14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s employees moving from the Redmond campus to the United Kingdom headquarters are provided with a 44-page guide that’s supposed to help them get used to Britain’s lifestyle.
While the handbook comprises tips on the local cuisine, bars and language differences, it also shows warnings regarding guns and obscene material, according to a report by The Sun.
Basically, Americans are advised to leave all their guns at home, but also to avoid getting through the customs offices with obscene material, drugs or – hold your breath – dead animals.
As far as food is concerned, Microsoft tells workers that Britons usually like to adapt recipes to their local taste, so some Chinese takeaways, for example, may be very different from those found in the United States.
“Be warned that although this exotic cuisine is largely cherished by the British, the takeaways produce food adapted to the British taste and so will not necessarily be as authentic as dishes eaten in those particular countries.”
If this isn’t yet awkward enough, it seems that some of the Microsofties who have already moved to the United Kingdom complained that they had to dump their old habits, such as drinking coffee at night.
“Moving here was a very strange experience for me. It took me a long time to make sense of it. You could not get coffee late at night,” Cambridge Mayor Sheila Stuart was quoted as saying by the source.
OK, so let’s see if we got this right. No guns, no dead animals, no drugs, no obscene material, no coffee at night, different food, different language, right-hand driving and no football. But plenty of time to work on the upcoming Windows Blue and Windows 9. Seems legit.
And, in case you’re wondering, Microsoft reportedly spent a total of €46 million ($59 million) to prepare its Cambridge offices for the new employees.