Too Lazy to Say Good Morning

Etiquette, a quirky word where the phonetics doesn’t match the spelling, but the intent is very simple- make others feel comfortable. However, we are we increasingly feeling that people are rude or just plain oblivious of what good manners are.

I rarely feel somebody was rude if they don’t join their fork and knife at the end of the meal, however I feel perturbed when the person ahead of me throws the door in my face.  I am going to assume positive intent and think people are unaware of what good manners are, rather than thinking that parents just forgot to teach some manners.

Given we spend fair bit of time at work, I have complied a list of some very basic Do’s for the workplace and hence it would be a good place to start polishing are ways around others.

1. Always say hello if you run into someone who works on your floor, even if you don’t know their name. Don’t pretend that you didn’t see them. That strategy just makes you look like you had too much of something before you got into work.

2. Smile when you cross an acquaintance in the hall way.

3. When someone says “thank you”, respond with “you are welcome” instead of “no problem” or “sure”.

4. Always hold the door for the person behind you. Yes, you are busy, but an extra 5 seconds will not take too much away from your work.

5. Whoever gets to the door first holds the door for the other person. This is a gender neutral rule.

6. Always hold the elevator to ensure everyone can get in (nobody loses a limb by getting stuck in the elevator door).

7. Don’t greet people by saying “Morning”. Yes, I know it is morning time, don’t tell me something I already know… Is it really that difficult to say “Good Morning”, that we are so lazy that we just skip the good all together?

8. When you run into someone in the communal area that you don’t know, take the opportunity to introduce yourself.

9. Last, don’t pick your nose!

These are just some of the many ways we can make the workplace warm, friendly and welcoming for everyone!

Battling FoodPorn Addiction



Beef Candy at Mugaritz

As the likes of Josh Duggar and the priest from your neighbourhood worship facility check into a sex rehab, following the Ashley Madison data leak, I am still reminiscing of the foodporn that I shamelessly indulged in this past week in Spain, the gastro capital of the world.

 



Mosaic of the nine restaurants

The week of gastronomy debauchery consisted of the following affairs:



1. Bistreau by Angel Leon | Barcelona
2. Hisop | Barcelona | 1 Michelin
3. Kokotxa | San Sebastian | 1 Michelin
4. Arzak | San Sebastian | 3 Michelin
5. Mirador de ulia | San Sebastian | 1 Michelin
6. Mugaritz | San Sebastian | 2 Michelin
7. Sauc plats | Barcelona | 1 Michelin
8. Disfrutar | Barcelona | They better get a star soon
9. ABaC | Barcelona | 2 Michelin

"Where there is no hope, there can be no endeavor"- Samuel Johnson

The meals were visually stimulating, and plating was exquisite. The food evoked the taste buds, in some cases pushed us out of our comfort zone. The décor for all of the restaurants was minimalistic, neutral, clean, crisp and sophisticated. This seems to be a strategic design, as it allows the restaurants to evolve fast and cover breadths of the foods. 

Lulo ceviche with oyster & pisco sour

We tried the tasting menu at all these restaurants. WHY? One, life is too short, so let’s eat good food! Second, extra cost of the tasting menu over a meal of appetizer, entrée and dessert, was marginal.

 

A few things that added an extra touch to the whole experience-

• Meeting the chef: A few of restaurants had the chefs come out and meet the keen diners/audience. I feel this  makes the food journey more intimate. We had an opportunity to meet the chefs at: Arzak, Mugaritz, Disfrutar and ABaC.
• Petit Foures:  Petit Foures are mini desserts that generally accompany the bill. They are a delight to look at, and they taste just how they look- delicious.
• Friendly Staff: The staff at all restaurants was friendly. Friendly servers are increasingly becoming rare these days.
• Non-pretentious: None of the restaurants had a stuffy energy to them. In contrast to restaurants like George, North 44, and high end restaurants in Yorkville.

Petit Foures at Arzak

 

 

Keep watching my posts for more details on each of these fabulous restaurants!

PS: If you don’t know Josh Duggar and don’t affiliate with a priest, then I am so glad that I have some intelligent brains reading my blog!!!

Misdemeanor of Manspreading

 

George Orwell theorized in his book, 1984, that limiting language can limit thinking.  Thankfully, we are STILL in a world where dictionary is expanding rather than contracting to concoct the Newspeak the author underscored in the book.

