Rome

The plane came over the lush green fields, skimming over the farm out-houses on its glidepath as it approached the runway. On the ground, there was the  scent of flowers as they bussed us to the terminal.  We'd  just arrived at Fiumicino airport. My two American companions were looking forward to their first visit to Rome and I felt that same  sense of excitement  everytime I came to this city. After searching for our baggage and coming through customs it suddenly hit us; we were in Rome. Hustle and bustle all around, families embracing their loved ones, shouts and crying - so much emotion.

"Taxi signiori?" We were accosted by a suave Italian who eyed our luggage as he came straight for us. At first I thought that he might have been sent to greet us - he certainly saw us coming. Before we could say anything  he picked up the suitcases,  smiled and loaded them  on a trolley, pushing off with a sense of purpose. We found ourselves marching alongside him, our pace picking up speed to keep abreast, as we went down the long arrivals hall towards what eventually became clear - his cab. Before we could protest the luggage was in the back of his car.

"Do you know this guy?" Asked one of my  companions.

"No, I certainly don't, but he is very resourceful in picking up clients." (I  had my doubts but kept them to myself.)  We squeezed into a small cab, gave him the address and drove off at great speed towards the city and our hotel.  When we arrived, we  had some inevitable problems arguing over the fare. "That weel be forty thousand lire," he said. 

"Just a moment, I'll be back with a porter for the luggage," I said as I dashed inside the hotel to ask the concierge about the fare from the airport.  It was as I had suspected all along. He turned out  to be a cowboy driver. Fortunately, the hotel porter unloaded the luggage before we had settled. I then handed the correct amount to the driver, who judging by the tirade of words, was terribly unhappy but accepted the money  rather than face arbitration.

 We  had a good laugh and took it all in good grace;  after all this was Rome!

My American companions were executives of a multinational company sent to check that their European  subsidiaries  conformed to Corporate Standards. My role, was to help act as a guide and "smooth out any ruffled feathers due to local sensitivities." The cultures between the country operations and the corporate  headquarters in the States were  different. Often, local conditions did not make it possible to apply the same rules that existed in the States. The Italians were very successful in their market and it was important that they did not perceive this as interference in the way they conducted their business. People here were very polite but very proud of their achievements and it would not do to upset them.

An American corporate controller on a previous visit had  remarked that although the Italian  numbers did not add up "in the conventional way", they were nevertheless  very profitable. "If it ain't broken why fix it was the European management's attitude.

I knew the routine,having accompanied our American executives to other scountries as well. . Keep everybody happy. The Italians would probably smile and agree with our corporate friends, they would be very diplomatic and make the Americans feel that they knew best, seeing them off satisfied that ‘they had shown the locals how to do it.' .The reality of course was different. Many people had come to Italy over the centuries and the Italians knew how to treat them and survive. The further we went east and south in Europe, the more complex and imaginative were the local procedures and more difficult to justify.

Here in Rome, the purpose was to visit the office for a few hours, go through the written documents, interview a few people make suggestions for change and then be off.  A perfunctory tour of  the facility and we'd be  on our way after a job well done. Everyone would be pleased.  It was the custom on such visits for the local management to lay on a sumptuous evening meal at a good restaurant as was becoming of a good host, wanting us to have good memories of our visit to their beautiful city.

On arrival at the plant, we were greeted by the boss's secretary, a lady of many talents who for practical purposes, ran the place. She’d prepared everything for us. Right at the start, she apologised and asked us to excuse the absence of her boss the ‘Dottore’, who apparently had "been unavoidably detained by one of his clients out of town."  He'd sent us his good wishes and regretted not being here to welcome us in person, but was sure that we'd understand how tough business was these days.

A very smooth operator the M.D. His absence was very convenient and it did not commit him to anything. While at the plant, one of the visitors  tried out the local coffee by putting a coin into the espresso machine. The amount that came out was so little that he put another coin, and to his dismay the same thing happened.

"Is this machine working properly?" he asked me.

"This is Italian coffee and very strong; you don't need very much,"  I told him. When he sipped  it,  he almost choked and  nodded in agreement. 

By 5 pm we were done and left for our hotel. Here, our hosts had been very thoughtful - they had excelled themselves. They'd booked a hotel off the "Dolce Vita" Via Veneto so that our visitors would feel very much at home seeing the star spangled banner over the American Embassy.

We duly checked in, and  followed the boy (he was actually very old) with our luggage. At first the elevator refused to start but he tapped his foot a couple of times and off we went. This was probably the excessive weight but we made it up to  the first floor. After hanging up my clothes I took a beer from the minibar and was settling down for a well earned rest when I heard a loud knock at the door. As I opened, I saw my two companions agitated, as they came into my room. "This is a crazy place," one said. "I couldn't even use the phone; the dial doesn't work. "

"Never had a room like this There's no glass in the window! Said the other.

 

"Someone's playing a practical joke on us" I said, "Let's go down and sort this thing out".

When we got back to reception, the young man smiled but he quickly adopted a concerned look as he saw our faces. "There must have been some mistake" he said, and quickly looked at the rooms plan. "Those rooms should not have been available. They are closed for decorating."

Apologies followed and the old boy was dispatched to move the luggage to new rooms on my floor. We were only staying overnight and we were in a very nice location so we could now relax and wait for someone to come and pick us up for the evening that had been arranged in our honour.

The next day we had a late flight to Frankfurt and before leaving we took a walk down to the piazza Espagna and looked at the fashionable shops in the via Condotti for maybe a scarf or a blouse as souvenirs from Rome for their spouses. While browsing at the boutiques, we saw a nice light jacket and Joe wanted to  go in and give it a closer look. It must have been our luck to fall on a very persistent sales asistant who could not understand that trying something on did not mean that we were buying it. The jacket was too big but if as he said you folded the back by a couple of inches the front would look normal. Not everyone wants to look like a tough guy with wide shoulders. 

When we got back and checked out from the hotel, we were  mindful of our arrival from the airport so  we negotiated terms with the cab driver in advance, and asked him to make a detour passing some of the famous landmarks before taking us to the airport.

At least my companions  could say that they  had seen something of the Eternal City and they could take some photos to prove it.

As we boarded the Lufthansa plane we settled down to relax.  Thank god that was over; Frankfurt would be a lot easier I thought. The plane taxied down the runway, and after lifting off, the pilot put the plane into a steep climb. Maybe he'd  been a fighter pilot in his earlier days I thought as I gathered the few loose things I had out of my bag. Such things did not happen without some reason and the announcement over the loudspeakers confirmed it. A small private plane came across our path and the pilot had to take avoiding action.  All in all our trip was very memorable