Family Life

Work got off to a slow start this week, but we’ve now hit our stride and it’s all going full steam ahead. Too bad it’s Thursday and my week is over tomorrow. Still, I’ve accomplished most of what I came to do, so it has been a successful week after all.

I’ve been drinking copious espressos every day. It’s an easy addiction to acquire and some of the guys are more addicted than others. One hyperactive guy is so dependent on his coffee he gets a little desperate when he doesn’t have change for the coffee machine. Bank Stephen has been providing foreign currency exchange for him the last couple of days, changing bills for coins, Euros for Forints, any combination that will get him the money he needs for the machine. That suits me fine. As my trip winds down I’d rather not end up with any Forints, especially coins. And Euros are more useful. So I’m quite happy to oblige–as long as I’m not left without coins for the espresso machine.

This morning I decided to take some photos of the front of the building to commemorate my stay, so I wandered along the sidewalk out by the road with my camera. After I took a few shots security came out and hauled me into the building. They didn’t speak English, and things were a bit tense until they found someone that could translate and that could reassure them I actually worked here. Apparently they’re very sensitive about strangers on the street taking photos. They’re also very sensitive about what goes on inside the building. This is understandable, considering all the proprietary technology and processes. They’ve gone so far as to remove all company names, descriptions and serial numbers from our machine, even using a grinder in places where serial numbers were engraved. All in an effort to keep the machine’s origins a secret.

I thought that was a little extreme, until I heard about the high employee turnover. There is a lot of industry in Gy?r, a city of about 130,000 people, and a lot of competition for technical staff. This leads to extensive employee poaching between companies and a lot of staff churn. People switch jobs because the new job is more interesting, the pay is higher, or it’s closer to home. Someone might go from company A to company B to company C and back to company A. It’s a job-seeker’s market, perilous for companies wishing to protect trade secrets.

Photo note: Statue of King Stephen I, first king of Hungary. He was canonized after his death, hence the halo.

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