The operations must go on unhindered though each head of dept was notified in advance of the VIP's visit. The technician whom I have always been kind and friendly to, actually reacted in a spontaneous manner, so I didn't want to rebuff him. I recall once trying to make friends with a Chinese-Australian expat as there were only 2 of us at my condo gym on a weekday evening. He practically brushed me off by grunting some monosyllabic replies, but kept his eyes firmly glued to his mobile phone as I tried to strike up a conversation. I totally ignored him thereafter.