so with regards to things when I was talking to the jet ski guys they were the ones who brought up the strip club, not me. Further the conversation was not with work staff but some random dudes on jet skis.
Weds dec 4th Well this day was less eventful then the two days preceding it woke up a bit late so missed breakfast, and finally noticed where the to order lunch place was which was better then the buffet for lunch time. Anyway since it is all inclusive I suddenly had a realization the pizza which had toppings we could choose wouldnt charge per topping since it was all inclusive so I could have as many toppings as I liked and properly stack the pizza. Shame I only came towards that realization on weds later whilst enjoying Mount gay rum sitting at the bar I took an interest in the local culture they are really into dominos. I was curious since they have had passionate arguments so asked more about it are some of the dominos concealed? (yes you have hidden dominos) and do they play for money since they get so passionate yes. they even have cash game dominos and tournement dominos. then they asked me if I wanted to play for money, well of course not they have been playing for years and know all their rules when I have barely ever played and dont know the official rules. so I would just be giving my money away. However even if somehow I did have an advantage rich westener taking locals money didnt feel good to me either so no good could have come from this. Then somehow this resulted in two of the local staff arguing over who was better at dominos and who would win if they played and they started challenging each other and arguing over stake levels and got into a heated argument none of which i had any intention of starting but it was entertaining.
I then later checked on the Chelsea vs Southampton game and well I was delighted at that result and it showed. Of course Southampton are due to play Spurs next and Spurs are able to beat the top teams but just seem to be where the bottom teams come to for an easy 3 points so I guess southampton may start their turn around after the next game. After this it was off to the main company dinner now this time there were no incidents except the portions it was a fancy resturant and thus each dish was nice but tiny like really tiny like mouthful tiny if even that.
I was very hungry and the food was just not quenching my hunger as such tiny portions. I was glad that for dessert I had asked for the cheese board as this was the only substantial amount of food I had the whole meal and if it wasn't for this I would have been left very hungry.
anyway I had holiday I had to bank as expires at end of year and there was only a few days left after that and since it is now dead at work I just asked if I could take the few extra days off unpaid and they said yes so now I am off unti january which means you guys have me here for all dec.
I guess with the dominos thing it is kind of interesting maybe they have an online dominos site for barbados just like they have skypoker for the UK. and maybe they have a guy that runs forums over there and announces who won what tournements like @Tikay10 over here. And maybe there are people who come and go and claim that this online dominos site is rigged which annoys there tikay, and maybe they have a religious dude like @TheEdge949 and a guy like me who creates winni pics with ai but instead of winni has a different cartoon charecter maybe spongebob? and they have their big domino tournements like the equivelent of our UKOPS and SPTS etc.
I would try to create a winni pic of all this but i dont know what to go with and it would likely confuse copilot.
Loving the holiday/works outing reports, re-dominoes were they playing 5s and 3s or bog standard bones? For clarity , 5s and 3s involves counting the spots of the last dominoes played and dividing 5 and 3 , so the best total ( I think) is playing a double 9 opposite a double 6 ( same total for double 8 and 7) Fab game.
Loving the holiday/works outing reports, re-dominoes were they playing 5s and 3s or bog standard bones? For clarity , 5s and 3s involves counting the spots of the last dominoes played and dividing 5 and 3 , so the best total ( I think) is playing a double 9 opposite a double 6 ( same total for double 8 and 7) Fab game.
Ive played this, not for around 25 years though, great game. (edit : not with double 9-double 6 being the highest)
Loving the holiday/works outing reports, re-dominoes were they playing 5s and 3s or bog standard bones? For clarity , 5s and 3s involves counting the spots of the last dominoes played and dividing 5 and 3 , so the best total ( I think) is playing a double 9 opposite a double 6 ( same total for double 8 and 7) Fab game.
Ive played this, not for around 25 years though, great game. (edit : not with double 9-double 6 being the highest)
I played it when I was a young lad, with my brother, I can't seem to remember the rules as I think any time I was close to winning my brother would punch me on the nose and run off with my pocket money. Ah, great times!
