There'll be no plugging for the Phoenix this week

This morning, I climbed the tiles stairs up to the roof where I have
been managing the construction of the Phoenix bar. It was a stunning
spring day in Shanghai - bright blue sky, sun and crisp air. I spent a
few private moments enjoying the feeling of being almost there. Almost
everything is ready and I am excited about actually opening. We have
fridges, drinks, all manner of glasses, a coffee machine, a sound
system, tables - chairs and sofas are being delivered on Wednesday. We
are almost there and I was very happy.

That is, I was until around 3pm this afternoon. At 3pm I decided to
plug in the coffee machine and have a go at brewing a cup. It's quite
a different machine from the ones I have used before and it's second
hand and without an instruction book. I figured I would figure it out.
I avoided pitfall number one and plugged it in. Sadly, I did not avoid
pitfall number two, making sure the plug socket was connected to an
electricity supply! My beautiful bar was designed with 10 sockets, 4
behind the bar, 2 for the airconditioning and the rest strategically
placed for guests' laptops so they can make use of the free wireless
access. It seems our builders assumed that I had put the plug sockets
on the plans for decoration and not actually to use them. Three
sockets are actual sockets, the other seven are just the white plastic
fascia stuck onto the beautiful brickwork that runs half way up the
wall. Gutted. Did I learn nothing from the "flat floor" issue. Of
course, if I had wanted plug sockets that were actually connected to
an electricity supply, I should have said so in the first place.

The Nag's Head

During the last week, I reached my stress threshold. It sneaked up on
me and all of a sudden, it was too much. When I first arrived at work
I asked for a phone, fax machine and a printer to be put in my office.
None of these things materialised.

Every day my list of requests grew and still nothing was done. I
started to suspect my colleagues of sabotage. Naturally my role at
work means a lot of change for them, lots more work for them and
perhaps they are not so happy about this. Even my most basic requests
were ignored - a wastepaper basket please, a new screw to fix the
broken lock, a roll of sticky tape. I spent an hour each day repeating
my lists of requests and being as polite as possible - but feeling
like a total nag.

My thirteen hour working days are starting to show and by last
Wednesday, I was reduced to tears.

On Thursday, my manager called a meeting with the staff to find out
what the problems were. I was so worried - would they be honest and
say my Chinese is too poor ad they can't understand a word I say?
Would they plead ignorance? Would they continue to be so unhelpful?
No. One of the restaurant managers scratched his head and looked on
bewildered before saying:

"Freya only asked us once every day so we didn't think she really
meant that she needed those things"

I now make every request 5 times every day - I still feel like a nag,
but at least I have a phone in my office!