I signed up for a company outing recently in a bid to make friends with some of my work colleagues. It was a fairly successful outing in that regard and if I ever return to HQ from the site office I will call a few of my new acquaintances for lunch.
On the other hand, if not for needing to make friends, I would have run screaming from the trip. Imagine 100 people descending upon two remote HK islands, complete with three megaphone waving tour guides and a group leader with the company name attached to a stick like one of those dreaded mainland tour groups. That was my outing. One of the megaphone ladies seemed to be in love with her megaphone and squawked into in nonstop for the entire seven hour trip. At one point I saw her talking into the megaphone at a couple where were not even two meters away. When we were back on the boat on our way to the second island some people from our seating area wrapped newspapers around the boat speaker so that we could drown out the noise. The volume was so loud that I imagined our boat could be heard at half a kilometer distance. At least the villagers had time to prepare for our imminent arrival.
The situation finally got to the point of horrified amusement when we were led to a lovely campsite overlooking some bluffs. SB and I had broken away from the group and were the first to arrive upon an idyllic setting. A couple were sitting at the opening of their tent, strumming a guitar while other campers were flying kites. Then, suddenly the tranquility was broken by the shrill squawking of three tour guides trying to be heard over one another. A minute later a horde of 100 overwhelmed colleagues came charging over the hill, trying to escape the incessant volume while the cows that had been sunning themselves ran into the brush.
Never again.
On the other hand, if not for needing to make friends, I would have run screaming from the trip. Imagine 100 people descending upon two remote HK islands, complete with three megaphone waving tour guides and a group leader with the company name attached to a stick like one of those dreaded mainland tour groups. That was my outing. One of the megaphone ladies seemed to be in love with her megaphone and squawked into in nonstop for the entire seven hour trip. At one point I saw her talking into the megaphone at a couple where were not even two meters away. When we were back on the boat on our way to the second island some people from our seating area wrapped newspapers around the boat speaker so that we could drown out the noise. The volume was so loud that I imagined our boat could be heard at half a kilometer distance. At least the villagers had time to prepare for our imminent arrival.
The situation finally got to the point of horrified amusement when we were led to a lovely campsite overlooking some bluffs. SB and I had broken away from the group and were the first to arrive upon an idyllic setting. A couple were sitting at the opening of their tent, strumming a guitar while other campers were flying kites. Then, suddenly the tranquility was broken by the shrill squawking of three tour guides trying to be heard over one another. A minute later a horde of 100 overwhelmed colleagues came charging over the hill, trying to escape the incessant volume while the cows that had been sunning themselves ran into the brush.
Never again.
Comments