The Last Team Lunch

Finally 5 of my team members have decided to make the move to another BPO in Chennai and they are happier with the higher pay packages that the company is offering them. The 5 of them have submitted their resignations using the online option provided at the company I work for. Only one of my senior trainers and my MIS guy will remain back.

From a strong team of 7, I now will have just 2 – although there will be an IJP run and I will get to select 5 replacements from the senior associates in the call center. It will just not be the same. Although I am excited & motivated at getting fresh & enthusiastic newcomers and I would love to mold them & guide them in doing a good job in their new profile, I am going to miss the 4 guys and 1 girl who are leaving.

I especially know that they do not really want to go but that they are fed up of the way things are going on at the office. They asked me to apply to the new place that they are going off to. I told them half-heartedly that I would try, although I do not want to live in Chennai. So I took them to hotel Sea Park for the last lunch outing that we will spend together as a team. I told them to order whatever they wanted – the company was paying – and boy did they do so! The final count was 3 biriyanis, 3 fried rice, 2 mutton masala, 1 beef roast, 2 porottas, 4 huge fish fries, 2 chilli prawns, 3 plates of chicken 65, 3 fresh juices and 6 ice creams!

Man that was enough to feed the Chinese army! My biriyani was the last to arrive and I sat looking at them as my kids ate to their hearts’ content. I enjoy watching them eat as I have stated before and I love it when they can enjoy a good meal. The next time the training team goes out to eat, it will be a whole new team with new faces. But the older ones will always be a part of my life.

RIP Sir Bobby Charlton

I was extremely sad to read about the demise of Sir Bobby Charlton. Sir Bobby was a former international football player and, after retirement, manager of several European clubs and the England national football team. His professional playing career as an inside-forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for just three clubs – Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and briefly for the defunct Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals.After his playing career he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup.

His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Irish national football team. Robson was created a Knight Bachelor in 2002, was inducted as a member of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and was the honorary president of Ipswich Town. From 1991 onwards he suffered recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in March 2008, put his name and efforts into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a cancer research charity.

Rip Sir Bobby (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009)