Anyway, the news about Raine's trip next week is looking better! Antti-Christ thought he was pretty much about to take a company paid vacation while here ruining my life, but thanks to our CTO, who doesn't abide by frivolous and expensive trips across the sea, Antti-Christ now has plenty of work to do while here. Also, he planned on flying over with Raine on Saturday, but the big boss wouldn't allow it, as he has no reason to be here before Sunday evening. Antti-Christ was planning on conquering the US with my boyfriend that weekend, ha! Big Boss allowed Raine to travel a day early because he offered to pay his own hotel for the weekend (Chez Jen), and wanted to do a little sightseeing. So, we will get at least 24 hours in the beginning.
Also, Raine leaves from here the following Sunday evening and goes right to our London office for the week. Antti-Christ decided to follow him there too! BUT...but, but, but, somehow Raine manipulated him slightly, leading him to believe he was leaving here on Friday, right after work, so Antti-Christ booked his flight for Friday evening, again with the intent of corrupting my boyfriend during a drunken London weekend
After booking the flight and hotel, Raine innocently told him he needed to maximize his time in the US office, so decided to spend the weekend here, getting some "work" done (working on me, most likely 
) He really does have a crap ton of stuff to do on the weekend, but now we'll have some time Friday, Saturday and Sunday, too!
It's not much time, but I'll take it. It might not be ideal, but it's definitely doable now, and knowing we'll get some time at least is good enough for me. Besides, he has to do my performance review while he's here, so he might be pretty damn glad he's got that hotel room to hide in
Americans and Finns aren't that different usually, except how they perceive work things. All my Finnish bosses I've had, and Raine already admitted being the same, do not believe in giving very good reviews; most of your review points will always get a "needs improvement" instead of "satisfactory", and almost NEVER an "exceeds expectations" or "exceptional". Jerks 
Even still, I always get decent ones, even with Finnish bosses, so I'm not too worried. We did have a discussion last night regarding American employees and raises. He absolutely doesn't understand that in the US, if you do a half-decent job, there is the expectation of a yearly raise, and that your salary history follows you to new employers. He completely doesn't get it, and HATES the fact that we expect that bump, because apparently it just doesn't work that way in Finland (and with Raine, if it's not Finnish, it's inferior 
). It took about 45 minutes of explanation about how employment works here, and he's still feeling bitter, hee hee. He's a new manager, and is realizing just how different employment laws and culture are in different countries; he usually doesn't believe me, so I refer him to our VP of HR, and the big boss, and he inevitably finds out I was right. But, damn, he despises the fact that he has to give us a raise, he thinks we already make too much money over here
I told him tough shit, deal with it, you don't have to like it, so he at least gets it now. So yeah, thanks again. It looks like next week won't kill me after all!
Girl - you're making me blush! Yay!!! Fantastic news that you'll get to spend some of the time together!