Steigenberger? NEVER AGAIN!

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Well, you might think that a hotel like the Steigenberger Airport Hotel in Amsterdam has its procedures in place and that you can enjoy hospitality and good food there. Well, actually the food is very good and tasty, the bed is ok as well, even free fresh fruit everywhere, BUT… (…you remember, there’s always a BUT with us!): WHY THE FUCK WE NEED TO PAY 1.200 EURO? Well, we didn’t need to pay 1.200 Euro for the room, BUT (… again a BUT!) you maxed out Vil’s credit card, despite the fact that Vil told you that his company will pay.

You charged Vil around 640 Euro “security deposit” you never returned (we are still waiting) AND you billed him another 500 Euro for the room itself, because you f***cked up when “unlock” the card.

Last weekend was Easter Weekend and thanks to you we saved a lot of money on drinks, party and food, because we had none! 🙂

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowl!

Meeting with the Site Leader

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The situation in the moment spins out of control. The complete ‘relocation package’ is a hoax, we are broke, the food situation is more than critical and Vil runs out of medicine.

We don’t know how to continue. It’s a cynic situation. Vil is working for one of the biggest cloud companies in the world, he is supposed to earn more than enough money to have a wonderful life, but finally we are sitting in an overpriced guest house and there is literally nothing in the fridge anymore.

Vil went to the site leader and explained his situation, the problems with the relocation contract, the payment issue, his health status, his fear not to pass the probation time, his unsuccessful efforts to find someone to help him within HR, Legal and even upper management.

So he approached the sire leader today and asked for help. “Do you have a second? I need to talk with you about the relocation situation, I am in serious problems and I don’t know what to do anymore.” The site leader asks Vil to sit down. “What’s the issue?”

“As I already told you in Utrecht. The whole relocation is going south! I was informed that the relocation budget can’t be used for deposit payment and also I wasn’t paid my complete salary this month. I had to spend so much money on the wrong bookings for the hotel, that I am broke right now. I have no food anymore and even more worse, I still have no health insurance and can’t go to the doctor to get new medicine. I can’t even buy it at the pharmacy, because I am really broke.”

The site leader looks at Vil and asks: “Did you talk with you team lead about it?” Vil is a bit surprised that his team lead never informed the site leader, because Vil already told his team lead several times about the issues. “Yes, sure. I also contacted HR, EMEA Management, the relocation company, but everyone tells me that they are not responsible. I don’t know what to do anymore. I fear that I won’t pass the probation time, because I am aware that my performance is really impacted by the situation.”

“I understand and how can I help you now?”, he looks at Vil. “Well, first of all I need money today, because I have no Insulin anymore and the fridge is empty. I am hungry.” Vil is a bit embarrassed, but he doesn’t give a dime anymore. “And we need to sort out the payment and relocation situation, if there is no solution, I will no be able to make it anymore. Maybe I’ve misunderstood the relocation agreement, but we need to sort that out. I am not asking for any free stuff. Maybe we can arrange an immediate advance payment for me. That shouldn’t be an issue, because my payment next month is way more than needed and I can pay back everything in one go.”

The site lead looks at Vil and says: “That’s a very bad situation, I understand. I have no idea how I can help you. For the moment I can borrow you a few Euro to buy medicine and food.” He reaches to his pocket and passes one hundred Euro to Vil. “Here you go.” Vil is relieved, because we will have proper food tonight. “Grab yourself some fruit and go home, you really don’t look very good.”

“Thank you, that helps me for the moment, but what do we do about the relocation budget and my payment?”, Vil asked with a bit of concern.

“I will see what I can do for you, but you will go home now, because you look really sick.”

…

A retrospective note while re-writing this post: You guess what the site lead did for Vil? NOTHING!, he even asked the borrowed 100 Euro back immediately, when Vil came back to work. All efforts to contact someone to help, even someone who can decide was not successful. No one relied to his requests for support. They just ignored him and when a feedback came it was always the same: “We can’t decide. There are procedures in place. ….. Bla, bla, bla.”

You need to let that sit a moment and think about it. Vil was hired to be a trainer in one of the biggest companies in the world, with a payment of more money someone can need for life and he is still hungry and not able to pay for his medicine or food. Allrite, he might have misread or misunderstood the ‘relocation agreement’, but this can’t be the reason to let him die in public daylight.

