Passport … check!
Japan visa … check!
Flight itinerary … check!
e-ticket … check!
Hotel booking … check!
Powerpoint presentation deck … check!
Meeting notes … check!
Lonely Planet book … check! (altho it’s my 2nd time there, I still need it lah)
Other books to read while in-transit … check!
Attitude … check!
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Luggage … on Sunday lah
¥en conversion … over the weekend lah
Indian spices for hot Jap chick at office … over the weekend lah
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Last working day of the week before the Kawasaki week-long meeting. Whoah! Lots to do! Many, many late nites….discussing strategies and plans. Preparatory work was taking the mickey out of me - BIG time!
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Mid-way through the day, email sitting in Inbox bearing this message :
“Japan meeting needs to be cancelled. Pls cancel all flight and hotel bookings”
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WTF!!!! Is that a joke??? Did someone wake up on the last working day before everyone is due to travel to send this sick joke out???
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Many, many phone calls, emails and MORE phone calls later…..
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Another email :
“It is confirmed. Kawasaki meeting is cancelled. Please stay tuned for further communications”
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Ok, so I get the need to meet one of the company’s biggest tenets - “Ability to deal with ambiguity” but this is a reeeeaallllyyy sick way of putting it to the test!
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Do they realise the repercussions???
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Folks have cancelled personal plans for this meeting. Some got into super heated arguments just to get the blardy Japanese visa (like we are some blardy terrorists waiting to invade their country!). Some had to beg and grovel for the mandatory invitation letter from the Japs just to get the darn visa approved.
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All of them. Burnt. Wasted. Flushed. Kaboomed.
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Reason? I will not even go there. Too blardy political and I HATE politics!
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*(&*&^&%#!#$%$%#!!#$#%^$^&%^@&&*^*&()*)_()__)*()(++)_&!!!!!!!
Awww… so sorry to hear that babe! I was anticipating reading your blog about it too!
Awwww….that’s indeed horrible!
Very sorry to hear about it….
Chill though, maybe something good will come up soon:)
Yea…I don’t give 2 hoots abt politics but when it gets in the way of my job, I get SUPER annoyed!!!
Hope those guys up there fix the sh!t up soon. I don’t even mind if they decide to send the entire entourage to Penang instead of us meeting in Japan. Whatever or wherever it is, we HAVE to meet in person to have those meetings and brainstorming sessions.
It’s not impossible to do it remotely but this task is too darn big with super tight timelines that having the planning discussion remotely is gonna be a HUGE ask.
Sigh.