I dont know what version of the game they played tbh I know very little about dominos and am not familiar with what you are talking.
if it means anything they did mention that if i did play them for money it would be something like everytime i couldnt match i would have to pay them $1 or every time they couldnt match they would have to pay me $1.
Thurs Dec 5th by now things were getting desperate would I ever find a decent place to get good price mount gay rum and Cigars? that was a big motivation throughout the trip. The guy I had been sharing a room with (we were allocated roomates to share room with everyone was we had seperate beds) suggested going to the market I didnt know he meant super market which was a bit pointless though on walking down there I did spot something that my Mavericks could trade Klay Thompson for as you may work out I have not been impressed by Klay Thompson for the Mavs so far in his prime he was a great player but I think hes done now he is past his prime and a liability. I took that picture just to say we could trade Klay for that, I dont think the car owner would mind as he wants to sell it and more press etc, you think that could ever be repaired and run? we then met another member of our group at the supermarket and all agreed to go downtown to where the markets were and etc. we got a local bus which doesnt always pick up from the bus stop but just trys to get people on wherever they charge 3 fiddy (3 barbados dollars 50 which is $1.75 USD) getting on the bus was surreal as said it was just kind of like a van that pulled up at the side of the road and the guy who takes the money looked more like some guy taking bets at some street ball thing he had gold chains and everything it was a different kind of bus to the UK I wondered was this a buy company or just some local guys side hustle I would prefer the later the money going to hard working locals rather then the dudes working the bus getting min wage and some rich corporation taking most of the money downtown I found a duty free shop which sold rum and cigars amongst many other things they had better prices if you arranged to have the items picked up at the airport once you had cleared the security checks for the boarding etc. one thing that made me uncomfortable was that my form for the details was very brief. I mean may as well have written the details on a grain of rice whilst another member in my group had to basically co write a novel when he filled in his form to collect items at the airport. It may have had something to do with mine was for rum whilst his was for jewlery. I did buy some local barbados cigars which I took with me there and then but could not find any cubans. So now got Mount Gay Rum and Cigars but not Cubans Barbados Cigars.
After this we headed back to and I napped until we were due to go out for some entertainment meal thing. on walking into the venue I found a baseball cap and some nice Jewlery for the girlfriend on a market type stall. I haggled with them and with a bit of barterting got my girlfriend a nice necklace she liked (she wasnt with me but she seemed happy when I gave it to her when I was back) and a baseball cap for myself. I tried to create a winni pic of Winni looking like les gold Haggling but instead somehow got a picture of Winni haggling with the lead singer of Sabaton dont ask me how this happened I dont know but it was kind of funny so kept the pic at the event they had music performers fire spinners/eaters and some guy who did some weird bad dance with a broom to start with. I enjoyed the marshmellows over the open fire at the end though it was then back to the all inclusive hotel rather late I just wanted to get a drink and my cigar and head to the beach to smoke the cigar alone with a glass of Mount Gay Rum on the beach late at night. Of course the bartender decided to be weird and border line refused to serve me saying I could get alcohol posioning and even waving his hand at me and asking how many fingers he was holding up. I thought this was odd because I was not drunk but a colleague informed me that guy had been in a mood and was doing that with everyone. Anyway after I passed his test.
So he reluctanty served me my tripple shot Mount Gay Rum, and I headed to the beach to try one of my barbados Cigars it was suprisingly smooth and decent.
Cuban cigars are next to impossible to buy in most countries in the World.
This is because it is still illegal to import Cuban cigars into the USA (until recently, weirdly, it was illegal for an American to smoke a Cuban cigar in Cuba). Has been for 65 years. And an awful lot of tourists in an awful lot of countries are American.
It is sometimes possible to buy cigars made in Cuba. Provided they are hand-rolled outside of Cuba, and do not claim to be Cuban.
