Screwed!

I am supposed to be taking over from another person who left RBS as on friday, which is yesterday. He has 23 years of work experience and seems like a pro. He was handling 4 different projects and was finding it difficult to manage!!! :)

For the past two days i have been sitting with him and trying to understand whats going on and what work i need to do and let me tell you i am still at sea out here.

He left on Friday not for home but for FLORIDA, USA for 3 weeks. Well that makes it convenient now i know for sure that if i have any doubts then this guy is not going to be available on phone or on mail! Amazing i tell you!

Yesterday it was all back to back meetings with every free minute spent in my handover, which meant that no lunch for me and i have been reassured that it was just another normal day!!! I had infact come in early at around 8:30, so that i could do some catch up before the day started. Early did i say? Well my boss comes in at 7 AM!!! Is he HUMAN? People normally come in at 8 AM and they try to leave when their work is finished which could be 9 in the night or 3 in the afternoon as long as the work is completed. Sounds good in theory wonder how it works in practice.

I am the only Asian origin person on the team and by the looks of it on the floor. Its kind of hard to pick up scottish accent, while i am struggling with the accent, i also have to learn the slangs that they use and what they mean by it, so most of the times i am blank. Now if that wasnt fun enough, i learnt that i need to attend my meetings on audio and not in the meeting rooms, since going to rooms and coming out is considered a waste of time and people here seem to leave their desk only in case of a heart attack. While i was reasonably managing communication with a blend of lip reading, expression reading and pure guess work i am in future to be crippled to the extent of only VOICE. Dear god!!

At different points in the day my mind goes - "Jeena yahan marna yahan iske siva jaana kahan"

I also have had immense respect for my father who with a south indian interior village education and upbringing managed to fight his way and be well settled-in, first Mumbai and then Dubai and then from there on different parts of Europe and even Hong kong. Dad hats off, i just hope i manage at least a decimal percentage of your success in blending with different cultures, different people and your work life success.