Longest Day Ever!

So this was the first week of my new job, but the catch is I'm still doing my current job as well. Until we hire a rep for my territory I still have to service the dealers. My manager job requires me to be on the phone, at home in front of a computer and my rep position requires me to be on the road, so I was totally conflicted this week trying to figure out which to do first.



Yesterday I left the house around 7am, and had my first appointment in Dixon at 9am. From there I headed to Lombard, but had some time to kill so I had talked Kate through sending my expense report and some other tasks over the phone. After she had to send my expense report three times because she kept hitting send before I was done instructing her, I may think twice before I do that again! :-)



I stopped in Aurora at a gas station because I had less than 7 miles till empty and stopped at a Mobil, the first gas station off the exit. Now having been on the road as long as I have, I have learned that if you have to go to the bathroom, you ALWAYS go to a newer looking gas station and one that is larger so that you're guaranteed at least somewhat of a nicer restroom. No such luck on this exit! I walk in to the smell of urine and barely enough toliet paper to go around the roll once, but you do what you gotta do! :-)



I finished my appointment in Lombard feeling a little unprepared because I'm used to walking into used car dealerships. The guys are usually dressed in a wide array of different outfits. It's not uncommon to walk into smoking and someone wearing jean shorts and a cut off t-shirt. So when I go walking into a corporate building, I was re-thinking the fact that I had slapped my hair back into a pony tail that morning, no jewelry and barely feeling put together. I felt even more out of it when I was ushered in to a conference room of all things and met with three men wearing suits and ties. They proceeded to ask me all kinds of questions that I didn't know the answer to and when they asked for my business card, I was embarassed to hand them my old AFC card with my information crossed and hand written in since I had forgotten my new Finance Express business cards at home! Talk about feeling like an amateur! :-)



After Lombard, I headed into the city to pick up two precious documents from my dealer to finish a lender packet for a lender that he wants to start using ASAP. On the drive I do a phone interview for a guy in Indianapolis that's a good candidate for that market but I had to laugh at his typical salesperson attitude with continuing to remind me how great he was and how absolutely perfect he was for the job. I couldn't however fault him for his enthusiasm, but when he kept interrupting me before I was finished with a sentence was beginning to get on my nerves! :-)



When I pulled up to my dealer around 2:30pm, I found out from Finance Express that our system was down which now put me in a quandry because I would not be able to print off those two pieces of paper I needed for my lender packet, nor would I be able to do my training of my next dealer at 3:30pm if it was still down. So I left that dealership without even going in and headed to my training session. On the way there, I got an update on the system. Still down! I called the dealer. He's not even there! I leave a message! An hour later, he doesn't call back! I figure he must not care too much about his training session! I stop and wolf down some McDonalds because I was starving having not eaten all day and decided to call it a day.



On the way home amidst the many calls from dealers letting me know the system was down, I had to figure out a way to fax something to a dealer have him print it off and sign the correct pages without seeing to know exactly what he's supposed to sign and having no access to a laptop, fax machine or printer. Kate, my newly acquired personal assistant was not answering her phone because she had lost it in the couch cushions and had it on vibrate so she didn't see my 15 missed phone calls! So I went to plan B. Have the dealer log into my e-mail and print off the docs and walk him through it over the phone. Don't worry I already changed my password. So all this was done while sitting in stop and go traffic in Chicago around 4:30pm.


Called my dad, system still down at 5pm, but we should be back up anytime. I had a somewhat peaceful drive home, with just a few calls here and there, but couldn't wait to just go home and crash after my long 12 hour day. However I realized about halfway home that I had computer work to do once I got home still. By this time I'm just grouchy and every trucker that honks at me along the way makes me want to pull over and let them know how annoying that is especially when they want absolutely nothing or they are not trying to tell you something like you have a tail light out. They just want something to do on their long lonely drive! :-)

I made it home by 7:30pm and spent the next five hours on the computer. Needless to say I was glad to see the day end!