Entries categorized as ‘Workplace’
Somedays back, I was trying to figure out something, at my workplace, concentrating at my screen, when something just passed by my head. It just missed me.
When I looked in the direction of sound, it was a stuffed toy, that fell few feet away.
No, there wasn’t any fight going on, a war rather … 
As I was looking in that direction, another stuffy toy was thrown back, by another colleague, who was supposedly the target of previous strike.
And it was not just that day. There are almost a dozen of such toys, on the tables of 3-4 guys, and you never know when something just falls over you, and you see the guy passing by as if nothing happened. If you look at him, he would be like, whaat? Ohh, where did it come from? May be from the ceiling …?
I haven’t been a target as yet, as I am not into the circle as yet, but it just makes you feel light to see the stuff flying around in a professional environment It reminds me of Ult-A, when we would fly the paper-planes in office
Those were the days …
Categories: Fun · London · Workplace
Today was my first day at my new job. Unexpectedly, a busy day, but a good day.
I only got introduced to dev and qa teams, and a couple of other guys , by my manager. Remaining introductions are scheduled for Wednesday. And yes this is what I heard from most of the guys, “ohh he is that new guy in dev” . I hope I didnt disappoint them
My boss was kind enough to take me to a halal food shop, where they sell currys, for lunch. And I was a bit surprized when he asked, “Do you prefer naan over chappati?”, when I was having a naan with chiken karahi. I mean he had quite good knowledge of Pakistani/Indian food, and he understood my concern for halal food, myself being a Muslim, by himself. And it was not just him, another guy from dev, with whom we sat in office-eating-space/kitchen, knew about a fine Pakistani restaurant recently opened somewhere nearby. I am feeling the difference between Bristol and London
The only strange thing I could spot was the printed charts over the wall, one for different kind of tomatoes, one for different kinds of cows and another for different kinds of corps, just like the ones we used to do for inspection days in school And there was one with dogs as well.
I have a big table with two LCDs. Its a Core 2 DUO. I didnt check the RAM yet.
Anyway … lets see whats next for me here … and lets hope it be the good …
Categories: Life - as it goes by · London · Workplace
Somehow, once in a week or a couple of them, when I get to make some tea for myself in afternoon, in my office kitchen, I find sugar out of stock.
We occupy two floors of a building, and as the groceries are stored on upper floor, I have to go to 3rd floor kitchen to get some.
First time when I went to grab some sugar, myself being a new-hire, I asked the first guy I could find after leaving kitchen door, about where to find sugar. And he, being kind enough, walked me to the kitchen saying, let’s see Finance Director’s knowledge of where-to-find-sugar. Yup, he was Finance Director And he was actually able to locate some sugar in a far-away cabnet.
Now, most of the times, when I get to get some sugar, I get to see him. He is a nice chap, and we get to talk different things about sugar most of the times we meet.
Categories: Life - as it goes by · Workplace
Tagged: relationship, sugar
Yeah today we bid farewell to Umair, Ejaz & Rizwan. They are leaving for good.
For the farewell party, a lunch was arranged at a nearby restaurant.
Food was good, so was the service.Our tables were ready by the time we arrived. We started at sharp 1, and ended at sharp 2 The match, between India & Pakistan was on, and the guys sitting near to the screen were kind enough to share their expert-opinions on condition of the pitch.
Yet it was not all that was good. There was that blue-eyed security-gaurd filtering as to which cars should go to hotel parking and which should be parked on the pavement. Quite frustrating. And they had no washrooms available for Tai-Pan, amazing huh? You claim to be among the top brass hotels in Pakistan, and you don’t have a washroom available for the restaurant. And because of some bla-bla conference going on, you have to go all the way from outer gate to the lobby to see one. Also watch for that 2o Rs. charity that they include in your bill by default. If you are keen enough to have read those tiny cards placed on the tables mentioning about the charity, you can have it removed form the bill, they will charge you otherwise.
After lunch, we had three dozes of “Awaam-se-Khitaab” by each of the-leaving-guys. This is a centuries old tradition here, that we ask for a doze of this address. Although no sense-making-stuff is expected to be delivered, but just for the fun of it And not to mention, sometimes people really get emotional in their khitaabs.
And yes, after going through all this stuff, everybody came yelling, “Oey itney pese lagwa deye”, “aur koi jagah nahi thi farewell dene ke leye”, “aenda hum koi farewell nahi den ge” and the stuff:)
I think we are no more going to have parties at Tai-Pan, although we never had many, and the guys over there: you just lost a good lot of customers.
Categories: Activities · Workplace
We are planning to organize a series of Talent Hunt shows at the universities of the capital. Yes, on the spot screening and interviews. Students will be short listed and somewhat graded, the shortlisted ones will be called for in-campus interview based on their grading. And we expect to get the best minds of graduating classes across the capital, even before they make it to the market
In Pakistan, in Software Development industry, there might be few, or none, companies who are actually and actively concerned about the quality of people they hire or they keep. Although every company scrutinize the candidates in interview, and filter out the best among the applicants, but what about the ones who were a lot better and they didn’t happen to apply for the post. Yes you have to go and get them from their doorsteps. Its seriously like this. If this seems crazy to you, you better spend sometime with Joel Spolsky. This talent hunt series is a doorstep project.
We’ll, probably start with Islamic, yeah my Alma Matter. And we’ll, probably, be there in next week. I will update this post, once we are decided on the calender.
I’ll really appreciate any feedback if you have been into such workshops before. As for us, this is first-time.
Categories: Activities · Workplace
