An American Fatman in Paris

Journey to Rank Xerox, Paris, France

September 1997 found me headed for Paris
to Rank Xerox to train our European associates
on a new feature of our Document Centre System 20.

Hey, you got a Passport?
At the end of August my boss, Anthony, asked me if I had a passport. The reason being a Xerox customer in Paris was very interested in trying out a new feature on our machine the Document Centre System 20. Within a few days Anthony told me owe were going September 8th. I’ll spare you all the gruesome details of “how to get a passport in less than a week when it’s labor day weekend”.

The Flight Over
We spent a lot of time preparing, even coming in on Sunday before the trip. Monday we came in to the office to tie up the last loose ends and headed to the Airport right from work at about 2:00pm. We first had to fly to Dulles in Washington, D.C. and then from there on to France. I took my usual load of Dramamines and slept all the way to DC. We had no problem catching the flight to France as we had a two hour layover. Somehow that first batch of Dramamine took the edge off of any subsequent doses and I didn’t sleep the entire eight hours over to France.

The Hotel Ride
Having now become a seasoned veteran I have one piece of advice to offer anyone traveling abroad, Don’t Rent a Car! It was insanity, Anthony drove while I attempted to interpret the map. Funniest thing, all the road signs are in French. We were close to the hotel, but just couldn’t pinpoint it. We would stop and show a passerby a piece of paper with the hotel’s address on it, I don’t know why. They would kindly respond, undoubtedly providing accurate directions to our destination and we would nod our heads while we listened understanding absolutely not one bit. By some strange twist of fate we found Rue Caulain Court and the Hotel Mercure Paris Montmartre. Ok, by now it’s 9:00am the next day in Paris. We took the time to check in, grab a quick shower and change clothes. Based upon our incredible ability to navigate Paris we determined it best someone come fetch us. We called Gerard at Rank Xerox and he took the Metro to the hotel and then guided us in the car back to the Xerox facility.

The Afternoon at Rank
It was lunchtime when we arrived at RX and Gerard and Jean Michel took us to the Xerox cafeteria to dine. Anthony and I were surprised to see several types of wine and beer available along with the selection of foods. So here we are in the cafeteria with all these people and I am noticing something, I wasn’t quite sure at first, but, yes, I am the Fattest person here! I am probably the Fattest guy in France! Everyone was very handsome and trim, I could only hope they wouldn’t deport me. After lunch we paused for a cup of French coffee (sort of like demitasse) before getting down to the business at hand. That afternoon several more RX associates joined us for a presentation that Anthony made and a hands-on training session that I hosted. Later on a few of us broke off to develop a specific solution for a customer that we would be visiting the next day.

Dinner at Chez Berbert
Strange as it may seem we were able to find our way back to the hotel that evening. We walked down the street our hotel was on and picked a cafe at random, Chez Berbert, and went in to eat. Having basically no idea what the items on the menu were, we were able to recognize “Couscous Poulet” as Couscous and Chicken and both ordered that. When the waiter returned he loaded our table with not only Couscous and Chicken, but also stewed vegetables, two different kinds of legumes (beans) and of course French bread. By the time we finished dinner we were both working on close to 48 hours without sleep so we headed back to the hotel for a nights rest.

The Customer Site
The next morning we headed out to the customer and managed not to get too lost. The only problem was parking, there basically was none. We found one spot but it was rather small, I paced it out and the car was nine feet long and the space only ten. Anthony tried and couldn’t do it, I tried with no luck either. By this time Gerard spotted us and came over and being a native got behind the wheel and miraculously was able to squeeze the car into the spot. Our work was going well and we broke for lunch at about 1:00pm. We dined at a little cafe near the customers location. Having the RX guys along to translate the menu opened up a wider variety for us to choose from. After lunch we headed back to the customer site and finished up our tasks at hand.

Condensed Site Seeing
After saying “adieu” to our RX associates and before heading back to the hotel we took in a few sites while the sun was still up. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower and the Petit Palais long enough to take a picture. Back at the hotel we decided for our last night in Paris we should really live it up and go out for some exotic French Cuisine. “Chez Ronald” was right around the corner, McDonald’s is the same in any language. After dinner we strolled down Rue de Clichy and stopped in one tavern where they had Karaoke and I sang a song (“Just Once”). It was now time to go back to the hotel and pack ourselves up in preparation for the day of traveling to follow. We did a lot in the short time we were there and our thanks go out to the friends we made there that helped make it an unforgettable experience.