Making a Toast

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I went out with several people (Russians) from the plant this evening and learned a lot about toasting. Yes, they CAN drink and they do love their vodka, but we were drinking Baily's (no Jack) and one ordering liked Baily's. There are so many traditions ("rules"), I know I will never remember all of them but here goes with the ones I remember.

1. For women, you want to last touch a man's glass, other than your husband's, to bring you wealth.
2. You never serve yourself, you always get served and it should be the man doing the serving (oh yes, we started with wine at the first place...lol)
3. The last person to be served from a bottle is suppose to take it, blow a wish into it, cork it, and put it on the ground. No not leave it sitting on the table.
4. When doing shots, you are suppose to drink the entire shot (but this is not strickly enforced) and not sip it.
5. With wine, you are suppose to sip it three times each time to bring you good luck.
6. NEVER ever enter a toast with a empty glass trying to be polite, just sit it out.
7. Be sure to touch everyone's glass, especially men to the women. It is great offense if you to no touch everyone's glass even if they are on the other side of the table on the opposite end, get up and touch.
8. Do not sit your glass on the table until the person is finished with the toast and everyone has touched glasses, no matter how long they talk...lol
9. There is nothing magical or poetic about the toasts; they can be simple or complex, but of course the more complex, the higher people think of you.

I am sure there are more, but those are the ones I remember. A few other things you may find interesting, parsley here is not just a garnish on your plate. The men will actually find that the women will watch to see if, and how much, the man eats because the more you eat, the more "long lasting" (no need for Viagra when you have parsley) a man will be that evening. The more the man eats, the more attention he will get from the women.

Back to work, I may have posted this once, but I still can not believe it. Employees do not get paychecks in Russia, but actually PAID in CASH! With people knowing this, you would think there would be a higher robbery rate on pay days and maybe there is, but it just amazes me the monthly salary is paid in cash (rubles). And speaking of monthly salary here at the plant, I do not know the full range, but it is somewhere between 10,000 - 15,000 rubles a month. A ruble is about 26.5:1 US dollar. But some of the benefits, all employees get 4 weeks vacation plus paid sick time and are paid 13 months per year. You get the extra month's pay when you take your first week of vacation and it is normal for the employees to take one week or more at a time and not a day here or there. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, they also get free health care from the company doctor and a bonus potential of 40 - 60% of their monthly salary depending on your position. For example, if my translator is paid 10,000 rubles per month, she also has a potential to earn an additional 5,000 rubles if she hits 100% of all of her goals. Some are easy (keeping her desk and work area in a clean and safe manner) while others are more challenging (confidently and accurate translate for QA Director). As I posted earlier, I trust Olga, but she is not the most confident person and I am sure I will have to get on her about being more forceful in her delivery when I need for it to be such as we did yesterday.

All I was getting from my Cheif Vet was excuses as to why we had out of spec product. I would ask one thing then get something completely different, not even closely related. At first I thought I was asking the wrong question and/or it was not being translated correctly, but to find out Nina was just avoiding my question and I finally had enough and the Vince that many of you know and have seen from time to time came out. It got Nina's attention and we finally started getting someplace; but it was stressful not being able to talk directly to Nina.

Today we had a similar situation, but this time I feel I made ground. Again, I was getting excuses, but I kept coming back to it until I got Nina caught in her own excuses and challenger her how it could be both ways. She knew she was had and finally "admitted" defeat and started asking fair questions AND more importantly, coming up with what we could do as oppose to why we could not do it. I know some of you know first hand what I am looking for, but now image having to do this through a third person. But I felt good we made progress on my expectations and took the time to tell Nina I know things will happen, but we need to have solutions, not excuses and NEVER lie to me like she started to today. So yes, I do have some frustration that I am venting to anyone reading this.

Finally, my last note before heading to bed. Another custom, besides taking your shoes off before entering a persons' house or even the gym as we found out yesterday...lol, you only shake a person's hand the first time you see them that day. You always shake their hand, but only the first time greeting them for that business day. Nothing wrong with it, but just something different.

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Comments

[RICKY]

maybe you should just have Olga look up the word Chiuahah (sp the dog) and then she will know how to deliver your messages. :-) Looks like you have been taking in some great sites! Not much new here, got a little rain yesterday and it has coole down to the mid 80's. all the postings are great! Take care.. Ricky

[Gale]

finally
It actually took longer than I thought it would for the old Vince to have to show himself! lol Besides - you can vent all you want - it's your blog. How's the weather there now? We're still between 105-110 here in Louisiana and we're miserable!