For the past 2 weeks, 14 full days, I've been gone working 2 different sales meetings in two different states - two different resorts actually as part of the 'team' my company sends there every year....here's the re-cap
Day#1
Friday. The past week before leaving has been grueling - 9-10-12 hour days leading up to my departure for our sales meeting.
Having to get up at 4AM to travel should be outlawed. I now I am going to be exhausted by the time I arrive in Tampa. Being picked up by a limo driver was the only nice part of waking up...saying good-bye to Erin is always hard.
Once at the airport we check in and look for a place serving breakfast. The girl I am traveling with is a seasoned pro at these sales meetings. We walk into a Mexican-type place and she orders her meal with coffee containing a shot of Bailey's. WOW. It's 6:15AM. So I get a shot of Kahlua in mine. WOW. Only on St. Pat's have I ever drunk in the morning.
One of our other co-workers shows up and orders a double shot - I am amazed - they laughingly welcome me to the finer points of sales meetings....
This time (apparently) our company is not picking up the tab for booze so everyone is planning on buying 'refreshments' once we hit Tampa - it's going to be an interesting meeting.
We land at Tampa airport, meet some of our other co-workers and get driven to the resort. It's an exclusive tennis, and gold get-away. People like Derek Jeter and Jennifer Capriati have homes here. We go to the lobby and check in - I find out I am rooming with my co-worker - but at least we are sharing a 2 bedroom apartment and not an actual bedroom.
It's a lovely resort. By 2PM I am in my new temporary 'office' for what promises to be some really intense 12 hours days of work. Sometimes longer. So much for the resort.
We are here to lend support to the production of the National Sales Meeting. We are the power point, presentation and media experts. The first day we work until early evening and are invited to go over to one of the support guy's places for pizza and beer and to watch the Cavs play. There were 10 of us in all - he ordered 10 pizzas (Good Lord). We had a blast - there was beer and booze everywhere. This is the first time the company isn't picking up the tab for alcoholism...so everyone brought their own..
The game was great - great group of people just hanging out together. Went back to my room afterwards, called my love went to sleep - fitfully.
Day#2
5AM wake up call. Our days are consisting of working on presentations for big awards dinners, logistics, setting things up (AV/production/sound wise) - it's great in ways because I am learning so much and having fun with this. We are also making sure we are ready for the onslaught of the 500-600 people who will be arriving in the next 2 days for this meeting.
Our breaks consist of eating at the poo-side cafe, inhaling our food and going back to work. We are in constant contact with walkie talkies (wOOt - nice to be a kid again). During the day inside this place, my phone is getting crappy reception so I keep missing calls from Erin. We manage to send e-mails back and forth - love letters floating over the super highway of the Internet.
We close shop around 7PM and invite some of the girls over to our room for wine and cheese. 2 bottles of wine later we are all laughing so hard we are crying. This is a fun group of ladies.
We end our evening and I call Erin.
Day#3
5AM wake-up call - Today is our last day before all hell breaks loose and everyone arrives. Managers, VPs, Execs, sales people..
We work at a frenetic pace all day, don't eat lunch. By now I am feeling drained because on top of all of this I am having to do my 'normal job' as well - so the days are just a blur.
On this evening we all go to 'Dempsey's, where I am told the Chilean Sea Bass is marvelous - the company is picking up the bill for our meals so I order a nice dinner complete with one of the best salad bars I have ever seen. A note on food consumption here - every day has been filled with incredibly rich food and no time for exercise - on top of this one of our local reps has shown up every morning with pastries from his family's Cuban bakery - evil, evil man...so when I get home, I need to starve myself.
My room-mate consumes a lot of alcohol at this dinner tonight, an entire bottle of wine by herself - she is great at her job but at times is loud, obnoxious, opinionated and exceptionally rude. She is however, on top of every last detail and I am thankful we are working together.
We finish the meal and retire for the evening. Sometime around 2AM I get up sick - I am up most of the night.
Day #4 - We wake up at 4:30AM or some such shit - I am exhausted and sick. All the VIPs arrive today though. So I can't even begin to think about resting. When I get in I find out 2 of our other co-workers were sick too - I think 'food poisoning' but because of the 'swine flu' thing the head of our safety dept makes us all go to the local clinic.
We are told we are all suffering a stomach bug...but to let the clinic know if others get sick.
