Keep it Calm and Collected

Sometimes in the line of work I am, it takes a lot to keep calm.

And when I say, a lot, I mean a lot.

Imagine this.

Sixty truck drivers.

That's sixty sets of problems, people.  Add in the other problems of those co-workers around you, and to say you are stressed out is an understatement.  Most of the problems are simple ones; but then you have the ones where you must remind these folks that they are professionals and grown ups.  

One of the main things they make sure of in an interview is how you handle stress; I had a boss tell me a while ago that when I was stressed out, I would get incredibly negative.  That I would project my negativity on everyone, and since I was the senior person in that role, that it didn't make me look any better.

So I changed it, and now I'm negative all the time.  Jokes.  I did change it though; I try to be as positive as I possibly can, mostly because if you're not the drivers can tell, and they don't want to work with you.  Which as you can guess, is not a very good thing.  Driver's don't want to be on your board; they switch fleet managers; you have no one on your board; you're fired.

So sometimes at work this happens...

yes that's chocolate wine that my co-worker Britney is drinking.  not really folks...you can't drink at work.

Or sometimes you just need to do this:

that's a chocolate bar.  sometimes we eat lots and lots of chocolate bars.

So there you have it; drink and eat lots of chocolate to relieve your stress.

I wish I could say I was joking about that, but I'm not.

Just don't drink at work in your cubicle.  Your boss probably frowns on that.

The Twin Cities

Or more like the red-headed stepchild of Eagan, MN is where I traveled last week for some corporate training.

Everything started out innocently enough; as always, I was super early to the airport.  For some reason that I can't explain, I always feel better if I'm at the airport with at least an hour and a half to spare.  So I sat down, waited for my flight (which was on time), boarded my flight and got to sit next to the drunkest man you'd ever meet at 8am.  

oh yes.  An entire flight sitting next to a drunk man, because he didn't like to fly.  Yes, I understand this very well, all too well, but not at 8am.  Maybe an 11am flight, maybe, but most certainly not at 8am.  And then to top it all of, he didn't get the universal signal of opening up my book and putting in my earphones.  Because the man continued to talk.

Great fun.

And guess what?  Laura forgot her GPS.  Yep, going to a city where she has never been before.  No problem right?  Because your car rental company will give you one!  Hooray!  No!  Probably should have checked it for functionability before starting the car and leaving the airport.

I would go into the joys of roaming around a city that one doesn't know while trying to operate a cell phone while driving, but I won't.  I'll let you imagine about how fun that was.

I finally get to the hotel, run my five miles, and decide that after driving and seeing nothing but this...

that it was time to get something to eat.  And normally while traveling I like to try some place new, but I wanted something familiar and warm, so I hit up Houlihans, my favorite haunt from back home in ATL.  Where I promptly enjoyed happy hour (2 for 1!!) and this lovely spinach dip..

Yep ate all of this by myself.  

That night I get back to the hotel, promptly turn the heat to eight million, and fall asleep.  But not really stay asleep, because I'm always terrified that I won't wake up for my alarm. 

But I did, got dressed, went out to the car and saw this..

Yep, -6 degrees.  You want to take a guess at windchill?  No?  Ok, I'll tell you.

-22.  Yep, NEGATIVE 22!!  So fun right?  Only challenged by how much fun the actual leadership classes were.

So after the full two days of training, I had a little mental breakdown since my phone GPS routed me to the actual airfield instead of the airport.  Crying and all.  But I'm guessing that the car rental guy noticed my blood shot eyes, and decided to not charge me for the gas that I didn't have time to put in the car, because I was deathly afraid of missing my flight, and having to spend another night in MN was my biggest nightmare.

I get through security, walk through the terminal saying multiple times, "Beer, Beer, Beer," and then it appeared in the form of this....

Summit Beer!  Hooray!  

And then since I had a horrible week, I rewarded myself with this...

And since I think it was still pretty obvious that I was distressed, the bartender gave me a warm cookie and some ice cream!  For free.  Nothing better than free ice cream and cookies.

And then the pilot must have known that I really wanted to get home because the flight was thirty minutes early.  I was never so happy to pay an airport parking fee in my life.  

So sorry, Minnesota, I can't say that I ever want to go back to visit you.

New Beginnings

(via google images)

Today, I started another new chapter in my life.

