Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Carnival in Brazil - An Experience of a Lifetime

















I just spent the last week contemplating what to write about Carnival in Salvador and came upon the only logical decision. There is literally no way that I could describe it. It's just one of those things that if I tried to explain it to someone and filled them in on every last detail, it still wouldn't come close to capturing the experience. I always believed that a great writer (and I'm not saying that I'm one of those people!) could describe anything and make the reader really feel everything about the moment. However, this is just one of those things that you could only fully understand if you experienced it in person. I've never seen so much ENERGY, passion, and enjoyment of life in one place. It is literally overwhelming. Try to imagine an entire street (and I mean a looooooooong one) with the hundreds of thousands of joyous people in the world all singing and dancing to one incredible rhythm non-stop for a week straight. Add all of the lights, the production and, most importantly, the surrounding beauty and you have one unbelievable scene. I can honestly say that I got the chills several times. And to be honest, the first night I was there I really didn't like it at all. I had no idea what to do, it was really dirty, and basically I was clueless. However, by night number two I decided that I just needed to go for it (you definitely need to try hard to ignore all of the trash and the overwhelming smell of urine) and make the best of the experience, and that's exactly what I did. It helped a lot that I was with a great group of people. Everyone who gave me advice on Salvador said to just stay in the camarote (VIP area) the whole time. That would have been a huge mistake because the action is definitely down on the street. We followed the trio electricos (the huge semis where the bands play), hung out in the pipoca (which means popcorn but in this case it means the people on the sides of the street who are not in the trios), and basically got ourselves in the mix as much as possible. It was just an overall unbelievable experience, and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with a little taste for fun.

We were fortunate to have a local, Diego, from Salvador in our crew. He was the greatest host of all time, and the coolest thing he did was take us to Liberade. Liberade was the first neighborhood in Salvador and is 100% black. He took us there to see how this little neighborhood celebrates Carnaval and, most specifically, to see the incredible drummers who cruise through. It was really, really special. There is a group of about 100 drummers just walking the neighborhood and playing incredible music. The whole place was jamming to this rhythm. We were the only white people that I saw the whole time (with the one exception of a BBC camera crew), and it was a special deal because without Diego we would have never had the idea or the balls to make this happen. Thank you bro!!!! That was insane!

After Carnaval was over and we finally got some sleep (not to mention getting back to a normal eating schedule), we headed out of town to visit some other places. The beaches in the Northeast of Brazil are beautiful. I felt like I was in Hawaii with all of the palm trees, white sand, and turquoise/warm water. We stayed overnight in Praia do Forte, which is not only incredibly gorgeous but also happens to be one of the best surf spots in Northeast Brazil. We had a long session followed by a cool dinner in a little area with tons of shops, restaurants, and bars. I wish I had more time there because it is a very beautiful place. I will definitely return there in the future. After waking up on Friday and regurgitating some of the week's tasty treats, I finally made it back to Floripa the next day. I will never forget my first Carnival in Brazil. It was one of the best times of my life, and the only thing that I can say is just trust me on this one. Go! You will not be disappointed!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Restaurant Management 101 (Brazilian Version)












They said it would happen and promised that it would happen. I didn’t believe them, or at least I didn’t want to believe them. I like to think that the human race is inherently good and that sometimes we just make mistakes. In this case, I was particularly wrong.

