This is a trip that has been on the drawing board for a long time. I want to go down to our call center because we need to build better lines of communication. Since the last round of layoffs, we have pushed more work to that office. For me to do my job well, I have to have a good idea how the customer is experiencing the product. To do that, I need a good read from the call center reps.
There is only one airport in the bay area that Southwest flies direct to Albuquerque from, Oakland. San Jose International is right near my apartment, but I had to drive all the way to Oakland. if I did not fly direct, the trip would take another two hours. I had to get up at 6 AM to get out on time. My morning was not going well. I could not pack last night because my laundry was still wet. My morning did not go well.
I am traveling with Eric. It is his first trip to Albuquerque. He is really excited to be here. He wants to see how the call center works. He has never been at a call center like this before. He was surprised when it was quitter then Alviso. He expected to me a lot louder. I knew what it was going to be like. I worked at a place like this before.
Eric is a good guy to travel with. The flight was not crowded. We had an open seat between us. It was easy for us to talk the whole time. We talked mostly about music. Eric is a musician. He is close to my age. A lot of the time we talked about bands that were big while I was in college. Our tastes are not that different from each other.
We got to Albuquerque and started holding meetings. it is weird to work and travel on the same day. I am big on planning whole days where I do nothing but travel. I hate flying anymore and that makes me not want to so anything after I land. We still had to go to the office and work.
Tonight, after work we went to
Paul's Monterey Inn. It is an old style steak house. I have been itching for a steak for a while now. I knew this city would have to have a good steak house. The place was filled with people in their 60s. It was old vinyl booths and table cloths. It was what eating out used to be. The steaks were really good and it was great. By my count it will take one customer 1.4 years to pay off that meal.
Labels: Albuquerque, Alviso, business travel, tag overload, travel, work
