Welcome to the Other Side of the Pond

When I first started with StyleMark, I was sent to our Polaroid lens manufacturing plant in Scotland for a couple days for training.  Originally I was booked to fly out of Boston Friday evening and arrive in Glasgow Saturday morning.  That’s actually an interesting side story…our flight took off and headed towards Newark, where 90% of the passengers had layovers before their international flights.  Normally that’s about a 45 minute flight.  An hour and a half went by and we were still airborne.  Turns out we had been circling the Newark airport because it was too windy to land.  Eventually it got to the point where we didn’t have enough fuel to continue circling, so we headed back to Beantown. All the other passengers were livid; we were all going to miss our connections. No more flights until the next morning.   Since it wasn’t necessary for me to be in Scotland until Monday, I volunteered to go home and come back the next evening to try it again.

So plans changed a little.  My coworker in Scotland that had been assigned to ‘chaperone’ me while I was there was a guy named Paul, one of our VPs.  As luck would have it, the weekend that I was arriving also happened to be the weekend that he and his family had planned a ski trip up north.  While he couldn’t be there to actually show me around, he gave me a list of great things to do.  I have never had a problem entertaining myself and love exploring new cities; so I was just fine wandering the streets of Glasgow alone.  If I had arrived on Saturday, I was going to spend that day exploring Glasgow and head to Edinburgh on Sunday for the rugby match.  Obviously that’s not how the real plans went.  Instead I spent Sunday exploring Glasgow.

I was still a little bummed out that I wasn’t able to make it to Edinburgh so I looked for a pub in which I could watch the match.  I stumbled upon a fabulous pub right downtown; got myself a Smithwicks, and found an open bench where I planted myself in front of the tvs.  After a little while two guys sat down at the other end of the bench (it was a very long bench).  One of the guys was normal looking (jeans and a long sleeve shirt).  The other guy’s outfit SCREAMED Scotland.  He was wearing a kilt, one of those Irish/Scottish hats, and a rugby polo that was literally the flag of Scotland.  I loved it!  Well it was only a matter of time before we got to chatting.  Turns out it was Mr. Scotland’s birthday (that’s what I’m calling the guy who the souvenir shop threw up on).  After about an hour they had to leave, another party was awaiting their arrival.  They invited me to go with them, but the party required us to get in their car.  My momma taught me never to get in a car with strangers so I passed on the invite, but wished them well.

(not actual photo of Mr.Scotland...the best replica I could create with my ghetto PhotoShop)

Fastforward to later that night…

Paul had left a cell phone for me to use while in Europe, but forgot to leave me a charger.  So he said he would swing by and drop one off for me once he got back in to town.  I was  having dinner at the cute little Italian restaurant right next to my hotel when Paul texted saying he was on his way to meet me.  I texted back to let him know where I was “At Antipasti. Small table right by the big glass wall.  You can’t miss me”.  (Don’t worry I refrained from jumping in to this wall)

Now this was the first time I was meeting ANYONE from our Polaroid Europe team, so I was pretty nervous.  I really wanted to make a good first impression.  Paul arrived, gave me the charger, and hung out for a little bit so we could get to know each other and discuss our plans for the next few days.  A few minutes in to our conversation I happened to glance out the glass wall.  And who do I see stumbling down the sidewalk?? Good old Mr. Scotland!

I tried to nonchalantly turn my body so just my back was facing out.  Then all of a sudden the restaurant was filled with the sounds of loud banging on the glass.  Everyone in the place turned to see Mr. Scotland frantically waving at me.  I gave him a smile hoping he’d walk away.  He walked away, but towards the door to the restaurant.  Mr. Scotland barged in the door bellowing my name, “CAITLIN!! I’m so glad I found you!!  Are you coming drinking with us?!?!?!”  For a second I didn’t say anything.  I could feel the irritated stares of other diners as well as the very confused look coming from Paul’s side of the table.

“Not sure if I’ll make it out.  This is my coworker Paul that I was telling you about.”  I thought changing the subject would distract everyone and take the attention off of me.  Thank God the lighting was bad so no one could tell how red I was turning!

After the two of them discussed the day’s match for a bit (it was a tough loss) Mr. Scotland was ready to continue on to the next pub.

“Well Caitlin, we’re all going to be at Jinty McGinty’s for the next few hours.  Come join us for a pint or two later,” and he was gone.  I turned back to Paul.  With a very perplexed look on his face he asked, “Didn’t you just arrive in town a few hours ago??  How do you know that guy??”

“Yes I did just arrive today.  That was just a friend I made while watching the rugby match today.  I tend to make friends when I’m left alone.  And Scottish people are so nice,” I tried my best to change the subject so normal color could return to my face.

Paul has since become one of my most favorite coworkers (behind Marike of course ☺) and to this day he still loves to tell that story.  I guess I succeeded in making an impression…just not quite the one I had in mind.