Now the only other picture of animals I have from Goa is a blink-amd-you'd-miss-it-cos-they're-really-quick dolphin photo that my friend Jo took...
In our office here the other day a number of the contradictions of life in Mumbai really came out. This is the sort of place where:
....you spend loads of money on a fancy bathroom with a special shoe cleaning machine and a permanent attendant but put in the cheapest plastic pedal bins possible (think Wilkinsons)
...you lay expensive marble slabs at your new flagship office when you are only half way through building and continue to build on top of, over and next to said slabs, which then become cracked, scratched and generally in need of replacement before the building project is complete
...you have expensive swipe entry security doors and then employ a man to swipe people without badges through with no questions asked
...you have a lift attendant in every lift but only equip them with an old, cheap, dirty white garden chair to sit on
...people wearing one white glove (a bit Michael Jackson-esque) to place coasters on the new $20k table top before putting your drinks down
...it's ok to answer your mobile in a business meeting as long as you cover your mouth with your hand
...you employ 2 smartly dressed men to stand at the printer and bring you your printing
I think this is what is known as culture shock. I would be really interested to see the blog of an Indian person visiting an office in the UK to see what they thought was weird!
5 comments:
I can imagine all those people doing what, on the face of it, seems like unnecessary work, is quite overwhelming but - consider this - Yesterday we waited all day, from 9 am, for a service engineer (double glazing would you believe) who never turned up. Despite numerous phone calls (on our part) he was untraceable by the company and at 3.30 he was deemed to be "absent without leave". The company offer no compensation but can offer us another engineer to call at the end of April! The idea of too many people doing too few jobs seems quite attractive from here.
(grumpy of Caversham!)
PS Love the pig!
That's rubish - sounds like you need a new double glazing firm... At least you didn't take the day off work :-)
Any chnace of bringing a smartly dressed young man back for printing duties here? They moved our colour printer to the other side of the building (seriously) and its proving a bit of a drag
If I knew where 'here' was I would try and bring one back in my suitcase for you, whoever you are!
Many thanks for the pig picture Diane - I guess that you know from my musical tastes why I like pigs, or at least either their pictures or inflatable ones.....or perhaps it's because of the Chinese calendar?
Very interesting to hear how a society that has many people employed, presumably on very low wages, is adapting to their rapid "westernisation". Not to worry though; as India "developes" and wages get higher and companies have to make even more profit, the numbers employed in helpful duties will soon decline.
There used to be a time in this country when they had people employed to fill your car with petrol and, guess what, they even used to offer to clean your windscreen and top-up your oil! The sad thing for me is that I can remember those times.....
David
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