This leads to the rather bizarre fact that both Cuban and Bajan cigars for sale in Barbados will be labelled as being from Barbados. And no-one will admit to that, in case the person asking is part of the US Govt.
Cuban cigars are next to impossible to buy in most countries in the World.
This is because it is still illegal to import Cuban cigars into the USA (until recently, weirdly, it was illegal for an American to smoke a Cuban cigar in Cuba). Has been for 65 years. And an awful lot of tourists in an awful lot of countries are American.
It is sometimes possible to buy cigars made in Cuba. Provided they are hand-rolled outside of Cuba, and do not claim to be Cuban.
This leads to the rather bizarre fact that both Cuban and Bajan cigars for sale in Barbados will be labelled as being from Barbados. And no-one will admit to that, in case the person asking is part of the US Govt.
I knew Cuban Cigars were once illegal for the US but thought that situation had changed on googling it looks like we are right back there. I tried Cuban Cohibas when I was in Mexico but they wernt the best. Having said that though a few things to note firstly they were kept on market stall stands in the hot humidity of Mexico instead of the appropriate storage is it a humidifer? Further some of those market stalls were dodgy and you couldnt know which were and wernt. It definitely would not be out of the question for some to remove the Cuban Cohiba sticker from a legitimate cigar and place it on a cheap knock off.
What I was confused about was that in Barbados on the beach I smoked that whole cigar fine and did not have any issue back in England I smoked one thursday night and it was good and all but felt a bit queezy afterwards. Few explanations as to why my girlfriend thinks the longer walk to the lake had my blood flowing more which would maybe have affected things, i got slightly more because a the last small bit had been ruined by the rain in barbados and I had not taken my Acid Reflux medication for a few days in England whilst I was update with it in barbados. I dont know the full reasons they did say it was Cuban leafs rolled in barbados and it was decent so you may be onto something.
Dec 6th This was the last day and we were due to fly back later that evening. I slept through and missed breakfast and then spent time packing my bags to check out. we had some boring comanpy meeting where people were talking about stuff unrelated to me that likely will never be related to me. Then we broke for Lunch but for some reason they were taking forever to bring my pizza and I ended up been slightly late back. I did text the group chat to mention this got no response but then thought okay will be a little late back as I had missed breakfast didnt want to be hungry all day etc. I got back late to the meeting but then many others did too so wasnt a big deal. I noticed in the second half a humming bird outside and turned my focus to this
after the meeting it wasnt long until we were on our way to the the airport it was a sweat Would I get through serurity checkin in time to get the Mount Gay Rum I had paid for? would I get time to find duty free Cigars at the Airport? our line got moved into another line at the airport when going through security and it looked like the line was going to put us at risk of not even getting to pick up the MOunt Gay Rum I had already paid for let alone the Cigars at the Duty free shop. I got told I had to dispose of my water which if I walked back to the bin I might lose my place in the line. There was only one choice I would have to take a long distance shot I wasnt sure if I could sink this I mean I am not Steph Curry but with little choice I went for the gamble my Mount Gay Rum was on the line as well as potential Cigars. I took the shot and it was incredible nothing but net (or bin) Everyone was clapping and chearing Girls were asking for my number and I had to explain I had a girlfriend, one of Jason Kids Talent spoters was there and mentioned maybe I try out for the Mavericks it was a spectacle for sure. ok that didnt really happen what actually happened is I yelled for three with seconds remaining and fist pumped the air and everyone just gave me a weird look and my colleague who was with me said it was an easy shot and he could have made it. Easy to say when you dont have a bottle to attempt the shot yourself and cant go back now. However I prefer the prior false version of events. Anyway managed to make it through security in time and pick up my Mount Gay Rum. and had time to make it into the Duty free shop to find Cigars It almost seemed like it was my half court shot to get the prize of cigars and rum they did not have Cubans there either but I got more of the Barbados Cigars they were bigger but the same brand. then it was headed to the subway I went for a footlong I wasn't that hungry however I remebered that it cost me £50 at the Heathrow for a meal a sandwich to take on the flight and a book. So it seemed wise to stuff my face now so I was not hungry at Heathrow. Suprisingly we had good time left but because that subway was so bad in how long it took them I was not left with long to finish this Subway so was effectively in an eating competition on the plane the company had somehow managed to change my seat to middle Isle to stop me looking out the window and telling people about height survival and etc
The flight doesn't really have much news to say and soon I was back in england and had the long wait for my bag at heathrow. eventually I got my bag and it was time to go through Customs. My colleagues had messed with me and told me the Alcohol and Tobacco allowances were combined and not entirely seperate which was incorrect but they made me think I was over the limit going through customs I wasnt.
