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Sunday, June 18, 2006
Chilling in Holland
I found another old piece that I'd written in 2003. Most of the sentiments still hold, but I have got used to the long lunches after nearly 2 years of living in Holland.
In any case, here goes...
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July 13, 2003 – Chilling out in Holland
Having been in the Netherlands for about a week now, I’m now able to appreciate the reason why a lot of Americans are frustrated with trying to get work done in this country. The Dutch know how to have a rollicking good time and are generally found putting that knowledge to good use. They work from 9 to 5 – you won’t catch a Dutchman in the office if you happen to stroll by at 5.01 pm. On Fridays, I have a strong suspicion that the official working hours are 9 to 3 pm, though the authorities fervently deny anything of the sort. Methinks they doth protest too much.
Weekend work – I haven’t actually tried this, but I’m sure that the Dutch would ask for the padded wagon to be sent around pronto and whisk me off to St. Jan’s Home for the Mentally Deranged, if I were to mention that I was actually getting some work done over the weekend. Nor is this strict delineation of work hours a purely Dutch thing – the whole of Western Europe seems to be of the same mind when it comes to this. They may disagree vociferously on all manner of subjects in their EU meetings, but they are shoulder to shoulder on this topic – less work good, more work bad. On my first day working out of our Düsseldorf office, I asked a colleague if there was a high-speed internet connection at the corporate apartment as I needed to send some official emails with large attachments. She looked at me in horror and asked “But you’re not on the weekend working, ja?” Notwithstanding the discourteous placement of the verb at the end, her meaning was clear enough – I’d have to be touched in the head to work on a summer weekend.
But getting back to the Netherlands, nowhere is the easy pace of life as evident as when you go for a meal to a restaurant. In the US or in India, there is a concept that every restaurateur holds dear – the concept of ‘table turnover’. What this means is that you provide quick and efficient service to the party at every table, so that they can have a good meal and leave satisfied, so that another set of diners can take their place. Whole courses in restaurant management are devoted to explaining this concept and how it can help improve a restaurant’s profitability. These courses, however, have not yet made it over the dikes into Holland. The Dutch show a fine disdain for the quick meal – dinner is not dinner if it isn’t at least three hours long. The general agenda for a meal may be visualized as follows:
Agenda
1. Be seated at the restaurant, preferably al fresco since the sun is up till 10 pm in summer.
2. Look around you; take in the ambience, people-watch and get to know your fellow-diners better.
3. After around fifteen minutes, the waitress will be over to enquire after your health, hope that you’re having a nice time and to tell you that she’ll be with you in a couple of minutes.
4. About ten minutes later, the waitress will show up to take your order, chit-chat with you and leave.
5. ….. You get the idea! In general, the whole process is calm and unhurried and takes about three hours.
Don’t get me wrong – once you get used to the process, it can be quite enjoyable to linger over your meal and have long post-prandial conversations. It’s just a shock at first, that’s all!
In fact, after having been here a while, I’m beginning to veer around to the view that the Dutch are on to a good thing, which we need to encourage in other parts of the world. So if my boss is reading this - I’m not coming in to work next weekend, I’m going Dutch!
In any case, here goes...
**************************************************************************************
July 13, 2003 – Chilling out in Holland
Having been in the Netherlands for about a week now, I’m now able to appreciate the reason why a lot of Americans are frustrated with trying to get work done in this country. The Dutch know how to have a rollicking good time and are generally found putting that knowledge to good use. They work from 9 to 5 – you won’t catch a Dutchman in the office if you happen to stroll by at 5.01 pm. On Fridays, I have a strong suspicion that the official working hours are 9 to 3 pm, though the authorities fervently deny anything of the sort. Methinks they doth protest too much.
Weekend work – I haven’t actually tried this, but I’m sure that the Dutch would ask for the padded wagon to be sent around pronto and whisk me off to St. Jan’s Home for the Mentally Deranged, if I were to mention that I was actually getting some work done over the weekend. Nor is this strict delineation of work hours a purely Dutch thing – the whole of Western Europe seems to be of the same mind when it comes to this. They may disagree vociferously on all manner of subjects in their EU meetings, but they are shoulder to shoulder on this topic – less work good, more work bad. On my first day working out of our Düsseldorf office, I asked a colleague if there was a high-speed internet connection at the corporate apartment as I needed to send some official emails with large attachments. She looked at me in horror and asked “But you’re not on the weekend working, ja?” Notwithstanding the discourteous placement of the verb at the end, her meaning was clear enough – I’d have to be touched in the head to work on a summer weekend.
But getting back to the Netherlands, nowhere is the easy pace of life as evident as when you go for a meal to a restaurant. In the US or in India, there is a concept that every restaurateur holds dear – the concept of ‘table turnover’. What this means is that you provide quick and efficient service to the party at every table, so that they can have a good meal and leave satisfied, so that another set of diners can take their place. Whole courses in restaurant management are devoted to explaining this concept and how it can help improve a restaurant’s profitability. These courses, however, have not yet made it over the dikes into Holland. The Dutch show a fine disdain for the quick meal – dinner is not dinner if it isn’t at least three hours long. The general agenda for a meal may be visualized as follows:
Agenda
1. Be seated at the restaurant, preferably al fresco since the sun is up till 10 pm in summer.
2. Look around you; take in the ambience, people-watch and get to know your fellow-diners better.
3. After around fifteen minutes, the waitress will be over to enquire after your health, hope that you’re having a nice time and to tell you that she’ll be with you in a couple of minutes.
4. About ten minutes later, the waitress will show up to take your order, chit-chat with you and leave.
5. ….. You get the idea! In general, the whole process is calm and unhurried and takes about three hours.
Don’t get me wrong – once you get used to the process, it can be quite enjoyable to linger over your meal and have long post-prandial conversations. It’s just a shock at first, that’s all!
In fact, after having been here a while, I’m beginning to veer around to the view that the Dutch are on to a good thing, which we need to encourage in other parts of the world. So if my boss is reading this - I’m not coming in to work next weekend, I’m going Dutch!
