My happy team.
Posted: 14 Jan 2016 15:22
Well now, this one came as a complete surprise. Who would have thought?
I was in Dusseldorf earlier this week for the company’s 2016 kick-off meeting. It’s quite a busy time for us right now with new product releases and a couple of acquisitions, so the meeting was larger than usual and I was there with about a dozen members of my team. On Sunday evening we all met in the hotel for dinner. Many of the people present hadn’t seen each other in quite a while (the company’s spread across several European sites) so it was quite a cheery, warm get together.
We knew we had a busy few days ahead of us so most of us went to bed early. I had noted that one of the people there, Jenny (name changed), a lady in her early forties, was in a room half a dozen doors along from me in the direction of the elevator – pretty much an ideal situation for recording – so a few minutes after retiring I went for a short stroll and placed a USB recorder in an appropriate position in the corridor.
Although Jenny works for me I can’t say I know her all that well. We actually live in different countries so we don’t meet up all that often. She is always very neat, tidy and professional and she runs her business and her team very well. I’ve met her husband a couple of times and they seem like a happy enough couple, so I wasn’t really expecting to capture much with this recording, perhaps a quiet gasp or two from her pre-sleep self-indulgences, but I was generally curious to see if anything lurked beneath her efficient exterior. One thing’s for certain though, I wasn’t expecting what happened next.
After about fifteen minutes of silence I heard a distant tinkling of glasses accompanied by footsteps coming along the corridor, then a knock at her door.
Jenny: “Hello Simon (name also changed). Ooh, that’s good thinking.”
Simon: “White wine, soda if Madam requires, and a top-up.”
Jenny: “(Giggle) Then perhaps you’d better come in.”
Simon is a young man from her team just a couple of years’ out of university. He’s slim, with a short neatly trimmed beard and looks very fit. He was obviously visiting her for some extra business advice before the next day’s meeting!
The recordings posted here were taken from the next hour and a half of activity. Part way through I switched recorders to check if I had caught anything, so imagine my feelings when I got back to my room and heard what was going on! There was a lot of talking which I have removed, including a couple of clips in which they chatted about me (they were quite complementary so maybe I should have left these bits in for you all to hear). In between chats they got down to a couple of team building tasks, as you will hear.
At the end of the recording there was a brief snogging and chatting session behind the door followed by the sound of Simon departing.
Jenny arrived early for breakfast the next morning looking as neat, efficient and professional as ever. When Simon turned up they shook hands and greeted each other in the normal semi-formal way that European business people do, before Simon took a place some way away from her. They carried on as though nothing had happened, but when Jenny left the table she strolled past Simon’s place and surreptitiously stroked her hand across his back as she passed by.
Unfortunately I had to leave the hotel on Monday to travel to another site. Jenny and Simon remained for two more nights so who knows what further developments took place? She is certainly playing a dangerous game there and one thing’s for certain, I will review carefully any promotion or bonus recommendations she submits on Simon’s behalf!
x x x
L
I was in Dusseldorf earlier this week for the company’s 2016 kick-off meeting. It’s quite a busy time for us right now with new product releases and a couple of acquisitions, so the meeting was larger than usual and I was there with about a dozen members of my team. On Sunday evening we all met in the hotel for dinner. Many of the people present hadn’t seen each other in quite a while (the company’s spread across several European sites) so it was quite a cheery, warm get together.
We knew we had a busy few days ahead of us so most of us went to bed early. I had noted that one of the people there, Jenny (name changed), a lady in her early forties, was in a room half a dozen doors along from me in the direction of the elevator – pretty much an ideal situation for recording – so a few minutes after retiring I went for a short stroll and placed a USB recorder in an appropriate position in the corridor.
Although Jenny works for me I can’t say I know her all that well. We actually live in different countries so we don’t meet up all that often. She is always very neat, tidy and professional and she runs her business and her team very well. I’ve met her husband a couple of times and they seem like a happy enough couple, so I wasn’t really expecting to capture much with this recording, perhaps a quiet gasp or two from her pre-sleep self-indulgences, but I was generally curious to see if anything lurked beneath her efficient exterior. One thing’s for certain though, I wasn’t expecting what happened next.
After about fifteen minutes of silence I heard a distant tinkling of glasses accompanied by footsteps coming along the corridor, then a knock at her door.
Jenny: “Hello Simon (name also changed). Ooh, that’s good thinking.”
Simon: “White wine, soda if Madam requires, and a top-up.”
Jenny: “(Giggle) Then perhaps you’d better come in.”
Simon is a young man from her team just a couple of years’ out of university. He’s slim, with a short neatly trimmed beard and looks very fit. He was obviously visiting her for some extra business advice before the next day’s meeting!
The recordings posted here were taken from the next hour and a half of activity. Part way through I switched recorders to check if I had caught anything, so imagine my feelings when I got back to my room and heard what was going on! There was a lot of talking which I have removed, including a couple of clips in which they chatted about me (they were quite complementary so maybe I should have left these bits in for you all to hear). In between chats they got down to a couple of team building tasks, as you will hear.
At the end of the recording there was a brief snogging and chatting session behind the door followed by the sound of Simon departing.
Jenny arrived early for breakfast the next morning looking as neat, efficient and professional as ever. When Simon turned up they shook hands and greeted each other in the normal semi-formal way that European business people do, before Simon took a place some way away from her. They carried on as though nothing had happened, but when Jenny left the table she strolled past Simon’s place and surreptitiously stroked her hand across his back as she passed by.
Unfortunately I had to leave the hotel on Monday to travel to another site. Jenny and Simon remained for two more nights so who knows what further developments took place? She is certainly playing a dangerous game there and one thing’s for certain, I will review carefully any promotion or bonus recommendations she submits on Simon’s behalf!
x x x
L
