(no subject)
Although my first official day at my new job was Oct 16th the company has been promoting me and moving me into new positions quicker than I can learn. It's been great because I'm getting paid more but at the same time it's been overwhelming. I have a ton of work to do, conference calls, meetings to go to but then I'm tasked with new assignments and clients who want me to do things and get them done the next day totally disregarding my other priorities. I was originally hired as an administrative coordinator which only entailed answering phones, balancing calendars and data entry but I quickly moved into conference support and marketing and then yesterday I got a really big promotion - leading corporate development and value growth. The way they sprang the news on me was really embarrassing. I had come back from lunch ten minutes early, walking into the office with a bag of chips from Chipotle and resumed munching away at my desk. The VP approaches me and says "oh good you're back, we want you to meet someone" so I follow her into the CEO's office trying to dust off all the crumbs on me and he's in there with another gentleman. They introduce me and I shake his hands and they close the door behind me and ask me to have a seat. So I sit down and the VP starts raving about me and described what my previous job was which rendered a "oh wow" from the important gentleman. After that she tells me that this position opened up and they think I'll be the perfect fit for it. The first thing out of my mouth was "but why me? Liz would be a better fit and she's very talented at what she does..." CEO: well Liz is terrific but we want you for this position. Me: "okay great, when can we schedule a time to discuss this in greater detail?" important dude: I actually have a call to make right now but it was nice meeting you Tracy and I would like you to sit in on Thursday's conference call so you can meet the rest of the board members and start working on things from there." Me: "sounds good, *shakes his hand again and exits*". Not sure exactly what's been going on I went to Liz and asked her if she knew about this and then explain to me in simple terms what corporate value growth is which she did a great job explaining but I was so overwhelmed by all the things I had to get done for the day and then being ambushed with that news that all I really gathered from her explanation was that I would be working with a group of people to help increase the value of a company so that it could sell in the middle market for a higher price. Yep, pretty much all I could gather and remember. I still have no idea what I'll be doing and what things like private equity and EBITDA mean. But whatever I guess I'll figure it out and they're well aware that I'm a fish out of water but apparently see so much potential in me to give me this position. Honestly, I think I was the default choice between a twenty year old who isn't doing a great job being an administrative coordinator, a pregnant woman and a new hire I seemed like the obvious choice despite everyone telling me I'm awesome and doing so well for someone who previously worked in corrections/social work and being new to the business realm. Bleh, so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and see what happens next. In the meantime I am enjoying the marketing side of my position because I can tap into my creative and artistic side. I've also been in a really good mood lately because I've been enjoying all the awesome food available downtown and with the weather being so warm lately I can wear skirts and eat outdoors by the river during my lunch hour and of course shop for my never ending makeup collection lol.
I've also been working with a start up company promoting a social networking app. Basically I'm like a brand ambassador, I go to bars and events and get people to down the app and once they do I buy them a drink. The drink is the incentive for downloading the app and if they care enough I actually explain to them how it works and demo it. Of course there are creepy guys that hit on me and in some cases I have to give them some of my time for the greater good of the company so that they could get one more download. It's been fun though, I get to drink on the job and I've invited Lawrence so when he's able to come I just abandon all work responsibilities and drink and dance with him and get paid by the hour for doing it haha. I've met some bitchy girls working alongside me and some super sweet ones as well while also discovering new hot spots in Chicago that I'd like to revisit. But my work with this start up is coming to an end because I was contacted by Dogvacay (a pet boarding/hosting website) to jump on board with them and be a community mentor for the city of Chicago. I guess there are hundreds if not thousands of hosts on their website for each major city and it's only been recently that they've decided to approach the top hosts to mentor new hosts and troubleshot problems that other hosts may come across. I've been advertising Pawsitive Petcare on Dogvacay and gotten a lot of clients from there so I have a lot of reviews and repeat customers off of Dogvacay and so they reached out to me to come on board. It feels like an honor because they only really select 12-14 people for each city and I didn't think I had as many reviews and repeat clients compared to other hosts but my hard work had been recognized. It's a part time gig, freelance pick my own hours type of thing but I'll be compensated roughly $25/h. Petcare has always been my passion and I love animals so it's a great opportunity for me to become involved in helping a company expand and grow while also passing on my expertise to other hosts so that they're well equipped to handle any dog or cat that comes their way. Also now that I haven't been taking reservations and boarding pets with me because I've so busy with my new job's schedule I can refer prospect clients and direct them to hosts that I'll be interviewing and mentoring, so it works out for everyone and I'm super excited about it!