Today, I welcome the birth of the word- manspreading; the word has been officially added to the online dictionary (I had to right click on manspreading and hit Ignore). If the corollary to Orwell’s theory holds, then including the word Manspreading in the dictionary will draw more attention to act and hopefully lead to an eventual culling of this repulsive practice. And at that point, the dictionary entry can be revised to read “an archaic practice where a man sits…”

Question: What is Manspreading?                                                                                                        

Answer: When a man sits with his legs wide apart on public transport encroaching on other seats

 

A few would disagree that manspreading is poor etiquette, and as we evolve to a world with rampant poor manners, we are left with no choice but to impose corrective action. Without treading into gender history and relations, I deem manspreading as a repulsive act, akin to picking one’s nose in public, maybe a shade a better than that, but nevertheless it is bad etiquette. I applaud as we move forward to create a better world where sadly, we still don’t arrest people for poor manners, but at least we are coining words to call them out.

 

Made of Plastic, not so Fantastic!

 

Precious few can afford prestige wrinkles, majority of us make peace with polyester. Propelled by the recession in 2008, and to continue increasing profit margin, the quality of clothing steadily worsened to a point we struggle to find clothes made of 100% natural fibers.

Natural fibers include wool, cashmere, cotton, silk, chiffons. They are breathable, hypoallergenic, last longer, easier to clean at home without dry-cleaning (of course techniques other than your washing machine’s delicate cycle).

Finding well-made, current, economical, natural fiber clothing, which works for our body-and-style, is nothing short of finding a needle in a hay stack. Off late, I get sticker shocks when I like a dress, it fits me like a glove, but it’s polyester and I need to chop of my limb or a few toes to pay for it. 

Polyester is wrinkle-free, cheap, and insect resistant. I remember my grandma and mum would store away seasonal clothes with a bunch of Neem leaves to prevent insect attack. Luckily, now we are not worried about insects eating our clothes, because insects haven’t acquired a taste for plastic.

 

 Skin is our largest organ, what we put on our skin is what we feed our bodies. This would be a topic for another day, so going back on how to pursue prestige wrinkles that are easy on the purse- I feel there isn’t one stop shop that will give us what we want, we just have to go about poking around, and before we like the style and colour, we need to reverse the garment and check the fabric make.

Does bad dress sense mean lack of professional credibility?

As Greece walks on egg shells yielding to the plan from creditors, we learn the importance of a basic principle- Bad dress sense leads to lack of professional credibility.

Yanis Varoukfais, an erudite in true sense, with MSc in Mathematical Statistics, PhD in Economics and sometimes credited as most knowledgeable man on Game Theory, had some brilliant ideas for Greek debt swap, which didn’t find much favour with the German creditors. Probably no one was as honest as Varoufakis in openly stating Greece’s inability to service its debt since the first liquidity injection in 2010. His statement to the press on July 6, 2015, when he was forced to resign, speaks to the clarity and grasp he commands on the Greece debt crises.

Regardless, Varoufakis is being thrown under the bus, accused of illegally plotting Greece’s exit and to some degree being made a scape goat for the resurgence of Greece’s liquidity problems this year.  I propose these accusation stem from him not fitting in with his European counterparts. Unfortunately, his good message was lost, and his proposal discredited because he didn’t behave in line with how European politics works. To add fuel to the fire, he didn’t blend in with political elite by dressing conservatively. He vocalized his thoughts openly without first socializing and seeking blessing of the current European rainmakers.

Motorbike riding, loud shirt wearing thought-leader’s message was discounted and dismissed. A political shame, as we will see Greece’s economy further shrink in the coming years under the burden of huge debt payments. Varoufakis channelled a radical image that cast him as an outsider from the very start when he was appointed Minister of Finance.

Bloomberg framed "Varoufakis Has Bad Dress Sense But He's No Crook, Tsipras Says"

 

Varoufakis made news when he walked into Downing Street dressed casually; wearing a leather jacket. An article by TheGuardian referred to the attire as “Madchester drug dealer’s coat”.

Europe is in dire need of radical thinking to salvage Greece and the other Greece’s in making, but at the same time, Varoufakis stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the Eurogroup  political class,     which disliked his casual clothes and non-conformist attitude, and could never move past it to embrace sound macroeconomic plan proposal. This international debacle underscores that dressing can’t be taken casually, even if one is brilliant.