You do what you have to
Years ago I was working on a site in England. We have customers all over the globe and many of them require assistance from us to install and maintain their systems. In the early days, I would travel to many of these sites for installation, troubleshooting and training.
Anyway, I was on a site in England and the rules prevented me from working weekends. I would prefer to work 7 days a week to get the project done, but rules are rules. On the weekends I would usually hang around with my English and Welsh friends, hit the pubs, visit the countryside, etc.
One Friday morning I got a call from headquarters about customers in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong that were having problems. Since I had nothing to do that weekend, I scheduled a flight to Singapore, Jakarta and Hong Kong. I left Friday after work, around 1800 and arrived in Singapore Saturday afternoon. The site rep for the Singapore job met me at the airport and we went directly to the site. I fixed the problem within a few hours and was on a flight to Jakarta by 2100. I arrived in Jakarta before midnight and again went directly to the site and fixed the problem within a few hours. I was on a flight to Hong Kong by 0400. I arrived in Hong Kong early Sunday morning and spent a few hours looking for the site rep. At this point I had no idea where the site was located. However, I did know it was on top of a skyscraper and had a radio tower.
After several hours of trying to contact the site rep and with time running short: I had to be back on the job in England by 0900 Monday. I had no choice but to find the site myself. I took the tram to The Peak where there was a panoramic view of the Hong Kong skyline. I filled the pay-per-view binoculars with tokens and started scanning the city for a radio tower on a skyscraper. Of course, Hong Kong is more densely packed with skyscrapers than any other city in the world. And of course, every skyscraper has a radio tower. I was getting desperate. After an hour of searching, I found the radio tower by its company logo. I made a note of the building and scampered down The Peak keeping the tower in site at all times.
I got to the base of the building with a few hours to go. Keep in mind it was a Sunday and a Hong Kong holiday so no one was around. The building was locked. I waited by a fire exit until people came out and as the door was closing I quietly slipped into the stairwell. I climbed 67 floors to the roof where I found the door to the site, a door with a combination lock. It was one of those push button combination locks. I tried several combinations to no avail. I tried knocking to no avail. Eventually, I was escorted down the 67 floors by two armed security guards and unceremoniously thrown out the back door.
I got to the Hong Kong airport after being stuck on the highway in an overheating taxi just in time to catch my flight. I was back at Heathrow by 0700 and back on the job by 0900 Monday morning.
I did what I could, two out of three ain't bad.
Anyway, I was on a site in England and the rules prevented me from working weekends. I would prefer to work 7 days a week to get the project done, but rules are rules. On the weekends I would usually hang around with my English and Welsh friends, hit the pubs, visit the countryside, etc.
One Friday morning I got a call from headquarters about customers in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong that were having problems. Since I had nothing to do that weekend, I scheduled a flight to Singapore, Jakarta and Hong Kong. I left Friday after work, around 1800 and arrived in Singapore Saturday afternoon. The site rep for the Singapore job met me at the airport and we went directly to the site. I fixed the problem within a few hours and was on a flight to Jakarta by 2100. I arrived in Jakarta before midnight and again went directly to the site and fixed the problem within a few hours. I was on a flight to Hong Kong by 0400. I arrived in Hong Kong early Sunday morning and spent a few hours looking for the site rep. At this point I had no idea where the site was located. However, I did know it was on top of a skyscraper and had a radio tower.
After several hours of trying to contact the site rep and with time running short: I had to be back on the job in England by 0900 Monday. I had no choice but to find the site myself. I took the tram to The Peak where there was a panoramic view of the Hong Kong skyline. I filled the pay-per-view binoculars with tokens and started scanning the city for a radio tower on a skyscraper. Of course, Hong Kong is more densely packed with skyscrapers than any other city in the world. And of course, every skyscraper has a radio tower. I was getting desperate. After an hour of searching, I found the radio tower by its company logo. I made a note of the building and scampered down The Peak keeping the tower in site at all times.
I got to the base of the building with a few hours to go. Keep in mind it was a Sunday and a Hong Kong holiday so no one was around. The building was locked. I waited by a fire exit until people came out and as the door was closing I quietly slipped into the stairwell. I climbed 67 floors to the roof where I found the door to the site, a door with a combination lock. It was one of those push button combination locks. I tried several combinations to no avail. I tried knocking to no avail. Eventually, I was escorted down the 67 floors by two armed security guards and unceremoniously thrown out the back door.
I got to the Hong Kong airport after being stuck on the highway in an overheating taxi just in time to catch my flight. I was back at Heathrow by 0700 and back on the job by 0900 Monday morning.
I did what I could, two out of three ain't bad.
posted by SJM at 5:16 AM
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