For the first time in what seems like a lifetime I woke up feeling positive without the feeling of trepidation which was becoming a little too familiar for my liking. There was a distinct spring in my step as I made my way to the hotel restaurant to reacquaint myself with the chef’s spectacular breakfast.  Even my journey to work seemed a little less like a death defying dare, in fact the whole world seemed a more civilised place. That was until I arrived at the office.

As I entered I could see my team huddled around a PC deep in conversation which soon turned to hushed whispers as they noticed me arrive, they needed bothered as I haven’t learnt yet the lingo.  The worried frowns were enough to alert me that things were not well and I took the bull by the horns and asked what the devil was going on.

It turns out that my nemesis P had been up to his old ticks again.  This time turning on his long-suffering colleagues (my team), he was very disappointed that they had joined J and me for dinner last night and was almost apoplectic that they had the nerve to enjoy themselves.

Two guys in particular were warned that if there is anymore fraternising with the enemy then they may have a visit from a ‘member of the underworld’. He wasn’t particularly clear on whether he was being overly ambitious about his ability to summon a demon from the bowels of hell or if he meant his dangerous ‘friends’. Either way the guys were freaked and demanded that I let them leave the office.

I reminded them that they’d told me to ignore P’s threats of ‘fearful encounters’ and death by shooting. It’s funny now that he has directed his wrath against them, they have suddenly remembered that he really does have some shady friends and they didn’t feel safe in the office anymore. Thanks for the heads up – team!

So my brave team went home to work and I soldiered on for a few more hours in the office before returning to the hotel. Upon return I began plotting P’s permanent exit from the company. Unfortunately P has written all of systems, so I need to lock him out to prevent him from sabotaging the data or servers. But I won’t think about that now… after all tomorrow is another day….

As soon as I woke up my mind was swimming with the threat of gun shots and fearful encounters. However concerns for my personal safety were soon overridden by the problems with the database install. As I was acutely aware that everyone at www.Staysure.co.uk HQ is relying on me to get Oracle up, running and also to come back in one piece to train them.

I don’t suppose you will believe me when I say that this morning I had no appetite and nearly didn’t order the hotel’s legendary English breakfast.  But I managed to force a plate full down, before setting out to the office without even a second glance over my shoulder.  Having slept on it I was completely over P’s attempts at intimidation. As threats go, he hadn’t progressed any further than amateur status, so I wasn’t bothered one way or the other what his next stunt might be.

It wasn’t a huge shock to find that P had decided not to follow my request to join us at the office, probably thinking he was flexing his muscles, when in reality he was just exercising his prerogative to illustrate his total lack of professionalism.  However he still managed to hamper our efforts from afar. Despite our hosting company telling us to re-install, P was still sending emails arguing to the contrary. At least he was keeping his distance and wasn’t suggesting I meet any of his friends for a spot of target practice.

All that was left to do was to negate his meddling and get on with the task in hand. By this stage the team was well versed in undertaking complete database re-installations and accepted the inevitable stoically, for the third time within one week!

After a very long day, I invited the team back to the hotel for dinner. I thought they deserved a big thank you for working so hard under what can only be described as ‘unusual and difficult’ conditions. It would also be nice for J who has had to make do with me and the resident elephant for company. 

The food was delicious, the beer was cold and the pool table proved to be a hit with team, with the added bonus of providing extra entertainment value for J and I, as the team hadn’t played before.  Maybe tomorrow would be a good day in paradise…..

As I woke up this morning from another deep sleep, it took about 2 minutes before I remembered the histrionics of yesterday and inwardly groaned - not another day in paradise!  In fact it was only the thought of the hotel’s legendary fry-up that got me up and about.

I followed the familiar route to the office, to find an email from the big boss R, suggesting that it would be a good idea for the team (yes – the whole team including P!) to work from the same office so we could get cracking and complete the installation. I bit the bullet (as it turned out later – almost literally!) and emailed P saying it would be beneficial for him to come to the office both from a work perspective and also socially, due to the amount of ‘friends’ he must have in the area.

