WORK,weather,and other crap

sorry about the lack of posts. must be something in blogdom. i have, however, been reading you, my faithfuls. it has been really busy at work. in fact, a lot more so than before the merger of Abrand and Bbrand.  many reasons for that, t'is the beginning of the busy season, and soon, summer will be upon us and man will it be crazy.

we had meetings the last 2 days from corporate and they were to inform us on how ABgroup is moving forward into 2007 with many innovative ideas and updating booking engines, etc, etc. one of the big things is the prospect of 'dual branded agents'. since all of the A brand agents can do both systems now, and the other centres supposed to be handling Abrand can't handle the call volume, we are still taking Abrand calls. in fact, i have been doing both for over a week now. the higher ups are looking into a fair way to compensate us for bonus (when we take one brand, we miss out on goals and targets set by the other brand, and vise versa) we will see how they do that.

i am happy to help take calls for either brand. though not completely confident with the new system with Bbrand, i am able to handle customers, and book cars. and that is the name of the game in the grand scheme of things. 

i am still miserably pissed off about the shifts that i will be doing in march, but i guess it could be worse. i could be in the unemployment line, and i have always said, from the very beginning of getting that job, i was grateful for it, and that i would do my best and strive to do better. i am doing that. 

not much to report on the F for F front. sorry. the callers actually KNOW what they want, and have not been total a$$es, nice change. there was one that i must put up here:

me" and the identity of the additional driver, sir?"
him"ummm, single black male".

when booking a car, we get all kinds of questions, and we also need to ask questions to make sure that the caller meets certain criteria. we try to ensure that the caller has as much information before s/he gets to the counter. so this guy, needed to know about the additional driver policy. for both Abrand and Bbrand, spouses generally don't pay to drive, but say, a friend, or a family member will. we need to phrase the question to decide if s/he will need to have extra money for the rental.  caller man in the above didn't' quite understand what i meant, i had phrased my question verbatim from my screen, perhaps we need to reformat our system?   OMFG i like to ask if the additional driver is a partner or pal, depending on the type of caller i receive. they usually get this, when the light-bulb is switched on. how i love my job.

mmmk, now time for the weather here. it was really nice the last few days, and actually ABOVE 0 C. the banks of snow and piles of ice are actually melting.  there has been heat in the sun for a while now, and the days, thank goodness, are staying lighter, longer. there is much snow here to melt before the buds begin to blossom. the nights, however, still dip to low temperatures, and early mornings, as i write this (on a morning i could have been still sleeping in) it is -12C.  we have a forecast calling for milder temps and rain coming. that will not bode well for foot traffic, or driving at night, as with temps dipping below freezing, the threat of black ice is ever present. i can hardly wait for the snow to be gone, the yard to dry up and we can begin planning an outside living area. like a patio made of stone (cannot afford a deck), maybe a little privacy screen of lattice and wood framing with a wind block for the BBQ. planting a few trees and bushes and flowers, how i love flowers. AND get the christmas lights off the house...they are presently behind a wall of snow and i can't get to them.

we still need a shed, but we'll make do with the truck cap from LT. so little storage, so much crap. (it is the pack rat in me, but i am trying to purge stuff). it all takes time, you see.

anyway, that is all from here in my fair city for today. i am off to check on all of you, now. take care and enjoy your mid-week. it is my friday, woo hoo.                         poet.