I've barely had any good experiences with Eastern Europeans here in my life. Very rarely. If there was a service they were providing, they were okay but not great in the way that I would love to go back. If it was a conversation, such as one with a colleague or classmate, not pleasant at all!
There was this Russian guy in my former workplace whom I once got into a discussion with him about the need of nuclear power in Iran and how Russia was helping them in the south, on the edge of Persian Gulf to build a reactor. This is a separate story itself which I will not narrate it here now. He was an IT guy who later quit and I never heard of him. There was another guy I remember, Andre. He was a medium-built white-headed guy whom I never, ever, like the other ones, remember seeing even smiling, let alone laughing! He was okay and always helpful and I even remember I sat with him several times and asked him questions about Russia and he always answered them all patiently but never went closer such as a friendship. There was another guy who was in procurement and was probably 15 years older than me and had the same attitude. He would come to me to ask questions about the contracts and I could see in his eyes that he's really not willing to do that but had no choice. One year at Christmas party I got into an argument with his asshole son who was in his mid-20's or early 30's and obviously has gotten a job at the site through his daddy(!) and it was not really pleasant. The dad came to aid his son and they thought they could intimidate me but I, who was a bit drunk at the time, handled them well and they backed off!
My so-called supervisor, or the head of the department was a Bulgarian asshole once and there were other so-called med-manager guys from former Yugoslavia (mostly from today's Serbia or Croatia). One worse than another. The Bulgarian used to eat a small Ham Sandwich and a cup of Tea, every single day for the first two years that I was working there and then later started to buy other things from a local supermarket! His image of sitting at a small desk, facing a wall(!) while easting that sandwich and drinking from a cup is tattooed in my brain! He would barely smile or laugh. Had very traumatizing life in a very poor country.
There were other guys that each are the subject of one post themselves: Romanians, Ukrainians, Slovakians, Polish, You name it. All from poor countries being under strict rules for years and years, lacking the basics of life such as electricity, food, running water and else. You wonder why there personality is like that!
With that in mind when I applied for this new position and was making myself ready for a Teams interview, I went to the web and did a little quick research about my boss-to-be! He is a Romain guy, one of the poorest countries in Europe which was under the rule of Nicolai Chaoshesko (written actually Ceausescu) for decades! Stories about Romania usually includes, as I earlier pointed, lack of the basics of life. This guy now in Canada for few years, lives on cloud 9! I could easily tell where he was from when first listened to him during the interview! But why do I call him and most of the Eastern-Europeans crazy? Because they all act abnormally and in strange manners. This guy after telling me that he would need me for a project in the US, calls me and says that he would consider me for the original project, again! I was like, make up your freaking mind man! He sends me two documents and asks me to study them for the second Teams meeting. He has a verbal offer which doesn't sound so good but, of course, is way better than what I'm doing now. It's an hourly rate which is less than what I was offered back in January of 2011, 11 years ago!! He said that there would be overtime later during the course of the project. The documents that he has sent me is one that is, most likely prepared by him, containing some bullshit basics about Quality and such and the other one is the detail of the project. What I learned, by having a quick look at the second one, is that it is a small project, defined for nearly 6 months which was supposed to start in 2021 and didn't. So now I wonder if I should go and work for such a low wage (wage!) position for such a short period of time and for a guy as crazy as an old Romanian fella! My initial plan was to keep the current job as a part-time one and see how the new job goes, if I get it, but now that nothing is finalized and I realized that the project won't go past 6 months (end of 2022, at the best) I have to really think about it, particularly that I have another interview this Tue., a face-to-face one and the fact that I would probably be outside in freezing Alberta cold this winter, if I work on the project.
I'm going to have another look at the papers (electronic version, of course) the guy sent me, have another meeting with him and attend the other interview for the other position that the telephone interviewer said would be permanent and make a final decision.
(Photo: A kind of know-it-all boss. That is a typical Eastern-European manager/supervisor, based on my experience)
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