Love at First Web Site
Friday, September 28, 2007
The sales meeting is over now. :-( Was a great three days. Had minimal work to do during those three days which I occasionally popped out of the meeting room to do. Met all the other Business Development Managers. So professional. I love this company. Got to see my sales graphs up on the big screen for everyone to admire (?) and today everyone said well done for picking the restaurant that we went to last night. Whoo! During one of the department updates I heard the scathing remarks about one of the staff who are leaving soon. They weren't nice about it. I got paranoid that if I kept stuffing up, they would one day celebrate my departure in the same way. One of the powerpoint slides had a list of points the department head was making, and one of them was simply: "Bye bye [that staff member's name]". OK so not 100% professional. He then continued on to talk about how the guy kept stuffing up and costing the business thousands of dollars etc. I was surprised at how bitchy it was. I mean, what if he was just making honest mistakes? I was quite taken aback. Imagine if they had a powerpoint slide dedicated solely to demonstrating how glad they were to get rid of you? At the national sales meeting? Then I felt bad because when I first started, I personally found that guy to be a snobby bitch so it turned out that he was the only one I pointedly didn't acknowledge and smile at whenever I walked past, while I pretty much smile at everyone. (A little too much I think - nerves, compensation for shyness, whatever you want to make of it). I wonder if they're treating him they way they actually talk about him, or whether they're nice to him? I really don't know what would be worse...
¶ 18:18 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I'm taking some time off from the Kuba factory. When I turn around and look at my bed I feel a little scared about going to sleep in it alone. Ah well. Back to the drawing board I suppose.
Work was good today. Tomorrow is the first day of a three-day national sales meeting which should be fun as I'll get to meet some of the people I've only known over the phone and via email.
I ran out of things to do today but was relieved as I had time to sort out stuff on my desk and change some images on that website I update. What a highlight.
George wants to come to China but wants to go to Tibet so now I'm thinking how I could manage going to Tibet and Beijing and Harbin in one month. I would probably have to fly everywhere which is not an option so I think I will have to stick with my original plan. Oh, the trials!
Back to Kuba. I think I'm ronery already.
Had lunch with Vanja today, she was in the city stopping people in the Strand to do market research interviews.
Me so ronery. Oh I had an idea for a video today. That's something fun to do.
Ciao. ¶ 19:46 0 Comments
Work was good today. Tomorrow is the first day of a three-day national sales meeting which should be fun as I'll get to meet some of the people I've only known over the phone and via email.
I ran out of things to do today but was relieved as I had time to sort out stuff on my desk and change some images on that website I update. What a highlight.
George wants to come to China but wants to go to Tibet so now I'm thinking how I could manage going to Tibet and Beijing and Harbin in one month. I would probably have to fly everywhere which is not an option so I think I will have to stick with my original plan. Oh, the trials!
Back to Kuba. I think I'm ronery already.
Had lunch with Vanja today, she was in the city stopping people in the Strand to do market research interviews.
Me so ronery. Oh I had an idea for a video today. That's something fun to do.
Ciao. ¶ 19:46 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Well here I am in my room chilling for the first time in what seems like well maybe a week.
Kuba's birthday was yesterday and we had cake etc at Rose's dinner party on Sunday night.
I was dreading going to work on Monday because I decided I didn't like it anymore but it's been sweet. This chick who never used to say a word to me now makes chit chat with me in the mornings and even smiles. Progress. Last night in my marketing tute there was no group presentation so four of us stood up and gave a talk about our jobs and what we do etc. I'm not the best public speaker and I ended up like one of those people who couldn't finish a sentence properly eg "We're actually a boutique company - we're premium, high quality, small, and expensive, so yeah, we're a boutique company" etc. You get my drift. I was totally upstaged by the next person. You know the Big Pond ads with the dad telling his son about the great wall of China? Well, the next person was the account manager for that campaign, and she spoke as confidently and as eloquently as someone who would bloody deserve that job. Fuck. The next guy was a vet and offered some really interesting insights into the vet business. Eg customers can't be segmented into income brackets, because it all comes down to the individual relationship of the owner and the pet. Eg a rich guy might replace his dying dog with a new one even though he can afford to give it surgery while a poor family will love their dog so much that they'll make huge sacrifices to save it. And then there was an interesting guy from Sri Lanka who worked for a non-profit organisation of 12 people. Anyway lots of people asked me questions and I somehow managed to answer them which was nice. Should make up for my failure to hand in homework for the past two weeks.
