Florida is not one of my favorite destinations; it’s hot and humid, too many fun choices I cannot enjoy while working, and the sales force is always on vacation either at Disney World or Epcot center, while they could be working on the next project.
Arrived in Jacksonville to find the temperature had dipped during the night to 30 degrees. Now, is this any way to treat a traveling sales person without a coat? What am I to do without a coat in this weather? It's Florida, and it gets cold here sometimes.
The local rep was late picking me up at the hotel the next morning and was not ready for me. It baffles me to think these reps know in advance when I’ll be at their doorstep for training and still give me excuses once we get on the road, such as: couldn’t get any appointments; everyone is on vacation; it’s the middle of the week; it’s the end of the week; it’s the beginning of the week; it’s too cold; it’s too hot; everybody is so busy, and on and on.
We visited a very difficult client without an appointment, and the rep wonders why he is difficult? After the visit, the rep was no good for the rest of the day. He was cold, he didn’t feel good and he was hungry. He opted for taking me back to the hotel so he could recuperate. My question to him: why are you in the sales business? He had no answer, other than his days were not scheduled and he was free to organize them as he saw fit. The rest of the two days were just as bad and as I was getting ready to tell him off and find another rep for the area, when he promised to be ready for the next time I was in town. I now believe the reps dislike intrusions into their daily schedule, so when a trainer is coming to their territory, they make it so difficult as to aggravate the trainer to make certain interruptions do not happen in the future.
Getting an earlier flight back to Joplin was not an easy chore; the flight was overbooked and I was placed on the waiting list where my chances were rather dim to get on the flight as planned. After everyone was on board, the people on the waiting list were called and my name was never uttered. I went up to the counter and asked to be confirmed on the next flight out to discover it was my original flight and I was already confirmed.
I Looked for the Ambassador Club where I could spend the delay in comfort to find out this airport is too small for a Club. Ambassador clubs are meant for members who pay exorbitant fees to be able to plug in their computers, have a phone booth of their own, comfortable couches, tables, all the free coffee they can drink, a bar for hard drinkers and a nice set up in the rest rooms with all the amenities a woman would want, including hair spray. But are they available when you have a 3 hour delay? No, they’re only available in large airports and only if you have 10 minutes to spare between flights.
This airport did not have a restaurant, just coin machines. If I need a rest room, I need to haul my entire luggage with me, including computer case, telephone and purse because of the latest airport security. There is no chance to stretch or to rest. My vacation started about 3 hours ago, and I’m still stuck in Jacksonville.
After waiting for hours, arriving in Joplin after all the delays was good news, but the temperature had plunged to 20 degrees. It’s cold outside; lucky for me, the coat was still waiting in the car.