Wednesday, May 10, 2006

But, I can't breathe so well up here

Hi All,
We had our 'Spring Communication' meeting yesterday, which consisted of a lot of overblown activity and as usual the recognition of management but never of the common worker. Well, we're used to that. They say things like, "Our main focus is YOU, the associate" but they give all of the 'awards' and perks to managers. The little fellows never have much of a chance! But, we carry on, as we're expected to. The good news is, CC is finally back at a good stock price and sales were up 12% over the last two quarters, so everyone was full of glee. Most of us from the floor, we were just glad for three hours off the phones. I even got up early to come in for this meeting, since it started before my shift. We thought, since they built the largest temporary structure ever in Henrico County (a huge tent, basically, the size of a building), that there must be perks galore for us! If they can spend all of that money on a tent (wasted money!), surely they'll have nice giveaways for us. As we saw managers come back the day before with hats, shirts, and backpacks, we just knew we'd come out with armloads full. So what did they give us? A pen. The same pen they've been giving out to us since 2002.
But all was not lost. They had a guest speaker who was very funny, emotional (we all cried a lot), and was a good storyteller. His name was Erik Weihenmayer, and he is the only blind man to ever climb Mount Everest. He's an amazing man: he does a lot of climbing, all over the world, jumps from planes, and generally has no fear of anything in life, it seems. Our CEO had presented the new 'plan' for CC, which is to reach the 'North Star' as they called it. Basically the plan was compared to climbing a mountain to get where we want to be in the retail business. The mountain's name is Best Buy and Wal Mart, really. Don't shop at those places! haha Just kidding. But anyway, after the talk about us reaching a point on a mountain, I guess they felt a motivational speech from a real climber would be good for us to hear. And they were right. We complain about a lot of things in our lives, but this man never complained that he couldn't see the view when he got to the top of Mount Everest. He was just glad to be at the Top of the World, and he said it felt like Heaven. He encouraged us to reach for more in our lives, too, in our business and in our personal lives. It's true that it's very easy to get complacent and content with where we are. This is especially a danger for me, because I will resist change until my dying day. But, I'm actually looking into some other job possiblilities and was considering a move. We'll see I guess.
While I watched the footage he showed us and listened to him speak, I had to wonder: What is it that drives certain people? We don't all have the desire to be at the top of the world. Heck, we don't all have the desire to even get out of bed. I guess it's all in the attitude, which we need to try to keep open. That's what I took away from the whole thing.

In more frivilous news, we think Kat is a goner on AI. We voted for her a lot, mainly becuase Bean loves her, but we didn't have difficulty getting through. My vote would be for Taylor and Elliot to go next, leaving Chris and Kat in the top two. But you never know how the votes will go.
And it's Lost night tonight. Lord only knows what's going on with that show! I love mysteries, but I think they have too many unanswered questions. Keeps us watching, though...

If A Woman Tried To Climb Everest
1) She'd be too busy yelling at the men on the team to "wash your food trays properly, damn it!"
2) She'd spend 90% of her time cleaning up.
3) She'd take a week off every month due to 'monthlies.'
4) Her journal would be a list of worries.
5) She'd demand pink hiking gear, which would be roundly laughed at.

haha
I know there are female climbers. For all I know there may be one that made it to Everest. I was wondering how that would work, though, since the men are almost dead when they reach the top, and they're a lot stronger physically than women are.

Anyhow...

Have a great day!

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