The Boss Is Out

It is a quiet day at the office today. Our boss went to another branch to interview applicants sent by the employment agency. That is an old branch but it has been revamp since the branch manager retired at the beginning of this year.  They need seasonal drivers that will service the Philadelphia area. I do not know what made my boss went down there to personally meet the applicants. He has not done this with the previous ones.

Some of these temp hires get lucky when they are eventually absorbed by the company they work with. Our receptionist for one, she got a permanent position after working for six months with the temp. My boss liked her performance so he offered her the job. She was so happy because she is a working student and at my job, they are more flexible with your hours when you have to do something for school.
Everybody is aware that she is not staying for good. Once she is done with school, she will be looking for a job in line with the course she is taking. As long as she gives sufficient time for us to get a replacement, it is fine.

Who Is Going?

Here at my job, we have around four to five trade shows every year. Only one of those is our own, meaning, my company sponsors it, and then we invite all our distributors, manufacturers and merchants to participate. We have one scheduled trade show next month but the girl who is in charge of doing trade shows is pregnant. Somebody has to do her job for the meantime. She has a very delicate pregnancy so as early as her first trimester the doctor asked her to take a leave from work. The big question is who’s going to take her place?

It is not that difficult to set up a trade show. I already knew how to set up the kiosk, velvet rope and stanchions. The barricades are just on the side just in case there is a need to do a crowd control. Sometimes the organizers provide the barricades already. If I am still single, I would love to volunteer. Hey, being on a trade show is an opportunity to be away from work where hotel accommodation is provided and free food but I cannot do that these days anymore. Nobody is still volunteering but if the boss requests you, would you say yes?

Saturday Work

I got a phone call early morning from our office manager asking me if i can go to work. We were closed Friday due to some road closures in the area where my job is located. Today the town opened for all businesses but a lot of the residents were still at the evacuation area. This is already the third time this year that this area has been hit by a big flood. The recent has the most widespread damage. It was only two weeks ago that the hurricane Irene was here and here is another flood again. On my way to work, I saw on the sidewalk broken appliances, wet carpets, wood panels and boxes of clothes waiting to be picked up by the town trucks for disposal. My husband was even asked by his friend to order parts for dryer to be used in his machine that got submerged at the basement. Hubby knows a little about fixing washing machines and dryers. He used to have a shop back home before he migrated here and that was his way of living. He is not doing it for money here anymore but when friends call him, he is always willing to do it as long they are not the newer models which are all computerized. It is his joy to help his friends because he knows how expensive to have it repaired here. Usually the labor is more expensive than the parts.

My Daughter At Work

I am so happy that it is a short work week this week. We were off Monday. It was the 4th of July holiday. The four days went by fast and one of the most excited about Friday (which is tomorrow) is my daughter. I do not stay at work the whole day on Fridays so my daughter always tag along. She is fine in the morning then she gets bored when she stays beyond six hours. To keep her busy, I bring all her electronic gadgets and her laptop. We have a wifi here at work so she can go online and do some Dress up Games. I found a website called fupa.com but I do not let her play all the dress up GAMES because some are not for small kids like her.Some games are too sexy for her. She can play the pretty princess makeover or fairy game dress up.

Here at work, my co workers like her a lot. Sometimes they will ask her to do little errands like bring some fax copies or mails to me and my daughter is all willing to do it then she will tell me, “Mommy, I am a good helper at your job.” When Mister Softee comes, they always treat her with ice cream or bring her something when they go on a lunch break. These are some of the reasons why she loves tagging along with me on Fridays.

It is almost the weekend. TGIF! Hope everybody will have a wonderful weekend!

Business Advertising

It is Monday, the first day of the work week again. I came a little late today. I overslept quite a bit because we had visitors at home last night until very late. When I got here at work this morning, my office manager was so happy to see me. To myself, I said, "Why?" to find out after I clocked in that I was the only one who showed up to work at my department. Also, two other people are out plus the big boss is in the city to attend an invitation from our advertising agency. This is the year that my job is going full blast with our online campaign and this advertising agency is doing a great job so far. When I started at this company more than ten years ago, our campaign was purely through print, then we tried local TV and now we are going global through the internet. Our website hits have been increasing since then which makes my boss strive hard until he gets his target.

