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!
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