Team Building
I went away last weekend with a couple of people from work to a family farm in the Free State. I decided to blog about these lucky individuals today…well, because you just get to know someone so much better when you spend a little quality time together. You know it is weird to think that you may sit next to someone day in and day out for nine hours (or ten) and never really get to know them. I strongly advocate more company bonding sessions…team building, whatever. Spending time with co-workers outside of the office is highly conducive to a team’s efficiency. Time outside of the work environment allows you to understand a person’s strengths and weaknesses a little better. At the end of the day, people are still subjective creatures and observations may be completely off. But it is a start!
So I decided that I would write about some of my observations of the four individuals I spent the weekend with. Off course, it must be noted that I would not dare to disregard the role alcohol played in aiding the out-of-office bonding and therefore do not judge these individuals for their behavior over the weekend ;o)
I will start off with Mr. Jimpie. Mr. Jimpie was the driver to and from the weekend destination and is highly commendable for his driving skills. So if anyone ever needs a designated driver-he’s your man!
My observations and advice to Jimpie is that drinking brandy and coke a shade below the colour of pinewood is not very good for the furniture (that he couldn’t seem to dodge when walking to and from the bathroom). Neither is that amount of alcohol very useful in keeping that which should not be said, not said. I will not mention the amount or content of disclosure, but let’s just say that Jimpie is a very informative source to have. Jimpie, was however, a pleasure to have on the trip…even if he tried to pressurize me into smoking with him or commented on how he has noticed the level of perkiness of my breasts.
Ok, tough one to follow…but I guess it would be most appropriate to move on to the person I spent the second most amount of time with over the weekend. Princess Candy made a remarkable impression on me over the weekend. She is one of the most gorgeous girls I know…inside and out. She is one of those beautiful girls who are really down to earth. Even though she won’t skip a day without her make-up, she knows how to pull a face and have fun doing it. Princess Candy, Jimpie and I partook in a crazy-eye competition…and she came in a very close second next to me. Even though Candy didn’t get on a horse, or anywhere near one for that matter, she did manage to hold her ground during the paintball match and proved to be a worthy teammate and captain.
Since I still have crazy-eyes on my mind, I will have to mention Gerrit who takes the cake. I did not manage to spend a lot of time with Gerrit over the weekend, but did notice that he is a man with a head on his shoulders and that he is going places. His knowledge and insight exceeds his years and he is a recommendable drinking partner. People tend to underestimate him, but his potential is undeniable and his sense of adventure highly contagious. Although, perhaps not as contagious as the flu. He expressed his disappointment in my lethargic demeanor over the weekend caused by my nemesis, influenza. Because I let him down so badly, I decided that it would only be appropriate to host another weekend on the farm and make it up to him! So Be Warned!!
Last but not least, Ryno was in his element over the weekend as I would suspect. Give him a fire and a beer and he’s happy. What I knew about Ryno that was confirmed over the weekend is that he is in his element when in the great outdoors. He has big dreams and the potential to accomplish them, but I think that the going back to the office on Mondays tends to make him forget that fact. Anyway, Ryno has the habit of going for walks at night when he’s wasted in the bush…so maybe one night he will stumble into a bush pig or something that will talk some sense into him. Hakuna matata, right?
I didn’t think it would be appropriate to comment on myself (will leave that for the commentary box), except to say that I make a mean crazy-eye ;o)
Thank guys and gal…it was a great weekend!
