WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE UNEDITED FOR EFFECT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. (at least it's not about poo)
I've clearly been watching too much Top Gear since I'm using the term "cock ups" to describe a mistake. Unfortunately, the only other term for what happened today is "COLOSSAL F**** UP" so "cock up" seemed like the best alternative option.
It also just occurred to me that it's 3pm here and I'm still awake. I guess waking up at 3:45am hasn't hurt me yet. Thanks for nothing jetlag.
Ok, back on track.
I woke up bright and early...
Actually no, that's not true, let me try again...
I woke up in the middle of the fricking night excited to start the day. My backpack was all ready to go with what I thought I would need (I haven't needed any of it yet), spruced up the apartment a bit so it didn't look like I was a total slob, and............................. logged in to do some work since it was 3 hours before breakfast was served.
I caught up on e-mails. Chatted with some friends on Gchat. Got asked about 8 times why I was up.....
Then finally went up for some breakfast and coffee. The little hotel is quite nice. It's not the biggest place in the world but perfectly adequate. I'll post some pictures later. I will have to in the next day or so after what happened soon after that is going to cut into my stay.
I took a nice hot shower, got dressed, and went down to catch my ride to the office. The driver had the address I provided so he confirmed it with me and we were off. A nerve rattling 10 minutes later we arrived and he dropped me off at the building with the big LINKEDIN sign. I thanked him, gave him 100 rupees ($1.62 US) and got out and he took off.
I walked inside and headed towards the elevator. Then I noticed the sign for LinkedIn was on the ground floor. Uh oh...
I knew from this photo album that there was a balcony. Office on the ground floor? Radioactive alarms going off in my head. So I walk around the ground floor, strangely aware that there is NOBODY here. There is an office for Yahoo right across the lobby. Nobody going in. It was 8:45am. SURELY someone is going to work at this time. I thought only American hi-tech workers arrived at 10. I find the door for LinkedIn and it's locked and all the lights are off. I start thinking "what day is it? Is it a holiday? Monday is a holiday in MV but I checked and it's not here. Where is everybody?" I call the number on the door for the lone security guard who was off somewhere. 5 minutes later he comes back and I tell him I'm from Mountain View, it's my first day in that office, where is everybody?
His reply: "They moved".
FUCK. <-- Sorry. This is unedited to try to remotely describe my train of thought at the time.
FUCK. <-- No. Not a typo. Again trying to put the enormity of the cock up into perspective.
How might have this happened? Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, I'm not going to point any fingers but it's Stefani's fault. :)
When I accepted the assignment, Stef offered to help with some of the logistics including sending me the business address of LinkedIn she used for her Visa application, etc. The ONLY problem is between the time when she was here in November and now, LINKEDIN MOVED.
The nice little security man gave me a fortune cookie fortune sized piece of paper with the new address on it. I looked at it and didn't recognize it AT.ALL. I had never seen that address before in my life. So I asked him "How far?"
He looked at me, thought about it for a second and replied "7-8 kilometers." (it wasn't 7-8 kilometers)
FUCK.
My ride already took off. I had no idea where this new complex was. No idea where to catch a cab. No phone numbers to call.
So I started walking. Back down the road of the Bagmane Technology Park. A few thousand cars passing me. A few hundred people walking. There I was the lone person walking in that direction. I passed Juniper Networks, Texas Instruments, Intuit. I stopped at every security station and asked if they knew where I could catch a cab. They all said no. I asked a Tuk-Tuk driver. He said no. I asked a shuttle car service. He said no. So I kept walking. Number of seconds til I'm over this shit and ready to go back to the hotel (less than 60). 1.8 miles later (thank you Lisa for the FitBit) I found a taxi station with a few taxis with drivers taking naps. I asked one. He said he didn't know the location. I asked another and he said "I know it sir." "Can you take me there?". "Yes sir". So I got in. It was 9am.
India Traffic.
It's mental. People have MAD skills here. I honestly cannot believe cars aren't bouncing off each other. I'll take a video the next chance I get when my eyes are actually open and I'm not holding on for dear life. Here's a map to show how far off I was. A is my hotel. B is the old office and C is the new. By the way, that's 18 kilometers.
18 kilometers at 9am India traffic meant I got to the new office at 10:30am. Way to make a great impression Chan. Show up an hour and a half later than I wanted to.
On the plus side, the team here is amazing. They are all friendly and helpful and they all laughed and said "ohhh shittttt" when I told them why I was late.
Once I got settled I e-mailed the relocation vendor to see if there are other housing options that are closer and thankfully there are so I'll check back in soon with an update on that.
I also e-mailed my hotel since they arranged to pick me up from the old office and return me to the hotel so I had to give them the new address or else I'd be stuck here too.
Speaking of which I just got the email confirmation that the driver will pick me up here. Unfortunately that means 18 more kilometers of fear to get back home.
Did I mention that the office DOES have a balcony. 4 actually.