In other news, my Halloween this year was decent. Ashley invited me to a pub crawl with her and so I purchased tickets for me and Lawrence at $35 a piece. We get there and we were suppose to get a package that gave us drink vouchers and a wristband to ride on the trolley that will transport us to each pub/bar on the list. Well we get there and there was a massive line, we spent an hour waiting in line and they didn't let anyone into the club to pick up our packet. Not wanting to spend all Halloween night in a stupid line that wasn't getting anywhere we decided to just hit up any place that seemed to have music and a not so packed bar. So that's what we did, we drank and danced the night away...although waiting in line for the initial hour was kind of a buzz kill. I had to argue with the event planners for two days until they finally agreed to refund me the money as well, but they finally did today.
Speaking of money, my previous job owes me more money! I called in sick for two days during my second last week of work. My supervisor was out getting surgery so her supervisor filled in for her and didn't put my sick days in as PTO when I clearly instructed her to but once I got my final pay check I noticed that those PTO hours were not calculated in so I've been in contact with HR explaining to them that the supervisor was probably clueless on how to do things like that or forgot because the clients were acting crazy and she had a lot to deal with, well turns out that HR person quit and so now I'm needing to find a time where I can call and actually speak to someone who will understand my situation and pay me those 16 PTO hours!
I have another dress appointment tomorrow evening after work with Ashley. I just got a voice mail from the incompetent sales lady who is as sharp as a bowling ball saying that she won't be in for my appointment but someone else will be helping me. That's great because I was going to show up at my appointment and ask for someone else to help me anyway. When I say this girl was dense, she was dense...like trying to schedule me on a 2012 calendar and when I told her I wanted sparkle she brought me lace and frills. She also didn't check me into my appointment so I got a rude email saying I should honor scheduled appointments...but then hours later she emailed me the receipt of this fabric swatch I purchased so my bridesmaids who didn't attend the appointment could see the color I selected for their bridesmaid dresses which one can clearly see that because I made a purchase and have a receipt time stamped that I was clearly in the store and showed up for my appointment. More wedding planning needs to be done this weekend as well because I wanted to rent a castle to host the wedding in but the owner gave me a no and said that he's undergoing renovations so it won't be available, especially for a wedding party my size. So now I'm looking else where for a venue which is the hardest part of it all! But the fun part was me and Lawrence did a photo shoot last weekend so now we'll have some nice pictures for the invitations that will go out. Everything is a work in progress and even with Lawrence's and my friends' help there still feels like so much to do and it's been stressful at times.
My birthday is also right around the corner and I haven't even had time to think about that yet! Not to mention I have to hammer out the details on Thanksgiving since me and Lawrence will be in his hometown Cincinnati for that so I need to find a sitter for Charlie and figure out how to balance Thanksgiving festivities and travel with my work load. On top of that early December I'm flying to Florida for Lawrence's companies holiday party and then to Orlando for a week to work our winter conference in January. So yeah, I'm a busy bee these days! I need a personal assistant, who's interested? I'm seriously looking into hiring one who will also help with housekeeping!
That's all for now, goodnight!
