Every morning when I come to work, I pass by this sculpture that I swear looks familiar… but I can’t place it. On this last day of the week, it finally hits me. I think the model for this piece was sitting in the seat beside me on the flight from Chicago to Hong Kong! Must be from a scene in some Chinese twisted version of “The Wizard of Oz” or perhaps explains how the thong was originally invented. Anyway, I can tell you that passing this artwork sure makes for a light lunch.
It was a terrific week. I got tons of work done, became more familiar with the Hong Kong staff and hopefully provided some measure of reassurance after the recent staff actions. The place is amazingly quiet, and the staff wonderfully industrious. All that pent up socializing comes to the fore at lunch time when a gaggle of folks crowd around the one small table in the break room. The space is filled with delightful aromas, busy chopsticks and boisterous conversation.
I don’t agree with those that claim that the Hong Kong staff works longer hours. They do stay later, but workers also start one or two hours later than their colleagues in the USA. However, the combination of a miniscule number of meetings and far less chit-chat, would seem to help them spend their day more productively. I know I did, and that I will miss a lot!
With my reputation of axing people, I’m going to guess that they weren’t sorry to see me go though.
There is simply a ton of people in Hong Kong. It seems like as though everyone strives to control their individuality even when immersed in a sea of their countrymen. Most people walk to work shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of others, but intently listening to their Ipods trying to establish their pseudo-aloneness. On the way out, the Ipods are replaced with cell phones stuck to their ears, holding one-on-one conversations while bustling down the escalator. God forbid that you forget something at 9 AM or 6 PM, and turn to retrieve it. You’ll have an excellent sense of the challenge a salmon faces heading upstream to spawn.
I decided to do a little exploring by taking the Hong Kong subway. It is an extremely well organized system. You touch your destination on a map and the trip cost is automatically calculated. The ticket pops out after you deposit the appropriate change and off you go.
The trains are so full that people wait in a polite queue to be squished into the next car. When it’s apparent that the door won’t close if you step in, the front of the line simply halts quietly and awaits the next one. No shoving, dirty looks or cutting in line. Amazing!
When I eventually board, I grasp a handle and smile in a weird satisfaction that among this population I’m about average height. My nose isn’t pressed against some armpit and I can see pretty clearly up and down the train. These are my peeps!
It was a terrific week. I got tons of work done, became more familiar with the Hong Kong staff and hopefully provided some measure of reassurance after the recent staff actions. The place is amazingly quiet, and the staff wonderfully industrious. All that pent up socializing comes to the fore at lunch time when a gaggle of folks crowd around the one small table in the break room. The space is filled with delightful aromas, busy chopsticks and boisterous conversation.
I don’t agree with those that claim that the Hong Kong staff works longer hours. They do stay later, but workers also start one or two hours later than their colleagues in the USA. However, the combination of a miniscule number of meetings and far less chit-chat, would seem to help them spend their day more productively. I know I did, and that I will miss a lot!
With my reputation of axing people, I’m going to guess that they weren’t sorry to see me go though.
There is simply a ton of people in Hong Kong. It seems like as though everyone strives to control their individuality even when immersed in a sea of their countrymen. Most people walk to work shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of others, but intently listening to their Ipods trying to establish their pseudo-aloneness. On the way out, the Ipods are replaced with cell phones stuck to their ears, holding one-on-one conversations while bustling down the escalator. God forbid that you forget something at 9 AM or 6 PM, and turn to retrieve it. You’ll have an excellent sense of the challenge a salmon faces heading upstream to spawn.
I decided to do a little exploring by taking the Hong Kong subway. It is an extremely well organized system. You touch your destination on a map and the trip cost is automatically calculated. The ticket pops out after you deposit the appropriate change and off you go.
The trains are so full that people wait in a polite queue to be squished into the next car. When it’s apparent that the door won’t close if you step in, the front of the line simply halts quietly and awaits the next one. No shoving, dirty looks or cutting in line. Amazing!
When I eventually board, I grasp a handle and smile in a weird satisfaction that among this population I’m about average height. My nose isn’t pressed against some armpit and I can see pretty clearly up and down the train. These are my peeps!
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