We go back to work - I am beat and grumpy - my co-worker dismisses me to go back to the room at 4PM until 6PM to take a nap - I do - dinner is very light - in fact I can't remember if I eat anything at all....I go back to work until 9PM - fall into bed exhausted.
Day#5 - 5AM wake-up call. I am missing Erin, my home, my cats, my bed and pillows. At the 'office' we all ask after each other - I care a great deal for our team. Nice people.
We are being bombarded with work, request for things, there is a product fair tonight and everyone is crazy. I try to remain calm but the 'fire on your desk does not constitute and emergency on my part' keeps playing in my head...last minute changes to every fucking thing....for our opening 'kick off'.
My own team is now down here and they also need my support. All the while, I talk to Erin when I am able to - he is my rock, my comfort.
I do manage to take a walk around the grounds and get some pictures of the 'wild life': alligators, nesting egrets and gecko lizards.
Dinner this night is very interesting - a Vietnamese make your own soup. You pick your choice of meat, fish, poultry and veggies. All of it is plunged into boiling water and cooked, then you pick which broth and noodles you want along with garnishes. I picked scallops and shrimp and had some scampi from the 'Italian pasta station'. There was also a carving station. We were simply surrounded by food.
After the opening event, I go back to my office and scarf down my food and work until 9PM - go back to my room, talk to my husband, fell into an uneasy sleep, got up sick again and decide no more seafood for me - here I am in Tampa and I have to avoid seafood....*pouts*.
Day#6 - One of our big days, the awards dinner is tonight - it is what one of my managers refers to as our company's prom. Everyone will dress 'to the 9s' and have a wonderful meal, tonight the company will pay for wine with dinner. The day is a blur of last minute work and final details. My co-worker and I sneak out at 5-ish to get ready.
I dress in what is for me a very expensive LBD bought especially for this - although I needed to really update my LBD wardrobe. None of my co-workers have ever seen me like this - they are highly complimentary - in a way I feel like Cinderella. At dinner I realize I've chosen fish as the entree so I ask the waitress if I can switch to chicken. She is gracious and tells me she will see what she can do...Amazingly, she manages to not only remember but pulls it off perfectly - I am extremely impressed because we have over 500 people for dinner....
The food is excellent, the wine is flowing, the service is superb. I drink too much wine, keep Erin up too late and rant about men..shame on me - I am not upset with Erin...and sometimes I don't know why he puts up with me.
Day#7 - wake up woozy get to my work space by 6:30AM. Tonight will be my business units award dinner - we are pretty much good to go by 10AM - I am surprised, waiting for last minute changes to come and they do...I want the folks involved to do a last minute run through but they refuse (idiots) because as it turns out - they blow their lines...completely botching the script.
If I am involved in this next year THERE WILL BE a dress rehearsal.
I get a chance to take a break now. My hours for last week totaled 65. For this week they will be 83. WOW.
I go to the boutique and spa and spend some money on me...
During the time spent down here one of the guys in the office turns me onto radio station WXRT Chicago - I am listening to it now - it rocks - really. It is , as my c-worker puts it so beautiful 'the bomb.' Dinner this night is low key and fun - way more laid back...despite the goof-up in the script. I get to to hang out with professional AV guys and I get to help run the 'show' back stage...it's fun. The evening is lovely and I cut out to go have a couple of drinks with my co-workers.
Day #8 - Breakdown. Today is the day most of the folks clear out of here. I help the other ladies to pack everything up to send back to our respective offices. Done with our make shift office by noon, I am able to leave and go enjoy the resort. My co-worker and I go to the pool where I lay in the sun and listen to people speaking French slowly enough for me to 'get it'. I then go back to my room to nap - such a luxury after all this work. We have dinner with everyone who is left at the steak house again and this time I get *gasp* actual steak. We all enjoy the dinner and toast each other for all the hard work. Afterwards, I hang out with the IT girls by the hot tub talking for a hour or so - go back to the room call Erin too late, try to sleep, can't - it's too late to call Erin again (God I miss him so much). I've had barely any sleep and know I have another 5AM wake up call in order to fly to Houston to do this for another week for yet another sales meeting. Hopefully, I will manage to get some much-needed rest soon. My batteries are running low....
So farewell Tampa - nice seeing you again - the memories here revolve around my ex - not all that wonderful - but I have to admit this resort is lovely. Part of me kind of wants to participate in this craziness next year. I've enjoyed this group of people and the knowledge that I helped to contribute to a successful meeting.
On to Houston....
Labels: Life, Travel, Work