Haarlem Landlady gets crazy. FUCK! AGAIN? WHY?

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Hi there,
Our actual landlord has a medical condition and we can’t stay there any longer AND Vil needs to go to training next week for three weeks. STRESS!

We need to find a place for us ASAP. We are looking for a place for around 1.200 – 1.500 Euro in Amsterdam and surrounding areas. We are registered in the Netherlands, have all papers sorted and Vil can show my working contract (if needed!)

We need a nice and affordable place to stay (preferred furnished). Maybe or own place or a room in a shared flat, we don’t really care, but the place needs to be nice and suitable for a mid-sized Labrador & Border Collie mix.

We are able to pay good money and we expect a good value for this because we are not feeding greedy landlords or any other kind of parasite trying to take advantage of the situation on the market. We don’t need a luxury apartment, but all appliances should work. We will take good care of your property and we will always pay our rent in time.

WHAT NOT!
Let me say a few things before you reply:
– No collection of email address.
– Please, NO Western Union or bank transfer stories.
– No stories with fake keys
– No rip off! ….. Get Lost!
– Cockroaches

WHO?
A few words about Vil. He is German, speaks also French and English and just relocated from Barcelona to Amsterdam because he found a very nice job for a big software company in the city center.  And there is me, Indy,  a well educated and lovely dog, a labrador/border collie mix.

WE ARE CONSIDERING TO SHARE!

WHEN?
As soon as possible.

BUDGET?
My budget is up to 1.500 Euro

Please send us pictures and your conditions for your property via reply-email or PM. Please include your contact details. We will WhatsApp you if we consider your property.

Thank you

Registered in Haarlem!

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Time to celebrate! Vil is now officially registered in Haarlem. Within one week he will receive a paper stating the registration and his BSN number and with this he can finally open a bank account in the Netherlands and join a health insurance.

Slowly all will be sorted.

LegalBark!

“Final” Moving Day? Haarlem!

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Yesterday we visited a very nice house to share in Haarlem. We met the people and all was very fine. After a few hours they send a message and agreed to have us as homies. 🙂 And today we moved into our new house. We life now in Haarlem with Marie, Orion and my new best friend Kayro. And the best: 40 MBit Internet at home and 80 MBit in the coffee shop.

We will post pictures later.

NOICE!

Indy’s BLOG – First Moving Day! An Odyssey!

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Checkout

This morning left the temporary housing because our thirty days are up and we were supposed to move to a hotel near to the airport, so we packed all our stuff called a taxi and we were on our way.

Sheraton Airport Hotel, what a complete waste of money. For one night in the hotel, we could have booked and paid via Airbnb for a whole week or even two. Anyway, they booked the room for us, so we went to the hotel and tried to check in. “TRIED!”

Do you smell shit? YESSSS, right…… THERE IS NO BOOKING.

No booking

Ok, many calls later Vil figured out that the hotel was never booked, that the hotel is booked out and that we need to wait for settle service to come back to us…… So the wait begun. Two hours later we’ve got an update, that they are still looking for a room, but there is none at the airport, all booked out.

Waiting

So we went to have food. A Big Mac, fries, drink, coffee and a smoke later we got another update, that they are still on the search. Allrite,……

Another coffee, a cookie and a long walk later, we finally got the call that we need to go to the Steigenberger hotel. Fine, and there is a shuttle bus from the Airport to the hotel every thirty minutes. Jupieeeeee, we have a place, but Vil is freezing his arse off after hours in the cold and that’s no good.

Steigenberger

Shuttle bus to the hotel and all is fine. A nice room, a real shower, and a comfortable bed. SUPER! 🙂 We slept very well and the breakfast was a treat.

Actually, our stay was planned for two days, but we got the confirmation that we can move to Haarlem today, so we packed our stuff….., BUT …. there is always a BUT!

No Checkout?

Vil had his very nice breakfast, all stuff packed, we wanted to check out, but it was not possible, because the Steigenberger Hotel “locked” somehow more then 690 Euro on Vil’s credit card and to remove that lock he needs to pay his bill of 690 Euro first? What bill? What the f***rick lock,…. BUT Vil had no additional 690 Euro on his credit card anymore. Maxed out by Steigenberger.

