I felt like an interloper, or maybe a corporate spy, today while I was waiting for students at the client site of a multinational bank. At least until I remembered that I am no longer an employee of a competing multinational bank.
First, I was downstairs in the caf grading test papers when the place began filling up with suity-types... bankers all, not a geek in the bunch, not my people... They all headed for an area away from the food and cash registers, hundreds of them. It was clear they were having a meeting, something quick and probably impromptu. So as they packed in, the folks milling about were stacked and packed closer and closer to where I was sitting. I decided it would probably be best for me to leave, since I assumed they were there to hear some internal announcement which they wouldn’t want non-employees to hear. So I packed up my belongings, and it was only as I was rolling my stuff away did it occur to me that I wouldn’t have understood what the hell they were saying anyway! 😉
Later I was hanging out in the lobby waiting for my next student. There was a lot of Christmas commerce happening at a temporary table selling Lindt chocolates, and when they wheeled out a new table and set it up next to the Christmas tree I just assumed a new vendor was coming. How right I was!
At the appointed time slews of workers started showing up and waiting around... Not just suits this time, but geeks too. And then I heard the unmistakable sound of a Catholic mass, complete with call and response between the priest and parishioners. I was amazed, to say the least! This went on for 15 minutes, and then upon some cue (in Italian... Latin.. who knows) everyone broke trance and disbursed.
My student arrived 5 minutes later (late!) and explained that it had been a ceremony to bless the people and the bank during the holiday season. HR had sent a blast email to all employees to join if their schedules allowed.
🤔