Lox - Archived Entries for 2007 / 9

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Construction Workers: [Saturday 29th September]

I went to bed quite late yesterday and have a guess what happened today at around 8 in the morning? Some mononeuron construction workers started to power-drill the bleeding roof, making it impossible both to sleep and to shout at them.

Now I ask myself, ON A FUCKING SATURDAY AT 8 IN THE MORNING can't you just die or instead go and have yourself a wank!?

I hate construction workers. All week I have been waking up at 6.45, I was really looking forward to this weekend!

Anyways let's hope that tomorrow they will not work... :(
[2 comments]
Career Woes: [Monday 24th September]

Today after more than two months we managed to meet with the RPG group, as finally all of us are back from holidays and other various issues. We have lost one of the players, he decided that he wanted to start Uni again and the business due to the study brought him to cut one of his appointments.

In the evening I went dining at Simone's, and inevitably we got talking about work, as recently (but I feel I should say in recent months), things have gone a bit downhill for him as well.
In a way I see myself three years ago, Simone is quite proud of himself and tends to regard in a very high way his professional figure. If I didn't know him so well I'd probably think he's an arsehole, but in truth that's how he is.

Anyways, after five years of experience as a sales rep in a company that produces high tech medical equipment (though he doesn't like the idea that he is selling, he thinks he's more of a "support" guy to the medics, but that's another story), he is longing for a career move, more money, more responsibilities.
I think that this is quite ok, because he's good at what he does, he puts a lot into it and he's got the capacities to be better.

The problem is that apparently his boss doesn't seem keen in letting him "grow", or at least all the chances that he has had so far have been thwarted by bad luck, and apparently little action from his superior.

In a way I see myself some years ago, although the difference is that my superiors at that time did not shut their mouth and started promising a series of things that later never came true. At least Simone's boss doesn't do that, which I told him I considered a positive point.
On the other side Simone says that he needs to be stimulated and needs to see a possible reward (both money and position) in the future, because he feels that he's been there and bought the T-shirt already.
This is leading to a growing frustration and a general rebellious feeling, that is getting him to fight with his boss quite a lot.

I see myself some time ago, it seems that ages have passed but instead it's only a few years. I didn't have any special advice but looking for a new job, just to see how the market is and what it offers, probably his career in that company will not be dazzling and fast as he would like it to be.

On the other side we got talking about leading other people, because it's quite clear that this is what he is aspiring to.

We were talking about his colleague, same position as him, more or less same "weight" (if not bigger) on sales, but with a totally different behaviour. Simone dresses smartly, tries to talk in a very complicated way just to win respect and arguments with people that are a bit more "simple minded" (although he tried with us several times and he failed badly, just calling "shit", "recycled bodily by-product" doesn't make it smell any nicer.), he's a perfectionist, quite authoritarian.
On the other side his colleague is always open to a joke, he's much more relaxed and laid back, dresses much more casual (this is what he told me).

In his opinion he is much more fit to be a boss because "some people need to be told what to do" and he thinks that his attitude is better to retain the staff of command.

I used to agree. Then my experience in Ratti changed my mind, as you need to have authority and the ability to make unpopular decisions, but on the other side you also need to be "loved" or at least to have a glimpse of "general esteem" from the workers. You cannot keep a group of people only on the sheer authority factor (i.e. "I am your boss"), leadership must come from the base, imposing it from top is not always the best solution.
Not to speak about the atmosphere that you have in the workplace, constant tension is far worse than a relaxed place where every now and then you joke about things and have a laugh (but where every now and then things are said harshly).

[No comments]
Paris: [17th - 21st September]

The usual textile show took place also this year, and that meant that I had to take place to the usual fair near Charles de Gaulle hotel.

But this time rather than the usual ramble about the uselessness of these appointments I will talk about the fact that after a long time I felt quite at home in Paris.

Yes, it was probably because this time, in the attempt of saving a little money, Chiara's mother gently lent me their little apartment in the centre of Paris.
The area where it is situated is quite nice (Maret), and going back there every day after the fair really felt like going back home after a day's work.

Hotels sometimes are so lacking character...

Anyways I even managed to practice my crappy French, with mixed results.

1. While buying a "Pain au chocolat" I did my thing and asked nicely to the bakery staff, but she replied to me in ITALIAN (for god's sake!!!), completely ruining my appetite.

2. While asking for a light to a group of guys just outside the house one of them started speaking in French to me (AHA! Sign that I did a good job), I told them (in English) that I did not understand and he told me that he liked my strange accent... When I told Chiara about it she said that Maret is a very well known place for homosexuals. 'Nuff said.

3. At least I must look French. I have been stopped by countless people asking me for directions, shame for them that I barely knew myself where was I!!

Anyway the trip wasn't as bad as other ones, so now it's back to old Italian routine.

[3 comments]
Milan: [12th - 14th September 2007]

"Moda Unica" is the Italian textile fair that is held in Milan every six months, and as I did in the past six years I had to attend to it.

Generally speaking it's a great chance to meet friends from several companies, shake a couple hundred hands and see the new collections.
Workwise, as the Japanese market is so "late" in making decisions, both the fairs in Milan and Paris (next week) are quite useless, as the clients are not ready to make any choice yet, but it is viewed as an "event" to which anyone working in the field cannot miss.

I remember this to be a major point of argument with my previous employers who were happy to pay 200.000 euros just to "be there", even if it had no practical feedback (read: orders) or anything...

Anyways, Milan is as ugly as ever, I never really liked the city, probably because I never really lived there. The fair was boring, stressful and tiring, as usual.

The last day I even had to meet my boss, who this time decided that it was good to speak to me, at least the usual chit-chat idle talk that normally you do when a client is with you (and there was a client who's a great friend of mine there with him, so he could not be impolite).

Schedule in Paris will be harder, but it's a medicine that has to be taken...
[1 comment]
Dungeons & Dragons: [Wednesday 5th September]

Today I have read (and watched on Youtube) about the new version of Dungeons & Dragons, now arrived to the 4th edition.

I have been playing Role Playing Games for a long time now, it is more or less twenty years, and I still love them.
In Italy I think that our generation was the very first to stumble on this new type of games that came out in the '80, so far so good.

In the several videos that I managed to see, and in several movies that hinted to the RPG phenomenon that I have watched, I could not help noticing how in the US (and maybe UK too, although I did not feel it all that much when I was living there) the typical RPG player is considered a low life, devil worshipper, wimpy human being... A geek.

What strikes me is the fact that in the US it seems that this "common sense" of RPG players being worthy only of vivisection, is very strong. I have found lots of pages making fun of RPG players, and I wonder...

Well, it seems that geekness is now getting cool, probably because technology is becoming more and more integrated with our daily life. Think about mobile phones, how many people would spend lots of cash on the latest phone just to look cool? Wouldn't that apply to geekness in a way?
Still RPGs seems to have a lot of miles to walk, take Shrek the 3rd, they are put down there as well, in the movie that fights all "common senses"...

Oh well, if you played RPG have you ever been target of jokes and the likes for it?
[1 comment]

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