Back to Sweden...

I'm back to being a travelling Mouse!  I knew it would happen soon, and I'm very glad to be back to my travels, although not always for the reasons for them.  

The travel ban is still in place.  So why was I allowed to get on a plane and fly to Sweden?  Well, I wasn't so much allowed, as summonsed...

The cheese order - the one that the Farmers promised to the restaurant by Christmas, before even filling out a Cheese Requisition form and submitting it to me - and which wasn't a standard cheese at all - remember?  If not, go back two or three posts and read up.  I'll wait...

...With me now?  Good.  Well, because of the Big Boss and the complaints from the Farmers that the Cheese just wasn't going to be delivered fast enough, (because, hello, they hadn't ORDERED it!), I had to go over for a meeting with them AND the restaurant to explain the process.

Yes, you read that right.  I, Mouse, had to explain to the restaurant why the non standard cheese that the Farmers hadn't bothered to order in time, would be 'late'.  Well in actual fact it isn't even going to be 'late' because (because of The Big Boss and The Big Noise) the Cheese Suppliers were producing it 'in time' anyway.

So off I went. But I was not alone.

With me, and representing The Big Boss, came my colleague Muttley. He is called Muttley because he likes medals.  Like this Muttley:-

Also with me, is The Rare Beast.  Now you may remember that only a couple of months ago The Rare Beast came stamping and roaring into my world, telling me how he would SORT OUT THOSE CHEESE SUPPLIERS and that I, Mouse, would not get in his way or stop him and of how he would use his big boots to kick anyone who did not do his bidding.  Well I think he must have hurt his foot, kicking against an immovable object because he is moving on.  Yes, The Rare Beast is leaving to become, of all things, a Cheese Supplier! So, with The Rare Beast also comes the boss of The Rare Beast (yes - he has one - a very nice chap), and a lady who will be stepping into his very big shoes with her rather smaller and more gentle feet.

We have done a lot of preparation for this meeting.  We know exactly who said what to who, when and why.  We know when the Cheese Requisition was filled in, we have copies of the additional restaurant additional non-standard specifications and we have a timeline, drawn up by a referee facilitator.  The plan is to walk through the timeline with the Farmers and the Cheese Integrators (The Rare Beast and his team, who interface directly with the Cheese and packaging manufacturers), and decide how we can work better for future Cheese Orders (I already know the answer to this; order your cheese earlier and by the correct process! I may have mentioned this several thousand times, I may have not).

So we walk into the meeting room.  Three hours have been set aside for the trial process analysis.  The first noticeable thing is that there is NOBODY from the team of Farmers Who Order. In other words the people who kicked up the fuss in the first place.  I cast my mind back to many screaming phone calls that left me trembling in my fur.  The chief protagonist is on a 'Learning to Manage Your Team' course in the Outer Hebrides.  The Farmer who promised the order to the restaurant is off sick.  There is no other representative from the team of Farmers Who Order and therefore, the people who have to do things differently in future are not there to hear this.

The facilitator puts his fancy presentation onto the screen. He opens his mouth to speak but before he can utter a word the Big Boss Mr. Moose addresses the table.  He makes it clear that the Cheese Ordering process does not work for him and so he requires us to find a way around it.  Break the process. Cheat. Be a special case.  This is where Muttley steps in.  Muttley does the same job as I do, but in the UK. The Farmers there do as they are told - partly because Muttley is always telling them to, and partly because Mrs. Muttley is one of the Farmers there and if he wants Cheese on Toast for tea, he has to make sure Mrs. Muttley has ordered it in time.

So Muttley steps up and tells them that all the Farmers in the world have to follow this process.  They didn't want to do the cheese production any more, and so they sold the cows, and the manufacturing business, and the wrapping and packaging business, to two separate suppliers, so that they could buy the service back cheaply.  Cheaply is the operative word - the Farmers bought a contract which didn't have manufacturers and wrappers just sitting around awaiting an order.  Therefore planning is paramount.

Muttley paces the room.  He draws diagrams on the whiteboard in red pen.  The Rare Beast senses a rival, and, bearing in mind he is about to become a Cheese Supplier he roars several 'solutions' which involve the Farmers spending more money with the Cheese Suppliers for a better version of the service they are already paying for.  Back and forth it goes, over to Muttley, over to The Rare Beast.  It is a testosterone match.  BAT goes The Rare Beast 'I can solve all your problems, it will cost you more but you will get my personal Rare Beast attention on it'.  BAT goes Muttley 'No!  Planning is the key! Do your planning better.' BAT goes Big Boss Mr. Moose 'But we are so small and so busy.  Why can't Mouse do our planning for us.' BAT goes Muttley 'My Farmers are well trained because I trained them. I can train you too. Just look at my fancy diagrams. The answer is in those scribbles.' BAT goes The Rare Beast 'well of course when I am the Cheese Supplier I will be here all the time making sure you are happy with your Cheese...'

The rest of us can hardly get a word in.

As the meeting ends, some three exhausting hours later, we have a plan.  We will have MEETINGS, says Muttley, every month.  And the Farmers Who Order will hold MEETINGS with me, Mouse.  Remembering that the Farmers Who Order are not actually there, I wonder how this action will get implemented.  And considering that I have been having these MEETINGS for about a year now, I do wonder if anything will change at all.

After the meeting Muttley puts his arm around my shoulders. 'Mouse,' he says. 'I will tell The Big Boss how I have helped you today and I will come back and help you again. I will now go and speak to The Big Boss and I will get the medal catalogue out and choose my medal.  I have earned it today, Mouse.'

I can't help feeling cross right to the end of my whiskers.  One of the quieter members of the team, the boss of The Rare Beast smiles at me. 'Didn't we have that same meeting about six months ago, Mouse?' he says? 'Before The Rare Beast and Muttley?'  Indeed we did, but of course we are not as loud and do not draw so many diagrams.  I sigh, resolve to let things go where they will, and continue doing the best a little Mouse can.

And then something lovely happens, I go out for dinner with all of my lovely Miss and Mr. Moose friends - the ones I have missed during the silly travel ban. This makes the trip worthwhile and makes me hope that the future meetings are agreed to, so that I can keep coming back.

Oh - and I didn't use my fancy lounge pass this time.  I'm saving it for a day when I travel alone, and then I will book in 4 hours before the flight and enjoy every moment.

Fondest Swedish Hugs,
Mouse x