Baton Rouge
I'm sitting in the Memphis airport (delayed again), after a grueling week in Baton Rouge. I admit that I was excited to be travelling to Louisiana; we haven't really been able to get a straight answer about what was going on after the hurricanes, and of course the music and food are world famous. Baton Rouge is about 70 miles northwest of New Orleans; when I flew in Monday, I couldn't see much damage at all. Chris and Sue met me at the airport, and we drove toward a lunch destination. We had seen Copeland's in Jacksonville last week, and so it was odd to see the real version of it here in Baton Rouge. True to its title, we enjoyed an excellent lunch of cajun food.
Off to the office. What a strange location for an insurance agency; the development is a bunch of doctor's offices... doctor, doctor, doctor, insurance, doctor, doctor, doctor... at any rate, the layout was odd, the people in the office were odd, and we knew it would be an interesting week.
The hotel was AWFUL. Basically, every hotel in the area is filled with evacuees from New Orleans, insurance adjusters, and FEMA personnel. So we were left with the Quality Inn. If you ever are in a situation where the Quality Inn is the only hotel in a 50 mile radius where you can stay, don't do what we did; RUN. Just cancel whatever pressing business you have in Baton Rouge, and get out of dodge.
Here is what they SAY the hotel looks like:
In reality, though, it was old and falling apart. Mold on the ceiling and everything. Sue impaled her foot on a pin, and so she brought it down to the desk- "I stepped on this pin, and there are still little hearts on the floor from when I checked in yesterday. I don't think my room was vaccuumed." The lady at the desk: "Well, they don't vaccuum EVERY day." Needless to say, Sue was put on the 'everyday vaccuum' list.
Leaving the boring insurance part out, the office is in dire need of assistance; there are about 5 billion legal issues waiting to explode, and how they've weathered two hurricanes without a major legal meltdown we have no idea. We failed the office and promised to send Renee, our mobile unit, to spend a week with them putting together an action plan. I guess we should have known this office was in trouble when the insurance commissioner of Louisiana resigned on the last day of our audit.
Despite the many happy hours that helped us to survive the week, we were glad to be leaving. The three tornadoes at the New Orleans airport last night may be contributing to that. I, for one, can't wait to get back to chilly Rochester.
In other news, I did get my AAI designation. (Yay!) In celebration of the $2,000 bonus for completing the final two courses, I bought an ipod to replace my old and decrepid one. I figure that with all the travel, it will get more than its fair share of use.
Off we go, more updates soon!
Off to the office. What a strange location for an insurance agency; the development is a bunch of doctor's offices... doctor, doctor, doctor, insurance, doctor, doctor, doctor... at any rate, the layout was odd, the people in the office were odd, and we knew it would be an interesting week.
The hotel was AWFUL. Basically, every hotel in the area is filled with evacuees from New Orleans, insurance adjusters, and FEMA personnel. So we were left with the Quality Inn. If you ever are in a situation where the Quality Inn is the only hotel in a 50 mile radius where you can stay, don't do what we did; RUN. Just cancel whatever pressing business you have in Baton Rouge, and get out of dodge.
Here is what they SAY the hotel looks like:
In reality, though, it was old and falling apart. Mold on the ceiling and everything. Sue impaled her foot on a pin, and so she brought it down to the desk- "I stepped on this pin, and there are still little hearts on the floor from when I checked in yesterday. I don't think my room was vaccuumed." The lady at the desk: "Well, they don't vaccuum EVERY day." Needless to say, Sue was put on the 'everyday vaccuum' list.
Leaving the boring insurance part out, the office is in dire need of assistance; there are about 5 billion legal issues waiting to explode, and how they've weathered two hurricanes without a major legal meltdown we have no idea. We failed the office and promised to send Renee, our mobile unit, to spend a week with them putting together an action plan. I guess we should have known this office was in trouble when the insurance commissioner of Louisiana resigned on the last day of our audit.
Despite the many happy hours that helped us to survive the week, we were glad to be leaving. The three tornadoes at the New Orleans airport last night may be contributing to that. I, for one, can't wait to get back to chilly Rochester.
In other news, I did get my AAI designation. (Yay!) In celebration of the $2,000 bonus for completing the final two courses, I bought an ipod to replace my old and decrepid one. I figure that with all the travel, it will get more than its fair share of use.
Off we go, more updates soon!