How Fletcher Building CEO Ross Taylor reacted to an unexpected event at Wednesday's fire press conference.
The head of New Zealand's biggest building business has been marking off his days with a red X on the wall of a hotel room where he has been in quarantine isolation for nearly two weeks.
Ross Taylor, Fletcher Building chief executive, said today: "I've got a ceremony every morningwhere I do my workout, have a cup of tea and I've got my little chart on the wall and I cross off each day. It was pretty grim at the start," he said of the chart without a single red X.
Speaking from his solitary room on level two of the three-star ibis Rotorua Hotel, Taylor said he had been in Sydney for months and only flew back 13 days ago knowing what he was in for.
"I've got a glimpse of the lake but it's mainly down the road," he said, describing a daily routine of wearing a face mask when leaving his room, jogging around an enclosed yard in an anti-clockwise direction, returning to the room, eating fruit and cereal for breakfast - "there is a cooked option" - marking off days, then working.
"Thank God for work. I'm not a huge TV watcher. Work allows the days to go quickly. I'm fully set up. Work's been a blessing. The weekends are the hardest," he said, telling how he was encouraging senior executives to "delegate up" so he had more work to do than usual.
Nearly there: Ross Taylor's wall chart at ibis Hotel Rotorua. Photo / Ross Taylor
The Australian was holidaying with his wife in Queenstown, then they flew to Sydney before the lockdown.
He was out of this country for four months and said he knew BNZ chief executive Angie Mentis was also in Australia and working from Sydney.
Taylor has rented a car - "there is a bus option in the afternoon" - to return tomorrow to Auckland and his home where he rents in Parnell: "My original intention was to buy but it's a long-term lease and it feels stable."
His New Zealand office is at Fletcher's headquarters on Great South Rd, Penrose and he will be back there on Monday.
The March 25 alert level 4 put this country into a nationwide lockdown, meaning the Fletcher boss was stuck in Sydney for weeks and couldn't return immediately.
Asked how he thought some of the 1500 employees made redundant by the business due to the pandemic might feel, he said: "I've got a job to do and, fortunately, technology allows you to have the meetings and conversations. Every day of the week, you would prefer to be where that happened. Was it perfect? No. Did it stop us running the business? No."