I received a phone call from my manager, Ana, last Friday night saying that she discovered that the employees were stealing from the restaurant (it was a great start to the weekend!). This was the phone call that I didn’t want. I was already on my way to the restaurant so I just told her to sit tight until I got there. Once I arrived, she explained to me what was happened. Our main sushi chef noticed that an order was canceled after he made it and saw it served to a table. He thought it was strange and notified the cashier. After a little prodding, the cashier told Ana that it happens a lot. After a little more prodding, the cashier said that she sees the waiters exchanging money regularly. Unfortunately, Ana had already put the order back in the system. I would have kept the order off to see how the transaction played out when closing the bill. I was curious to see how the waiters pocketed the money in the scheme. After a discussion with Ana, we decided to “interrogate” the waiter who canceled the order. Of course, he denied any wrongdoing and pled ignorance (I believed Bill Clinton and his "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" more than I believed this guy). We told him that it was very suspicious and that we would continue to look into it. Shortly after, we discovered that another waiter canceled the order (it was odd because it wasn’t her table). Only a minute after we finished talking to the first waiter, two waiters immediately came to us and said it was a mistake and the order was canceled erroneously (obviously, they didn’t realize how suspicious that was). We determined that the scheme was that the waiters told the clients about the error on the bill when it was being paid. The canceled orders were usually R$50 and below and the client would just pay that part in cash and they would pocket the money since the order wasn’t on the bill. Anyway, we decided to review the records to check on canceled orders and leave the matter unsettled until Monday.
Although we were fairly convinced what was happening, we didn’t have any real proof.

On Monday afternoon, we sat down and spoke with the cashier. She seemed to know a lot more that she was leading on and no restaurant scheme works in a restaurant without the help of the cashier. Of course, she indeed had a lot more information. She informed us that the head waiter personally asked her if she wanted in on the scheme when she was first hired (this certainly qualified as the proof we were looking for). They both used to work at another restaurant (a very popular one) where apparently stealing is rampant. She told me that she thought we were good people (that clean living is finally paying off!) and didn’t want to participate in what was going on. She then proceeded to explain her version of what was happening. What was interesting to me is that I became aware that this is just normal behavior for employees in the restaurant business in Brazil. There is always some version of a scheme. Those who want in can participate, and those who don’t want to participate have an understanding not to say anything. She was breaking the mold by telling us and I, of course, was relieved that she had done so.

What came next was the obvious firing of those who were involved. The shitty part is that employees have so many rights in Brazil that any situation involving a dispute almost always comes out in favor of the employee. The other part was that the cashier didn’t want the whole staff to know that she was the whistle blower so we had to keep that part quiet. I wanted to tell the employees who were a part of the scheme how incredibly effed up it was. I’m providing them all jobs (18 in all), I pay them fairly, I treat them very well and the payback is that they steal from me. The other screwed up part is that every order that they steal by taking off the system creates less commission for the other employees. Anyway, we had to come up with ridiculous excuses to fire them. The only solace is that they obviously knew that we knew, and that gave me some sort of satisfaction.

The good news is that we caught the problem quickly and, although we lost some money, it could have grown to be a much bigger problem. The bad news is just the disappointment that comes along with something like this. Like I said, I always want to give people the benefit of the doubt but when people steal from you, it’s hard to have this philosophy. However, it was a lesson learned, (and one that I was warned about) and it will only make us focus more on running a very tight ship. The restaurant business is hard enough as it is so we’ll chalk it up to experience and keep moving forward. I said to some friends last week that owning a restaurant is like having a girlfriend. When things are going well and you have a packed house, it couldn't be better. However, when it's quiet and there are problems, it takes a lot of work to keep things going.

On a brighter side, outside of this, things are going great with Tatsuya. People really love the place, and the compliments we get from the décor to the food to everything else are just overwhelming. I’ve even had many sophisticated travelers tell me that Tatsuya was by far their best night experience while in Floripa. While in takes time and patience to make a successful restaurant, I certainly feel like we’re on the right track. Now if I can just figure out how to do FBI background checks on employees we will be all set!

Friday, February 6, 2009

A Paradigm Shift





As always, I have to apologize for the delay in posts. It seems that the longer I live in Brazil, the more I get accustomed to a the very relaxed culture where urgency isn't exactly a top priority. Plus, it's summer time so cut me some slack! There are a few distractions to say the least. Haha. With that being said, I'm glad I am finally taking the chance to sit down to think and write a little something....

