UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITIES – Part 10

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

by Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

chandij@sympatico.ca

The Round Trip

We made substantial profits from our first-ever Ceylon Hotel School (CHS) Graduation Ball and decided to spend all that money to go on a seven-day “all-inclusive” round trip for all students in the two senior batches that organised the dance. Three members of the teaching staff joined, perhaps to keep an eye on us. It was nice to have ‘fun’ activities outside the formal environment we usefully operated at CHS. With plenty of singing, dancing, joking, river bathing, games, drinking and eating, this trip was lot of fun, but was not without some mischief in between. During this trip, for the first time in my life, I realised the importance of analysing different personalities and how people behave differently and more freely in more relaxing situations. In later years, throughout my careers in management, academia and consulting, I used those two concepts – ‘Personality Analysis’ and ‘Combining Work and Fun.’

When we returned to Colombo at the end of the week our relationships with the participating staff had certainly improved. This trip became an annual event at CHS. A decade later when I became a Senior Lecturer of CHS, I always joined the student round trips. It provided me with opportunities of better understanding my students from a different generation.

Frau Sommersaul

One of our most popular subjects was Basic German, but it was not due to the subject matter. The main attraction was the gorgeous looks of the young lady who was our part-time German Lecturer. Frau Sommersaul had blond hair, a very nice figure, and often wore short skirts. Basic German was one class that inspired my punctuality.

My aim was to get a front row seat, but I was not the only student with that idea. One of my playful batchmates, Priyajith would regularly sit in the front row and purposely dropped his assignments on the floor. He was hoping that our short-skirted teacher would bend down to pick up the assignments. One day he was warned by the Principal not to stare at the German teacher’s shapely legs. The next day, Priyajith appeared in the class wearing sunglasses. When Frau Sommersaul asked for the reason for wearing sunglasses, he replied in broken German, “Frau Sommersaul, die Blendung stört meine Augen”. (“Mrs. Sommersaul, the glare is bothering my eyes.”)

In every German class, there was a question written on the board. Frau Sommersaul directed each student to take a turn answering in German. English was not allowed in her class. By the second month, she had realised that I never studied and therefore could not answer correctly in German. After that, each time it was my turn to answer the day’s question, she simply skipped me and went to the next student.

Mrs. Carmen Gomes

By observing three Chef Instructors, I learnt lessons beyond cooking. When addressing the whole class, Mrs. Gomes, only lady Chef Instructor at that time, called all of us, “Boys”. When she addressed any of us individually, she used only our family names. Every time she called me, “Jayawardena”, I did not like it, and said tactfully as possible, “Madam, my name is Chandana”.

Whenever I had to present to her a dish prepared by me for grading, she reacted in the same manner. She made a face of disgust and disapproval, before giving me a low mark. One day, as a prank, I sent the same dish that received a low mark, to her for the second time, with the best student of my batch, W. D. T. Anton. Mrs. Gomes tasted my dish and told Anton, “Perfect! Well done, Anton!”, and gave him 100%. In later years while managing the largest Chef School in Canada as the Academic Chair, I realised that kitchen practical marking at times can be subjective, based on the first impressions created by the students. Unfortunately, I had created a very poor first impression for my cooking at CHS.

Chef Helmut Belling

We liked the Expert Lecturer in Kitchen Operations from West Germany, Chef Helmut Belling. He was a fun-loving person and did some practical jok

es in the kitchen. His favourite joke was replacing cubed cheese (which we liked to steal) kept in the refrigerator with similar sized cubes of yellow Sunlight cleaning soap to trick us. He was tall and large and looked like a giant among some of my batchmates who were short.

Occasionally, the Chef lost his cool when we made a serious mistake in the kitchen. One day, a short batch mate of mine burnt the Chicken Maryland, just before lunch service. The Chef was very upset and lost his cool. He carried my batchmate by his trousers at the waist with one hand and threw him out of the kitchen. This batch mate in later years became a top Chef in the largest airline kitchens in Australia.

Chef Robert Napper

Towards the end of our first year at CHS, an ILO Expert in Kitchen Operations, Chef Robert Napper arrived from the UK. He was a skilled Chef but had a superiority complex. As a result, he appeared to be sarcastic and not very respectful of the local culture. His relationship with his German colleagues at CHS were not the best, to say the least.

As a developing nation, it was normal at that time in Sri Lanka to experience occasional power interruptions and water cuts during the dry mo

nths. One day towards the end of the kitchen practical, the water supply stopped. We were happy thinking that we did not have to wash the kitchen that day. Chef Napper ordered each of us to pick a large pot or an empty garbage can, and march behind him across the Galle Face Green to the Indian Ocean. That day we washed the kitchen with salt water! That provoked the German Principal.

Due to his racist comments, most of us disliked Chef Napper. Another day, the Chef was not satisfied with the freshness of the fish delivered to the kitchen. One of my batchmates, Kotte, disagreed and said that the local fish was fresh. That angered the Chef, who said that, “This rotten fish is as old as your bloody culture.” We were shocked. One key lesson I learnt from Chef Napper was what I should not do when I lived and worked in different countries and among people from diverse cultures. In later years I often teach what I call ABC (Attitudes and Aspirations, Beliefs and Behavior, Customs and Culture) in my management seminars. ABC of host communities must be recognised and respected by expatriate managers.

Restaurant Service

We had excellent team spirit among all three batches of CHS students. Usually when the third-year batch did the cooking, the second-year batch served the lunch. As the training restaurant had 36 seats, a few of the first-year students were invited to dine at the restaurant. If and when one of the servers dropped a spoon on the floor or had a noisy service accident, students of all three batches dining or servicing looked up to the ceiling, in unison. This was done to distract any attention from the teaching staff, from the already embarrassed server who had made a mess.

Our Lecturers in Restaurant Service did a great job in humorously teaching us the basics and menu explanations. Their memorable stories based on their experiences in West Germany, enhanced the lectures. Usually, during lunch, each table had one teaching staff member and three students. I always rushed to sit at the table hosted by Mr. Rohan De Silva, as he offered us free cigarettes. At the end of the lunch, Herr Sterner made his Principal’s comments on the lunch and service. As the Principal was more of a Front Office specialist, every time he made a comment about dishes and cooking, Chef Napper made a face of disapproval and whispered a sarcastic or a racist comment to the students at his table. 

Last Minute Studies

Considering the second chance given me at CHS after my poor academic performance during my first year, I was keen to improve in my second year. That was my only chance of survival at CHS. However, given my busy schedule full of Judo fighting, Rugby Football practices, Tournament Secretary work, part-time work, movies, girlfriends, parties and pranks, I did not get down to studying until the end of the fall semester in 1972. I knew that I had to pull up my socks to do better at this exam, because I was virtually on my last warning and last chance.

Finally, I commenced studying the day before examination. We had a full week of examinations, and I got into a last-minute study mode. I opened the textbook for the next day’s exam subject for the first time around 11:00 pm and studied the textbook and my class notes all night without any sleep. Overnight, I made a one-page summary per subject of everything I revised. After breakfast and before going to the examination hall in the morning, I looked at that one-page summary once and then wrote the test. Soon after the examination, when I returned to the hostel in the mid afternoon, I went to sleep. I woke up again around 11:00 pm to go through my newly developed examination-preparation strategy.

I continued this unorthodox studying method for the whole week. As most of my hostel mates were sleeping at the time I was studying, it was quiet and ideal for my concentration. Although many experts disagree with this type of last-minute studying, it worked well for me. My grades improved significantly. I used this technique for all my further studies at undergraduate, professional, graduate, doctoral and post-doc levels in later years.