The Captain

I can't remember the reference, but I once read about a conversation between a Parisian and a foreigner living in France. The Parisian said, "Why would you want to stick around Paris in August? Everyone has left the city on holiday".

The foreigner said, "Exactly!"

I don't know how August became France's unofficial National Month of Holiday, or who made the rule that it should start in the last week of July. Shops in every town have hand-letter signs posted in their windows stating their vacation schedules. My favorites are "Ouvert tout l'été" (open all summer). Apparently this is odd behavior that people need to be warned about.

My office, which normally contains about 700 people, will have less than 350 workers over the next four weeks. My boss will be out for 4.5 weeks, one of my colleagues will be gone for five, and our manager (the workaholic!) will only be out for 2.5. I didn't even take that much time off to get married!

So my team has been stripped back to a skeleton crew of myself, the intern, and another young guy who manages the software hotline. That makes me the oldest, and sadly, the most experienced of the group for the next two weeks.

Last week Alfredo (the manager) was perusing the vacation schedule and noticed the same thing. He said, "You will be the captain!". I gave a weak salute. Then he proceeded to program my mobile number into his in case of emergency. It's hard to imagine an emergency when there's no one around to use the software, but you never know.

Monday was a bit weird for me, the office being so calm and me acting as boss. My being "in charge" is a joke, really, and the three of use enjoyed some jokes when I signed a few e-mails "The Boss".

Today I really started to enjoy the tranquility. I'm appreciating not having to worry about coming late once in a while, and taking responsibility for my own work instead of stressing out over the confines of the planification.

The word planification is French for "plan", appropriately enough, and has been one the greatest challenges I've faced in the French work environment. I could rant about the planification for days (and Roch has heard come close), but suffice to say that it's normal French business practice to spend 80% of the team's time making a plan (or worse, planning for the plan) and 20% executing said plan.

Or, even more infuriating, 80% of the time planning, and 20% of the time catching up on all the stuff we missed while planning and never mind the execution.

What drives me crazy is that they all manage to get everything done, too.

Anyway, with only a loose planification left behind for me to follow, I am free to set my own priorities for the first time in seven months. I forgot how nice responsibility ("responsibility", Gil tells me, is a primarily American concept) feels. I have started to regain some of my confidence.

Today I helped the intern with some Powerpoint slides, approved his vacation request, brainstormed some new training material ideas I want to try, and told off an engineer on the phone. Twice. It's much easier to yell "That's not my problem!" when your boss isn't around.

This newfound swell of power also gave me the confidence to force myself to communicate in French. As a result, I received two e-mails and one raised eyebrow from the intern that pretty much said "You speak French now?" It's possible they were being sarcastic.

I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy August.