I didn't do very well in my resolve to make the best of my days off. My cold forced me to spend last week's days off resting. I have the next two days off, but I am hoping to travel to St. Gallen to cook for my aunt. They won't be relaxing days, but I want to do it for her.
So, since I didn't do anything write-worthy on my days off, this post will be all about work. Pretty soon, I am afraid, I won't have anything left to write about because I suspect that work stories will get boring rather quickly.
This job has definitely propelled me into another world. It consists of the bosses, two brothers, who come to the bakery almost every day. There's the "glider" (see last week's post), and his brother who will actually help out in the store when necessary. The other day he took an hour to teach me about the different chocolates. He was impressed by how much I had remembered from his previous lecture and I am hoping that he will teach me some more. Meanwhile I have learned that the business belongs to 4 siblings. As far as I understand they don't get along and the two working in the store have pretty much their hands tied by the other two. Meaning they are unhappy and therefore they are unable to care about the happiness of the staff.
The staff is multi-national. In the store we are only 2 Swiss. One, a very hard worker, is Portuguese, and 2 are German. They both are challenging, one because she doesn't like to be given advice despite the fact that she is prone to mistakes, the other because she is a loud motor mouth. Business is very slow this month (good for learning!) so there are many downtimes with nothing to do. We are not allowed to eat or drink on the job (I am losing weight since I cannot snack every two hours!), nor to read the paper or do anything else, meaning that when there are no clients there is nothing else to do but talk with each other. And often I'd just rather stand there in silence than have to listen to that talking! The Swiss woman is great, but this job definitely has catapulted me down from my rarified air into a mercyless tough world. One of the German women, whom I'll call Hilde, has filed 3 times for divorce but still spends most of her time off with her husband. She has taken a room at Hanselmann's, but lets him visit her there when she doesn't go home. She wants a divorce because he keeps on having lovers. Hilde threw one lover into a creek in the winter and the poor woman got pneumonia. Hilde also told Interpol some kind of story that led them to stop another lover at the German border and sequester her car, although Hilde knew that the lover was innocent. The car was returned, but only 6 weeks later. There is an unending supply of similarly hairy stories. I am not sure which to believe, but if they are not true, I give Hilde credit for a great imagination.
Hanselmann's is a mini United Nations - although we are not united at all. The Germans hate the Portuguese, calling them Portos, forgetting that they are foreigners as well. The Portuguese do the most dirty work. I am not sure whether they fight a lot amongst themselves, or if loud voices is just a normal way of communicating. Sometimes the screams come all the way down to the store through the food elevator. The waitresses are from Sud-Tirol, the part of Italy near the Swiss border, where they speak German. The cook and one of the bakers are Italian and Italian is the common language throughout the business. Except that the Germans don't understand a word of it.
On my first day I was given the job of answering the phone on the 3rd ring. Neither the Germans nor the Portuguese understand Swiss German, meaning that when the other Swiss woman is not there, I am the only one who can deal with whatever language the caller speaks. My high German (as opposed to Swiss German) has improved a lot over the last 2 weeks, as it's the common language among the women in the store. This means that I am constantly switching back and forth between high German, Swiss German and Italian, with sprinklings of French and English! Giving change in any language other than French still is challenging, especially at the end of the day when I'm getting tired.
Talking about being tired... It's time for me to go to bed, and this post is long enough for today. That means that I'll have more stories next week. I do want to end on a positive note: last night I stayed in St. Moritz because I went to a yoga class. It's very expensive (the equivalent of some $30!) and of course it was not as good that my Portland yoga class, but it was better than nothing, and today I have sore muscles, meaning I really needed it. I am therefore planning to go back when I can. After all I have to treat myself to something, otherwise the winter will be long and unbearable.
My mother died today, November 16, exactly 40 years ago. She was taken to the hospital on my birthday, two days earlier. Ever since, her death and my birthday have been inextricably linked. Rather than complaining about getting old, I am grateful for the gift of life and I am trying to age gracefully.
So, since I didn't do anything write-worthy on my days off, this post will be all about work. Pretty soon, I am afraid, I won't have anything left to write about because I suspect that work stories will get boring rather quickly.