I was nervous about being checked but no one stopped me which made me wonder since the cigars and Tobacco was so cheap at the Barbados duty free maybe I should have gone over the limit if I had what would the chances of being checked be? and if I was a bit over the limit would they really have fined me properly or put me in jail or just let me off? well I can speculate about the risks for next time if there ever is a next time but this time I hadnt broke the rules and I wasnt checked.
and with that i was back in England. overal it was a nice break but I think a holiday on my own time and dime when I am not feeling under the microscope of the company or judged by others would have been better.
Nicely done. I hope you don't think I was being rude OP when I recommended conversation topics to avoid. Adjusting to different work environments can be tricky.
I'm surprised you were made to share a room with a colleague. Still, a free trip is a free trip.
Comments
Weds dec 4th
Well this day was less eventful then the two days preceding it woke up a bit late so missed breakfast, and finally noticed where the to order lunch place was which was better then the buffet for lunch time. Anyway since it is all inclusive I suddenly had a realization the pizza which had toppings we could choose wouldnt charge per topping since it was all inclusive so I could have as many toppings as I liked and properly stack the pizza. Shame I only came towards that realization on weds
later whilst enjoying Mount gay rum sitting at the bar I took an interest in the local culture they are really into dominos. I was curious since they have had passionate arguments so asked more about it are some of the dominos concealed? (yes you have hidden dominos) and do they play for money since they get so passionate yes. they even have cash game dominos and tournement dominos.
then they asked me if I wanted to play for money, well of course not they have been playing for years and know all their rules when I have barely ever played and dont know the official rules. so I would just be giving my money away. However even if somehow I did have an advantage rich westener taking locals money didnt feel good to me either so no good could have come from this.
Then somehow this resulted in two of the local staff arguing over who was better at dominos and who would win if they played and they started challenging each other and arguing over stake levels and got into a heated argument none of which i had any intention of starting but it was entertaining.
I then later checked on the Chelsea vs Southampton game and well I was delighted at that result and it showed.
Of course Southampton are due to play Spurs next and Spurs are able to beat the top teams but just seem to be where the bottom teams come to for an easy 3 points so I guess southampton may start their turn around after the next game.
After this it was off to the main company dinner now this time there were no incidents except the portions it was a fancy resturant and thus each dish was nice but tiny like really tiny like mouthful tiny if even that.
I was very hungry and the food was just not quenching my hunger as such tiny portions. I was glad that for dessert I had asked for the cheese board as this was the only substantial amount of food I had the whole meal and if it wasn't for this I would have been left very hungry.
anyway I had holiday I had to bank as expires at end of year and there was only a few days left after that and since it is now dead at work I just asked if I could take the few extra days off unpaid and they said yes so now I am off unti january which means you guys have me here for all dec.
and they have their big domino tournements like the equivelent of our UKOPS and SPTS etc.
I would try to create a winni pic of all this but i dont know what to go with and it would likely confuse copilot.
For clarity , 5s and 3s involves counting the spots of the last dominoes played and dividing 5 and 3 , so the best total ( I think) is playing a double 9 opposite a double 6 ( same total for double 8 and 7) Fab game.
if it means anything they did mention that if i did play them for money it would be something like everytime i couldnt match i would have to pay them $1 or every time they couldnt match they would have to pay me $1.
