Tonight, we had a big dinner party with all 275 of us, and it was one of those events where you know that although you’ll have fun staying up until 2:30 mingling with everyone, that you will be really annoyed the next morning (or, really, in the next few hours) when you have to wake up for the final 8am session of the week.

One odd thing that my New York colleague brought up to me was that she felt as though there were a lot of “greasy” colleagues across the other offices. I didn’t really know what she meant initially, but she said that a lot of our male colleagues, particularly the ones in the European offices, were a bit too friendly and affectionate and touched her more than she felt comfortable with.

I actually did notice that our European and Australian colleagues were more friendly and affectionate physically,  but I didn’t really think anything of it because I think that there are some cultural differences to consider. Americans tend to be more puritanical and rigid, especially in the work place. Shaking hands and the occasional half-hug are the routine greetings when meeting up with colleagues you don’t see very often here. The kiss-on-each-cheek greeting or touching one’s shoulder when speaking and engaging with each other… pretty much never happens in my experience with American colleagues. It is something to think about and consider why our greetings are so different and what is considered “acceptable” and not “creepy.” But sadly at the end of the day, it’s what we are “used to” that we probably end up falling back on. Or maybe I’m just a bit of an outlier because I’m naturally very affectionate and expressive, so none of this bothers me. If anything, I actually love interacting with our international counterparts. I get a glimpse into perspectives I don’t always get day to day here. And that’s really fun and engaging for me.

Being a part of the tech world is interesting in that while we are trying to be innovative and different from other “average” companies, we’re also doing a lot of the same things other companies are doing: excessively spending money on things we think matter, but don’t really in the long run. This is the first sales kick-off at the company that I’ve attended, and although I was excited to come to see colleagues from around the world who I rarely get the opportunity to see and spend time with, a part of me dreaded it because I knew that although we’d be in sunny and beautiful Napa, we’d be spending all day in a windowless ballroom, doing work and having work related sessions to start off the year right. We wouldn’t have time to truly enjoy the gorgeous landscape that surrounded us or the warm and bright weather. The spa, tennis courts, and golf courses would be beckoning to us, but we’d have to be forced to ignore them. And the 8am daily starts will be very, very real. And remind us that we’re not here to relax; we’re here to work. It would have been nice if we had longer breaks to enjoy the property, scenery, and each other outside of our timed meals.

After arriving in San Francisco this afternoon, I met a bunch of my colleagues for dinner at my favorite burrito spot in the Mission. As I’m waiting for our orders and getting salsa for our table, I run into another colleague who just happens to be eating dinner at the same place, as well. We started chatting for a while and he suddenly reminded me that he actually left our company in December. Oops… I don’t think I was ever informed of that?

A number of people I know and respect have left the company in the last few months. A good handful of them didn’t even have jobs lined up for them; they just wanted to take a break, travel, and rest. It’s a ballsy thing to do in a country where there’s no universal healthcare, but I admire them for doing it. I used to always think about doing something like that but never was able to gather the courage to do that. The fear of the unknown is scary to me.