I've also been working with a start up company promoting a social networking app. Basically I'm like a brand ambassador, I go to bars and events and get people to down the app and once they do I buy them a drink. The drink is the incentive for downloading the app and if they care enough I actually explain to them how it works and demo it. Of course there are creepy guys that hit on me and in some cases I have to give them some of my time for the greater good of the company so that they could get one more download. It's been fun though, I get to drink on the job and I've invited Lawrence so when he's able to come I just abandon all work responsibilities and drink and dance with him and get paid by the hour for doing it haha. I've met some bitchy girls working alongside me and some super sweet ones as well while also discovering new hot spots in Chicago that I'd like to revisit. But my work with this start up is coming to an end because I was contacted by Dogvacay (a pet boarding/hosting website) to jump on board with them and be a community mentor for the city of Chicago. I guess there are hundreds if not thousands of hosts on their website for each major city and it's only been recently that they've decided to approach the top hosts to mentor new hosts and troubleshot problems that other hosts may come across. I've been advertising Pawsitive Petcare on Dogvacay and gotten a lot of clients from there so I have a lot of reviews and repeat customers off of Dogvacay and so they reached out to me to come on board. It feels like an honor because they only really select 12-14 people for each city and I didn't think I had as many reviews and repeat clients compared to other hosts but my hard work had been recognized. It's a part time gig, freelance pick my own hours type of thing but I'll be compensated roughly $25/h. Petcare has always been my passion and I love animals so it's a great opportunity for me to become involved in helping a company expand and grow while also passing on my expertise to other hosts so that they're well equipped to handle any dog or cat that comes their way. Also now that I haven't been taking reservations and boarding pets with me because I've so busy with my new job's schedule I can refer prospect clients and direct them to hosts that I'll be interviewing and mentoring, so it works out for everyone and I'm super excited about it!
In other news, my Halloween this year was decent. Ashley invited me to a pub crawl with her and so I purchased tickets for me and Lawrence at $35 a piece. We get there and we were suppose to get a package that gave us drink vouchers and a wristband to ride on the trolley that will transport us to each pub/bar on the list. Well we get there and there was a massive line, we spent an hour waiting in line and they didn't let anyone into the club to pick up our packet. Not wanting to spend all Halloween night in a stupid line that wasn't getting anywhere we decided to just hit up any place that seemed to have music and a not so packed bar. So that's what we did, we drank and danced the night away...although waiting in line for the initial hour was kind of a buzz kill. I had to argue with the event planners for two days until they finally agreed to refund me the money as well, but they finally did today.
Speaking of money, my previous job owes me more money! I called in sick for two days during my second last week of work. My supervisor was out getting surgery so her supervisor filled in for her and didn't put my sick days in as PTO when I clearly instructed her to but once I got my final pay check I noticed that those PTO hours were not calculated in so I've been in contact with HR explaining to them that the supervisor was probably clueless on how to do things like that or forgot because the clients were acting crazy and she had a lot to deal with, well turns out that HR person quit and so now I'm needing to find a time where I can call and actually speak to someone who will understand my situation and pay me those 16 PTO hours!
I have another dress appointment tomorrow evening after work with Ashley. I just got a voice mail from the incompetent sales lady who is as sharp as a bowling ball saying that she won't be in for my appointment but someone else will be helping me. That's great because I was going to show up at my appointment and ask for someone else to help me anyway. When I say this girl was dense, she was dense...like trying to schedule me on a 2012 calendar and when I told her I wanted sparkle she brought me lace and frills. She also didn't check me into my appointment so I got a rude email saying I should honor scheduled appointments...but then hours later she emailed me the receipt of this fabric swatch I purchased so my bridesmaids who didn't attend the appointment could see the color I selected for their bridesmaid dresses which one can clearly see that because I made a purchase and have a receipt time stamped that I was clearly in the store and showed up for my appointment. More wedding planning needs to be done this weekend as well because I wanted to rent a castle to host the wedding in but the owner gave me a no and said that he's undergoing renovations so it won't be available, especially for a wedding party my size. So now I'm looking else where for a venue which is the hardest part of it all! But the fun part was me and Lawrence did a photo shoot last weekend so now we'll have some nice pictures for the invitations that will go out. Everything is a work in progress and even with Lawrence's and my friends' help there still feels like so much to do and it's been stressful at times.
My birthday is also right around the corner and I haven't even had time to think about that yet! Not to mention I have to hammer out the details on Thanksgiving since me and Lawrence will be in his hometown Cincinnati for that so I need to find a sitter for Charlie and figure out how to balance Thanksgiving festivities and travel with my work load. On top of that early December I'm flying to Florida for Lawrence's companies holiday party and then to Orlando for a week to work our winter conference in January. So yeah, I'm a busy bee these days! I need a personal assistant, who's interested? I'm seriously looking into hiring one who will also help with housekeeping!
That's all for now, goodnight!