You Say Tomato…

If you work with offshore team, you’d better develop a thick skin.  The American sense of humor and diction or work usage can differ dramatically from that of offshore colleagues.  And unless you become accustomed to these differences, you might be in store for some seriously hurt feelings.  Case and point:  This morning a high ranking officer and Delhi-native walked from his NYC corner office to the kitchen for a cup of joe.  As he strolled past the business development cubicles, he hollered to our director of bus dev, “Wow, John!  I never realized that your bald spot is bigger than mine!”  The director froze for a few seconds, burst into laughter, and then retreated to the men’s room.   I felt sorry for him, especially when the less bald officer asked me if I had noticed the difference in their spots.  

Over lunch the director and I commisserated about such misunderstandings.  Last week our CFO, also a Delhi-native, told me I was dull.  After ferocious probing, I deduced that he really meant to say that I looked sad.    I’m not sure what the officer really meant to say when he compared bald spots with John.  But I suspect it somehow was a compliment.