It turns out that my misguided attempt to turn yesterday’s threats into a more light-hearted scenario severely backfired. I suddenly found myself playing the lead role in the Sri Lanka version of Godfather. According to P, I wouldn’t like to be introduced to his ‘friends’ as they have guns. My immediately thought was, that’s interesting but what the devil does it have to do with the database!

It was the next threat that caught my full attention, as if my Tuk Tuk driver wasn’t fiendish enough, P suggested that he would make sure my next journey to work would be a ‘fearful encounter’. Against the odds, he came to the office and we all got on with the job in hand.

The afternoon was frustrating we found that the operating system was the 32 bit version and our new server supported the 64 bit which would mean we would have to do another complete installation, losing all the work we had done so far (again!)

Of course, P knew better. His idea was to highlight the advantages over of the 64bt over the 32 bit and should wait for information from our hosting company but they didn’t come back to us. I suspect they felt the answer was in the question.

That was it for today, I decided to knock off while the going was good and nobody had been shot. Now that is not a sentence I ever expected to say……

Feeling well rested from a good sleep after a night on the tiles, by which I mean a few drinks in one of the hotel bars. As soon as I woke up I was led by my appetite to the dining room for another killer English fry up, which according to J is now becoming a bit of an obsession and she has made it plain that the quality of the hash browns is no longer a valid topic for discussion.

By the time I arrived at the office I had worked myself into a state of dread wondering what P was going to spring on me today. My worst fear was soon realised when I found that he had deleted the entire Oracle database and also the extra work we had done over the weekend. At that point I thought it would be a good time to test out a relaxing breathing technique, if only I had one.

.

I knew that this was it - the big show down. Having calmed down I sent an email asking (as the IT manager) why he felt the need to delete the database and even though this confrontation had been looming, I was shocked by the response.

He suggested in no uncertain terms I am now in his country and things work differently here. I should be very careful as he has friends in and around the hotel that J and I staying. I should shut up or face the consequences.  This begged the question as to whether I was actually in Sri Lanka or had I inadvertently strayed onto the set of a cheap gangster movie?  The rest of the Sri Lankan team rallied round redoing the work that we had lost and the general consensus was to ignore his threats and to try not to antagonise him. Since when did IT become such a dangerous career?

After a weary day, I was emotionally and physically spent and as I headed back to the hotel in my befuddled state I started to harbour real reservations about my Tuk Tuk driver, after all, he has almost killed me every day so far.

I was glad to get back to the hotel, lurking assassins or not, to let J know the developments of the day. We decided not to inform the police mainly as I was on a tourist visa and as much as I was tempted I couldn’t risk jeopardising his US visa for his move to the States in a few weeks, which would mean he would be out of our hair for good.  

I dread to think what tomorrow has in store….

It’s Sunday today, so I will be brief, all work and too much blogging make Jase a dull boy!

Needless to say, I enjoyed yet another legendary hotel breakfast before heading to the office on what is now the usual mode of transport. Today things seem a little calmer on the road or maybe it is the stodge of extra sausages and hash browns having an anesthetising effect.

The novelty of being in this beautiful place is starting to wear off now. I have been stuck in the office struggling with the Oracle installation before we realised there was an error in the parameter selection when the database was initially installed. We were only able to install a few smaller components.

Not what you would call a relaxing weekend and it wasn’t over yet. Around midnight, I was minding my own business, trying to forget about Staysure (well at least until the morning), when the elusive P called. Having heard noth from him for days, I could only assume he was working in a different time zone due to the ridiculously late hour. 

In his own inimitable style, he had chosen this perfectly 'reasonable' hour to inform me he had decided to complete the work he was contracted to do. I took no pleasure in informing him, that unfortunately we have rebuilt the database he no longer has access, unless we give him the passwords. The line went dead. What is wrong with this guy? All is not perfect in paradise.