Month: September 2007

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Weekend Away

I’m in Scotland for the weekend!

Work has been a bit of a nightmare for a while now – so this weekend is a time to sleep and relax…only it didn’t start that well. I left Surrey yesterday for a meeting in Leicester… I left at 10:00am  – got to my meeting – left there at 14:30 and eventually got to my mum’s at 23:00!! Rather a long day, even if I say so myself.

The traffic was a nightmare. (full stop!)

Tom Tom (thank god for it) told me at one point I would get home at at 03:00!! I avoided the 03:00am arrival home…but not by much. The car was fantastic…performed well…but I’ve got a warning light on the dash. The screen wash is empty! I’ve had the car for a full 6 months and I’ve only opened the engine once…now I’m going to have to read the manual to find this!

 LOL!

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Excuse(s) of the day…

Status Update:

  • One sales person resigned
  • One sales person off sick
  • One sales person at meetings
  • One sales person…?

He came into the office this morning, stayed for an hour and a half and he’s “popped out” again. This time he’s been gone for over four hours. Wonder what excuse it will be today?

Friday went along the lines of “I had no intention of coming to the office before 2pm as I had arrange to visit a car that’s in storage…near Gatwick.” So, he left the office at around 11am and returned at 2:30pm. Oh joy.

These people get paid a full-time wage for a part-time job.

Remind me…how does that work?

Dear Mr CEO,

I am writing to ask for a transfer of role. I would like to try my hand at sales in your organisation as it seems to be a pretty good game. The hours and pay appear to be a much better option than any of the other full time roles in the UK office and no matter what I do I seem to get help anyway, so it’s definitely the easy option.

For example, one of the sales team never works before 9:30 in the morning, another takes a regular 3-hour lunch, one never comes into the office (unless forced) and none of them seem to do a full working week despite being paid lots and lots of money.

Please consider my application. I will glady work half the hours I do now for one and a half times my current salary.

Yours,

The rest of the office.

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Countdown

…to the holidays. It’s less than a month now until we get to jet off into the sunset for a well-earned break. In the meantime, counting down the days and working out how to get through the next few weeks is the challenge. Before we go off on holibags, I’ll go home to Scotland for a few days to catch up with family – and see what’s new in the Glen.

We had the CEO in town this week and Sunday night saw us at dinner for a “cards on the table discussion”. It left us both feeling cold and deflated. Oh boy. So what happens now. With the MD off sick after collapsing last week, one sales person down and lots of stuff to do…where’s the leadership? Who’s driving the team forward?

Got home yesterday after a long day at the office and went for a run. Not a long run by any stakes, but a very different run. It was harder – we ran harder. The section of the park that I was running in 9-10 mins is now taking 6-7 mins. I’m more comfortable with the run – it feels better. But, and it’s a big but…the temperature has changed significantly which has affected my breathing. Last night, while my heart rate was steady and I felt comfortable, my lungs were screaming. It took three hours to ease…ouch. I haven’t had an inhaler for ten years – last night is the first time I felt I could have done with one. NOT GOOD!

We ran much later in the evening than we have been doing and felt the temperature drop on the way around. Need to watch that…

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3BTs – Sister, red wine, talk

1. Chatting with my sister – in a way you don’t really chat to someone else.

2. Opening a bottle of really good red wine. The ritual of removing the foil, uncorking the bottle and the glug glug of the first glass…not to mention the taste of the first sip. Yum.

3. That’s it, just talk. Being able to spend time with someone you respect at work and then realise that you can talk about so much more than just work…

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Rolling into the weekend

It’s been a weird week this week; little time to blog, little time to think or to do anything. I’ve caught up with two friends on facebook, but how or when, I’m not too sure (BTW facebook? WTF?).

Work has been really crazy – a couple of days of the surreal nonsense we always get at work and then, things got really crazy. Thursday arrives, a day to plan for the impending visit from our CEO and bang – events take over! Meeting started at 09:30 with no real agenda or direction from “the leader”…so, (clearly wearing my bossy pants) I bossed people around and suggested a path forward. At breaktime we (m.d.) talked about morning sickness (don’t ask) as he wasn’t feeling well and the next thing I’m yelling at the guys in the office to give me a hand as he’d collapsed.

A trip to hospital later – he’s off sick for a wee while. Blood pressure sky high and tingling down the left hand side… We’ll see how things shake from here.

Sunday means dinner with the CEO, Monday we present. Let’s see what the week brings.

With all this excitement and hard work – there’s been little time for golf… I did get to run and had a great time. I enjoyed running in the country park and found a couple of different routes to try out. I’m still running uphill for the first section of my run, it seems easier to do that. Then for the second section, I get to run downhill…iPod Shuffle set to play my “run” playlist and I don’t notice the time going by. 

It’s a pretty good run and a great way to end the working day, but as the nights draw in, I’m getting a little uncomfortable running on my own. As the light drops, running alone through heathland is probably not the best idea…! I have to remember this is Surrey, not the hills around Pitlochry.

I’m hoping to play golf with one of the other ladies this weekend…fingers crossed!

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Golfing weekend

That’s another weekend gone 😦

Friday after work we played golf at Lavender Park. I was awful. Nothing felt right. It actually seemed as though we were played the first game of the year. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve not played regularly over the summer. I was frustrated at my lack of ability to get the right distance, to chip onto the green with any accuracy and then to putt…

Saturday we had a great day – which was topped off nicely by another round of golf – this time at Windlemere. Again, I was awful. My tee shots didn’t line up, I topped the ball on numerous occasions and I was just annoyed with myself. By the end of the round, on the longest hole, I worked out what the biggest problem was…I was too tense. My shoulders, my hands and arms all tensed up, so much so that I was trying too hard and getting nowhere very fast.

I did go out and by a hybrid after the game, and in the process smashed one of the machines in Am Golf 😦 I don’t think I’ll be showing my face there for a very long time!

Sunday we went to a Christening in Sussex – a really lovely do. The baby was delightful throughout the church service and the rest of the day. The weather held and was beautiful for the drive back with the roof down…

Home, quick change and out for golf again! Fantastic. Not the best scoring round I’ve ever had, but some of the best tee shots ever. On the last hole, a 402-yard par 4 – I was on the green in 3 and then putted for a 5! Fantastic! The hybrid was brilliant…

Golf – frustrating, fun, challenging, sometimes a disaster, but highly addictive!

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Resignation

No, not mine, but one of the sales team.

Always interesting to deal with…but, right now, I can’t understand why the person in question still gets to go to sales meetings? Surely, there’s standard practice in place – sales person resigns, they handover accounts on the same day and then they leave – right?

Oh well!