In other news, I'm officially flying off to China. Just for a month, but should be enough to forget about the real world for a while. I got an email from Adam an American friend I knew in Taiwan and turns out he's moved from Shenzhen to Shanghai so we'll be able to meet up when I get there. Also Maryann another American friend I knew in Taiwan (they both went to UMass and already knew each other before Taiwan actually, but weren't friends!) is living in Beijing at the moment and has offered me her couch. Yay! Should be able to afford the accommodation in Harbin now!! Winter is Harbin's busiest time for tourism because of the Ice Lantern festival and it will be about 20-30 bucks per night. I also want to climb Taishan which along with going to Shanghai I didn't get to do last time for various reasons. Sweet. Now I can't believe I wanted to go to Thailand. If I wanted to go to the beach I could get on a bus and spend $1.40.
Oh I also bumped into an old UNSW uni friend at uni last night and it turns out Harbin is her major city. The poor soul is specialising in finance. Anyway I'm going to hotpot with her on Friday. Dude hotpot seems like the new black these days. Glad I'm in on it! Speaking of the new black, I check facebook at work (naughty naughty) but only when I have a few minutes to spare.
¶ 19:29 0 Comments
Kuba's birthday was yesterday and we had cake etc at Rose's dinner party on Sunday night.
I was dreading going to work on Monday because I decided I didn't like it anymore but it's been sweet. This chick who never used to say a word to me now makes chit chat with me in the mornings and even smiles. Progress. Last night in my marketing tute there was no group presentation so four of us stood up and gave a talk about our jobs and what we do etc. I'm not the best public speaker and I ended up like one of those people who couldn't finish a sentence properly eg "We're actually a boutique company - we're premium, high quality, small, and expensive, so yeah, we're a boutique company" etc. You get my drift. I was totally upstaged by the next person. You know the Big Pond ads with the dad telling his son about the great wall of China? Well, the next person was the account manager for that campaign, and she spoke as confidently and as eloquently as someone who would bloody deserve that job. Fuck. The next guy was a vet and offered some really interesting insights into the vet business. Eg customers can't be segmented into income brackets, because it all comes down to the individual relationship of the owner and the pet. Eg a rich guy might replace his dying dog with a new one even though he can afford to give it surgery while a poor family will love their dog so much that they'll make huge sacrifices to save it. And then there was an interesting guy from Sri Lanka who worked for a non-profit organisation of 12 people. Anyway lots of people asked me questions and I somehow managed to answer them which was nice. Should make up for my failure to hand in homework for the past two weeks.
In other news, I'm officially flying off to China. Just for a month, but should be enough to forget about the real world for a while. I got an email from Adam an American friend I knew in Taiwan and turns out he's moved from Shenzhen to Shanghai so we'll be able to meet up when I get there. Also Maryann another American friend I knew in Taiwan (they both went to UMass and already knew each other before Taiwan actually, but weren't friends!) is living in Beijing at the moment and has offered me her couch. Yay! Should be able to afford the accommodation in Harbin now!! Winter is Harbin's busiest time for tourism because of the Ice Lantern festival and it will be about 20-30 bucks per night. I also want to climb Taishan which along with going to Shanghai I didn't get to do last time for various reasons. Sweet. Now I can't believe I wanted to go to Thailand. If I wanted to go to the beach I could get on a bus and spend $1.40.
Oh I also bumped into an old UNSW uni friend at uni last night and it turns out Harbin is her major city. The poor soul is specialising in finance. Anyway I'm going to hotpot with her on Friday. Dude hotpot seems like the new black these days. Glad I'm in on it! Speaking of the new black, I check facebook at work (naughty naughty) but only when I have a few minutes to spare.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Hello blog.
Work is going well. We're all busy as hell (we're as in including me! yay!) and well I nearly orgasmed when I got to come to a meeting with one of our travel writers. Basically we send journos over to wherever and they plug us at the end of their articles. There was a Cambodia one in mX last week. So he gives us each a card, and I hold it in my hand, and manage to restrain myself from asking dorky questions like "Oh my god you are a god can you please make me your protege? How did you get started? Are you already blase about being a travel writer?" etc etc. It was like meeting a famous person. I just stared at him and tried to silently pick his brains while he flicked through his portfolio and chatted about the Loch Ness monster and Gallipoli. When my supervisor and I were back at our desks I was like "Oh my god that is my dream job! Oh, I mean, THIS is my dream job, [clearing of throat] but that's my OTHER dream job!" And she smiled her kindly smile while I laughed compensatingly loudly.
Today I added some specials to our Handmade Holidays brand website... to view my extraordinary handiwork, and be lured into buying our products, go to www.handmadeholidays.com.au and go to Specials. (n.b. I didn't write the intro blurbs for each country, it was a case of the old cut-and-paste-from-the-brochure. Guilty!)
