...and I'm still in the process of sobering up. (my German IT Tech)
 

too funny not to share -

We have a website that is hosted in Germany, and my engr team is also partly there. We've been having some issues with the application, and now my tech tells me that he's headed to bed, its been a hard week (Oktoberfest you know) and that he's too tired to continue and that he 'still needs to sober up from the Wiesn' - which is beer I presume.

a few things go thru my mind:

a) I've never ever told my boss that I need to sober up
b) I've never copped to being on a 4 day bender before
c) he's been working all day on fixing the app! oh lord!:(

I'm putting it down to a cultural thing - and won't go ape**** until sometime later I suppose....sigh.

thoughts from the management consultants out there? Anyone know Java / mySQL and need a job?!?!

td

You need developer or server admin help?

I may be able to shake a few trees at work and see if I can find some stellar students for you... is current code written in english (comments, var names, class names, etc) or german?

"Anyone know Java / mySQL and need a job?!?!"

If you're serious and need someone, my son has the skills you need.

I was just reading your post to him and he says you can contact him at:

jessefrgsmith@yahoo.ca

Best of luck with your tech's hangover.

Best
Les

I had a meeting with my boss one morning where he admitted he was still drunk from a bender from the previous night/morning. Bad.

Not sure it is wise to post your son's email addy in the body of the thread, maybe better to email or PM the OP.

Yes, I'm a paranoid geek... but that doesn't mean they are not out to get me!

don't worry...we are

I'm on call 24/7 for two weeks at a time. I've taken calls from London and Singapore from bars. It happens.

It is definitely a cultural thing. In the 60's it was quite common for work shops, even highly professional machine shops in Munich, to have their private beer locker on the premises, run by the shop fore man.. I remember one mechanic who could do his best precision work only if he had a certain level of beer in his blood. A bottle was always right by his feet next to the lathe. I am sure things have changed since then but maybe not that much.

I've heard it's a cultural thing in Germany too. Not sure to what extent though.

As far as being drunk in front of the boss...
When I started work as a mechanic, friday lunchtime the beers would come out and the friday afternoon jobs would be finished off with a beer on the workbench/in one hand. I started there in '88 and left the motor trade fully in '96.

My first job out of the trade was for a defence contract company building minehunters (my first desk job ever). Friday lunch was always down at the first pub off the docks (the "Seven Seas hotel") which was a seedy dive that did great food. Most of the company was staffed with ex navy people and a beer or 2 over lunch was normal.
My co-workers and I decided we would be a bit more sophisticated and have a tot of port instead. The barmaid pulled down a flagon of $1.99-a-gallon of McGuigan and poured a middy glass (285ml) each. For $2. We had 2 or 3 glasses of it for lunch and fell over on the front of a car that had stopped at the pedestrian crossing on the walk back to work. The occupants of the car turned out to be the state manager and the department head - who were both ex navy and thought this was the funniest thing ever.

One of the team may or may not have passed out with his face on the keyboard (resulting in Qwertyitis) who may or may not have been me.

Meh, during crunch time when my group would work till midnight the receptionist used to call up to my studio 10 minutes before she was going to lock the front to make sure we had enough time to do a beer run from the bodega across the street.

Thursday mornings were bagels and Mimosas.

Only time I ever heard a peep from my CEO is when Sandy was handing out jello shots before 10 am.

I had a kick ass group of people and no one was going to say **** about how I ran it as long as we kept producing the way we did.

I also had the lowest turnover rate of any department in the company, globally, for 15 years.

Where in Germany is this team? Oktoberfest is really only big in Bavaria. Wiesn probably refers to the subway stop where the real Oktoberfest tents are in Munich - called Theresienwiese.

That said, Germans are very religious about "Feierabend" which means "off duty." I remember asking a passing train conductor about something that should have been displayed on a sign that was broken. He said he couldn't answer me because he had "Feierabend" and kept walking. That's like when George Costanza asked the guy with a watch for the time and the guy said, "There's a clock over there."

When I worked there, my boss brought us all some schnapps to drink at lunch on my last day at that factory. Most of the others were Muslims, so they just watched us drink and laugh.

But Oktoberfest is not the only beer fest in Munich and other parts of Bavaria. Each year has several beer seasons with their own specially brewed beers. And beer is big everywhere in that part of Germany. I understand the Rhine - Main - Mosel areas are quite substantial wine areas where locals celebrate their traditions also.

My boss has gotten me drunk to the point that the next day he drove us home because he knew I was still over the legal limit... And a 4 day bender? Thats what we call the week when we go back for corporate meetings! ;)

Ya it is just a cultural thing, all my coworkers are from up north (SD, MN area) and they all drink like fish. I have a hard time keeping up! :D

Cultural thing, in many European countries it's common to have multiple drinks during your 2+ hour full course lunch, even in the company cafe. When I did flight testing with the USAF/ANG, the first thing we would do after the last flight of the day was to break out a handle of Jack. We would be sitting at our debrief mixing drinks. Similar to stomachmonkey we had a fantastic and tight knit team that did some seemingly impossible things, nobody cared about company policies.

The first two things I ask for on any international project or assignment are the National Holiday calendar and vacation schedule. Don't schedule any go-lives, kickoff meetings, or set any kind of critical project milestone activity any time near Easter, May Day, Oktoberfest, Christmas, etc., in Europe. Don't schedule meetings before or after the bus schedules in Asia. Holidays, vacations and events like the National team playing in the UEFA championship are absolutely sacred. It was a real eye opener for me to work with these teams.

In some ways I envy them. Life is a priority over work, something we don't do very well here in the USA.

he was calling in 'blau' ..
it's ref. to blowing into the balloon during a DUI check .
when it turns blue ..your busted..
lot's of blue calls after some big game or event.

Stuttgart has an awesome Oktoberfest..

Rika

We have two German families in our block. They seem to have "Octoberfest" frequently throughout the year. Not so the rest of us....it could be a cultural thing.

Sid - Don't even try! A person could get sucked in big-time and you have too much going for you.

Tom

Don't worry tom. I gave up early on. I will have a few drinks with them, but they usually outdo me 3or4 to one when we go out. :eek: