Happy Birthday, Lidiette !

Today is the birthday of a good friend of mine, someone who has helped me so much in my laboral life you can't even imagine. I have no idea how old is she becoming now, and I bet there will be no way in the universe to ever know that. Naturally, I won't publish my suspitions about her age in here. I would never do that to a friend. ^_^ She works at the Bank where I worked before working at the company I'm working now. It was my first "real life job". I met her when I was a teller, which was my very first job at the bank. It was a stressful place, but damned, it had the best work environment I have ever experienced.

It was after my experience at the tellers and then moving up to credit analysis (loans, mortgage and so), and then finally moving to the telecom where I work now, into positions more related with my career (or so they say), that I started realizing that the better the wage and the job conditions the bitchier the lousier the coworkers are. Particularly at allegedly stable environments such as the Government. And well, the more people has to lose, the more they know they have done nothing to earn the place they have, the more they make of the work environment a snake pit of a shark pool, to get rid of others, regardless if they are good or not, so they don't have to share their secluded "haven" of abundance. Naturally, if you are good at what you do, and a responsible worker on top of that, you become the menace the "League" must exterminate. Yes, good, smart people are a weed that must be ripped out of the work-lawn and kept out.

My friend, Li, is one of those exceptional people who are not only smart, efficient, but also well connected politically. Therefore, naturally, she's a menace for a lot ot people, her bosses in particular. Manages fear her because she has more power than what they have. A lot og these empty headed characters wonder why doesn't she request soem chief position. Well, that's because she's not interested. Like she told me one day, the bank is so full of corruption, and well, every Government entity, that it's better to remain an ant. That way you are exposed to less pressure from the "heads" who wish to pull out some tricky businesses, and then, of course, to avoid being the escape goat of the fraud investigations that will follow.

Li helped me get into the Methodist University, where I have taught several classes of economics, administration and maths. She introduced me also to Fran, the current rector of the UN University in Costa Rica. However, Li is more than contacts to me. She's a friend who has understood me in several matters regarding some people, as well as the career matters. She has always been there offering great advises and willing to plot with me different exits to complex situations. Back when I was a teller, we used to go out with friends every Tuesday to have dinner and drink wine at an upscale Peruvian restaurant. Those trips stopped after I moved to Credit, but we still manage to go out from time to time, now mostly to a lovely Italian Restaurant or one of the best Mexican restaurants of the country.

We have not decided anything yet, when are we going to meet or anything, and I still have to get her her present, but the day we meet, we sure will have a lot of interesting things to tell each other (among them the ones related to my thesis, as well as the tutor of the team, who is behaving just like Li predicted it), and all will be deliciously accompanied with excellent food, great drinks and a perfect environment.

This is one of the things I like about Li: she understands the joy of the place, not only the food.

This is something many people can't understand. Most of the people would not go to the places I like to go because "it's too expensive and you can get more for less at this or that cheap joint". Explaining them that the place, the environment is also part of the experience, it's entirely futile.

Next to my current office, which is located at the headquarters of the organization, is this Japanese Food restaurant named Benihana. It's part of a quite global franchise, from what I see. The first time I ate at Benihana was in Caracas, Venezuela, and I loved it so much I have scouted the cities I have gone to looking for it. (Just like I scout the cities for Benetton, Swatch and Subway.) Well, this is not your local sushi place where you can get an order of California Rolls for 3,40 €. It's a place a little bit more expensive, beautifully decorated and usually quite empty. Most of the tables sit next to great windows with a beautiful view. Although I do have had already a few bad experiences with the food (never ask for the salmon skin roll... the skin is fried to such a consistency, it's like eating crunchy bugs...), it's the kind of place where you want to go with your friends and have a nice long chat. I went last week, the first day in my new office to celebrate, all by my own, my recent success, and took my journal with me. I sat there, ate and wrote and I felt at the top of the world.

My boss doesn't seem to appreciate the beauty of that. It's kind of ironic as he's trying to push forward a plan to reshape the way the organization offers its services by foccusing on the "Customer Experience". I remain silent and smile for myself: how can he grasp it when he can't enjoy it?