(no subject)
So today I had a meeting for the Austin and San Antonio General Managers. It was in Austin. I carpooled with my favorite GMs to the hotel for our meeting. We all had a great chat and got to catch up, but I was driving, and I hate driving on I-35, also known as the "death corridor" for Texas. The meeting was exceedingly boring, lots of spiels about this and that, but I felt pretty confident as my last profit and loss statement was really good. I was worried about my food cost percentage, but it came out being significantly under plan, so my biggest fear was instantly dissipated. I also exceeded my controllable profit, by which percentage my bonus is directly calculated. So I felt pretty good voicing my opinion today.
To make something clear: my direct boss is excellent. His fellow area coaches, i.e. the Austin coaches and the coach for the remaining four stores in San Antonio, are not so good. They fail to live up to their seven habits...one of which is "seek first to understand, then be understood." It's aggravating.
We had a working lunch at one of the GM's stores- where we ate Panda food (which was not good) and got to critique the store. When we returned to the hotel, I was surprised at how many of the GMs were incapable of tact when discussing the GM's pros and cons.
The high point of the day was the inspiring movie we watched. We have somehow gotten into the habit of having to watch an inspirational video, and then having sharing afterward. It's part of Panda's thing to build better lives for their associates, but most of the time it's just a cry fest. I hate it. However, this time it was just ridiculous. We watched "Vertical Limit" and seriously, it was almost THE most ridiculous movie I have ever seen. If you have not seen it, you are not missing much. Basically, 8 or more people ( I lost count) are killed trying to rescue 3. Only 1 of the 3 gets out alive. We were supposed to be inspired by sacrifice. But I maintained rather loudly that I did not find Chris O'Donnell's character heroic. I found his character's illogic and irrationality truly UNinspiring. There were those who agreed with me. And those who didn't.
Oh well.
Robert worked tonight too. I got back into town about 8:30 or so, went to pick up Michael, and brought him home from his aunt and uncle's house. We got in the house, took out the dogs, and I sent him to get his PJs on and to brush his teeth. While he was doing this, I found Bandit sniffing anxiously around an Xbox controller. Upon moving the controller, I discovered a GIANT American cockroach writhing his death dance upon the floor. (It must have gotten in while I was moving the dogs in and out). I gathered it into a cup and tossed it outside. (SO PROUD OF MYSELF). While I was doing this, Bandit decided to have diarrhea even though he had gone a lot outside. I flushed it down the toilet, which then decided to overflow. I caught it and turned off the water before it overflowed, and decided I couldn't deal with it right then. So I cleaned that up, washed up, and went into Michael's room. He had picked out _Five Dog Night_ for us to read, which is the longest book we got out from the library and the only one I was wishing he wouldn't pick. But he picked it. And I read it. I think he liked my version most of all cause I started asking all these questions like, "What do you think Ezra's dogs' names are?" He decided on, "Puffy, Mummy, Skeleton, Spooky, and Comfortable." Anyway, after we read, we said prayers, and said goodnight. I went in the bathroom to clean the toilet, and Robert came home. He went in to check on michael, who was ALREADY asleep. It was amazing - he was out like a light.
So now I'm at home, typing. Luckily we don't have to work tomorrow. It's our anniversary!