In other news... umm... the APEC weekend is coming up and I get to experience what it's like to have a day off without forfeiting over a hundred bucks with nothing to do about it. Noice. Fi is have a three-day Flanny Fest. Must remember to pop over to Lowes and get the appropriate flannelette related clothing items. I really should take advantage of the 'extra time' to study. I really should. I mean, I really, really should. Desperately. But hey I've said that before every weekend and you know what happens. On Sunday nights we're supposed to preview Monday's marketing case studies then 'analyse' it using the 'tools' we have 'learnt' during 'lectures'.... OK just between you and me, I've been to every marketing lecture, but I don't learn anything because I'm too busy despising the dickhead lecturer who spends 60% of lecture time
1. Name-dropping.
2. Talking about his wonderful successful career.
The name dropping: Concerns other highly successful business MEN who none of us have ever heard of. "Oh! You were a 'good friend and colleague' with some Qantas exec? Well pat on the back for you!" "Oh, you lead a highly important 3-day seminar in the Rockies for the board of directors for so-and-so corporation? Aren't you just the bomb!"
Like, get the fuck over it. Which leads me to item number 2: his wonderful successful business career. Sorry mate but face it - you're a frickin lecturer now being paid one-tenth of what you were probably paid before. What the hell are you doing here???? I think someone's got a huge need for approval here. Is your wonderful career... dare I say it... OVER?
So, as far as I know, 'diversification' is when a company starts doing other shit. But I'm not too sure about all those tables etc that bored marketers use to justify their salaries. Will get back to you on those... during STUVAC... which I probably won't take off work because I need to save it all up for my holiday in Jan...
I'm going downstairs to cook my chicken before it goes off. Ciao. May peer into either textbook possbily later, that is, if I don't call Kuba. ¶ 18:12 0 Comments
Work is going well. We're all busy as hell (we're as in including me! yay!) and well I nearly orgasmed when I got to come to a meeting with one of our travel writers. Basically we send journos over to wherever and they plug us at the end of their articles. There was a Cambodia one in mX last week. So he gives us each a card, and I hold it in my hand, and manage to restrain myself from asking dorky questions like "Oh my god you are a god can you please make me your protege? How did you get started? Are you already blase about being a travel writer?" etc etc. It was like meeting a famous person. I just stared at him and tried to silently pick his brains while he flicked through his portfolio and chatted about the Loch Ness monster and Gallipoli. When my supervisor and I were back at our desks I was like "Oh my god that is my dream job! Oh, I mean, THIS is my dream job, [clearing of throat] but that's my OTHER dream job!" And she smiled her kindly smile while I laughed compensatingly loudly.
Today I added some specials to our Handmade Holidays brand website... to view my extraordinary handiwork, and be lured into buying our products, go to www.handmadeholidays.com.au and go to Specials. (n.b. I didn't write the intro blurbs for each country, it was a case of the old cut-and-paste-from-the-brochure. Guilty!)
In other news... umm... the APEC weekend is coming up and I get to experience what it's like to have a day off without forfeiting over a hundred bucks with nothing to do about it. Noice. Fi is have a three-day Flanny Fest. Must remember to pop over to Lowes and get the appropriate flannelette related clothing items. I really should take advantage of the 'extra time' to study. I really should. I mean, I really, really should. Desperately. But hey I've said that before every weekend and you know what happens. On Sunday nights we're supposed to preview Monday's marketing case studies then 'analyse' it using the 'tools' we have 'learnt' during 'lectures'.... OK just between you and me, I've been to every marketing lecture, but I don't learn anything because I'm too busy despising the dickhead lecturer who spends 60% of lecture time
1. Name-dropping.
2. Talking about his wonderful successful career.
The name dropping: Concerns other highly successful business MEN who none of us have ever heard of. "Oh! You were a 'good friend and colleague' with some Qantas exec? Well pat on the back for you!" "Oh, you lead a highly important 3-day seminar in the Rockies for the board of directors for so-and-so corporation? Aren't you just the bomb!"
Like, get the fuck over it. Which leads me to item number 2: his wonderful successful business career. Sorry mate but face it - you're a frickin lecturer now being paid one-tenth of what you were probably paid before. What the hell are you doing here???? I think someone's got a huge need for approval here. Is your wonderful career... dare I say it... OVER?
So, as far as I know, 'diversification' is when a company starts doing other shit. But I'm not too sure about all those tables etc that bored marketers use to justify their salaries. Will get back to you on those... during STUVAC... which I probably won't take off work because I need to save it all up for my holiday in Jan...
I'm going downstairs to cook my chicken before it goes off. Ciao. May peer into either textbook possbily later, that is, if I don't call Kuba. ¶ 18:12 0 Comments
