Today we had a Chinese New Year team lunch. We have 15 people in our Signaling team (13 actually, plus one manager and one "honorary" member who is no longer officially in our team). The invitation was sent out in Google Calendar, and everyone had accepted the invitation and the calendar clearly states that there are 15 participants.
However we go downstairs to the lobby and they are counting the number of people to figure out the number of cars we would need. -_- Even the event organiser himself!
Then there was a mix-up over who was driving (which I won't go into, because I didn't help much by not volunteering to drive; in my team unfortunately not much people like to drive). All this should have been settled even before going to the lobby... but *sigh* it's like that every time.
Then we reach the place where we had planned to go to. Turned out that they had reserved, expecting there to be a buffet, but turned out that there was no buffet. What?! Don't you even tell people that you want to reserve for a buffet? It's actually a Korean shop that serves rice and noodles at lunch, and they only have barbecue at dinner. Since the main idea of the lunch was to go for Korean barbecue, they decided to ditch the restaurant and go to another one nearby.
This second shop is rather popular and is often packed at lunch, so I said, let's go quickly, especially since there are 15 of us! However they dawdled, so I went ahead. Plus they were dawdling while speaking in Mandarin, which they had done in the car on the way there too (more on that later), so there was no reason for me to walk along with them.
On the way to that second shop, those people kept looking at the other restaurants along the way, as if they wanted to change their mind and go there. As a result, when I had reached our target restaurant, I still needed to wait a bit and make sure they were actually coming!
Anyway, once I was sure they weren't going to stop somewhere else first, I asked for a table for 15. The people there were a little shocked at the large number, but they went inside and tried to move the tables for us. Somehow when we were inside, two of the others came in and told the people there that there were 15 of us. I am somewhat offended at that...did you think those who arrived before you didn't tell them? (However maybe the people at the restaurant had asked them, thinking that they were a separate group. I don't know.)
Then we sat down, and started to order. And here is where my full-blown rant begins (earlier was just a prelude, smaller annoyances paving the way). These people discussed the ordering in Mandarin and Hokkien. In our team, there are a few people who only know a smattering of Mandarin, or a smattering of Hokkien, or neither language at all. And they had the nerve to use these languages for ordering, shouting from one end of the table to the other.
When they had more or less ordered everything, one girl asked, "That's all? Do we need anything else?" Except that she asked it in Mandarin. I leaned over and asked her, "Do you think K understands what you are asking?" (K being the one who doesn't understand either Mandarin or Hokkien) I didn't get a response or a reaction; I am not sure whether she heard me, as we were a pretty rowdy crowd (albeit a small one). However those who did hear me decided to laugh. No improvement after the fact.
As the meal went on, the conversation stayed mainly in Chinese. I didn't want to spoil the mood of the lunch, so I did not want to say anything about it... not that it would have made much difference.
In the car, to and from the lunch venue, the conversation was predominantly in Mandarin too. Which means that they predominantly excluded me from the conversation. I guess I can't do much about that.
I don't think these people can be considered my friends. They are just some people that I happen to know.
I have written about two similar cases before. First one when I was still in the Accessories team (it was our last team lunch before the team split up), and the second one when a Polish guy joined our team. I don't think this will ever change. The inconsiderate people will always enjoy their majority and refuse to cater for the minority.
However we go downstairs to the lobby and they are counting the number of people to figure out the number of cars we would need. -_- Even the event organiser himself!
Then there was a mix-up over who was driving (which I won't go into, because I didn't help much by not volunteering to drive; in my team unfortunately not much people like to drive). All this should have been settled even before going to the lobby... but *sigh* it's like that every time.
Then we reach the place where we had planned to go to. Turned out that they had reserved, expecting there to be a buffet, but turned out that there was no buffet. What?! Don't you even tell people that you want to reserve for a buffet? It's actually a Korean shop that serves rice and noodles at lunch, and they only have barbecue at dinner. Since the main idea of the lunch was to go for Korean barbecue, they decided to ditch the restaurant and go to another one nearby.
This second shop is rather popular and is often packed at lunch, so I said, let's go quickly, especially since there are 15 of us! However they dawdled, so I went ahead. Plus they were dawdling while speaking in Mandarin, which they had done in the car on the way there too (more on that later), so there was no reason for me to walk along with them.
On the way to that second shop, those people kept looking at the other restaurants along the way, as if they wanted to change their mind and go there. As a result, when I had reached our target restaurant, I still needed to wait a bit and make sure they were actually coming!
Anyway, once I was sure they weren't going to stop somewhere else first, I asked for a table for 15. The people there were a little shocked at the large number, but they went inside and tried to move the tables for us. Somehow when we were inside, two of the others came in and told the people there that there were 15 of us. I am somewhat offended at that...did you think those who arrived before you didn't tell them? (However maybe the people at the restaurant had asked them, thinking that they were a separate group. I don't know.)
Then we sat down, and started to order. And here is where my full-blown rant begins (earlier was just a prelude, smaller annoyances paving the way). These people discussed the ordering in Mandarin and Hokkien. In our team, there are a few people who only know a smattering of Mandarin, or a smattering of Hokkien, or neither language at all. And they had the nerve to use these languages for ordering, shouting from one end of the table to the other.
When they had more or less ordered everything, one girl asked, "That's all? Do we need anything else?" Except that she asked it in Mandarin. I leaned over and asked her, "Do you think K understands what you are asking?" (K being the one who doesn't understand either Mandarin or Hokkien) I didn't get a response or a reaction; I am not sure whether she heard me, as we were a pretty rowdy crowd (albeit a small one). However those who did hear me decided to laugh. No improvement after the fact.
As the meal went on, the conversation stayed mainly in Chinese. I didn't want to spoil the mood of the lunch, so I did not want to say anything about it... not that it would have made much difference.
In the car, to and from the lunch venue, the conversation was predominantly in Mandarin too. Which means that they predominantly excluded me from the conversation. I guess I can't do much about that.
I don't think these people can be considered my friends. They are just some people that I happen to know.
I have written about two similar cases before. First one when I was still in the Accessories team (it was our last team lunch before the team split up), and the second one when a Polish guy joined our team. I don't think this will ever change. The inconsiderate people will always enjoy their majority and refuse to cater for the minority.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment