Prague Journal

Wednesday, December 15, 2004.

Eva and I had a very enjoyable and productive day in Kladno with Jitka and Radka at their textile company. As usual, Jitka and her daughter Radka were gracious hosts, very forthcoming with information and time. With Eva there—a native Czech speaker—the conversation flowed smoothly, and she could probe for the specific information we needed for our research. The employees were very busy, finishing and delivering end-of-the-year orders. They deal in wholesale goods only, so they will close next week for a two-week Christmas holiday. We interviewed a few employees, some of whom Jitka had talked about previously because they have been with the company for more than 8 years. I was surprised to meet Mrs. S, because I had imagined her to be old and conservative. Instead, she looked younger than I had expected (she has teenage children), very attractive and very shy. Jitka said she rarely talks at work, but she is a good worker. Mrs. N likes the company’s work environment because it encourages team work and helped her to learn Czech when she came to the Czech Republic from Kazikstan with her family 8 years ago. Eva and I were particularly interested in how Jitka changed the company’s compensation system and culture, to promote teamwork, higher productivity and quality control. Radka was more talkative in English than before, so we were able to chat a bit more at lunch, mostly about personal, not business issues. Radka’s boyfriend has been in Ireland for several months, but will be coming to Kladno for Christmas. Both Jitka and Eva had late afternoon appointments, so our lunch was only two hours instead of three, as last time, and Eva and I barely returned to Prague in time for her to catch the metro downtown for her 4:30 meeting. I returned home just as Rick was leaving for the gym.
Charlotte and Bruce had invited us to go with them to Lucerna to a Swing Band concert, and Rick was originally enthusiastic about it, but then decided that he would prefer to spend a quiet evening at home instead. So after dinner, I started to transcribe some of my notes, and he is trying to finish a math proof – or, as he puts it, to understand a bit more about why his proof isn’t working — before he meets with Ales tomorrow.

posted by JWinn @ 7:09 PM