May 2011 – Day 6
I feel like I have a price on my head
I have written a lot about Larry over the years. We have been working together for more than 6 years now and I think I know him fairly well – well enough at least to know that he wants to get me killed! I have noticed a pattern every time we have one of the group dinners so common here following important meetings. During the meeting, Larry will extend an invitation for dinner to the Chinese customers and coworkers – he does this in Mandarin, I guess so I won’t understand, and at some point, the listeners always laugh and look in my direction. Fortunately I have picked up enough of the language to understand what is happening – Larry is asking everyone to toast me with Baiju “one-by-one”. He also tells them that I once toasted 30 people in this manner, which for the record is not true but in Larry’s mind it is. At any rate we had two such dinners this trip, both times I was set up, and both times I got roped into “one-by-one” with at least one table of 12 or so people. I have learned to do this with at least one table, after eating a sufficient amount of whatever is served, rice works best, and then I stay involved in conversations with whoever is available until the rest of the people are too drunk to remember I didn’t toast them yet. This has worked every time so far, and so long as no one catches on, I think and can keep on living. At least I can walk away without assistance. As with all things, it is good to have a plan. At the second of our customer dinners, Larry ordered 10 bottles of Moutai – the top brand of Baiju. Apparently he has a larger marketing budget than I have –
No comments:
Post a Comment