part of my hopes for new zealand by temping around was to gain experience in the business world. i know nothing of it since i spent so many years working at the university in administration. i need some commercial skills. i need to know how business life is conducted. what are the protocols. what is the etiquette.

right now i've been assigned a few days at what i told was a start-up. that's a bit misleading. it's a corporation that is larger than that, however is more like a start-up in new zealand. the company is econet wireless. they apparently have a long reputation in other countries. small countries. they started in the uk it seems, or the parent company is based in the uk. they provide mobile phone service. since 2000, they have been trying to provide mobile phone service in new zealand. when i found this part out, i almost wanted to kiss their feet. if it is possible to kiss a company's feet! you see, there are only 2 mobile service providers in new zealand. telecom and vodafone. in other words, no choice! yeah, it sucks. as soon as i heard there were only 2 providers, i was like "oh shit!" i knew it wasn't good. in this case, america's motto is true, bigger is better. the bigger your choice landscape is, the better deal you will get.

in this duopoly, you really don't have much choice as far as cell plans are concerned so prices are astronomical. i haven't been here long enough to comment on the service quality, but so far so good. i hope that econet is successful in getting into the new zealand market. i'm not really sure the politics of the matter but it looks like some lobbying must go on before this can happen. once it does, i think it opens the door for the mobile market so that it is no longer a duopoly. naturally, those currently enjoying the duopoly are against this, as far as i can tell. they love being the only ones reaping profit.

the office where i'm at is really small. it's just the project director. he has an assistant, but from what i can guess at, she mainly works at home or she's on maternity leave. so i'm gonna be around for a few days just to help out since they are understaffed and be the assistant/helper/do-it-all sort of person. it's a very gentle nudge into the business world. i hope to learn as much as i can. the project director is very nice. he seems cool. there's just something about his personality that i like. he probably works too hard though. i don't picture myself in such a position in the future.

funny scenario of the day: since the office is tucked away deep in the back, the janitors locked up and turned off the lights, not realizing anyone was still there. i was the only one there. my boss had gone off to a meeting. i thought it was fine. i could still see from the light coming in through the window. eventually, it got darker and i needed light. i went down the hall and turned on the lights. i heard a beeping but also the janitor vacuuming just outside the glass door. i thought he'd see the lights are on and walk in or maybe even see me walking by. the point is, i thought i'd see the janitor face to face. nope. instead the beeping continued. i didn't think about it. then the alarm went off. oh! that's what the beeping was for. i had no idea how to turn off the alarm. i just prepared myself for the police to come. they would have to call around to make sure i was allowed to be there. that never happened. the alarm kept going off. eventually someone from the construction site next door, i think that's where he was from, came over and turned off the alarm. he was really cool about it and just when he was about to walk away, he was like, "the doors were locked, how did you get in?". that's when i explained that the janitors didn't notice anyone was back here. i explained that i didn't have a key and didn't know how to set/turn off the alarm. he told me the code but it went in one ear and out the other. i don't even know where the alarm box is! i am just the temp.... hahahaa

grim picture of the day:

health reminder in female public restrooms