For this summer, since this will be the time to do cookouts, the company is planning to do a cookout at our parking lot on the Friday before the 4th of July weekend. This is intended for all our customers and vendors that come at our branch and also to display our new units. A lot of our vendors gave their intention to bring their merchandise for our customers to check. Classes will be held simultaneously at our seminar room inside the building with speakers from different manufacturers. This is our summer version of the winter trade show. We hope for its success and the start of many years of summer cookouts in the future.

IRA Talk

I am not sure if I would be able to make it to work today. I really don't want to miss the talk about Roth IRA to be given by the company that handles our retirement accounts at work. It's still a long way ahead to retirement but to be knowledgeable of how to prepare and how to save your money wisely is very important. If I cannot make it, i hope they will offer something online.

Isabella has been sick since yesterday. She missed school already and I am hoping she would be able to make it later today although I left a message at the school that she would be out again. She does not have the temperature anymore but she is complaining about her stomach. She threw up this morning and now fast asleep still. Hoping that when she wakes up she will feel a lot better.

So I got a message from my co-worker that the IRA people will be at my job at around 1 pm. If I can make it or not it all depends on how my daughter feels later. Let us see what happens later.

Rain, Rain Go Away

The town where I work is under flood warning starting tonight. Because of too much rain over the weekend, the river started to crest since yesterday. To make the situation worst, more rain is expected to fall from tonight up to tomorrow evening. This is actually a repeat of what happened last year. I remembered getting stuck in traffic trying to get out of the flooded area. It was also the same time when we were busy preparing for our yearly trade show. The hotel that my company rented for the trade show is right by the river so there is a possibility that it will get flooded again. I hope that the hotel’s blomus stainless steel mailboxes have been relocated to a safer area because they have been badly damaged by the flood last year. The stainless steel mailboxes were ok but the structure holding them gave way. I also recalled that there was also another trade show about stainless steel fireplace accessories ongoing that time at the hotel that got canceled because of the flood.

If you pass by the river right now, there are emergency trucks on standby and evacuations are on the way. Residents are asked to leave as early as now before the water gets higher and it will be difficult for the authorities to move them. We will play by ear tomorrow if the roads are passable. I am hoping that the rain won’t be that bad.

It's Friday

I am thankful that this Friday is going to be a light day in terms of work. Although I have to stop by my job to finish my order for more Whitehall products besides the Whitehall mailboxes I already ordered, other than that I am done with my work this week. My boss specifically ordered for wall mounts to be attached right at the front door so that it would be easier to grab the mails even if it is snowing. So that is basically it for my Friday at work.

From work, I will to go my school to pick up the book I ordered at the bookstore. It has been pre-ordered and paid so I hope it will be ready by the time I get there. How I wish they could just put your pre ordered book in one of the mailboxes for easy pick up. I know that is not happening so I am just hoping that I get a parking close to the bookstore. From my school, I will go to my daughter’s school to pick her up. She thinks I cannot go because I have a class. She will be surprised to see me later.

Lunch

I had lunch with my Puerto Rican friend at work. No, we did not go out to eat. She told me yesterday that she’s going to let me taste the rotisserie chicken she made at home. So I said, ok, and I will bring the rice. So that’s what we had today. Her chicken was good, with the entire Spanish rub she had on it, it was delicious. She likewise liked the Jasmine rice I brought. She said, it smells good and you can eat it plain. She asked me where we buy it, so I told her at Costco, so she’s going there this weekend and buy some for her house. If she likes our rice, I soooo love their yellow rice too! So this is what we call…when a Boricua and a pinay goes to lunch together!

What A Day

It was a hectic day at work. Our warehouse people are moving a lot of stuffs around then loading some units to the truck to be transferred to our new branch down the store. Since I am working at the main branch, all materials and equipment like the flammable lockers and flammable cabinet storage are first received here before they are transferred to the branch. This set up is only temporary, for the meantime that the other branch is under construction.

I am still coming to work tomorrow, I thought I can take the day off but since the back ordered flammable cabinets are coming in, I have to be at work. I can actually come in my sweat pants and sneakers tomorrow; it’s a dress down Friday for me. And because, we are also expecting two inches of rain, they cannot expect me to wear office clothes while I work with the boys at the warehouse. I like and i don't mind working with them. All that matters is I am done by 12 noon and it’s the weekend.

