Technical Glossary from Baltic Sea

I had taken a new job, and so far had really enjoyed it. I’d travelled a fair bit, staying in some pretty nice hotels, including one Rügen hotel I could quite easily live in. The buffet breakfasts were to die for, and I easily imagined waking every morning to the view of the Baltic Sea. But I suppose you’d get sick of bacons and eggs, hot porridge and fresh coffee every morning. Or, maybe not. I’d like to give it a go, though.

The position I was in involved visiting different places around the Baltic Sea, mostly clients, but some prospective clients where it was my job to win them over with my amazing talent for boring people into signing contracts. Fair enough, information technology was not everyone’s cup of tea, but it was my life and I was good at it. So good, in fact, the company had charged me with starting a whole new division, including the policies and procedures, website, glossary and training manuals. Not that I am blowing my own trumpet, of course. But I am good.

So it was decided that the first 12 months I’d live from a suitcase as I had no family to worry about. Heck, I didn’t have a girlfriend either, but I was young and like the older people in the company’s hierarchy kept telling me “You’re still young, you have your whole life ahead of you!”
I went from hotel to hotel, collecting clientele and working with those we already had, and in my downtime I’d work on the new division. The technical glossary was the worst; I hated dictionaries and the research was not as fun as it sounded. But it was work I could do anywhere, anytime. And I did – by the pools, the beaches, in the bars and on the balconies. I got that technical glossary together and I was proud of it. I could tell you where every word was defined, in which hotel or at which beach. It became a labour of love. Or, love-hate. But I got it done and when I was finished I backed it up about seven different ways, for fear of losing it.

When my 12-month suitcase stint was up, I had earned enough money to buy a Baltic Sea apartment (Ferienwohnung Ostsee). It was easy, as I had no living expenses during the 12 months, and the company paid for everything – the hotels, my food, my laundry, travel and every other expense you could think of. The money I was earning (and it was a lot) was going straight into a high-interest bank account, so when I was done I walked into a real estate agent in the city with a bank cheque for the amount of the apartment I wanted. I moved in that weekend, and fully furnished it.

I am now a partner in the company, managing the division I helped create. That division has gone world-wide, but now I take my wife and twin sons with me when we go overseas. We own the block of Baltic Sea apartments now, not just one of them. Amongst other things.
I often joke that the glossary paid for our ‘glossy’ lifestyle.