I started my new job at Transport America.  I feel like my life is in need of a lot of new beginnings . Everything has been swirling around in my head; I've realized a lot of the things I've been doing are to make other people happy.  And not myself.  I'm almost 30 years old, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the times, I've never put myself first.

I got myself stuck working in transportation; unfortunately for me, that's all I know.  But a plus?  I really like this new place that I'm at.  First of all, I get an hour of my life back as my schedule is completely different.  The people I met are incredibly friendly and welcoming.  

I just signed up for Herbalife  with my sorority sister, Tiffany.  I'm really excited to get to a healthy lifestyle and to shed a few inches and pounds.  I have a friend who's been incredibly supportive in all of this.  He knows who he is, but he didn't judge me or tell me I was already thin when telling him.  Most everyone knows that we see the most flaws in ourselves; and I think this program is a great way to a healthier lifestyle and more energy.  Once everything arrives, I'll start documenting my progress.  Since I did send in before pictures!  Eeek!  

I just haven't been so happy at a job in a long time, so I'm excited to get that going.  I'm excited to start back running and getting healthy.  I'm excited for a lot of things right now.  I don't turn thirty until January, but I feel like it's going to be one of the best years of my life.

Stay tuned y'all; it's about to get good.

Last Day

Sorry for the short hiatus on this here blog; it's been a little stressful lately, and usually the first thing to go is the thing that won't kill me if I don't do it for awhile.

Hence the lack of blog posts.

Since I've last written in the internets, I've interviewed for another job, gotten it, had my last day at my last job and gone to New Orleans.

My last day was a hard one for me; my main complaint lied within the people I worked for not the people I worked with.  Saying good-bye to most of those people was incredibly difficult; I'd built up relationships not only with the people in my office, but others in different offices.

Amy came in first.  She had brought me a bucket filled with everything that would remind me of the people I worked with; coffee creamer for Jen; Red Hots for her, and energy drinks and Reese's for Mouse.

Turn on the waterworks.  I expected this.  Not much makeup was worn that day; the last thing I needed was for people to remember black streaks running from my eyes.

Then as if wasn't bad enough, one of my coworkers from another office ordered doughnuts for our entire office, so of course I had to call him, and started crying some more.

It was really  nice to feel that sort of love from just your co-workers.  I realize that I see them more hours of the day than anyone else, and I was so thankful to have them in my life. 

(Me, on left, with Amy holding up our doughnuts!)

 I know that I've built long-lasting relationships with quite a few people there, and I like them, so I hope they don't go away, like so many relationships do.

I'm an awesome stalker; don't make me do it.

I'm looking forward to my new journey at my new place.  I'm hoping that it's better for me, and that there are less bad days.  Being the new kid always sucks, but those guys have already made me feel more than welcome.

I can't wait to start my new adventure!

I do that thing they call a Long Haul.

(South Beach, Miami)

I'm sitting here watching The Newsroom, enjoying a margarita and a bag of now almost empty Cape Cod Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper kettle chips, and all I can think about is work tomorrow.

Not even the margarita is helping to drown out the horribleness.  There is nothing I hate more than taking work home with me.  Especially when I don't need to, and all I can think in my head over and over, WTF Laura, breathe.  But that never happens.  If you've ever worked in transportation (and I like to think that I'm the only lifestyle blogger that works in this sort of profession....makes me feel special, so I know you haven't worked in transportation...ahh, hell, let's call it what it is, "trucking"), you know that it is no glamorous position in life.

So I think about, hey, what else can I do with my life?  And then get sad when the answer is, "umm, probably nothing."  I've pretty much worked in transportation since I graduated college, and really don't know much else.  So what else is out there for Laura?  Umm, not much.  I do want to share some tweets with you from an actual person that I work with.  Follow @dispatchskippy.  These are no joke real life; these came out of someone's mouth.  That I work with...

"Our system is going down like a White House Intern"

"Lets get you in the belly of the beast and out"

"We are responsible for everything you do.  You take a shit the wrong way, they are going to ask us about it."

"I already know I'm short, fat and ugly.  What else can they say?  Something bad about my momma?"

"Call me Helen Keller because I'm a miracle worker"

Sometimes, okay most of the time, I get a little down about what I do for a living . It's not quite the journalistic fantasy life I thought I would have when I was in high school.  But.... it's honestly a good profession...I can't say trucks will be disappearing any time soon, so hooray job security!  When people can bring some humor to the day when all of us are completely stressed out?  Makes for a much better day.

