Much like the movie, this has been the theme of my life for the past 5 weeks. From Seattle, to Dallas, and back again repeatedly it's been a long hard road, full of some interesting and not so interesting things. Some really high moments, funny moments and down right stressful moments and more meetings than any human being should be subjected to. One of the funnier moments was when I droped a brand new water bottle that I had just purchased prior to getting on a plane right into the toilet.. I wasn't fetching it out. Or when my coworker missed her step on her entry into the cab and landed on her backside in the street.. she was ok... but it was still funny.. thankfully she had pants on because that would have just been too much.
Learning to deal with public transportation from taxi's to shuttle's to trains.,cramming into elevators with 12 other people lugging their computers and way too much crap, avoiding a near mugging by three street thugs on my way from the office to the hotel(that was not a high point) , bad hotel rooms with missing TV remotes and even a shower curtain..I could go on and on but of all the experiences, one particular moment will stay with me forever..One of the top dogs at the client site came into my meeting, starting slamming tables around and then went into a tyraid. He blasted me verbally for not being prepared and not covering the right information and on and on.... His rant went on for several minutes, even berating me personally. There were several other more senior coworkers in the room at the moment, none of which came to my rescue, all too dumbfounded I guess to respond. Clearly I was on my own with this one...I will admit , he was a little scary.. my coworker was ready to crawl under the table...
The reality of it was that the information and documents that I was apparently supposed to have prepared to eview in the meeting didn't actually exist, which I knew, which is the reason I did not have the documents up to work through with the team.. Mr A$$ ,as I will call him, thought they did exist. As it turns out, his own staff threw him under the bus promptly when I asked, in a professional manner , if someone would so kindly show me on the shared website where I might find these said documents , because I would be thrilled if they existed and I didn't have to start from scratch.. !!!
I will give you one guess, no one could show me... Long story short, I was right... and Mr A$$ was told he needed to apologize for his behavior . He wanted to meet with me the next morning. I was flying out, fortunately. I certainly had no interest in hearing anything out of his mouth, nor did I have any interest in being in the same room with him. He did send an email but it was hardly an apology. In the end, he got himself in a whole lotta trouble... as he should have. Lucky for me, he left for vacation to France after that (maybe he was asked to disappear for a while and let the dust settle, who knows) and I never did have to see him anymore while I was on site.
So, my weeks of back to back travel should be done for a while atleast. Now I have to get back on track, ride my horses and get into some sort of sane routine again. My diet has suffered horribly.. I did the best I could when I could but I learned a little about myself. I am a stress eater..I have never been so hungry and done so little in physical activity. It was probably the most stressful 5 weeks I have had in a very long time. I did manage to get on the treadmill and do a few weights atleast twice a week but when you are stressed, tired and not eating well, workouts just aren't as effective.
Tomorrow, my "get myself back together" plan starts with a day floating down the middle fork of the Flathead River to help get my mind right again , while I contemplate a new career choice..
I am taking suggestions (cuz I know I can't do this corporate thing for a whole lot longer)
Learning to deal with public transportation from taxi's to shuttle's to trains.,cramming into elevators with 12 other people lugging their computers and way too much crap, avoiding a near mugging by three street thugs on my way from the office to the hotel(that was not a high point) , bad hotel rooms with missing TV remotes and even a shower curtain..I could go on and on but of all the experiences, one particular moment will stay with me forever..One of the top dogs at the client site came into my meeting, starting slamming tables around and then went into a tyraid. He blasted me verbally for not being prepared and not covering the right information and on and on.... His rant went on for several minutes, even berating me personally. There were several other more senior coworkers in the room at the moment, none of which came to my rescue, all too dumbfounded I guess to respond. Clearly I was on my own with this one...I will admit , he was a little scary.. my coworker was ready to crawl under the table...
The reality of it was that the information and documents that I was apparently supposed to have prepared to eview in the meeting didn't actually exist, which I knew, which is the reason I did not have the documents up to work through with the team.. Mr A$$ ,as I will call him, thought they did exist. As it turns out, his own staff threw him under the bus promptly when I asked, in a professional manner , if someone would so kindly show me on the shared website where I might find these said documents , because I would be thrilled if they existed and I didn't have to start from scratch.. !!!
I will give you one guess, no one could show me... Long story short, I was right... and Mr A$$ was told he needed to apologize for his behavior . He wanted to meet with me the next morning. I was flying out, fortunately. I certainly had no interest in hearing anything out of his mouth, nor did I have any interest in being in the same room with him. He did send an email but it was hardly an apology. In the end, he got himself in a whole lotta trouble... as he should have. Lucky for me, he left for vacation to France after that (maybe he was asked to disappear for a while and let the dust settle, who knows) and I never did have to see him anymore while I was on site.
So, my weeks of back to back travel should be done for a while atleast. Now I have to get back on track, ride my horses and get into some sort of sane routine again. My diet has suffered horribly.. I did the best I could when I could but I learned a little about myself. I am a stress eater..I have never been so hungry and done so little in physical activity. It was probably the most stressful 5 weeks I have had in a very long time. I did manage to get on the treadmill and do a few weights atleast twice a week but when you are stressed, tired and not eating well, workouts just aren't as effective.
Tomorrow, my "get myself back together" plan starts with a day floating down the middle fork of the Flathead River to help get my mind right again , while I contemplate a new career choice..
I am taking suggestions (cuz I know I can't do this corporate thing for a whole lot longer)