Paperwork

So he needed to sign a  paper that he allows Steigenberger to “later bill” Vil again. Let’s summarize the situation. The relocation service only booked a room for Vil, but they didn’t arrange the payment and Steigenberger DOUBLE booked the bill on Vil’s credit card. More then 900 Euro already gone, another 240 Euro to be billed and we are BROKE AGAIN! WTF!

So we were finally allowed to leave, take a taxi, drive to Haarlem, payed the last 65 Euro fare and moved into our new place.

1.000 Euro later and “Broke AGAIN?!”

Sure, Vil will get all the expenses back, but until then we are forced to safe money. LoL! Actually not a bad thing, because we have enough money for food for the next days, BUT…… there’s always a BUT,…. Vil has no idea how to pay the train to work.

He, he, he….

!!!ButBark!!!

Vil & Indy & Victor – One year on the road

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Today we have the pleasure to welcome two very special guests for an interview. They are on the road for a year now, they lived in four countries and they are still enjoying life. Now they are here to tell us a bit about their now one year journey, the actual status and maybe give us an idea how things are going.

Let’s cut the crap, welcome Vil, and Indy with a big hand and let’s ask them directly: ‘How are things at the moment? WhatsApp?'”

Vil:

“Hello and thank you for having us today. We are well, very well actually. We moved from Spain to The Netherlands, to Amsterdam to be precise. We flew with a plane and all went quite well.”

Indy:

“I was ‘high as a kite’ and literally 12km above the earth. NOICE! :)”

Vil:

“Yeah, you looked pretty funny. Your eyes were glassy and you had no intention to have a walk. Indy was ‘naturally herbed’!”

Indy:

“Allrite, you got me, but don’t you have more important stuff to tell? Maybe a bit about your new job? Or the move to Amsterdam?”

Vil:

“Okay! More serious then. Business and bragging first. I understand. Hmmm, … to answer your question. Yessssssss, it looks really good work wise. I found a really nice job in Amsterdam and we already relocated to the country of tulips and cheese.

In this job: ‘I help people! I listen! I ask questions! I find answers and solutions!’ Nice! That’s exactly what I like to do all day. Solving problems, speaking with many people, reading technical papers and playing around with some really expensive, powerful up-to-date soft and hardware.

Here is the job description, just to brag a bit more:

  • Support the sales representatives and sales specialists in identifying the best solution for their customer business
  • Provide a consistent level of support throughout all stages of the sales cycle (demand generation – campaigns- sales – post sales)
  • Proactively support sales representatives in creating and tailoring documentation and sales strategies in the selling process.
  • Where required, assist the sales teams in the qualification of opportunities, analyzing the customer’s business and technical requirements and building a solution to solve their requirements
  • Present and articulate features and benefits of the solution, both internally and externally
  • Showcase the product to customers, by using demos and trials
  • Become the technical solution expert for a designated product set, for both customers and internally
  • Keep abreast of all new products, market trends, future directions and the competition for areas of focus.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of our product stack and be able to position our solution versus our competitors.
  • Ongoing education and training of the sales force on technologies and solutions.

MegaNoice! :)”

Reporter:

“WoW, that sounds like a really good job! I am happy for you and good luck, but now you need to deliver. They don’t pay for all the services, perks and the good salary for nothing. What’s your plan?”

Vil:

“Listen and shut up, exactly defining what and whom they expect. What is my job and what are my responsibilities? What are my KPI? What I have to deliver? There in no time for a party in Amsterdam the next weeks, I need to get up to speed, learn, learn and learn. Products, technologies, sales tactics… It will be a tough time!”

Reporter:

“Good luck. Another topic. Spain, The Netherlands, but in your journey, there are more countries like Germany and France? All started in France around one year ago. Why did you leave France and what happened in Germany?”

Vil:

“Last year around this time, mid of March, we lived in France for around five years and our life just blew up from one day to the next, I had no real idea what to do, so we left France and went on the road.

At first back to my home country Germany, but soon I needed to recognize that this is not the place I want to live anymore. I met too many narrow-minded, abiding, stupid and stubborn people. “Box-Thinking”! Don’t get me wrong. I like it to be in time, precise and to be honest and respectful like Germans are, but you can overdo it.

