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January 20, 2006
The Shop Over These Months
posted by David
It's interesting to see how things have changed around the office over the past six months. When I first arrived, in the heat of summer, the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. The four Mexican men we had at the time would come in early, but would take regular breaks at the local taqueria for "second breakfast," make a big spread in the back for lunch, and then maybe make another trip around the corner later for an afternoon snack. Errands, business or personal, were always being run, and there was a lot of fun to be had hanging out between the initial projects they received. In the office, we were pushing quite a bit harder but we'd still take off at 3 on an occasional afternoon to visit one of the local swimming holes or just to grab a Coke and talk.
As projects began to take on more form, we brought on Mere (pronounced meh'-day) as our Mexican supervisor and head carpenter. He had always held that position in our minds, but had asked to continue his own carpentry business until the big projects started coming in. His experienced wisdom and generous spirit immediately added a maturity to our team that has continued to bear fruit, enabling us to make big transitions easily—like shifting our focus to the solid wood door business in the last several months.
More structure is in place now than ever, and as we move increasingly into a production mindset we've seen the strengths of the guys rise to the occasion. We as emigrants have seen more similarities between ourselves and the guys in this time, but we've continued to see the basic differences in our mindsets and approaches as well. One major blessing for us in this area has been the addition of Erika and Edna, our office manager and translator, respectively. Erika brings to us Mexican corporate experience and an unusual mind for details (and a wonderful intensity). Edna, besides the obvious ability to communicate clearly, also shares with us insight into the Mexican psyche, which is significant as a highly educated and thoughtful Mexican woman who grew up in the Big City (Tampico) but who has always maintained the connection with her small-town roots, which is how she ended up with us in the first place.
We're continuing to adjust and strive to find healthy rhythms for ourselves and our guys, defining boundaries, learning the language, delegating responsibilities, especially as business is picking up on several fronts. There is still, and hopefully always will be, a lot fun to be had, a lot of warmth and a continually growing sense of community, for which we are all grateful. It could be a challenge to maintain the sense of family that's developed as we grow, but from what I can see now I think that the foundation that's been laid will serve us all well as we bring others into the most enjoyable place I've ever worked.