A Co-worker Quits

It was not a good day last Friday at my job. One of our top salespeople submitted his resignation. My boss was not expecting this at all. It is a big blow to him if he totally lose this employee. He has been working at the company for almost 15 years. He used to work as a sales representative of an advertising agency in New York and was recommended to this job by another co-worker. He has a good track record and always in the top three in terms of sales every month. Nobody knows what company is hiring him. Knowing him, he will not leave his present job unless he gets a better one. We all have our guesses and presumptions but nothing is definite yet. He was not returning any phone calls, text messages or emails.

I have been with this company for about 10 years now. Some employees have left and come back but I have never seen my boss as worried as he was last Friday. He has a lot of reasons to get worried. First, in about three weeks, we are going to open another branch down the shore and this salesman who quit was supposed to run that new branch. After this resignation, I do not know if he will still push through with the opening or wait until he gets somebody to take over his

place. Then, come spring and summer time, these are our peak season, so he needs the best salesperson to compete in the business. Hay, too many problems for my boss. I hope he find ways to resolve this the earliest possible time.

Trade Show

Tomorrow is going to be a big day at my job. It is our 50th anniversary and as part of the weeklong celebration, we are having a trade show at one of the hotels here. This is a yearly thing actually but for this year we invited a lot of our vendors to join and there will be more seminars for the participants. On the last minute, we thought that we will be transferring to another hotel because the trade show flooring was ruined by the recent flooding but the hotel staff promised us that everything will be ready for the show. Our guys have set up the trade show carpet early so that our vendors can start setting up their own booths at least a day before. Our vendors were surprised when they showed up this morning to see logo mats outside their booths. This is our way of saying thank you to them for participating in our trade show.

The registration will start tomorrow at around 10am but the seminars will start as early as 9 o’clock. The hotel provided us two rooms for the various seminars and classes. Hopefully our visitors will find the hotel easily although a big logo canopy was already set up outside at the entrance but still some people get lost. It will be a tiring day but we are all ready and excited.

You Are Safe With Protect America

This April is my anniversary month at my job. If I remember it correctly I think I started on the 22nd of April. I do not know what is in store for me on my anniversary. Since I started seven years ago at this job, I have heard a lot of stories but nothing really scary. I specifically said scary because we have one of the oldest offices in the industrial zone. I have experienced being alone at the office for several hours at night but I am more scared of the living than anybody else. As long as the wireless security system is on and I am inside the building, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Our wireless security system is newly installed by Protect America. Although our building is quite old, our security system is a state of the art. I think my boss got the Gold Package to cover all the entry points at the office and warehouse, plus a talking control panel, a backup battery if we lose power and a lot more. There are several sensors installed inside and outside the building plus the 24/7 alarm monitoring service. The one who is in charge with security always make sure he enters the code correctly although he has faulted several times but he was able to cancel the alarm before the cops came. There are several home or small business security package being offered by Protect America. If you are interested for your home or office, you can visit them at protect America.com to get a free security quote or have a live chat with customer service or call this toll free number 877-470-2751 and you get two keychain remotes with your order.

Pneumatic Tools From Stanley Bostitch

One guy who got laid off from my job suddenly came for a visit today. After two months of job hunting, he finally got a job in a construction company. I think he is better off now than his previous work because he has a lot of projects in line for this year. He showed us his truck which is full of pneumatic tools from Stanley Bostitch. He said these tools, like the flooring Staplers are his investments on his new career change. Although the company provides him tools but he wants to have his own so that he can do some repair jobs during his free time.

St. Patrick's Day Treats

My co-worker's wife brought these cookies and key lime cake to work as her treat to us because it's St. Patrick's day. She always do these cookies for every occasion but the cake she said is from pepperridge farm. She also had brought some corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots but it was gone before i got the chance to take a photo. It was delicious. Thanks.

Lightship Research

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Bonus

It was a pleasant surprise to still get a bonus from our boss today. Everybody was not expecting it anymore but luckily our company is not directly affected by the bad economy. We are still able to make our numbers. Thanks for remaining a generous boss. You know now where I am heading after work, right? SHOPPING!