“The route is well known to us. From one bar to bar…” sang the well-known Polish band Kult. Paraphrasing these words a bit, I can write that during our week-long stay in Las Vegas, we, the Bertrand crew, were also very familiar with the route. With this slight difference that we did not move from bar to bar, but from the Circus Circus hotel to the market hall and back, along the way, early in the morning, passing a small stop for breakfast at Denny's restaurant.
People see what they want to see. And when they see beautiful, impressive photos, palm trees and the sun in the background, they think it was a nice trip to the United States. Such all inclusive at Bertrand's expense, they returned tanned and satisfied. Well… not really.
Today I would like to tell you a few words about what such preparations for the fair look like, because I have the impression that the idea of it is completely different from the brutal reality. To be clear - my perception was also different, it was also different from the "real".
The reality of the fair is that we landed in Las Vegas on Saturday, at different times, and the fair started on Tuesday. In theory, it doesn't look bad and we stuck to it. On the day of arrival in the United States, there was still enough energy and enthusiasm to walk along the boulevard in the evening and admire something. But the next day the prose of life caught up with us.
We got up at dawn, before 7 o'clock, because firstly the sun was rising beautifully outside the window, and secondly - it was difficult to change to a completely different time. We have already agreed in a larger group that we will eat some breakfast in the morning - our friend Dawid, who was in Vegas last year, recommended Denny's restaurant - and then we will go to our stand to see how the work is progressing.
Dawid, our technical specialist who had flown to the United States to check whether the products had been properly installed, looked dull and his eyes were not fully rested. He spent the entire previous day in the hall, where, with the help of employees of the Turkish company that was setting up our stand, he worked hard to put our windows and large structures in the right places. It may seem so simple that what's the problem, inserting a window into the correct hole - unfortunately, the problem is many times more complex if we are talking about specialized structures that additionally require a power connection.
However, we weren't expecting anything difficult, after all, most of the structures had already been installed, so we walked to the hall cheerfully and in good spirits. It was barely after 8 o'clock, the sun was shining beautifully - we thought it would last two or three hours, plus we would record something, and then it was just sightseeing.
We left well after 9 p.m. Both on Sunday and Monday. Cruelly crawled through. But with a sense of duty well done.
Already on site, we realized that there was still a lot of work to be done and all hands were on deck. We also found out that two days until the fair are terribly short and that we have to really work hard to get everything done on time. It was necessary to adjust the windows, assemble the floor from scratch (applause for Mateusz and Sebastian, they managed it on their own), wash the windows, clean, arrange everything, and take care of the smallest details. It can't be described in words.
These two days, during which there was very little sleep and breaks for rest, gave us a hard time, but... at the same time, they built something without which we couldn't go any further. Fantastic atmosphere inside our team. In this hardship and toil, we were able to consolidate ourselves incredibly and have a lot of fun at the same time. There was no topic or problem that we couldn't handle. We needed a cutting saw (because we only had a hand saw?). So, go to the Poles from the competition, who set up their stand literally twenty meters away, and maybe they will lend it to us (they did without any problem). Need to put a floor? – I will cut, – says Mateusz, – You will drill – he turns to Seba, – and you… – he looks at me meaningfully. – I'm not technical – I point out right away. – Well… – Mateusz thought for a moment. – Well, you will mean it. Come on, I'll show you. – In such an atmosphere, the work went smoothly.
What also surprised me there was the fact that Americans are very open and very helpful. And they talk a lot and joke a lot.
This openness, attention to detail, appreciation of small things - this is what we can learn from them. I don't know how much of it is a game and how much is sincere intentions, but Americans have an empathy level of a thousand or more. It manifests itself in small gestures. Girl in the Adidas store. She spent half an hour looking for a T-shirt for me and then gave me her employee discount. Or another action. I gave the woman from the IBS service the Knoppers that Mateusz left because she helped speed up the arrival of the forklift on the last day. She was genuinely surprised and moved. – That was so sweet, honey! – she shouted after me.
A moment later, a service guy accosted me. He asks directly: – What did you give her? Candy? – NO – I say. – Candy bar. – On what occasion? – No chance. She helped me, so I wanted to return the favor. – That's so cool, man, – he patted me on the back. – That's so cool.
However, the phrase that you hear most often is: I appreciate it! Whatever you do for them, they immediately appreciate it. And you don't know how much of it is sincere and how much of it is acting, but even if it's the latter, it's high-level acting. Because they are really happy when you do something for them. For example, during the fair, we approached people sitting at the stand to give them water or give them "Ptasi Mleczko", which the management board took especially from Poland. They didn't expect it at all, as if only Bertrand's stand had such attractions. Their eyes widened with surprise, then this surprise turned into enormous gratitude, and finally what do you hear? First a short "Thank you", and then a quick one: - I appreciate it!
I will come back to what happened at the stand in the next entry. I will end this one with... a Polish accent. Well, when we were walking to the hall on Monday morning, when we were actually at the entrance, we noticed that there were three food tracks parked literally twenty meters away. It wasn't strange at all, rather normal. A moment later, we rubbed our eyes in amazement when we noticed that one of them had a huge graphic with... dumplings. And the caption: PIEROGI.
When I posted this photo on my private Instagram, after a few minutes a friend who had traveled all over the United States contacted me. He also wandered around Las Vegas a bit, experienced and saw his share, including Britney Spears leaving one of the casinos. – But I didn't know they sold dumplings, – Paweł writes to me.
And we do. Although I'd rather see Britney.