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

I've mentioned it before on this blog that I wouldn't make it through work without my co-workers.  More and more each day, I appreciate them and their senses of humor.  I work with some incredible people, and sometimes (ok, most of the time) consider them friends outside of work instead of co-workers.

 

So when there's a shitty day (which most days is ummm, every day), I can pretty much count on Jesse or Jennifer or Stephen to make me laugh.  When I need a lunch partner, I can always turn to Chris.  When I want to hear something random, I can always go to Joel and Allan.  As much as that place can drive me crazy, everyone there contributes it to not make it so miserable.

 

 

Stephen drew a face on one of his birthday balloons and then put his headset on him to make him look like he was working balloon.  Yes, this seriously happened.

I've been on the Atkins diet as previously mentioned to lose just a few pounds before our Key West trip, and apparently when I get grumpy at work, this is what happens.

 

This weekend will be spent in Point Clear (again, hooray) for another wedding.  We're hoping the weather pans out so we can get a free day on the beach.  Even though I just told B that I would much rather go to the library.  I'm afraid of what that means for me and the rest of my life.

 

Hope y'all have a good weekend.



This Week

 

 

Has been miserable.

 

Probably the most miserable week I've ever had at work.

 

And you guys....it was only four days long. 

 

I started my new position of load planner this week.  My coworkers thought the above cartoon was hilarious, and therefore printed it out and posted it to my cube.

 

For many different reasons this job sucks, but none other than to realize that no one wants to do their job.  And it has never been more apparent to me than it has been this week.  Suspicions of people who really don't do their job have been confirmed, and while there have been some nice surprises from people I didn't expect, the majority of them suck.

 

Which has allowed me to be a semi-bitch this week.  And as good as that feels, it's left me in tears more than once this week.

 

So, yes, I'm looking forward to this weekend.  And yes, there will probably be alcohol.

 

And most likely a banana split.

 

 



This is How I Feel!!

(via)

Everything went well today! No tears were cried, and I totally conjured up some sista action! I just went in there and did it!

So now in 10 days (well, 9, well actually 6 since I'm off 3 next week), I will be a free lady! It's almost bittersweet, because it's the end of an era. And I will miss so many people that I work with. I have grown fond of seeing them every day, and being able to talk about our customer experiences.

But there comes a time when it is time to move on, and my time has come. And regardless of whether or not this new job works out, I will have at least had the courage to try, and I can pat myself on the back for that.

This isn't the most ideal situation that I've put myself in, but I will make the most of it, and put a happy face on.

I'm Free!

I am putting in my two weeks notice at my current job tomorrow!! And you know the best thing about it?!! I have another job lined up!

But I am nervous about quitting. My boss isn't the nicest guy ever, and I know he's going to make me feel bad or cry. Or probably both. He is a big part of the reason I'm quitting, but a lot of it has to do with my personal life and how much happier I will be without that place.

I only wish I had my sister's courage, because I'm terrified of doing it. Like sitting here wishing Sunday would last forever so Monday can't come. I admire her for her attitude. She doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks about her, and I know for a fact that she wouldn't have put up with this place as long as I did. I'm going to try to channel her when I'm giving my letter to my boss tomorrow.

me and my sis on my wedding day. Isn't she gorgeous!?!

I will let everyone know how it goes! Wish me luck!!

What Happened Last Night...

Every year, my company hosts an Agent Banquet, which is where all of our agents come together, and we celebrate how amazing they are. I am not in charge of the agents anymore, so I actually got to sit down and enjoy this one. Sad thing is, it really made me miss these people. There are so many good people and good companies that partner with us.

This is Jeanne and Jan. Jeanne works at our Prattville location and Jan works at our Gardendale location. They are my two of my favorites and such sweet ladies.

Brad and Mitzi were the first agent for me to open. They wouldn't let me take a picture of them outright, so I told them I was going to take a picture of their asses. So I did.

Jeanne and her husband, Allen. Sweetest couple ever!



Jim 'n Nick's decor.

My favorite trainees ever! Ricky (the handsome one), Joel (the smart one), Matt (the crazy one) and Jason (the new kid). They are great. I heart them.

Table of surprises!

Our Gardendale agent won Agent of the Year for 2010. Which made me so happy, because the agent who won it last year should not have won, and they came in second. They do everything they're supposed to do and have great rapport with all the other customers.


They are the reason I do what I do.