Actually, I think it's too hectic to slip off and sleep; it would just be a waste of time for a stress case like me. I'd be lying there on my towel thinking about the presentation I had to give in an hour or the spreadsheet I hadn't yet finished.

Speaking of stress cases, my first day of work would have been a full disaster if I even tried to sleep, no way would it have been possible. Within an hour of my first day I had a meeting with my new team. I was the Product Manager who had inherited a legacy of a product that was to launch in a few months time. I had never been a Product Manager, but there are a lot of things I have never done. I had been in email contact with the engineering team before transferring from the US and I knew some of their names very well, I just hadn't met any of them in person.

All I knew was that I had a team meeting day one in a conference room called the "Ibiza Room". Easy enough, I had to just ask and find out where the Ibiza Room was. Sure, easy, I was given directions and I walked over to the area. There were rooms named in theme like "Mallorca" and "Menorca". I knew I was in the right area because these were all names of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Barcelona. Ibiza also was one of these islands, no problem. But to my dismay there was no Ibiza! How is this possible?! The hour of the meeting slipped by and I was still stuck walking in circles desperately trying to find the Ibiza room and too nervous to keep asking. Well, I finally figured it out. Wouldn't you know, the nameplate said "Sala Eivissa", not "Sala Ibiza". It was written in Catalan and not Spanish, no figure!… and I was suppose to figure this out??!!

With a slight sweat beading on my brow I opened the door and made my entrance. It was a table full of men talking Spanish. They looked up at me, looked at each other, became uneasy and then one stated, "You must be Greta and now we need to speak in English." It was obviously a lot easier for them to stay in one of their native tongues, especially among colleagues. Now one reason for moving to Spain was to improve my Spanish, but the other reason was to advance my career. This was a defining moment, I had to think fast… speak in Spanish and have everyone feel more comfortable and really learn the language or speak in English and be assured that I would understand all that was said. I took the gamble, oh well, so I am expected to do a good job and understand my product, but, hey, if I start in English now I'll never switch to Spanish. The desire to fit in and learn more Spanish got the best of me. (Is that why I was never promoted?!)

So I proceeded to sit and listen to them talk about friction on the metal platen, dry cockle and mechanical algorithms all in Spanish. They continually talked about "Valldoreix". What was "Valldoreix"?… was it a Spanish word? Was it Catalan? Was it an engineering term? Was it an internal company code name or acronym? I couldn't figure it out and everybody seemed to know so it had come to the point where it would be silly for me to ask what it was. It's sort-of like when you first start becoming friends with someone and you can't remember their name. Well, there comes a critical moment after you become closer when you can't just say, "Thank you for making me the legal guardian of your child. Now what's your name again?" It had come to that point and I hadn't a clue what Valldoreix was. I once mentioned this problem to a friend of mine back in the US and he said, "Well, whatever it is, don't put it in your mouth." Ewww, Valldoreix in the mouth, yuck! (I think…) Whatever it was, there seemed to be a lot of talk about it. Then finally one day someone brought in a print sample that was printed on… of all things… Valldoreix. It was an internal name for a type of product!

Not only were some words an issue but also knowing who was who seemed to be a stumbling block. Everyone knew who everyone else was except for me, and to top it off I am notoriously bad at remembering names. (That's why the above example of being friends with someone and forgetting their name rings particularly close to home!) So, names were an issue. Someone would say, "Touch base with Jordi Fonts about that." OK, sure, but who is he? He could be sitting clear across the building or he could be the guy that sits right next to me.

The first few months of my job were incredibly stressful and I was sick half the time due to sleepless nights and pressure. It was far from being a gentle slide into a new job. I now intimately know the expression "Drinking water from a fire hose."

No, a siesta wouldn't have helped. I would have wondered who was it sleeping on the towel next to me, was this Jordi Fonts? Was he the one I should talk to about Valldoreix?