My luck this week...

... I get treated to lunch 3 days in a row and on day 3, I split my tooth into pieces while eating cole slaw!!!!! WTH! Of all things people chew on and chip or break their tooth, who ever heard of somebody doing that on cole slaw (Krautsalat)!?

Well, I guess I can be even happier now to have some sort of health insurance and to have chosen the dental plan as well. Didn't even make it 18 days without having to use it. Let's see what this fun will cost me. My first US doctor's visit with health insurance lies ahead of me and I will let you know how this marvelous experience went! :)

The better news this week: On 16. May, I celebrated my first anniversary with the orange and black 4 letter German company as the first employee to be on the US payroll for 1 year! My boss 1 took me out to a nice place, Asia Bar on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, for lunch, where we were served by a German waiter. How fun! Food was delicious! As boss 2 was in Tucson and not there for my anniversary, he took me out to lunch the day after to an Italian restaurant. Then today when the tooth accident happened, I held my very first meeting with fleet managers from all of our locations (was the only girl! :) ). It went great, which made me happy, as it's been forever that I've had to hold a meeting with managers of similar level. During this, we went to lunch, you know the rest of the story...

What I want to tell you guys after one year in the rental car industry!?

1. Get the insurance (or "protection") if you are not 100% sure if your credit card or own insurance will cover the rental! The amount of major damages I review is incredible and it can happen to anybody. The usual stories: - looked at the GPS, changed lanes, got a panic attack and wanted to get off the highway, backed into something (oh, i didn't see that other car, that pole, that tree...)

I'd say it's currently 50/50 on who's fault it was - renter or 3rd party, but you don't want to be stranded in such mess uninsured. So far, fortunately, I'm happy to say we didn't have any human casualties yet (a deer in the Everglades was not that lucky). In a tourist destination like South Florida with lots of rental cars, that unfortunately occurs every now and then.

2. Are you the one booking an Economy car and showing up at the rental counter with 5 grown-ups and 10 bags, because you expected the free upgrade to a car 5 classes higher than what you have booked, in order to accomodate all of you!? Stop being so greedy! Geez!!!! Yes, free upgrades are nice. Yes, free upgrades happen frequently, but if you expect them to ALWAYS be given to you, you should possibly re-evaluate your expectations in life! The world does not revolve around you, unless you happen to be Carlos Slim Helú...

3. If you report your rental car stolen, only for the police to discover it three weeks later in the next street to where you said you had parked it, with no signs of forced entry and $400.- in parking violations raked up (as it sat there the whole time...), 2 things for you: 1. Party less!!! It might actually help your brain activity! and 2. You are on my list of people to meet in my life - only to slap you in the back of the head! Yes, kinda mean, but can you imagine that this really happened more than once already!? Only in SoFla.... ;)

Wise words of a Friday night! Happy weekend everybody, we made it trough another week and are very close to a 3 day weekend next week.

Cheers! :)