I never played.
by now things were getting desperate would I ever find a decent place to get good price mount gay rum and Cigars? that was a big motivation throughout the trip.
The guy I had been sharing a room with (we were allocated roomates to share room with everyone was we had seperate beds) suggested going to the market I didnt know he meant super market which was a bit pointless though on walking down there I did spot something that my Mavericks could trade Klay Thompson for
as you may work out I have not been impressed by Klay Thompson for the Mavs so far in his prime he was a great player but I think hes done now he is past his prime and a liability. I took that picture just to say we could trade Klay for that, I dont think the car owner would mind as he wants to sell it and more press etc, you think that could ever be repaired and run?
we then met another member of our group at the supermarket and all agreed to go downtown to where the markets were and etc.
we got a local bus which doesnt always pick up from the bus stop but just trys to get people on wherever they charge 3 fiddy (3 barbados dollars 50 which is $1.75 USD)
getting on the bus was surreal as said it was just kind of like a van that pulled up at the side of the road and the guy who takes the money looked more like some guy taking bets at some street ball thing he had gold chains and everything it was a different kind of bus to the UK I wondered was this a buy company or just some local guys side hustle I would prefer the later the money going to hard working locals rather then the dudes working the bus getting min wage and some rich corporation taking most of the money
downtown I found a duty free shop which sold rum and cigars amongst many other things they had better prices if you arranged to have the items picked up at the airport once you had cleared the security checks for the boarding etc. one thing that made me uncomfortable was that my form for the details was very brief.
I mean may as well have written the details on a grain of rice whilst another member in my group had to basically co write a novel when he filled in his form to collect items at the airport.
It may have had something to do with mine was for rum whilst his was for jewlery.
I did buy some local barbados cigars which I took with me there and then but could not find any cubans.
So now got Mount Gay Rum and Cigars but not Cubans Barbados Cigars.
After this we headed back to and I napped until we were due to go out for some entertainment meal thing. on walking into the venue I found a baseball cap and some nice Jewlery for the girlfriend on a market type stall. I haggled with them and with a bit of barterting got my girlfriend a nice necklace she liked (she wasnt with me but she seemed happy when I gave it to her when I was back) and a baseball cap for myself. I tried to create a winni pic of Winni looking like les gold Haggling but instead somehow got a picture of Winni haggling with the lead singer of Sabaton dont ask me how this happened I dont know but it was kind of funny so kept the pic
at the event they had music performers fire spinners/eaters and some guy who did some weird bad dance with a broom to start with.
I enjoyed the marshmellows over the open fire at the end though
it was then back to the all inclusive hotel rather late I just wanted to get a drink and my cigar and head to the beach to smoke the cigar alone with a glass of Mount Gay Rum on the beach late at night.
Of course the bartender decided to be weird and border line refused to serve me saying I could get alcohol posioning and even waving his hand at me and asking how many fingers he was holding up. I thought this was odd because I was not drunk but a colleague informed me that guy had been in a mood and was doing that with everyone. Anyway after I passed his test.
So he reluctanty served me my tripple shot Mount Gay Rum, and I headed to the beach to try one of my barbados Cigars it was suprisingly smooth and decent.
This is because it is still illegal to import Cuban cigars into the USA (until recently, weirdly, it was illegal for an American to smoke a Cuban cigar in Cuba). Has been for 65 years. And an awful lot of tourists in an awful lot of countries are American.
It is sometimes possible to buy cigars made in Cuba. Provided they are hand-rolled outside of Cuba, and do not claim to be Cuban.
This leads to the rather bizarre fact that both Cuban and Bajan cigars for sale in Barbados will be labelled as being from Barbados. And no-one will admit to that, in case the person asking is part of the US Govt.
Further some of those market stalls were dodgy and you couldnt know which were and wernt. It definitely would not be out of the question for some to remove the Cuban Cohiba sticker from a legitimate cigar and place it on a cheap knock off.
