I recently met a new comer to the region, an absolutely delightful woman with such zest for life.  We were in conversation with two other mothers, having a good old whinge fest about after school activities, parent associations, and Sheikh Zayed Road. Standard Dubai conversation.
She asked what I did.  I answered that I worked in software development.  Her face became greatly concerned.  She leaned towards me and placed a caring hand on my arm.”Oh goodness,”  she said,  “And does that take the whole day?”.
I burst out laughing, and I was …

Ever been to a meeting where nothing actually happens?  The kind of entirely useless meeting that starts out slow, gets even slower, meandering between irrelevant and pointless?  Painful.
But picture another type of meeting, a much more painful kind of meeting – the type where the news imparted is so devastating that one employee headed straight to fourth floor window and jumped off to her death.   Another man plunged a knife into his stomach during a meeting at which he was informed of his impending transfer.
Both these incidents happened at France …