After that meeting I had a separate chat with the team leader for the external people working with me. There was nothing I could do. In a way I felt as if I was betraying them. The boys had put a lot of effort and they were motivated. Their conditions were not particularly good and all of them were hoping to get an internal contract someday. The area where we worked was restricted and you could only unlock the door with your personal access card. Since the bathroom was outside, you had to go through the motions at the electronic door every time... well for them, the time they were out was taken out. even if you had a pee.
That Monday I left as early as I could from work and took the tube, northbound. When I exited the station I found myself in a relatively wide street, with building on both sides shoulder to shoulder but none very tall. Most of them were red brick, and not new. They had a certain crumbliness to them. They were many companies there, sometimes many a building. There was not a lot of parking though. The sidewalk was narrow and between the curb and the road, there were many cars parked nose in. Behind them there was another line up to the side of the road, this time parked front to back.
The offices of InGnio InGnieros ere about 1 km away from the underground station, I had to leave a school behind, on my right. It looked similar to the one I had studied in, many years ago. The bars of the fence were several tones and more layers of green, so many that the metal was no longer shaping the bars, but the thick coating. Dust from the street, the brickwork and the parterres, filled with red soil and devoid of plants, flew everywhere, powered by passing cars that drove over the 50 km/h speed limit. It coated everything.
I could soon see my target. At some point, the four story building had had a doorman. The door unlocked when I pressed the buzzer, and I pushed the door in, coming to the doorman's lodge, which was closed shut with yellowing cardboard. However, the lift was a new rig. A Thyssen thingy with a blue light that made you feel in Star Trek. The door slid close smoothly without a whimp. A nice soft voice informed me that we were heading up.
The reception area was rather small and was totally deserted. My contact from the personnel dept came around to pick me up. A short brunette on his 30s, wearing a cream suit and matching low shoes. Topic? perhaps, but her voice on the phone was sweet and funny, so perhaps I expected something else. I followed her to a small meeting room with a low table and padded chairs. I noticed that on one of the walls there was a big poster of InGnio InGnieros. Following good manners, she offered me something to drink, which I accepted. I was not specially nervous though, at the end of the day all was going very smoothly, but those dusty street was still clinging to my throat.
Natalia came with the water and sat opposite me. She sat in a stool that was next to the poster and thus she was higher than me, even if she could not be taller than 1.5 m.
Calmly she went through the documentation and my responsabilities. I would be in charge of an engineering team, directly dependant from Green Island as a matrix and it would be called Special Developments and it would be based in Cologne, Germany. I would get two weeks in Madrid to get to know InGnio InGnieros. In the coming days, there would be a meeting with the CEO of InGnio InGnieros and the Chief Engineer from Green Island.
The conversation slowly drifted into a chat until she invited me to drop by a team bulding event they were hosting on the weekend. For a second I had the impulse to ask her whether she would be there but I did not want to look like an imbecile so I rather went for safe and asked what was it about and where. Since my free time was organized by Jesús and his training I did not think I would have time.
Finally we came to the interesting part, which was the job offer itself. The salary was 50000 EUR before taxes, yearly, which was crazy taking into account that at the moment I was earning 32000. Of course the deal was that I was going to get responsibility within the company.
Up to a point, it did not matter. Since civilization as we knew it was about to be kicked out of orbit, it did not matter what happened to my bank account.... However if there was something not working on Boone's theory, I would sit on a nice cushion to cry. It was not about doubts, I thought that I would not hurt me having a "Plan B",just in case. I had indeed talked to Boone about it, who nodded and smiled --You know, because of the profile of people we are looking for, this is a normal question... an expected question, really.-- Because of that, the project looked to be as legal as possible... in the event that the civilization did not end in the gutter, perhaps I had done a career movement.
Moving on, when to start. I had expected to start as soon as possible. However everything takes its time and the company wanted to take things slowly. At the end of the day, the offices in Cologne were not ready and I was a little uncomfortable to fit in. That was what the coming meeting was all about. Natalia knew little about, or so she said. She had not been part of my recruiting. Nevertheless, for what she said, the aim of that meeting seemed to be to find out about me and what where the plans. The official story though, was that I came by direct appointment of Green Island and the direction of SD was under direct control of GI. I guess the CEO of InGnio InGnieros was not all that happy about it.
We still talked about a couple of things, like holidays and we agreed a couple of further points. This would be included in the contract and I would get to sign the last version after the meeting. She pressed again the thing of the team building event.
We were ready to said our goodbyes and Natalia, she made a dead fish handshake but she smiled nicely. She also handed me over a cloth bag "the starter pack" she said. When I took the bag I let it hit the side of the table, which made a very glassware distinctive noise. She smiled widely and said --there is a mug in there, be careful!--
With the cloth bag in my backpack, I went back to the lift and I rewinded in my head what had just happened and played it at speed again. I opened the aluminum door and stepped on the street, where the dust cloud had not gone away. Because of the narrow sidewalk and the cars parked nosed in, there was not all that space. Now I was walking more or less in autopilot, while I played the interview in my head. To avoid stumbling upon a car while absently minded walking, I decided to walk absently minded between the two rows or parked cars, the one against the curb and the one next to the road. There was space for a car there and no traffic.
