A week I want to forget

Last Monday I found out that one of the Angolan employees was in jail. On Sunday apparently a drunken person got in front of his car and got killed. Tuesday morning an expat did not show up to work. When we checked back at the expat housing, he was in deep sleep on his bed. Monday night he was out alone drinking again, in spite of earlier warning that if such behaviour (causing health and safety hazard) was repeated it could result in his dismissal. We could not take that risk again. I hurriedly contacted our Country Manager who was “off rotation” and he agreed with me to demobilize the person immediately. So, Wednesday I had to advise him of our decision. It was hard and my first such case as an expat manager. He was put on a flight on Thursday to return to his home in the U.K. Friday one of the Angolan employees submitted his resignation (which was not much of a loss) and another one came to complain about 3% raise they had received. Friday night when I got to the house, I found out that my ipod was missing from the docking station. It was a Christmas gift from my wife (with lots of my favourite songs which she had downloaded spending enormous amount of time). Some contract workers were apparently working in my room installing the long awaited window curtains. Now I have hardly any music to listen to. It has been a rough week. I needed a break. After work today, I went for a run alone on the street along the coast on Ilha. It was sort of a stress reliever. I suppose things could be worse. In any case, I want to forget this week. The week ahead has to be better.