One of the Perks of my Job

Okay, anyone who has met me for 2 minutes or has been reading this blog or seen or read some of the interviews I have done in the past can tell that I love my job.  Through this job I’ve been able to combine 3 of my passions which are football, travel and exploring India which makes it quite difficult to ever truly have a “bad day at the office.” Although that sounds cheesy and almost unrealistic, I wholeheartedly mean this.  Furthermore beyond rarely or never having a “bad day at the office,” I’ve been able to enjoy certain perks of the job which I never intended to happen however thoroughly appreciate when they do.

I could write about many different types of perks (many I already have in previous posts), however for this post I’ll focus on an experience I had on my recent trip to Goa. We hired a man named Tassos Sioulas to oversee the technical aspects of our client Sesa Football Academy. Tassos is from Greece and has had an illustrious coaching career with a couple Champions League clubs. He moved to Goa from Greece a few weeks back and my colleague and I took a trip down there for meetings and to help him settle into his new country and new professional project. 

After a couple days of long meetings, I was eager to take Tassos out to a nice lunch somewhere along the Goan coast just to unwind and get a chance to enjoy his new home “off the pitch.” He was missing Greek food and I remember a close friend who frequents Goa often tell me that I must check out this fantastic Greek restaurant named Thalassa situated on a cliff in Little Vagator Beach. I made lunch reservations for 4 of us, Tassos, myself and 2 colleagues and was excited to try the food and see the view. 

The place exceeded expectations in both ambience and quality of food, however the “perk” had to do with something else. The owner of the restaurant happens to be a lovely Greek woman who has spent much of her life in Goa and this lovely Greek woman has a son who loves playing football and is looking for opportunities to establish a career in the beautiful game.  The moment she found out Tassos was Greek she and her son spent the next few hours talking, sharing, laughing and officially welcoming Tassos to the small, but tight knit Greek community in Goa.  

The perk was watching the blissful look on Tassos’ face as he tasted and experienced a little piece of home thousands of miles from his town in Greece.