I was sitting in my local pub last Friday night enjoying a routine night chatting with friends and listening to a couple of rather proficient guys play a live acoustic set, and suddenly noticed that everyone entering the tavern was shaking snow off their heads and shoulders; the first snow of the season!
It wasn’t just a fluffy pile of flakes, initially. In fact, some of us thought it was hail. It was actually snowing “buckets,” and was really coming down. The storm didn’t last all that long, though. A bit later, I went outside for a few minutes to sort of take advantage of the piece and quiet. I always enjoy the silence a snowfall brings, and was thinking to myself how absolutely nice my little corner of Bornheim happens to be, when BAM, I got hit in the head with a rather large snowball that Marc had just thrown at me. I laughed as I shook snow off myself, and did that little “whoo!” thing that you have to do when snow gets inside your collar and goes down your back.
Quite the way to be brought back to reality.
It’s been a few months of these kinds of moments for me recently, though without the snow. I am always aware that my job is one where you can never quite settle down and relax. There’s always another challenge or problem lurking around the corner, and while I certainly feel more prepared to address these “delights” in the workplace, I certainly wouldn’t be offended if we’d have a few more moments of calm and stability.
A new Geschäftsführer started working with us about a month ago. I welcome his presence, as it’s the start we need in order to bring stability back into the workplace. On the other hand, he’s got a lot to do in a short amount of time, so he’s having to get up to speed very quickly. We do get along, so far, which is promising. Additionally, he’s got a plan, which I find to be most comforting.
How effective will this plan be?
That remains to be seen. Recent events in the economy aren’t making the laptop repair industry particularly easy to operate in. And, my company seems to be pretty good at making things complicated without the help of an ailing economy, anyway.
While all of you are celebrating Thanksgiving, I’ll be doing a physical inventory of all of the spare parts in our repair center. Then, immediately after that, I’ll try to squeeze one or two business reviews in with my customers. It’s not yet determined where or when these meetings will occur, but it always seems to be like this in the last month of the year. Everyone runs about trying to do all the stuff they didn’t get completed during the other 11 months of the year, then we take a few days off to celebrate Christmas, then we start the whole process all over again.
I’m not complaining (though there are a few words I might otherwise use to describe the circumstances if it weren’t for the fact that small children might read this), just simply relating the facts as they relate to never a dull moment European repair logistics.
A quick word about the German reaction to the US election. I would say that the over all reaction is rather positive, though it took me several tries to truly explain just how the electoral college works, etc. My sources for world news tend to come from international English press as opposed to German newspapers, etc. However, I did find myself discussing the election regularly throughout the last couple of months with various friends and colleagues. Most are always interested to find that I come from Texas, and though I believe I’ve mentioned this once or twice before, it never ceases to amaze me that they immediately say something to the effect of, “EEEWW! Bush comes from there!”
“Fair point,” I often reply. Then, depending on the nature of the other person, I’ll decide whether or not to really try to defend myself. Only once have I had to remind them about their own history and one Charlie Chaplin look-alike (or at least the haircut and silly moustache). That’s really playing out of bounds as far as I’m concerned. All countries have their moments where they weren’t quite at their best.
We will have to see where things go come January. I think that most Germans are a bit skeptic. How can one guy change the world considering the state it’s in?
We’ve got to start somewhere, eh?
We had another nice snowfall on Sunday evening, and I brushed a few flakes off my coat as I got on the bus after work this evening. Thus, I’m going to sign of and head off in search of Marc. I believe he’s due for a snowball fight.
keep the faith
Bryan
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