I gave one of the world’s most powerful men a pair of cheap flip-flops and told him to take off his shoes before going into a refinery control room.

Not sure if this is of any interest but it’s something out of the ordinary I reckon. Apologies if this isn’t the right place for this kind of thing, please take it easy on me. It’s not like I’ve admitted to anything sinister, and I promise it’s worth the read.<br><br>I work in oil and gas in Australia as part of a project management team, so every day is different – but I get to meet some pretty interesting people over coffee. Most of our contracting and major partnerships are with Chinese SOEs so in the past decade there has naturally been a lot of senior Chinese officials visit us to participate in high level meetings with our leadership team. <br><br>My day starts out with a phone call, telling me the vice president of our company is coming in the afternoon to inspect a site. However, this time he’s bringing some guests. When I ask for the guest list I shit myself. The chief operating officer of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the president of the Bank of China, amongst a few other high ranking officials. In total, there were seven of them, and they were coming in only an hour. <br><br>The protocol for this kind of thing goes like this: we have an off-site carpark for visitors, a small meeting room there were we do basic drug and alcohol testing for everyone coming onto site, sign some paperwork and hand out the mandatory personal protective equipment (high-visibility vest, earplugs, safety glasses, hard-hat). I check the list to see who had been allocated as their site sponsor (a person who must stay with the guest and be responsible for signing them back out when they leave). It’s me. Shit. <br><br>So I rush out there to greet them, bracing myself to butcher Mandarin pronunciation for the next few hours. <br><br>When I get there, they’re sitting in the meeting room already, all seven of them sat silently in their high-vis vests and hard-hats, looking absolutely ridiculous. But, I’m friendly and courteous and try to break the ice with a few words of Mandarin – much to their surprise. The senior guy, whom I later find out is the vice chairman of the board of directors for CNOOC (the fourth largest oil producer in China) isn’t seeing to be grumpy about how rushed it is, and he politely smiles and says “I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience, we were in the neighbourhood and I wanted to give you a visit”. I can tell he’s just being polite – I can’t imagine there’s more than five people out of 1.5 billion in China who know AUstralia even produces oil… let alone where our refineries are located. It must have been a detour. However, he was unbelievabley polite and courteous – which was a relief – considering I was this companies representative, my boss was on holiday and his boss was also on holiday – so I held pretty much responsibility for the next few hours, and would be held accountable for anything that went wrong. I was trying my hardest to keep a level head. <br><br>So after I rush through the paperwork and the drug testing, we hop in the cars and drive across to the site – chatting as we go. I’m ashamed to admit that every question they asked was one I couldn’t answer. How much of this oil stays in Australia? What is the average age of this facilities equipment? What are the main bottlenecks in the production line? What does this valve do? I had no idea. I was trying to play it cool, and not be put off, but at this point I’m just muttering “uhh”, “ahhh”, “hmmm” after every question, and trying my best to divert the conversation with these powerful men and women with questions about their flight from Beijing, and if the hotel is comfortable etc – anything so I don’t look like a total idiot. <br><br>But then, I see it – in the distance. The refinery control centre. There’s a big white sign above the door. “No entry without steel capped boots” it reads. Oh shit. I struggle to remember if I had handed out the steel capped boots earlier lol. I try to play it cool, and slowly turn my head away from the group so I can get a glimpse of their footwear. My heart sinks. The seven most powerful people in China are walking on my refinery right now – and they’re all wearing dress shoes. <br><br>Not only that, but when we arrive at the control centre and I tell them they can’t go inside without taking off their shoes, the vice chairman asks me “but why?”. <br><br>I say “I’m sorry sir – but you must wear steel capped boots or flip flops. Otherwise it’s a safety hazard – in case of an accident, and something falls on your feet”. <br><br>He looks at me in amazement and says “I don’t want flip flops on my $300 shoes – what if they get ruined?”. I try my best to politely explain that it’s not negotiable, and ask him if he would like to wait in the car. At this point, the translator απο him says “maybe we stay outside? This will be good”. I was really trying not to laugh at this point. I’m not sure how aware people are of who this man is, or how high up he is in Beijing… put it this way. He’s on the same level as the directors-general of the CIA, MI6, Mossad et cetera. A very influential man, and here I am telling him he can’t go inside a building because he doesn’t have appropriate footwear. <br><br>But – there’s a small saving grace. I keep a pair of flip-flops in the back of my car (I know, I know), and I offer them to him. I say “how about these? The ground is quite clean outside, and it’s only for a minute. We don’t want your shoes to get ruined”. He laughs and politely accepts. I hand him a pair of bright pink, fake Birkenstock flip-flops, and he puts them on. <br><br>The next few minutes are the most surreal experience of my life. Seven of the most powerful men and women in China are walking around an oil refinery in Western Australia. The vice chairman of the board of directors of CNOOC is wearing flip-flops, the president of the bank of china is wearing a bright yellow high-visibility vest, and they’re all wondering around checking out the pumps and valves in awe – like they just walked in on Crocodile Dundee pissing oil into a tip-truck. But, it’s okay, because they’re all wearing steel-capped boots. <br><br>I didn’t end up getting in any trouble for being unprepared, and they never ended up coming back – but the vice chairman did send me a bottle of baijiu as a gift, which I still have.