I've clearly been watching too much Top Gear since I'm using the term "cock ups" to describe a mistake. Unfortunately, the only other term for what happened today is "COLOSSAL F**** UP" so "cock up" seemed like the best alternative option.
It also just occurred to me that it's 3pm here and I'm still awake. I guess waking up at 3:45am hasn't hurt me yet. Thanks for nothing jetlag.
Ok, back on track.
I woke up bright and early...
Actually no, that's not true, let me try again...
I woke up in the middle of the fricking night excited to start the day. My backpack was all ready to go with what I thought I would need (I haven't needed any of it yet), spruced up the apartment a bit so it didn't look like I was a total slob, and............................. logged in to do some work since it was 3 hours before breakfast was served.
I caught up on e-mails. Chatted with some friends on Gchat. Got asked about 8 times why I was up.....
Then finally went up for some breakfast and coffee. The little hotel is quite nice. It's not the biggest place in the world but perfectly adequate. I'll post some pictures later. I will have to in the next day or so after what happened soon after that is going to cut into my stay.
I took a nice hot shower, got dressed, and went down to catch my ride to the office. The driver had the address I provided so he confirmed it with me and we were off. A nerve rattling 10 minutes later we arrived and he dropped me off at the building with the big LINKEDIN sign. I thanked him, gave him 100 rupees ($1.62 US) and got out and he took off.
I walked inside and headed towards the elevator. Then I noticed the sign for LinkedIn was on the ground floor. Uh oh...
I knew from this photo album that there was a balcony. Office on the ground floor? Radioactive alarms going off in my head. So I walk around the ground floor, strangely aware that there is NOBODY here. There is an office for Yahoo right across the lobby. Nobody going in. It was 8:45am. SURELY someone is going to work at this time. I thought only American hi-tech workers arrived at 10. I find the door for LinkedIn and it's locked and all the lights are off. I start thinking "what day is it? Is it a holiday? Monday is a holiday in MV but I checked and it's not here. Where is everybody?" I call the number on the door for the lone security guard who was off somewhere. 5 minutes later he comes back and I tell him I'm from Mountain View, it's my first day in that office, where is everybody?
His reply: "They moved".
FUCK. <-- Sorry. This is unedited to try to remotely describe my train of thought at the time.
FUCK. <-- No. Not a typo. Again trying to put the enormity of the cock up into perspective.
How might have this happened? Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, I'm not going to point any fingers but it's Stefani's fault. :)
When I accepted the assignment, Stef offered to help with some of the logistics including sending me the business address of LinkedIn she used for her Visa application, etc. The ONLY problem is between the time when she was here in November and now, LINKEDIN MOVED.
The nice little security man gave me a fortune cookie fortune sized piece of paper with the new address on it. I looked at it and didn't recognize it AT.ALL. I had never seen that address before in my life. So I asked him "How far?"
He looked at me, thought about it for a second and replied "7-8 kilometers." (it wasn't 7-8 kilometers)
FUCK.
My ride already took off. I had no idea where this new complex was. No idea where to catch a cab. No phone numbers to call.
So I started walking. Back down the road of the Bagmane Technology Park. A few thousand cars passing me. A few hundred people walking. There I was the lone person walking in that direction. I passed Juniper Networks, Texas Instruments, Intuit. I stopped at every security station and asked if they knew where I could catch a cab. They all said no. I asked a Tuk-Tuk driver. He said no. I asked a shuttle car service. He said no. So I kept walking. Number of seconds til I'm over this shit and ready to go back to the hotel (less than 60). 1.8 miles later (thank you Lisa for the FitBit) I found a taxi station with a few taxis with drivers taking naps. I asked one. He said he didn't know the location. I asked another and he said "I know it sir." "Can you take me there?". "Yes sir". So I got in. It was 9am.
India Traffic.
It's mental. People have MAD skills here. I honestly cannot believe cars aren't bouncing off each other. I'll take a video the next chance I get when my eyes are actually open and I'm not holding on for dear life. Here's a map to show how far off I was. A is my hotel. B is the old office and C is the new. By the way, that's 18 kilometers.
On the plus side, the team here is amazing. They are all friendly and helpful and they all laughed and said "ohhh shittttt" when I told them why I was late.
Once I got settled I e-mailed the relocation vendor to see if there are other housing options that are closer and thankfully there are so I'll check back in soon with an update on that.
I also e-mailed my hotel since they arranged to pick me up from the old office and return me to the hotel so I had to give them the new address or else I'd be stuck here too.
Speaking of which I just got the email confirmation that the driver will pick me up here. Unfortunately that means 18 more kilometers of fear to get back home.
Did I mention that the office DOES have a balcony. 4 actually.
Such a great experience, feeling lost in a foreign land, not knowing where the hell you're going and asking people for help. I wanna hear your experiences and see pictures of you trying the street food and taking their herbal remedies to control the I.B.S. you get from the food. Also you might wanna get rid of that india map backdrop, it's hard to read the text. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteAlso, happy belated Birthday. **Hugs**
ReplyDelete