Press What?

Due to timetable restraints, it was the first time in weeks we were to have a "DAY OFF TOGETHER", so we were rather looking forward to going somewhere together for a change.

But then in one of the boxes (9-11am) on the whiteboard timetable appeared this message:

ALL PRESS.

"Ok, I pressed it and nothing happened", Peter wrote below it. And we were left to wonder what it meant.

Over the next few days, with careful questioning we managed to extract the information that what it was referring to was a

Press Conference

We still don't know whether our Chinese boss

• hadn't yet planned what would happen, or
• had made plans but didn't want to tell anyone, or
• had made plans and presumed we are all mind-readers ...

whichever it is, it is certainly the Chinese disease that leaves us foreign experts so frustrated so often.

We were told to wear ties and dress up a bit, and to be there at 9am ... but it was only by chance that one of us decided to confirm that "there" meant "here" (no where else having been mentioned at this stage, the night before as we were leaving work), only to find that it meant "Oh, no! Of course not! In the hotel down the road and round the corner ..." After some more questions we found out the floor number - which was actually the wrong one anyway.

We dutifully showed up, appropriately dressed, on our day off, but the press didn't. It was about an hour later that they dribbled in with cameras and notepads.

Do we have to say anything? "Oh, no, of course not!" ... and then as the camera turns ..."Ok, now they are asking this question, could you answer it on camera please ..."

Well, it seemed to go well enough, despite all the lack of information and misinformation.