Thursday, September 15, 2005
Shower Caps and other "stuff"
Wow, I’m kind of amazed. Things really seem to be coming together here at the job site. Yes, there are still problems but the customer finally seems to have accepted the fact that there are some things that need to be done in certain ways and that there is no room to “negotiate” some quicker, easier method. After all, GE has built and supervised the construction of hundreds of these machines all over the world. I guess we kinda know what we are supposed to do and this is our customer’s first power plant construction project. It looks like my portion of this project will be over in within the next two months or so. They may be wanting me to do another project while I’m here that will add a couple weeks to my job. I’d like to be out of here by mid November but if it lasts a little longer…
I seem to be adjusting to the Indian culture. I’m not hollering at people as much. I’m still very aggravated that nothing is ever done as it is supposed to be done both on the job and at the hotel. Sometimes it’s little stuff and sometimes it’s big stuff but you can be sure that it will happen every day and night here in India. Some silly examples; I asked the desk at the hotel for change for 2 ea 500 ruppee bills into 5 ea 100’s and 10 ea 50’s. Not so hard a request… I got 9 ea 100’s, 1 ea 50, 1 ea 20 and 3 ea 10’s. Just a little later I asked for a bottle of vodka for my room. They brought me a bottle of some Indian wine. Every morning when I get up I go into the bathroom and throw away the shower cap. It takes up room on my small shelf and I certainly have no need for it. Every evening, they have fished it out of my trash and put it back on the shelf. After a while it became kind of a game and I marked it to see if they were doing as I suspected. Yep, they sure were. I cut it into four equal pieces, threw it back in the can and I think they finally got the message. We’ll see what happens over the next couple days. The bar downstairs knows I drink tonic water but it’s impossible to get them to purchase enough to keep it in stock although lately even that has gotten a little better. Going from a relatively big tipper (for this area anyway) to a no tipper seems to be the only thing they understand. Of course that only happens at the hotel, right? Nope, wrong… even at work the office boys that sweep and take out the trash want a tip or a “small gift”. Oh well, it’s a different culture and they have beat me down in many ways. I’ve begun to accept things I wouldn’t begin to tolerate anywhere else I’ve been. The other night I defrosted the small fridge in my room and let the water just run onto the floor. I took my towels and tried to clean the floors. Needless to say, they came up pretty black, I wonder what housekeeping thought the next day? Not that I really care… I could go on and on with this subject but I’m sure you’re bored enough by now…
Last night we went back to Himalaya. It was much nicer inside than in the special AC room from a few nights back. We had a good time. The food was good and it was plentiful. None of us went home hungry, that’s for sure.
I miss having Lael and Adam around. Everyone adds their own personality to the group and the more people the better. Lael had to go back to the US after Katrina went right though his home town and he won’t be back. Adam has been gone for a while on R&R but will be back in a few days. We all gave him small lists of things to bring back for us so we are looking forward to his return. We have a new addition, Michele, who is from Italy. He’ll be here for a couple weeks doing some training for the plant operations group and then he’ll be replaced by another trainer. As my job winds down there will be others who arrive to begin the actual commissioning, etc. for the plant to be turned over to the customer. Enough rambling for now.
I seem to be adjusting to the Indian culture. I’m not hollering at people as much. I’m still very aggravated that nothing is ever done as it is supposed to be done both on the job and at the hotel. Sometimes it’s little stuff and sometimes it’s big stuff but you can be sure that it will happen every day and night here in India. Some silly examples; I asked the desk at the hotel for change for 2 ea 500 ruppee bills into 5 ea 100’s and 10 ea 50’s. Not so hard a request… I got 9 ea 100’s, 1 ea 50, 1 ea 20 and 3 ea 10’s. Just a little later I asked for a bottle of vodka for my room. They brought me a bottle of some Indian wine. Every morning when I get up I go into the bathroom and throw away the shower cap. It takes up room on my small shelf and I certainly have no need for it. Every evening, they have fished it out of my trash and put it back on the shelf. After a while it became kind of a game and I marked it to see if they were doing as I suspected. Yep, they sure were. I cut it into four equal pieces, threw it back in the can and I think they finally got the message. We’ll see what happens over the next couple days. The bar downstairs knows I drink tonic water but it’s impossible to get them to purchase enough to keep it in stock although lately even that has gotten a little better. Going from a relatively big tipper (for this area anyway) to a no tipper seems to be the only thing they understand. Of course that only happens at the hotel, right? Nope, wrong… even at work the office boys that sweep and take out the trash want a tip or a “small gift”. Oh well, it’s a different culture and they have beat me down in many ways. I’ve begun to accept things I wouldn’t begin to tolerate anywhere else I’ve been. The other night I defrosted the small fridge in my room and let the water just run onto the floor. I took my towels and tried to clean the floors. Needless to say, they came up pretty black, I wonder what housekeeping thought the next day? Not that I really care… I could go on and on with this subject but I’m sure you’re bored enough by now…
Last night we went back to Himalaya. It was much nicer inside than in the special AC room from a few nights back. We had a good time. The food was good and it was plentiful. None of us went home hungry, that’s for sure.
I miss having Lael and Adam around. Everyone adds their own personality to the group and the more people the better. Lael had to go back to the US after Katrina went right though his home town and he won’t be back. Adam has been gone for a while on R&R but will be back in a few days. We all gave him small lists of things to bring back for us so we are looking forward to his return. We have a new addition, Michele, who is from Italy. He’ll be here for a couple weeks doing some training for the plant operations group and then he’ll be replaced by another trainer. As my job winds down there will be others who arrive to begin the actual commissioning, etc. for the plant to be turned over to the customer. Enough rambling for now.
