Arrived at Credit Suisse in the rain, and found my day to day manager was not in today. Never mind, another man kindly collected me from reception and introduced me to Attilla who is my line manager. After a nice coffee, I was given a tour of the extensive building, and taken to get my ID pass made. We also visited the canteen so I could buy one of the cash cards which are used in all vending machines and in the canteen itself.
It soon transpired that my PC logon was not going to be ready today. I was assured that he had requested it in plenty of time and he was annoyed that there was a delay. A couple of hours later, I was informed that IT have made an error and actually have my start date as 31st December 2007 – the day my contract ends! Nothing can be done about this and apparently I cannot expect to get my login before Wednesday now!
Some of my colleagues took pity on me and invited me to a couple of meetings to occupy my day, but spent the rest of the time twiddling thumbs, trying to make myself look busy!
One of the ladies in my team (Victoria) is a Dubliner who actually worked for The Bromley Group as a trainer. I attended a course with this company in Dublin a few years ago. Small World! Another English chap, Andy, also worked there at some time. It’s amazing just how many Brits and other “foreigners” work for Credit Suisse. I am sure someone told me 70% of the workforce is non-Swiss!