Ice Breakers [Friday, June 18 2010]

This morning the drive rang the doorbell and I wasn't ready. I ran to the door and shouted that I'd be ready in five minutes, then shut the door and ran to finish getting my things together. When I ran back to the door and opened it, the driver was gone. No big deal, I figured he probably went back downstairs. So I took the elevator downstairs, walked around the building like a lost little puppy, realized there's no cab driver, confusingly stared at one of the guards, and then went back upstairs. I walked back into the apartment, stood around for a minute trying to figure out what to do, and then decided to run back downstairs again. This time, the drive is standing outside. A little confused about where he was earlier, but whatever. I get in the guy's crappy car and am not terrified when he doesn't take the shortcuts. I mean, I could tell him where they were, but whatever. His car, he can figure it out.

Today was a good day. I was throwing a pizza party, so I spent the morning tracking down all the designers to find out whether they were veg or non veg. At 1:30 p.m. we headed into a meeting room for some delicious Papa Johns and a discussion about mentoring/coaching/communication. Everyone got their pizza and then stood around all silent. Finally I said "this is the most depressing pizza party I've ever been to!" and got everyone to start laughing. However, there was still very little speaking. So I had to break out the big guns: ice breakers. Finally I got the team talking and laughing and we ended up having a successful conversation. Or at least I'd like to think so.

With Priyanka

And Supriya

My driver on the way home tonight was a young guy that I'm pretty sure drove Amanda around a few times. We were in the company car, so at least that was comfortable. The dude drove like a maniac and before I knew it, we were in a part of Gurgaon I had never seen before. For the second time in two days, I thought I was being kidnapped. This time, the feeling didn't dissipate in minutes. I mean, I legitimately was worried and started to think about all the things I could use as a weapon. Finally I realized that he was taking an alternate route to get around the traffic. I recognized an apartment building that was in progress and knew that we were going in the right direction.

When we pulled up to the apartments, he stopped the car and got out lightening-fast to open my door and said "Have a good night, ma'am." I like this guy.

When I got in the apartment, Ranjeet was still there. I'm now convinced that I'm under surveillance after the whole Suresh/tomato soup debacle  Ranjeet is here every day when I get home. He says hello, makes a phone call, and then leaves fifteen minutes later. Weird.