After a few minutes, a vehicle neared in from behind and I step between two cars to let it go. However I could notice how the vehicle was slowing down at my height, trapping me between it and the parked cars.
That Monday I left as early as I could from work and took the tube, northbound. When I exited the station I found myself in a relatively wide street, with building on both sides shoulder to shoulder but none very tall. Most of them were red brick, and not new. They had a certain crumbliness to them. They were many companies there, sometimes many a building. There was not a lot of parking though. The sidewalk was narrow and between the curb and the road, there were many cars parked nose in. Behind them there was another line up to the side of the road, this time parked front to back.
The offices of InGnio InGnieros ere about 1 km away from the underground station, I had to leave a school behind, on my right. It looked similar to the one I had studied in, many years ago. The bars of the fence were several tones and more layers of green, so many that the metal was no longer shaping the bars, but the thick coating. Dust from the street, the brickwork and the parterres, filled with red soil and devoid of plants, flew everywhere, powered by passing cars that drove over the 50 km/h speed limit. It coated everything.
I could soon see my target. At some point, the four story building had had a doorman. The door unlocked when I pressed the buzzer, and I pushed the door in, coming to the doorman's lodge, which was closed shut with yellowing cardboard. However, the lift was a new rig. A Thyssen thingy with a blue light that made you feel in Star Trek. The door slid close smoothly without a whimp. A nice soft voice informed me that we were heading up.
The reception area was rather small and was totally deserted. My contact from the personnel dept came around to pick me up. A short brunette on his 30s, wearing a cream suit and matching low shoes. Topic? perhaps, but her voice on the phone was sweet and funny, so perhaps I expected something else. I followed her to a small meeting room with a low table and padded chairs. I noticed that on one of the walls there was a big poster of InGnio InGnieros. Following good manners, she offered me something to drink, which I accepted. I was not specially nervous though, at the end of the day all was going very smoothly, but those dusty street was still clinging to my throat.
Natalia came with the water and sat opposite me. She sat in a stool that was next to the poster and thus she was higher than me, even if she could not be taller than 1.5 m.
Calmly she went through the documentation and my responsabilities. I would be in charge of an engineering team, directly dependant from Green Island as a matrix and it would be called Special Developments and it would be based in Cologne, Germany. I would get two weeks in Madrid to get to know InGnio InGnieros. In the coming days, there would be a meeting with the CEO of InGnio InGnieros and the Chief Engineer from Green Island.
The conversation slowly drifted into a chat until she invited me to drop by a team bulding event they were hosting on the weekend. For a second I had the impulse to ask her whether she would be there but I did not want to look like an imbecile so I rather went for safe and asked what was it about and where. Since my free time was organized by Jesús and his training I did not think I would have time.
Finally we came to the interesting part, which was the job offer itself. The salary was 50000 EUR before taxes, yearly, which was crazy taking into account that at the moment I was earning 32000. Of course the deal was that I was going to get responsibility within the company.
Up to a point, it did not matter. Since civilization as we knew it was about to be kicked out of orbit, it did not matter what happened to my bank account.... However if there was something not working on Boone's theory, I would sit on a nice cushion to cry. It was not about doubts, I thought that I would not hurt me having a "Plan B",just in case. I had indeed talked to Boone about it, who nodded and smiled --You know, because of the profile of people we are looking for, this is a normal question... an expected question, really.-- Because of that, the project looked to be as legal as possible... in the event that the civilization did not end in the gutter, perhaps I had done a career movement.
Moving on, when to start. I had expected to start as soon as possible. However everything takes its time and the company wanted to take things slowly. At the end of the day, the offices in Cologne were not ready and I was a little uncomfortable to fit in. That was what the coming meeting was all about. Natalia knew little about, or so she said. She had not been part of my recruiting. Nevertheless, for what she said, the aim of that meeting seemed to be to find out about me and what where the plans. The official story though, was that I came by direct appointment of Green Island and the direction of SD was under direct control of GI. I guess the CEO of InGnio InGnieros was not all that happy about it.
We still talked about a couple of things, like holidays and we agreed a couple of further points. This would be included in the contract and I would get to sign the last version after the meeting. She pressed again the thing of the team building event.
We were ready to said our goodbyes and Natalia, she made a dead fish handshake but she smiled nicely. She also handed me over a cloth bag "the starter pack" she said. When I took the bag I let it hit the side of the table, which made a very glassware distinctive noise. She smiled widely and said --there is a mug in there, be careful!--
With the cloth bag in my backpack, I went back to the lift and I rewinded in my head what had just happened and played it at speed again. I opened the aluminum door and stepped on the street, where the dust cloud had not gone away. Because of the narrow sidewalk and the cars parked nosed in, there was not all that space. Now I was walking more or less in autopilot, while I played the interview in my head. To avoid stumbling upon a car while absently minded walking, I decided to walk absently minded between the two rows or parked cars, the one against the curb and the one next to the road. There was space for a car there and no traffic.
After a few minutes, a vehicle neared in from behind and I step between two cars to let it go. However I could notice how the vehicle was slowing down at my height, trapping me between it and the parked cars.
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