the free lunch with an agenda

We were invited for a lavish lunch at one of the biggest hotels in Dubai. It was a surprise that I was included in the invitation. M (my hubby) is acquainted with one manager there through his work and he did not expect the manager to tell him to bring his wife.

I have no words to describe the lunch at the Arabian restaurant we were taken to except that is was grand and excessive. The course was about $100 per person. If that is not expensive to you, well, it is for me.

Anyway, the manager, a lady with a good reputation in sales was really nice. She was such a powerful woman, some qualities that could make her qualified to run for president.

We had fun during lunch talking about our lives in this new country. Then she hinted about a position needing to be filled in their hotel group. I won’t mention the hotel chain but it starts with letter H and operating worldwide. Truth is, the lavish lunch was about her wanting to convince my husband to accept the job!

We didn’t see it coming. The job looks promising and challenging and she is confident M will be able to do it. Problem is, M is not up for it yet - he just started working 9 months ago in his present company and it’s just now that he started being comfortable and confident in his work. He don’t want to go through the ropes again, not yet. His stance is, he owed this present company who offered him a job when he thought he won’t be able to work in a foreign country at all (due to language barrier - he speaks Japanese and only very little English when we came to Dubai last year) and his English skills is not enough and afraid he’ll just embarass the person who recommended him.

The manager was not convinced and said over and over that M will manage the new job. She was graceful all throughout the conversation, you won’t even feel the pressure - - maybe just a little. When M excused himself to go to the washroom. The manager told me to persuade my husband using all the powers that I have so he will change his mind and jump into the other fence. I could see desperation in her eyes because they wanted a Japanese staff and Japanese looking for job roaming in the streets of Dubai are almost non-existent.

I could never talk to him about quitting his present job and accepting a new one because I respect his decision. I think it’s up to him to decide because he will be the one to work in the new company, not me. He already said no so I can’t cross that boundary anymore.

I apologized and said no, I can’t do the persuasion no matter how I believe he can do the new job well too. The manager said, ok but when we parted and said our thanks, she patted my shoulder and said “I’ll still be waiting for any positive reply, just in case he changes his mind!”

*sigh*

Do you ever interfere with your husband’s career move?