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#25 - Never leave your friend


Early 2000’s we completed successfully a big technology program. We organized the program closing seminar in Lapland. The plan was to take a night train to Lapland, pretty convenient. The working day prior to the trip was pretty thrilling, because of a train accident somewhere south of Oulu. The track was broken and we were not sure if the trip needs to be cancelled.

Finally at the evening it became clear that the train is running and we started the journey. After working hard for a couple of years, people were eager to relax. We had some nice discussions in the cabins. It was already very late night when most of the people started to sleep in the cabins. After a while we were close to Oulu and people were supposed to jump into a bus. After a short bus trip the train would carry us from Oulu to Lapland. This was a special arrangement, because the rail road was still broken. The conductor woke us up and everybody on the train moved quickly to the busses. There was only one exception.

One of our guys, Mr. N, was sleeping very heavily. Many of his colleagues tried to woke him up, yelling, shouting and kicking, but nothing helped. He was still sleeping and busses were leaving. We needed to go to bus. The conductor of the train continued the wake up process by shouting, slapping, hitting, but nothing helped. You should not leave your friend, but what can you do.

The busses were half way to Oulu when my phone started to ring. Our dear colleague had woken up. Soon he was sitting on a taxi and trying to catch the rest of the team before the train to Lapland was leaving. Finally he made it.

The two days were productive, as well as entertaining. We had even possibility to ski a bit in the Pyhä slopes. All well, happy end.

Lessons learnt:
Remember to celebrate the happy endings.



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