nous sommes tous hors de NORMAL

I have been trying to think of a way to explain last week. Essentially it all boiled down to first impressions.

It was very important for me to make a good first impression on my boss. Especially since she just returned from a conference with all my old coworkers and bosses and I knew they told her how lucky she was to have me. So I knew I had to fulfill these statements with actions that proved it.

Anyway, at the beginning of the job I jumped right on board to the middle of preparations for a huge "workout" where tons of doctors and engineers from our other global sites come to watch the doctor’s work on their software and evaluate it. So I had to make these tasks for them to complete on the software.

I won’t even discuss how challenging that became especially since it was soo last minute. (there was almost another post on the lack of time management skills in France, but I want to give them another shot before I conclude they are awful at it)

So I thought I printed out enough sheets for each doctor and I wasn’t even clear on the number of doctors coming and my boss was so busy all the time that, despite my efforts to corner her and go over my work, I couldn’t get to show her.

So I was going to try again early the morning before the event. But at the last minute I was put in charge of escorting the Budapest team (four young funny engineers) from the hotel (they stayed in the same one as me) to the site via the metro/scnr/shuttle etc. They hadn't been there before so I was to help them. Anyway, as nice as they were, they completely ignored the time situation. And I thought the French were bad, but clearly in Budapest, keeping to a schedule means nothing.

So this made me over 45 minutes late and of course I missed the opportunity to go over my work with my boss.

And so as you can imagine...by the time I showed up, my boss was in a complete Panic and it was all my fault. She couldn’t figure out my prints and she was rushing around and panicking IN French which I couldn’t understand. The Budapest team clearly saw my face and read how upset I was. I tried to help fix the situation but ended up just keeping quiet and letting her sort it out. Ahhhh. Anyway, when she finally talked to me, I felt awful and thought I let her down and it was only my first week. I actually excused myself to the bathroom and had a small cry. I couldn’t even believe I was crying because its only work and normally I didn't take work so strongly but maybe I was just homesick. Who knows?

I think the most difficult thing is that my boss is really such a terrific person in life and at work that its those type of people you hate to let down. She has done so much for me that I didn't want to disappoint her. So now I will just prove myself via some other way to make up for it. I hope she will see better work from me.

Anyway...in between the two days of this meeting were fabulous dinners and outings that I should mention. I am starting to see a bit of Paris! Thursday nite was this outing with just the engineers and I went along.

Usually it’s about 10 of them who go out often to a different bar and this time more than 20 people showed. I believe we took over the entire bar. I attempted to order a José cuervo margarita and was handed a glass with lemon juice and some extremely cheap tequila and about 3 gallons of triple sec. It was awful. So I asked around to coworkers and most of them agreed they have never seen Jose Cuervo in Paris before. So I'm not sure if they weren’t looking or really its not here. Also, triple sec should be banned as a mixer in general. I think it’s a scam. And bars should be given Contreiu (sp?) and/or grand mariner just for opening! But the group is really close and seem to enjoy each other both in and outside of work. This is a phenomenon I haven’t really experienced from my last job so it was very exciting.

Also, there is this cute German who I have met and been talking to. I haven’t quite put my finger on it but he reminds me of someone. He seems to me very much like the poet I dated and after that experience I would be cautious to again face this type of guy. He has so many personality traits like the poet. And I think he was being flirtatious but I can't really tell.

Actually the nite of the soiree, I started to feel quite sick (from the smoke I think) as well as nervous with the language barrier and couldn’t wait to get home. Plus I didn't want to miss the last metro home cause cab's here are difficult to find so I kinda rushed out but honestly, I need to learn the language. Even with people speaking English, in a crowded bar, with their French accents, it was near impossible to speak to people. The German actually had the easiest accent to understand but I was running out of stuff to talk about cause I was so tired.

So I rushed out, took verbal instructions on the location of the metro and somehow found it and somehow made the last one and somehow made it home! and somehow got enough sleep to be alive at work on friday. Today I am invited to another soiree of the boyfriend of the woman I met in the ATAC grocery store. I'm still debating whether or not to go.






Pic: Finally signed on the apartment! Here is one of THREE balcony views out the french doors....oh la la

Posted in: on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at at 2:21 AM