Guest author Brent Evans is an Office Administrator and esteemed music critic, based in our San Antonio office.  Recently he was given the opportunity to participate in the Employee Exchange Program. His office location of choice? Vancouver.

I landed in Vancouver at 2pm on a Sunday.  After a quick 20 questions with the customs agent, I had my bag and was on my way to the hotel.  I made it without any problems and by 3.30pm I had deposited my stuff and was ready to see the city.  After about 10 minutes of walking around, I realized I should have actually looked at a guide book or two before I landed.  With no idea where to go or what to do, I just started walking.  I wasn’t too worried because this is how I handle almost all of my adventures.  No clear plan and just an idea of what I want to accomplish.

At this particular point in time I wanted to accomplish two things.  See the city and get something to eat.  After checking the menus at several different places, I decided on the Vancouver Moose.  Ultimately, it was their $5.95 surf and turf that appealed to both my pocketbook and my taste buds.  I sat down at the bar and asked the bartender what was affordable and tasty, beer-wise.  His response was rather short in a great-another-cheap-tourist sort of way, but I didn’t let it ruffle my feathers and enjoyed my first meal in Vancouver.

After I was fed, I decided to continue my walking tour of the city.  I use the word tour in a loose sense because I had no clear destination in mind.  During this tour, I saw the sights, shared pints with complete strangers and found myself in, as I would later learn, the “worst” ghetto in Vancouver.  Worst is in quotes because it reminded me of my neighborhood back in San Antonio.  Anyway, the whole evening made me realize that each stop provided “single-serving friends.”

These “single-serving friends” act much like the little coffee creamers we have in my office.  Just like the coffee creamers cream exactly one cup of coffee, these people offer up conversation and comradery for exactly one visit.  You shake hands, have a few pints, exchange a bit of conversation and then go on your separate ways knowing full well that you will probably never meet again.  It’s a single point of contact that exists in a single moment of time.  I’m not the only barfly to experience such meetings, but since I was on a weeklong adventure in Vancouver, including a brief stint in the office, I wondered if all of my experiences with coworkers would be just as superficial.

I started work at 8.30am the next day.  I was a bit nervous about meeting everyone, but I knew that my mildly inflated ego, self-deprecating humour and general agreeableness would get me through.  All my worrying was for not because everyone was very nice and accommodating which was quite a refreshing contrast to the rather cold weather outside.

After my initial introductions, I worked during the days and saw as much of Vancouver as I could at night, usually with a Vancouver co-worker in the lead.  It was a great change of pace from the same ol’ San Antonio.  High rises, public transportation, craft beer and rather forceful panhandlers.  At first, I was rather hung-up on the differences between the offices and cities.  The Vancouver office, for instance, has high cube walls, plenty of space, beautiful views and walkable coffee shops on every corner while the San Antonio office does not.  But as the week wore on I realized that we weren’t all that different.  Everyone worked just as hard, dealt with similar drama, enjoyed good conversations and tried not to get too bogged down.  It was this realization that made my Vancouver counterparts much more than “single-serving friends.”

The sudden realization that everyone in the PEER 1 organization had similar ups and downs made it much easier to open up to different people and find those common interests and beliefs that make for a truly lasting connection.  Suddenly, anything and everything was new and meaningful.  Gone were the preconceived notions and ideas leaving you with people enjoying other people – their company, their conversation, their opinions.  It made the whole experience that much more special because the voices on the other end of the phone were no longer just voices.  They had faces, names, feelings, opinions.  These were people that I’d talk to again.  Sure I’d take care of business first, but then I could have a conversation about office politics, music or whatever.

Now, sitting at my desk back in San Antonio, I can say that my quick stint in Vancouver taught me a lot.  I learned about the ins and outs of H.R.  Nothing but hugs and kisses for those girls by the way.  I also learned that, deep down, we are all people and that no matter which office or country you work in, you will find similar opinions and experiences.  Ultimately, you will only meet “single-serving friends” if you really want to keep the experience single-serving.