What a bunch of Jerks! ~ A huge improvement

Okay, so school started yesterday, and all these parents are taking their kids to school on the first day. We all have the same purpose - Do they ever stop and think? We all want our children to get there safe, but how can they with STUPID parents. These kids are doomed, parents doing crazy things like pulling into the parking lot and stopping in the left lane - hello - the left lane is for thru traffic. Okay, so maybe you cannot read, you should go back to school to. After leaving the school there are two lane going west, I'm in the right lane, a huge SUV is in the left lane and decides to park right after the stop sign - HELLO - I'm the little gray/silver car that you almost hit.

Okay - maybe it's the car - does it still say 'Please Hit Me!"

So my sister and I have always had our differences, but she is the only sister I have so when something happens to her - I do feel horrible for not being a better sister. Guilty, for not living closer to her. My sister was coming out of a grocery store with her daughter, when a very impatient teenager or young adult driving mom's car decided to go around some slow moving people and hit Shari and Bailee. Thankful, neither of them had any major injuries and my sister took most of the impact while protecting sweet Bailee. Lots of bruising, swollen, cuts, scratches - no broken bones - very sore. So this punk looks at my sister and drives off - someone who witnessed the accident followed this punk and called 9-1-1. He had been arrested and now faces several charges including a couple of felonies, so he is in jail. It is nice to know there are still people in this world to do something nice. I feel horrible for my sister and her children, who all saw my sister covered in blood. She was in shock and it was hard for the EMT's to calm her down, she is now recovering at home.

Yesterday, I also had my meetings with my staff - what a huge difference. I am so proud of the effort everyone is doing. They are working together and are nicer. I just had to tell them - how to do it and give them advice. I am totally impressed - delighted that I have made a difference and ready for their challenges that I have given them. I cannot wait to see their responses now.

The Four Elements

There are four elements to FISH! Play, Be Present, Make Their Day, and Choose your Attitude.

I am still in the beginning stages of making a difference at work, it is a slow process - but I do see change. The attitude thing is hard, I am currently working on the difference of Feelings vs. Attitude.

Feelings can affect your attitude. Attitude is what you present, self image, how you react, what you portray. Inside emotions are your feelings - how your heart reacts.

On Wednesday I will address these issues and begin the next three elements of success for my departments.

Play seems easy, everyone likes to have fun at work. Games, contests, but most importantly it is the attitude that you choose.

Make their day, all right, say one nice thing, that's a start. The res. agents can smile when on the phone, VIPS can greet the guests as they enter the office with a warm friendly smile. ST can not be so RULES, RULES, RULES and be more friendly.

Be present, do not put a customer one hold to long, do not get distracted, focus on the customer and their needs.

Which comes back to choosing your attitude. Be nice! Treat people nice, sounds simple, but I have staff members that need coaching.

I have finished the 3rd book" FISH! For Life", amazing how you can incorporate the above lessons in your home life, no matter what the challenges are in front of you. Now, it is time to apply and take action.

Choose Your Attitude!

Using the FISH! philosophy, I began on Monday with an email to all of my staff. What does the phrase "Choose your attitude!" mean to you. They are all to respond by Friday. Seriously, what people say is incredible. This company is in real trouble if these small departments cannot even give a straight answer. One answer I received is "Well, what goes around comes around." SERIOUSLY! That is what the phrase means to you. Another answered "I choose the best attitude" Duh! What is it? Another staff member answered "I try not to let others upset me and if they do I tell them or walk away." Okay these people need serious HELP! I loved the books so much - I am on to the third called "FISH! for Life". The bad thing is that there are more books - I have been on a reading frenzy! I need to find a way to motivate these people - they are the most disgruntle group of people - and some (okay most) are not nice - who wants to work like that. Day Two, Tuesday, they all received another email with a quote about attitude. Today they will have another email and a quote. I have gotta try something.

Ten Years Old and new book

WOW! Nolan is ten - crazy how fast time goes by. He is getting taller and will be entering the fifth grade. That's my baby! He is an awesome kid. Happy Birthday to you - Nolan!

I went to Borders and bought three "Fish!" books. Guess who was making a special guest appearance - HOOBASTANK! Matt went and saw them perform live at Borders this afternoon.

A friend at work told me how she would like to develop the "Fish Philosophy". It is a quick read that I cannot wait to implement. "Fish!" is a parable takes place in Seattle at the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. 110 pages of ways to get staff a morale boost and very energizing.
I was so exciting I am on another book called "Fish! Sticks". I highly recommend this book to any manager, supervisor, director, VP etc. These books are so powerful some of my direct reports may get them for Christmas. If you work in an environment that is suffering this is a must have book.

Peaceful Weekend to a Typical Monday

You can hear birds - not pigeons but real birds chirping. Squirrels run from tree to tree, rock to rock. Fish jumping in the water and deer nearby trying not to be noticed. Picture perfect views. It is like a piece of heaven or close to it. Here are a few pictures to best describe the trip.









Now back to reality. I only took one extra day off and it feels like a week. Contract to get approved - yes we have committee just to approve contracts. People to hire - yes, VIP Services is in desperate need of employees. Prepare for the usual Tuesday meetings - agh!

Poor Dog

My poor dog has a sprain in her front left leg, she is on medication to relieve the pain. It hurst to watch her walk, after a day of pain killers she tries to play, but has a slight limp still. It is so sad to see her this way, even worse that we are going to leave her while we go out of town. At least she will be at the vets office so she will get great care while she is recovering.

Okay! Seriously - I have not packed a thing yet. Hubby has done a good job at organizing all the food and fishing gear - I am so lazy right now - here I am blogging away and I should be throwing a few things together for our long weekend out of town.

Last day of school is tomorrow - Nolan is so excited to have a couple of weeks off.

Ahh, It's Friday!

Thankfully, I made it thru the work-week. Impressive. Since once again I got a curve-ball thrown at me. Budgeting stinks! I have to establish room rates, comp rates, observe rates and the number of rooms that will be used each night and the potential revenue that will be generated. Okay, in two days I have managed to get thru May 2007.

On the bright-side - received a box of goodies from Ginger! The foof-a-la buttons a just gorgeous! The summer collection is my favorite. The sizes are awesome. I cannot wait to use them.

Update on the DEFCON convention - yes we have had to throw someone out due to suspicious activity. The last couple of days they have been more noticeable. They wear these medallions of all different colors. Most of them have a skull and cross-bone (the skull is smiling). I thought it was a frog at first glance, to later be corrected. I hope the FBI - CIA and security are having fun and billing this back to the sales agent (it should come out of his commission). By the way - no kidding - the sales agent has recently been promoted. It is amazing - do something stupid and get a promotion.

One more week until we are out of town for a couple of days - I am getting excited.

Just a normal Tuesday

The weekend was as expected, LAZY!!! I did one layout and I did relax by the pool.



The work week has been okay. Tuesdays are filled with meetings. Monday the Board of Directors will have their quarterly meeting and on Tuesday is the vote of the sale (rumor has it that the sale will not go through, just not enough votes). So, there will be changes to come - I am very excited to see some changes.

Looking forward to getting out of town next weekend. The cabin that we will be going to has everything furnished except the food. Bedding, silverware, pots, pans! (shh, I will be taking the clorox wipes) Clothes and food is all we need to take. This weekend will be spent preparing for the next.
I have a friend that had surgery yesterday - thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery - Luv ya Cin!