The Legend of the Ghost of "NB"

Ok, time for a break from all this Olympic Visa nonsense.  We're about to be inundated, worldwide, by The Olympics, and all the back stories, side stories, front stories and who knows what stories that will come of it.  But really, check the blogroll for some very good sources of information 

My only comment about the whole thing today?  The Visa Olympics.  No, not sponsored by VISA  but an Olympic event where everyone tries to get a visa to come to China, vs Chinese trying to get a visa to go to anyplace else.  Can be graded on "degree of difficulty"  I say this because I just had to make a trip to Hong Kong to get 6 months of bank statements and a "statement of bank balance" so my wife can get a visitor's visa to U.K.   I, being an American, can just show up, go through immigration and done deal. Her, on the other hand, being Chinese (even though she's a US permanent resident) has to jump through hoops and file copious amounts of paperwork.  I think we had it way to easy with the China Visa situation for a long time.

But I digress, had a little rant there. Sorry.

The real story today is the "Legend of the Ghost of NB".   This actually happened, I used to work for the company involved, and while I never met NB, I know some of the other players, at least the ones still alive, and have heard this all first hand from the folks involved.  I'm not naming names, some are still alive, and I think NB's wife is still around, and may not even know the whole story as of yet.

NB was one of those "old China hands" that used to inhabit these parts when China first opened up and started to be the world's factory floor. Back then, country managers and production managers weren't the MBA graduate, family man type, They were however, very capable, hard working, hard drinking, and mostly rough around the edges folks that just dealt with what came best they could. There were no books on how to do business in China back then, no blogs going on about the subject. These guys were the pioneers so to speak.

Dongguan back then was, for the most part, an outpost. No 5 star hotels, no "western" restaurants, no expat pubs, and the roads were suspect.  Expat's living in Dongguan either stayed at the Guancai Hotel or the Dongguan Hillside,   There were a couple of  disco's the KK club and one called BMW,  BMW was the most popular of the two, but is the source of another story.

Now NB was about in his late 50's we suspect, but because of the expat lifestyle, Johnnie Walker and chain smoking, looked much older.  It is said there are still bottles of  Johnnie Walker black label in bars in Southern China with his name card on them. He also had a "git er done" a coupled with a didn't give a squat what folks thought attitude that kept him sane living in this part of the world at that time.

He also liked women, especially the local grown Chinese ladies, and had a particular girlfriend that he took with him almost everywhere, company meetings, final inspections, etc.  NB was in the habit of doing final inspections late at night, girlfriend on one side, bottle of Johnnie Walker on the other. 

Eventually though, the reputation caught up with NB, and the VP of manufacturing, an Indian fellow, PR, decided enough antics were enough, and terminated NB,  NB apparently didn't take it well, and crawled pretty far into the bottle of JW that evening.  Legend has it he also had a particularly strenuous session with the girlfriend.  However, his health wasn't the best, and after the session, he passed away.  Differing accounts on his last words.  Either "I love you" or "I'm cold"

Now technically, he was no longer the responsibility of "The Company" as he was terminated earlier in the day, but the company did the right thing by dealing with the aftermath.  PR, who felt responsible  went back to India shortly after, and had to do some sort of cleansing ritual, involving shaving his head, to atone for what he believed caused the death of NB.  At this point I have to ask forgiveness, as I'm not up on Indian culture or religion, so I can't be more specific.

Now, old NB expired at one of the two above mentioned hotels, the Guancai.

And NB was shipped off to the states, his affects sorted through, girlfriend paid off, etc. and life went on.

Until one of the expat production managers, we'll call SW, who worked for The Company and as also staying at the GC hotel, heard a knock on his door late at night. When SW answered it, who should be there but NB himself, seemingly risen from the grave.   SW closed the door immediately.  And quit drinking.

Apparently, NB's ghost wasn't done, as he reportedly visited, over the next couple weeks, a German Tourist Couple and several Chinese visitors to the hotel.

What with the ghost running around and scaring the visitors, and the rumors that started flying, the hotel management had only one option. They called in a "spiritual" advisor, and had the ghost "exorcized" from the hotel.  All accounts seem to indicate it worked, as NB's ghost has not been seen again.

These days, the CG hotel is mostly a local place, Dongguan having grown to a much larger city, with expat pubs, several 5 star hotels, etc.  The KK club closed, and the BMW club was closed down when a high ranking party official's son was killed there, having the side effect of having all entertainment banned from China for a few months.

Some days, I miss the camaraderie of those times,  All the expats knew each other, we all stayed at the same hotel, and had breakfast together,  and usually drinks later in the evening.   We were pretty much "working without a net."

And with that, it's time to get down to Starbucks for a coffee fix. 

Maybe I don't miss the old days so much after all.