1) I just didn’t want to be in Paris this week. Sure, I scheduled the trip, but there were meetings beyond my control that I needed to attend (such as my former boss from North America being in town). And, it’s Gwen, Marissa & Julia’s last week in the London office, so I’m missing that. Plus, I’m here for the entire week (Mon morning train & Friday late afternoon return).
But, it was good for me to be here all week because
(a) I got 2 days here myself w/ only one other person from the London office here;
(b) Some of the people I had to meet won’t be available the later part of this week; and,
(c) Gives my week some continuity
2) The Metro line that goes to our office is like the B line in Boston – the destination is Saint Denis University so it is overly crowded and mostly not with business professionals, but rather sardine-packed with students and crazys.
3) I got my new “GDF” laptop (I put that in quotations because even though we are now GDF SUEZ, we all still talk in terms of GDF things and SUEZ things). And, we are in a former GDF building and have to deal with GDF IT rules.
My laptop complaints:
a. It is a much larger (i.e. heavier) HP laptop and will have to give up my trendy little Vaio upon my move in January.
b. All the software is in French. Sure, you think you know MS Office and all of its menu commands well, but trust me, you don’t.
c. It uses Lotus Notes email, with which I am familiar, and like more than Outlook, but again, it’s all in French
d. And, I have my new email address, but it is only viewable on this new laptop and they do NOT have webmail and they do NOT allow forwarding to another account. So if someone emails me at that account, I will only see it when I am in the Paris office
e. Most frustrating of all is it has a French keyboard aka “azert” instead of “qwert”. Try typing my name with this layout. It took me sooo long yesterday to do any work whatsoever.
f. It uses Windows 2000. Don’t laugh. Yes, it really does look antiquated. Supposedly next year we’ll be upgraded to Vista (is that really an upgrade?) and switch from Lotus to Outlook.
g. I don’t have access to the LNG Department folder in “My Computer” – you would think that would be a given, wouldn’t you?
4) There is actually office space set up for us in the Portfolio Management team (5 of us) but we are at the complete other end of the hall, in the hinter lands. How we’re supposed to interact with the Operations and Shipping teams is beyond me. What, are we just expected to wander down there and ‘hang out’? From my experience in North America, proximity is key because if these teams haven’t had Portfolio input before, they’re not going to remember to stop and walk down the hall to ask us. Makes the job that much more challenging, and not in a fun way.a. But, for someone who does like quiet, this location is good. However, for an introvert like me, it’s not that useful for job effectiveness
b. At least now I have a desk where I can leave stuff instead of lugging some of my things back and forth
5) Tea. I like to have a cuppa tea on my desk to sip on for a few hours. However, there is NO kitchen space in the Paris office. You cannot even bring in a kettle to plug in as brining in outside things to plug in is NOT allowed in big, giant, corporation land. Anyway, there is a little “coffee machine” out of which you get a really small cup of coffee / cappuccino / tea / hot chocolate / etc. All for 0.05 euros. It’s addictive – so cheap and the thrill is gone before you’ve started. The disgusting part, though, is the tea. You select the option without sugar yet what you get tastes like heated up Lipton tea from a can. When you’re finished, you can see the sugarwater at the bottom of the cup. Gross.
You may be thinking – what is her problem? Really, a laptop, a keyboard, a cup of tea…get a grip, right? Well, it’s these little things that add up to culture shock for me. Sure, I expect people to speak French, to not understand menus, to have to study maps, etc. but things like this that catch me off guard really put me off kilter! True, on my next trip here, I’ll be expecting them, but it’s still an adjustment. Really, this keyboard thing is troublesome!
3 comments:
It's been too long since I used Windows 2000 but with some googling you should be able to:
1. change the language of the machine, this should affect all the programs. It's in some control panel
2. change the keyboard layout to UK or US, this won't change the lettering on the keys, but the computer will know what you meant :). It's in the keyboard control panel, perhaps under input methods or something like that.
3. You should be able to setup a second email account in your mail program so at least you can see all your messages in one place. I've never used Lotus Notes and you're probably using an old version but still... Note that if you're going to access the same email account from two different client programs you want to use IMAP and not POP3.
OMG, just looking at that keyboard is giving me a headache. I don't know how you deal with that.
Megs, I totally feel your pain. With this whole move here, and still not being settled in the new place, things like stepping out of the shower and not having a mat under your feet for 6 weeks straight really add up and get on your last nerve. The tea thing would especially drive me crazy--I am also a big tea drinker, you know. Why in the world wouldn't they have a kettle? In this office, we don't have anything but paper cups, and I have forgotten, for 6 weeks straight, to buy and bring in a ceramic mug for myself. Obviously, this is very small peanuts compared to adjusting to life in Paris, but I definitely know what you mean, albeit in smaller terms!
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