As I sit on my patio writing this, I can't help but think about how much the world is changing as a result of the global crisis. When I decided to pack up and move to Brazil, things were still relatively fine back in the US. The banks were still intact, the markets were volatile but not dire, and the housing market was still holding on. I know there were a handful of doubters who thought I must have been crazy to do what I was doing because I was leaving a great job and what you might have perceived was a good path to happiness (whatever that may have meant at the time). As it stands now, I think there has been a dramatic paradigm shift. I can't look at the status updates on my Facebook without seeing that another person was laid off. It really bums me out because I think losing your job is an incredibly unfortunate situation. From my perspective, what I have seen is that this has affected people very dramatically because suddenly people are realizing that jobs aren't guaranteed and that any day a good job can disappear. What does this mean exactly? I guess that's tough to say because it depends on the person. However, what I have seen first hand is many, many people saying, "Screw this. I don't need this and I'm going to make myself happy." I get at least 3-4 emails per week from people around the globe (usually friends of friends or someone who came across this blog) who have decided that they are going to move to a foreign country (obviously most are reaching out because they want to live in Floripa) and want some advice on how to go about it. For the first nine months I lived here, I probably received just a couple emails about this so certainly I can see how much things have changed in the past few months. I think a lot of people have realized how vulnerable their jobs and lives can really be. You can dedicate yourself to a company, work your ass off for it for years, plan your whole future based your job, and then come in one day to find out that you are expendable. It's definitely a shame because the last thing I want to see is someone's security being pulled out from under them. However, it happens and you have to find a way to deal with it, and it seems that everyone has decided that Floripa is the solution. Herein lies the dilemma.

Floripa is an incredibly beautiful and special place, and I always want to protect that. That last thing I want is for Floripa to lose its charm by being overrun for foreigners, but at the same time, it's tough to be selfish about it because I don't want to be a hypocrite since I am already a foreigner living here. The one thing I do tell people is that this place is not easy to find work. Between the language barrier, the work visa issues, and just the overall job market here, there are a lot of big obstacles. However, as with any emerging country, there is still plenty of opportunity if you are willing to be creative. Just don't expect to get off the plane and start working. If that's what you are looking for, then this is not the place. It takes time to get accustomed to the way things work and to do all of the things that you need to do before opening a business or whatever is you are looking to do. And if you need any advice, please feel free to reach out to me. I will be starting Packard Consulting Co. ASAP!

The most important things when coming to Brazil, whether it be to live here or just for a visit, is to have a very open mind, be patient, and be respectful. Anyone with this kind of attitude will enjoy Brazil (and any other foreign country for that matter) much, much more. I have had such a blast meeting all of the people that have come through, and it seems that the large majority of them have the right attitude (although unfortunately there are always exceptions to everything - the self proclaimed "Hebrew Hurricane" definitely takes the cake). The right attitude takes you far any place but even more so here because Brazilians are so open and warm that it's important to be the same way. On that note, I received a good email today regarding Brazilians. I did not write this so I can't take credit for it but I wanted to pass it on because I thought it was pretty accurate....

Brazilian Friendship and Hospitality

"Humans are in many ways the same the world over. I have lived several months to more than a year in a dozen or so countries and have visited a few dozen more. While sweeping generalizations can inaccurately portray the people of one nation, I have found that people can have “tendencies” to congregate around certain behavior and characteristic traits that change from nation to nation. These characteristics will also change within the borders of a nation from place to place."

Having appropriate qualified what I am about to say, - Brazilians tend to:

Be extremely kind and generous.
Make great friends.
Embrace and welcome foreigners into their homes and circle of friends.
Be at ease with themselves and those around them.
Seek a spiritual (not necessarily religious) community of like-minded people.
Place a higher priority on quality of life than they do on quality of work.
Place less importance on material wealth and consumption.
Seek peaceful solutions to conflict.
Be respectful of the rights and differences of others.
Exhibit patience in situations that would bring others to rage.
Be more likely to gather socially to celebrate whatever occasion they can muster up for celebration.
Celebrate sexuality and sexual expression more so than people of other nations.
Very fond and knowledgeable of music.
Love the beach and go to great lengths to spend time there.
Smile often, - they have beautiful, healthy smiles.