We had a great time at the “It’s Just Another (Spring) Working Day Celebration” on Monday. Naturally, management feedback did not equate to feedback from the floor. The actual people who make the company run had nothing but praise for the event. Feedback from management was along the lines of:
Customer Care Director: But why didn't you include the
Customer Care centre?
Me: Because I don't work there.
CEO: Well the pizza is nice but I don't think anyone
really appreciates plastic flowers. I personally like company picnics.
Me: Perhaps, but your office is downstairs and I am up here. And Mme Shadia
and I heard lots of nice comments. How about if you go and ask around a bit. I'd
be really interested in the responses you get. Picnics are nice too. (Yawn,
done that.)
CFO: Some of the flowers are nice but some of them are pretty cheesy.
Me: Nope, the pizza is cheesy. The flowers are plastic. Get it right, willya!
CFO: Huh? (Ahh, the Irish. Gotta love them.)
None of the criticizers saw the people taking pictures of each other amidst the flowers, and none of them heard the dozens of thank you’s from the people on the floor.
Some of the Flowers Ready for Distribution
The very next day, great excitement occurred in the office when a small bat spent the morning flying to and fro on the third floor. It spent a small amount of time in my office, leaving only, no doubt, because I try to keep my office around 18 degrees. Poor Mme. Shadia was very nervous but she had to be brave since she just received a new title of Project Coordination Manager. I was thinking about bestowing Project Management Supervisor on her, but if anyone caught onto the initials, I’d be toast. Anyway, the poor creature (the bat, that is) was finally cornered in the kitchen where it was stunned by a rolled-up-AsiaCell-poster wielding Mr. Zardasht. The hero at large transported the tiny carcass to a shaded spot outside, where I hope it has survived to terrorize everyone yet another day.
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Hanging Out |
Capture Technique |
Bat Attack |
Just Stunned? |
The chaos in the project continues to deepen. Changing to a new CEO has done little to energise things to date. The trend toward Arab expats continues with many new faces coming aboard over the next few weeks. There are two major reasons for this move. First, the company is in dire fiscal straights. Sales have not kept up to estimates, due mostly to a very slow network build. Cities like Mosul and Erbil are difficult to build into. The population is less Kurdish than Sulaymaniya. The “Kurdish-ness” of our company leads to little acceptance in non-Kurdish areas. The Arabic expats will take a 2-year contract for a monthly wage that is less than my weekly wage. The other reason to hire the Arabic folks is that they can move around with a lot more freedom than we blue-eyed, light-skinned people. This saves a lot of money in security costs, something other companies spend millions on.
So, with all these new hotshots coming aboard, why, I ask
myself, is our CEO sending little old me to Baghdad in a couple of days to
negotiate contracts with other phone companies? I think it is a stupid
idea not the best use of his resources. I have a ton of work to do
here, and that certainly does not fit (well) into my job description. It turns
out that some months ago, the previous CEO and the Chairman of the Board took on
the responsibility, but as in many other cases, this was left undone and I get
to pick up the slack. With five weeks left in my contract, Baghdad is not the
place I want to be, even for a night. Heather agrees.
In Mosul, we have a useless security department. It consists of one guy. I think he is the son of a friend of a board member. For months, the technical people have been clamoring for for a report based on information from the Coalition Provisional Authority, the local police, and the army on a daily basis. Now, usually in late afternoon, we get a report like this:
Hi yesterday there was an explosione at 7:30pm three civilian were injurd in aldawasa area but not close to the exchange ,Today a bombed car have been captured inside mousel no news about the other 3 cars ,Almasaref road is restricted according to our security source,there was a light fighting in the mentioned road last night. wish you all a good day
Kind of helps with the go/no go decision process, wouldn’t you say?
I know many of you have been clamoring to see my office and my room in the Palace Hotel. OK, here are a couple of pictures, but don't expect much. As digs go, for Iraq, they are pretty posh places. All I can say is if the basement looked like this, my darling wife would not let me come upstairs until things changed a great deal for the better.
And, of course, how could anyone call this newsy page complete without a picture of my very own, personal workspace. That is a pizza box you see in the garbage can. It was left over from the “It’s Just Another (Spring) Working Day Celebration” and if you think that I arranged the celebration only as an excuse to eat a pizza, you are wrong... but just barely.
Our CEO is leaving on another trip in a week. He has told me he will make a decision on my future before he goes. I have not told him that I do not want an extension. I don’t want to burn any bridges. He has offered our HR Director an extended contract if the agency will release him at limited cost, and a deal on salary is offered. I would not begin to entertain that type of offer. I am guaranteed timely payment by the agency, and my future does not lie within this operation. The mother company offered me a position in Dubai a couple of months ago, but when I asked them about starting dates, they seemed to pull back and told me they would let me know soon and “not keep me hanging”. Well that was 3 weeks ago and nothing heard to date. I am not pushing them, though. Based on current events, the Middle East is not a very attractive option right now.
Other opportunities will arise but my focus is on getting out of here safely and getting home to take a trip with my family.
Yes it is!
Steve
