Tag: work

Cubicles and dress code

Somehow I came to realize that cubicles and dress code contradict. I can’t exactly prove this point. Yet. But this thought in my head makes all the sense there is.

Dress code is needed where people have proper offices. If you have an office, please, do weare a shirt and, possibly, a tie. But if the company is too cheap to give you your personal space, demanding proper clothing from you is, well, too much.

Of course, this can be argued backward – if you are hidden in the office why on Earth would you need to wear a tie? That’s why I said that I can’t prove it. Yet.

Nescafe vs. Grandos Express

During the last few years I seriously decreased my consumption of coffee. I used to drinks several cups a day, every day, with some coke mixed in in between. These days I drink it rarely. And mostly in the office. And mostly during my night shifts. And not more than two cups a night.

And for these last few years my brand of instant coffee was Grandos Express. I don’t even remember when, why and how I switched. But I remember that I used to drink Nescafe and than, at some point, I stopped and switched completely to Grandos Express.

Yesterday I ran out of coffee in the office and remembered about it on my way back to work, when it was late and everything was closed. I stopped by the only open kiosk on my way. They were selling only Nescafe, so I bought myself a small can.

When I made a cup of Nescafe in the office, I immediately realized why I switched to Grandos Express. Jez! Any coffee is better than Nescafe. Seriously! The smell only remotely suggest a weak relation some coffee product. The taste is horrible. And it doesn’t even look like the proper coffee – no froth (is that the right word?) what-so-ever. Yeah, I checked the expiration date and everything – all good.

It’s better to fall asleep. It’s better to drink the junk out of our office coffee machine. But I am not, under any circumstances, drinking another cup of Nescafe. Not even with the gun pointed to my head… Yuck!

Work for Google. Again.

You gonna love this one, I promise.

Just when I thought that my chances to work for Google were all used up, I received another email from them. It comes from a recruiter – a different one this time. The content of email is pretty much the same as the one I got the first time.

They make a suggestion for three job positions that they see me fit. They ask me if I will be willing to work for them. And they offer a choice of locations, including the one in Dublin, Ireland that I think I like so much.

I am sitting here, scratching my head, thinking what to do. On one hand, I tried and failed and this second email is caused by some sort of synchronization error between recruiters. On the other hand, they never replied to my email about the minimum period between applications.

I think I’ll repy. I’ll tell them that I tried and failed. And I will ask them if they will mind too much another attempt on my side. If they won’t – I’ll study harder (yeah, right) and try again. If the will – oh, well – I had my chance.

The winter is coming, the winter is coming!

I remember trying to pull the bed sheet from Olga all night today. When I woke up I felt chilly and wasn’t in the mood to get out of bed. When I stepped on the floor, I realized that it was than chilly – very refreshing. I was extra fast putting my clothes on too.

When I stepped outside, I immediately felt the urge to stick my hands into pockets of my jacket. Steam was coming out of my mouth. And I had no will to go to work.

While walking towards the car I was wondering if that’s really so cold or if that’s just me dramatizing on weather. As soon as that thought came to my mind, I heard a loud bang. It was a sparrow. He probably decided that life wasn’t worth living no more with temperatures that low and crashed into the office window at full speed. He dropped dead and made me feel sad.

Morning just wasn’t working out.

I started the car and checked the outside temperature. 9 degrees Celsius! (If you think that’s not cold, try boosting the relative humidity in your area to something above 60%.) No wonder I felt cold…

On the way to the bakery to get some breakfast I saw a couple of Philippino guys. They were even cold to look at. It was like they were wearing all clothes that they had, and then some more, borrowed from a friend. One of them had two hats. Poor guy was freezing his brains out I guess.

I came to the office about 20 minutes before the start of my morning shift (The start of the shift is at 7:00am), so I had enough time to enjoy the hot and sweet cup of coffee with still warm and fresh mushroom pie from the bakery.

Morning turned for the better…

Small vacations

This year is slowly coming to the end. I managed to go by without taking any vacations, except for a few days of when Maxim was born. That seems so long ago now…

Anyway, I still have about two weeks of paid holidays that I have to take or lose. I don’t think that I can disappear from the office for the two weeks straight. And I really don’t want to lose all these days when the new year comes. So I decided to take them in small bunches.

For this reason I requested a small vacation for today and tomorrow. Two days out of 12 or so that I have. Maybe I’ll take a day or two next week too. I’ll see how it goes.