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employee of the month #8
posted May 11, 2012 by alexis |
phil (or as he prefers to be called, philthy) king feels quite comfortable in a crown. I suppose you have to when your surname is king. as the chief person against dirty of method hong kong, he casts his magic all over asia and the south pacific, getting method into stores everywhere from korea to australia. employee of the month is probably an understatement.
congratulations on being the first employee of the month in our asia-pacific territory. how’s that crown and regal robe treating you? will you be donning them for all business meetings?
thanks very much! the crown and robe are treating me very well. I have probably worn them to the point of immodesty. and I have certainly worn them beyond the point of comfort and possibly hygiene. I think there is a reason the kings and queens of europe tried to rule their empires from home – it’s just too hot out here for a polyester crown and cape.
we saw you also added a scepter to the royal kit. are you granting wishes with that?
I am taking requests at this stage. what is it you wish for?
I guess you don’t really need a Vault of Edible Riches when you occupy your own office. did we at least send you some treats?
I got an awesome mini-vault (as you say, no key needed) of edible riches, which included some of america’s weirdest candy (I liked the cherry chocolates) and coffee beans from my favourite coffee roaster in san fran, blue bottle.
what was your Perk of Significance?
a daytrip to macau. my wife, pen, and (nearly) 2-year old son, digby, and I are heading there this weekend for a family outing. macau’s about an hour by boat and, if you ignore the casinos, is one of asia’s most interesting mixes of old europe (it was once a portuguese colony) and new asia. heavy portuguese food and wine will be on the menu!
you sent us a fantastic video of you roaming all over hong kong in your crown and robe. unfortunately it happens to be far too large for the blog. who filmed this masterpiece?
pen helped me with a couple of shots and a few were done with a tripod. the rest were done by a very fun lady called amanda. amanda was interviewing with me to become part of the team here in hong kong and she passed the “keep method weird” part of the process with flying colours by agreeing to come and film footage of me on the streets. she was a real sport. she even lent me 28 hong kong dollars to buy the staff when I realised I’d left my wallet in the office. (I edited that out.)
is that a pretty typical day for you? skateboarding through hong kong, making deals and rearranging your desk to accommodate trophies. that sort of thing?
I probably missed out the most important part of my day, which is working with our amazing teams around asia. the people against dirty in australia, singapore, taiwan, korea, japan and malaysia are the ones who really deserve this award and I want to thank them and all the people in those countries who buy method for being such amazingly passionate and inspiring supporters.
you’re sort of a lone wolf out there. besides skype, what keeps you connected to the method culture? I imagine you do lots of macguyver-ing.
the sun never really sets on the method empire because the start of my day is often spent catching up with the team in sf who are at the end of their day. then during the normal day everyone in the aforementioned countries keep me from being lonely. finally, at the end of my day I hand over the method flame to the team in uk. and they are so cute. they are always sending me funny things (like valentines cards) that make me feel loved! we also have a pretty cool technology called opal which – like the true innovator he is – our head of design, josh, introduced. It is kind of like an internal facebook where we share ideas and fun stuff. it really helps keep me connected to everyone in the different offices.
any parting words of wisdom for those of us who can only dream of being named employee of the month?
eleven days ago, I was one of those dreamers. I think everyone who has ever been named employee of the month at method feels slightly embarrassed and humbled by the limelight (I know I didn’t look humble riding around in the cape, but honestly I felt incredibly touched when I was told!) because we are surrounded by so many people who work so hard to support each other and deserve recognition. so keep backing each other and your day in the sun will come.
1 Comment
All Hail King Phil!
May. 15, 2012