Vinny the Pooh Pool....

Vinny the Pooh has turned out to be a great guy, and a load of fun to be around. Vineet is a young man from India that we decided to take a chance on in hiring. He didn't have the food background, nor did he have a really solid sales background....Just a really charismatic young man with a desire to succeed. He is in a long term relationship with an Emirate Airline Stewardess and is (if must say in a non homophobic way) quite fit and a good looking guy.
Now Vineet has some things that the sales team (especially Nick and I) love to have a little fun with. He is polite and respectful in a charmingly funny way. It is always yes sir and no sir, and he won't let a manager or one of his older work mates carry something heavy. One of his funny habits is that he will not drink any beverage while eating...not a sip, he explains that if you drink during eating that "you put the fire out" in your belly. He sheepishly speaks about it while Nick needles him...it's too funny. All of this Vinny chatter leads me too the "Vinny the Pooh Pool". To get a drivers license here can be a challenge. It is all based on your current license status and passport. If you are an American with a US drivers license and a US passport it's a 10 minute process to get your UAE driving license. Now Juan, who had a US license, but a Colombian passport had to take a series of classes and tests then had to pass his driving test (passed it on one try at a cost of several hundred dollars). As I have mentioned, there are serious class differentials here and one of them is the way that Ex-Pat's from India are sometimes treated. They tend to get flunked as they try and pass their UAE driver's test. Pursh, our HR Manager(one of my best friends at work) took seven tries to pass his test. Peter, our customer service manager flunked seven times and then gave up. He only travels by public transport now. So after Juan (former military pilot) passed the test on the first time, young Vineet confidently predicted the same...hence, I started the Pooh pool. For 5 Dirhams ($1.27) you can write down how many times Vineet will have to take the test to get his license. Vinny has entered (predictably he has chosen 1) I have entered (2 times is my guess) and several of our coworkers (Bob has two entries and many theories as to why Vineet will or won't pass the test). So the closest pick to the actual number without going over gets the cash( I, of course will keep you updated).
Speaking of driving, you may recall that I got a speeding ticket last fall, and how much Bob made fun of me for it, and bragged about how he was not going to get a ticket. Well guess who got a ticket? or two? Lol, right you are, Bob got one for speeding and one for an "improper lane change". Now he has no idea about the details (the tickets are delivered in Arabic via Fed Ex) but he does now own the crown for tickets between us...It is good to find things to make us laugh.
Speaking of laughing, do you remember how Nick (or Neek as he is known by some) scratched my brand new Teflon frying pan by scrambling 18 eggs in it while making the now infamous omelette's and "Kenyon" bacon...yes brand new never used pan, with deep gouges, well after I had him convicted at trial at the office (by Judge Kelly), Nick bought me a replacement pan. Now what makes this cute story funny, Shamsudine (yes Sham fans he is alive and well) saw this scratched up frying pan on my desk, and of course he had to have it. Well I gave it to him, and he gave his award winning David Letterman smile and took it. Since then, he is always asking Nick, when he is going to cook for me again hoping for more damaged cooking ware. I had two lids at the house (one from the old skillet and one from the one Nick bought me) So I asked Shams if he needed a lid, nope he has sent the pan back to Bangladesh for his family...Sometimes it takes something simple as that to help you realize your blessings.
The heat is building and Nick gives me a daily commentary about how hot it is. The forecast for the coming week calls for every day (except Wednesday @ 98 degrees) to be over 100 degrees. Humidity is creeping up also (as the sea warms the humidity increases). Hot summer time is coming...As the heat builds sales start to slow, I am so happy that Joseph returned to work yesterday from his trip to India to bring his wife and new born daughter home, Juan returns on Sunday from getting married in the US last week. Nasser is still out for another 3 weeks, and Kelly and Ceren are leaving for vacations around the first of June. I am envious of Kelly's trip back to Canada and the United States as she is going back to be a brides maid and part of her trip will be a bacherolette party in Las Vegas....10 weeks until I get to board that 14 hour flight back to the good ole USA....
Have a great week!
John