was ridiculous that Friday treats was every week. I also did not like that it seemed to me that the staff EXPECTED Friday treats every week. So I decided to break the trend. And my first week in the office I didn't bring Friday treats. I mentioned my intentions to the US staff. They gave me a look of "oh my gosh" and surprise. I guess I could sort of understand. I mean it's not like it's that expensive but...Well then I decided I should warn Rohini and Vevaik, the mech team leaders, so that they didn't get the backlash. They thought it was a great idea to stop Friday treats every week and supported my decision...this surprised me but made me glad. I told them I would bring in treats once in a while, just not every week. I think they might have warned the staff, they said they didn't but...

So Friday rolls around and second shift is starting to arrive. The staff keeps saying Happy Friday. I forget who but someone asked me about Friday treats and I said that I didn't bring any. I think they gave me some leeway since it was my first week. They probably assumed that I hadn't had time to get any. Well the next week when I didn't bring any they figured it out :) But there hasn't been any major backlash which is good.

I guess the other good things were the cable got fixed so I could watch TV if I got the chance and the newspaper got delivered to the apartment again. Someone had stopped it but I thought it would be nice to get to look through. I do actually read some articles unlike in the States where I don't read the newspaper or watch the news.