Probably the first fly-in to an out of province Bawden rig visit that I had was flying in with the crew going to work in Fort Liard and returning the same day with the crew coming out on days off. There was just enough time to have lunch, chat with camp staff, put on a hard hat and go out to say hello to the Rig Manager and those crew members that were on tour. There were a few other drive ins with the Safety Manager to rig in Fort St. John., but there wasn't a lot of travelling involved for H.R. with the domestic land rig operations, everyone came to us it seemed. The few other rig visits were either driving myself out on a weekend taking the rig mail and visiting or tagging along with a Superintendent or anyone else doing a day rig visit and I did go a few times by helicopter during "boom time" when Bawden had a leased 'copter' sitting on a pad in Nisku yard waiting to take materials or someone to the rig.
When I moved to the office in Leduc and focussed solely on international recruitment, things changed. Traveling out of the country for meetings, banquets and business became a big part of my work world. Rig Manager meetings in Houston, Lafayette, Amsterdam and Mexico gave me the opportunity to meet Noble employees from all over the world - more pictures for the Wall of Shame. I also had the good fortune of visiting offices in Houston, Lafayette, UAE, Qatar, Brazil, Aberdeen and Mexico. Meeting the the different managers, superintendents and office staff that I frequently spoke to on the phone.
During one of my travels, I was in the London airport, waiting on a connecting flight, and the fellow sitting next to me and I chatted to pass time. We went through the usual light conversation - different destinations we had been at, what we did for a living etc.. I asked if he was on crew change - by now it was pretty easy to pick out those either going or coming from work. As it turned out he was a driller for an offshore competitor, he then asked who I worked for, I told him Noble Drilling and he pulled a card out of his pocket, said he'd met a fellow from Noble Drilling on his last crew change. During that meeting this fellow mentioned that he was looking to make a change and the Noble fellow handed him a business card, showing it to me he asked if I knew that person, it was my business card! This fellow was American so I gave him the name of the contact and phone number in the Houston office then we went to our separate gates wishing each other safe travels. I never knew whether he hired on or not as I had neglected to get his name. Once there is a common denominator it is amazing how you can talk as if you're old friends and neglect to get the others name. Maybe he’ll see this blog - and I’ll finally find out if he became one of ours.
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