This job has definitely propelled me into another world. It consists of the bosses, two brothers, who come to the bakery almost every day. There's the "glider" (see last week's post), and his brother who will actually help out in the store when necessary. The other day he took an hour to teach me about the different chocolates. He was impressed by how much I had remembered from his previous lecture and I am hoping that he will teach me some more. Meanwhile I have learned that the business belongs to 4 siblings. As far as I understand they don't get along and the two working in the store have pretty much their hands tied by the other two. Meaning they are unhappy and therefore they are unable to care about the happiness of the staff.
The staff is multi-national. In the store we are only 2 Swiss. One, a very hard worker, is Portuguese, and 2 are German. They both are challenging, one because she doesn't like to be given advice despite the fact that she is prone to mistakes, the other because she is a loud motor mouth. Business is very slow this month (good for learning!) so there are many downtimes with nothing to do. We are not allowed to eat or drink on the job (I am losing weight since I cannot snack every two hours!), nor to read the paper or do anything else, meaning that when there are no clients there is nothing else to do but talk with each other. And often I'd just rather stand there in silence than have to listen to that talking! The Swiss woman is great, but this job definitely has catapulted me down from my rarified air into a mercyless tough world. One of the German women, whom I'll call Hilde, has filed 3 times for divorce but still spends most of her time off with her husband. She has taken a room at Hanselmann's, but lets him visit her there when she doesn't go home. She wants a divorce because he keeps on having lovers. Hilde threw one lover into a creek in the winter and the poor woman got pneumonia. Hilde also told Interpol some kind of story that led them to stop another lover at the German border and sequester her car, although Hilde knew that the lover was innocent. The car was returned, but only 6 weeks later. There is an unending supply of similarly hairy stories. I am not sure which to believe, but if they are not true, I give Hilde credit for a great imagination.
Hanselmann's is a mini United Nations - although we are not united at all. The Germans hate the Portuguese, calling them Portos, forgetting that they are foreigners as well. The Portuguese do the most dirty work. I am not sure whether they fight a lot amongst themselves, or if loud voices is just a normal way of communicating. Sometimes the screams come all the way down to the store through the food elevator. The waitresses are from Sud-Tirol, the part of Italy near the Swiss border, where they speak German. The cook and one of the bakers are Italian and Italian is the common language throughout the business. Except that the Germans don't understand a word of it.
On my first day I was given the job of answering the phone on the 3rd ring. Neither the Germans nor the Portuguese understand Swiss German, meaning that when the other Swiss woman is not there, I am the only one who can deal with whatever language the caller speaks. My high German (as opposed to Swiss German) has improved a lot over the last 2 weeks, as it's the common language among the women in the store. This means that I am constantly switching back and forth between high German, Swiss German and Italian, with sprinklings of French and English! Giving change in any language other than French still is challenging, especially at the end of the day when I'm getting tired.
Talking about being tired... It's time for me to go to bed, and this post is long enough for today. That means that I'll have more stories next week. I do want to end on a positive note: last night I stayed in St. Moritz because I went to a yoga class. It's very expensive (the equivalent of some $30!) and of course it was not as good that my Portland yoga class, but it was better than nothing, and today I have sore muscles, meaning I really needed it. I am therefore planning to go back when I can. After all I have to treat myself to something, otherwise the winter will be long and unbearable.
My mother died today, November 16, exactly 40 years ago. She was taken to the hospital on my birthday, two days earlier. Ever since, her death and my birthday have been inextricably linked. Rather than complaining about getting old, I am grateful for the gift of life and I am trying to age gracefully.
Taking a walk along lake St. Moritz during my break.
Fresh snow in Zuoz.Another lunch break walk
.
The town of St. Moritz. The store is next to the church.
Ahhh Irene. Yes, the story of Hilde is interesting, and I too wonder about the truth, but I miss your stories of hiking and photos of wild flowers. I was living vicariously through your travels.
ReplyDeleteAs for your mom and your birthday, happy belated birthday. May you live a long, happy, and healthy life.
My sister Mary turned 55 on 11/5, and found out she has kidney cancer on 11/15. She goes in for surgery in a couple of weeks. Yes, she can live with one kidney, but really, who wants to.
Take care. Linda.