Also, I didn’t have any chance to find a job, because my CV and my career is not really

German. I tried and wrote plenty of applications, but didn’t get even one interview. Additionally, I passed the 50, so I am too old to find a new job, I was told at the jobcentre.

My future was sitting all day on the sofa, drinking, smoking, PlayStation, movies and waiting for the welfare check to cash. Not a good life. Ok enough food and a warm place, but nothing more. Not perspective in any way.

Frick, but fact! So I thought we better try our luck somewhere else and Barcelona sounded like a good idea. For one year I tried to find a decent job and a nice place to stay for us, but unfortunately this didn’t work out very well. Most of the time we struggled with Greedy and dirty landlords, crazy managers and the overall situation was not really good. We survived, but that’s all.

Ok., the last two months in Spain two very good offers came up. One company offered me a job as a ‘Frontline Technician’ in Barcelona and another offer came from Amsterdam to be a ‘Internet Sales Consultant’. Finally I decided for Amsterdam, because the offer was way better. It was a Catch22 situation. Both offers where very nice, but I had to decide and now we are in Amsterdam.

Not a very successful story in Spain, somehow we failed, but most important, we had sometimes a really good time and we made some real friends.”

Indy:

” Yeah, from me a very big shout out to our friends! Just to name a few: Ana, Teresa, Jack, Mar, Thomas, Miquel …

A long BigHug to you all. Thank you for some wonderful moments.”

Vil:

“I totally agree!”

Reporter:

“Maybe a few words about your future.”

Vil:

“TL;DR – Part THREE – – – – A real job in AMSTERDAM!

Now we are living in Amsterdam.”

Reporter:

“So you settle in Amsterdam?”

Vil:

“Amsterdam seems to be nice and I hope that I will like my job.

Now I am struggling with the paperwork, registering in the Townhall, opening a bank account, health insurance, all these things need to be sorted.

The most complicated task again is finding a place to stay. I am able to pay good money for rent, but I need the money for deposit and rent NOW and not in some distant future.

The journey is still not over……”

Indy:

“As I barked. ‘Time will tell’ and she always helped us so far. We will make it, it’s only one step we need!”

Vil:

“Yes, it’s only one fucking step we need!”

Indy:

“Stop swearing!”

Vil:

“Let’s continue to search. Maybe post on Facebook? Maybe someone wo has a room for rent is out there. Craigslist as well?

——- POST —–

Hi there,

after one year on the road we finally ended up in Amsterdam and now we need a nice and affordable place to stay.

WHAT?
We are looking for a nice place to stay (preferred furnished), maybe my own place or a room in a shared flat, we don’t really care, but the place needs to be nice and suitable for us. Indy is my lovely, well educated, mid sized, companion. We are able to pay good money and we expect a good value for this, because we are not feeding greedy landlords or any other kind of parasite trying to take advantage of the situation on the market.

We don’t need a luxury apartment, but all appliances should work. We will take good care about your property and we will always pay my rent in time.

WE AM ALSO CONSIDERING TO SHARE A PLACE WITH ONE OR MORE ADULT PERSON!

WHAT NOT!
Let me say a few things before you reply:
– No collection of email address.
– Please NO Western Union or bank transfer stories.
– No stories with fake keys….. Get Lost!
– Cockroaches

WHO?
A few words about us. I am German, speak also French and English and just relocated from Barcelona to to Amsterdam, because I found a very nice job for a big software company in city centre. I do have a stable working contract and there is no issue with money.

And I do have a well educated and lovely dog. She is a labrador / border collie mix and her name is Indy.

WHEN?
As soon as possible.

BUDGET?
My budget is up to 1.500 Euro.

Please send us pictures and your conditions for your property via reply-email or PM. Please include your contact details. We will WhatsApp you if we consider your property.

Thank you

Vil

——- END POST —–“

Indy:

“That sounds like a plan!”

….. to be updated!

…

House Hunting. Haarlem

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Vil wrote a post on Facebook yesterday (Klick here!) and he got plenty of replies and tips for our ‘house-hunt’. There was especially a lady who offered us a place in Haarlem. She is not in town in the moment, but she will return on Tuesday and then we will meet and see if Haarlem is our new home or not. Haarlem is around 30 minutes by sprinter train to Centraal Station, an easy commute in the morning. Is that our “final destination”?

Tuesday it is!