What I was confused about was that in Barbados on the beach I smoked that whole cigar fine and did not have any issue back in England I smoked one thursday night and it was good and all but felt a bit queezy afterwards. Few explanations as to why my girlfriend thinks the longer walk to the lake had my blood flowing more which would maybe have affected things, i got slightly more because a the last small bit had been ruined by the rain in barbados and I had not taken my Acid Reflux medication for a few days in England whilst I was update with it in barbados. I dont know the full reasons they did say it was Cuban leafs rolled in barbados and it was decent so you may be onto something.
Dec 6th
This was the last day and we were due to fly back later that evening. I slept through and missed breakfast and then spent time packing my bags to check out. we had some boring comanpy meeting where people were talking about stuff unrelated to me that likely will never be related to me. Then we broke for Lunch but for some reason they were taking forever to bring my pizza and I ended up been slightly late back.
I did text the group chat to mention this got no response but then thought okay will be a little late back as I had missed breakfast didnt want to be hungry all day etc. I got back late to the meeting but then many others did too so wasnt a big deal.
I noticed in the second half a humming bird outside and turned my focus to this
after the meeting it wasnt long until we were on our way to the the airport it was a sweat Would I get through serurity checkin in time to get the Mount Gay Rum I had paid for? would I get time to find duty free Cigars at the Airport?
our line got moved into another line at the airport when going through security and it looked like the line was going to put us at risk of not even getting to pick up the MOunt Gay Rum I had already paid for let alone the Cigars at the Duty free shop. I got told I had to dispose of my water which if I walked back to the bin I might lose my place in the line. There was only one choice I would have to take a long distance shot I wasnt sure if I could sink this I mean I am not Steph Curry but with little choice I went for the gamble my Mount Gay Rum was on the line as well as potential Cigars. I took the shot and it was incredible nothing but net (or bin)
Everyone was clapping and chearing Girls were asking for my number and I had to explain I had a girlfriend, one of Jason Kids Talent spoters was there and mentioned maybe I try out for the Mavericks it was a spectacle for sure.
ok that didnt really happen what actually happened is I yelled for three with seconds remaining and fist pumped the air and everyone just gave me a weird look and my colleague who was with me said it was an easy shot and he could have made it. Easy to say when you dont have a bottle to attempt the shot yourself and cant go back now.
However I prefer the prior false version of events.
Anyway managed to make it through security in time and pick up my Mount Gay Rum. and had time to make it into the Duty free shop to find Cigars
It almost seemed like it was my half court shot to get the prize of cigars and rum
they did not have Cubans there either but I got more of the Barbados Cigars they were bigger but the same brand.
then it was headed to the subway I went for a footlong I wasn't that hungry however I remebered that it cost me £50 at the Heathrow for a meal a sandwich to take on the flight and a book. So it seemed wise to stuff my face now so I was not hungry at Heathrow.
Suprisingly we had good time left but because that subway was so bad in how long it took them I was not left with long to finish this Subway so was effectively in an eating competition
on the plane the company had somehow managed to change my seat to middle Isle to stop me looking out the window and telling people about height survival and etc
The flight doesn't really have much news to say and soon I was back in england and had the long wait for my bag at heathrow.
eventually I got my bag and it was time to go through Customs. My colleagues had messed with me and told me the Alcohol and Tobacco allowances were combined and not entirely seperate which was incorrect but they made me think I was over the limit going through customs I wasnt.
I was nervous about being checked but no one stopped me which made me wonder since the cigars and Tobacco was so cheap at the Barbados duty free maybe I should have gone over the limit if I had what would the chances of being checked be? and if I was a bit over the limit would they really have fined me properly or put me in jail or just let me off? well I can speculate about the risks for next time if there ever is a next time but this time I hadnt broke the rules and I wasnt checked.
and with that i was back in England. overal it was a nice break but I think a holiday on my own time and dime when I am not feeling under the microscope of the company or judged by others would have been better.
I'm surprised you were made to share a room with a colleague. Still, a free trip is a free trip.