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INFO MEMO
Executive Summary: six months ago, a French intern joined the development team of our beloved company and was assigned a desk at the 22nd floor to conduct her daily work in the nicest team this place has ever known. This place and the people occupying it will thereafter be referred to as “the open space”. This Info Memo will deal with the way the above designated open space, after discovering that the intern was poorly educated in many important matters, devoted all its energy to the improvement of her skills.
- COMMUNICATION
The best efforts were made to teach her the basics of the local language, so that her speech and accent could almost be taken for those of a native Singaporean. Commonly used idioms, such as “so funny lah!”, “cannot lah!”, as well as the unmistakable singing tune that goes along with them are now part of her vocabulary, which found itself considerably enriched through regular practice of Singlish.
However, we did not go as far as teaching her the use of Mandarin, to preserve the opportunity to discuss certain subjects among each other without being understood. These subjects outreach by far the frame of this Memo and will therefore not be disclosed for obvious confidential reasons.
- LOCAL DELIGHTS
In the same attempt to make her familiar with our culture, the open space
engaged all necessary means to expand her knowledge of local dishes. Nasi padang , kaya, Thai noodles, chicken rice and laksa, not to mention rice porridge and other similar famous meals have found their place in her consumption habits. We are glad that she adopted such a healthy diet and visited almost all places surrounding the Odeon Towers. Of course, this was conducted stepwise. We all remember how her face turned red and how tears could be seen in her eyes when she tasted her first spoon of curry, but this is now a thing of the past.
To be noted that durian and century eggs proved to be a complete failure, all the more as the intern did not show any cooperative behavior regarding these specialties, leaving the advancement of the process at a very early stage. This is a serious matter we still have to settle although chances of success are weak given the time we have left to pursue her education.
- OPEN MINDNESS
The open space tried to gather for her all the components of a multicultural environment, whether directly or indirectly. Directly through daily and effective exposure to Singaporean colleagues, indirectly through frequent overhearing of numerous oversea phone calls. The content of these calls was a very relevant teaching material to get her to know surrounding cultures. In particular, we think about a country, which (unfortunately for some people) harbors “very frustrating people, who should normally have every detail of our bookings in their system since we have been doing reservations for the same person for eight years, who make you feel like you are talking to primary school kids, who could win the fastest-talking competition, who know different ways to spell Asia, and just make you crazy… this is sickening you know! Ayiooooooooo!” (The same could actually be said about all these rude people who only want to talk to European managers or have so complicated French names and on top of that expect you to memorize them)
- BUSINESS TRIPS
Being fully aware of the opportunities offered by a six-month stay in Asia, the open space provided her with many tourism tips and encouraged her to extensively travel around and have her passport filled with colorful stamps until no empty page could be seen. This is how the intern could sometimes be seen on Fridays arriving with a bag pack and leaving with a very wide smile knowing that she would reach a nice destination late in the evening. We are pleased to see that we taught her a real sense of priorities, and that she often joined us in our weekly choir to sing “Friday, Friday, tomorrow’s Friday!”
We also made sure to gather all the juicy details on Mondays, and to keep an eye on her activities. (To be mentioned that the open-space fully disapproves of her always choosing some creepy guesthouse on the spot instead of booking hotels in advance as recommended. How many times will we have to tell her that she does not know the danger?)
- A HEALTHY MIND IN A HEALTHY BODY
More than a workplace, the open space was for her as a second family and a real source of well being. For example, we showed her the benefits of using the gym room of the neighboring hotel whose access is free for the firm’s employees. (And everybody knows there is no such thing as a free entrance somewhere in Singapore).
The open space also hosted some makan (local expression designating a get together event, a friendly gathering of people) to celebrate special events, such as birthdays, arrivals, departures… The next on the agenda is to take place on December 12th to celebrate the end of the year.
Last but not least, the open space has always been a well decorated place, thanks to well watered houseplants, state-of-the-art handmade Christmas ornaments (small Christmas tree, cotton snowman), magnificent Total branded goodies (trucks, miniature oil barrels), etc. There is no doubt that this nice environment certainly enhanced the collective motivation.
- MISCELLANEOUS
The art of Feng Shui applied to the interpretation of signatures, black magic, ancestors worship and jackfruit ships snacking should not raise any question in her mind any more.
Summary:
§ Almost all objectives were reached, and we cannot but hope that our contribution will have long lasting effects
§ There is still some room for improvement, making obvious the need for the intern to come back to Asia asap
§ We will make sure to follow the progress through regular internet communication and exchange of news
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Diane, with many thanks to CY,CM, DG,JL and CG
