India was... painful.
I -
1) Had the misfortune to sit next to a construction worker who slept with his bare feet stepping on my handbag under the seat and elbowed my ribs while he slept.
2) Got left alone in the cab in the middle of a dark construction area while the driver disappeared without explanation behind a few shadowy trailers, with beggars crowding the taxi tapping the windows asking for money. At midnight.
3) Freaked out when the taxi driver stopped to ask for directions four times ("How can you NOT know the Four Seasons?! It's the FOUR SEASONS!!!") and seemingly drove past it without noticing while I was screaming "It's here! You passed it on your left! Make a u turn!!"
4) Thought I could heave a sigh of relief when I stepped into Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji airport for my return flight but instead sat in the restroom for the next 2 hours suffering from the unfortunate effects of food poisoning.
And all because I drank bottled water not from Perrier or Evian but from a brand named 'A-nu', or 'A-No'. Whatever. At least I managed to have foie gras chawanmushi at the hotel restaurant before the driver took me to the airport.
----------------------
Back in civilization for awhile. Travelling takes a toll - I realize I've been travelling almost every month since I started this job. Maybe no travelling in October, but November and December are full of trips.
Mouse said I have a very nice job when we met for dinner yesterday to debate whether she should quit her job to take up a new one at an investment bank.
Nice. Hmm. Bit hard to think of it that way when your day is pressure-filled and tracks the ups and downs of the freaking stockmarket.
730am morning meeting - Why is this company this way? Why, why, why? And guess who has to answer calmly. :)
10am - Call with client who is worried about the recent share price
1130am - Get in the car for a 45-minute drive to Klang to visit a company
2pm - Get on a conference call with internal staff, while still in the company's premises
3pm - Back to office, start writing a report
5pm - Another call with another client
6pm - Client call number 3
7pm - Have McDonald's at desk with co-worker who sits and stares silently at the Bloomberg screen with feet propped up next to the machine; if he could will the CPO price to tank by watching it, he probably would have sat there the entire night
8-10:30pm - Finalize report, submit to editing team in India and USA
1am - Monitor editing progress on our workflow program from home
4am - Report approved
10am - I wake up and check the report and realize somebody made some editing mistakes. Send an email out trying to hold back the report from publishing.
That's my 24 hours they pay me for. I hope yours is better.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment