A month later...

... and I officially opened MY branch today. Without a big bang, but still very exciting when the booking channels open up and people can actually rent cars in Fort Lauderdale with our company now.

So how did the last month go? Well, although this company is well known and big in Europe, over here it is a start-up business and things are being handled accordingly = sink or swim! I started with 3 days of training in the computer systems and some general knowledge, rented some cars and one week after I signed my contract, I was brought to the property in Fort Lauderdale, got a walk through which looked like -> Boss: "This needs to be done, and this, and this and this and this, and here we need this and you need to check for this and get me this and need need need..." and Jenny: "!" (writing as fast as possible to get everything that was being said).

From there on I was basically left TO DO! With a building from the 40's which interior did not look anything like someone could move a business in soon and a time frame of 3 weeks until opening, I decided to swim although I must say the length of To Do List and time frame to get things done looked veeeery crazy in comparison!

Well, 3 weeks later, I opened the branch today and it looks very nice. In 3 weeks I met more people than in the past 2.5 years I've been here since I had to talk to a million and one contractors. I was basically the construction site supervisor and while not having a clue about what I was doing in the beginning, it was very interesting and fun and I've learned a lot. I worked loooong hours, but I'm able to get Elaine in the evening hours and bring her to work, so that is great.

I'm amazed that I was hired and just thrown into the job that I had no clue off. Tomorrow my bosses leave on a 3-day trip and leave me on my own which tells me I must have done something right as they trust me to be able to run the show without them. One great thing: My employees have been trained very well, as they started, when I started and got all their training in the Miami branch. That makes things a lot easier.

I now can't wait to start my "real" job and to get into the analytical and management things instead of organizing a granite floor to be laid 2 days before opening after everything else was done and boss decided to change his plans... Telling the flooring guys to remove their dirty fingerprints of my freshly painted walls was definitely fun though. The wagon was way ahead of the horses when plans all of a sudden changed. Luckily that was not my fault as I said from the beginning to put a new floor in.....

In Deutsch mal kurz: Nachdem ich nun vor 4 Wochen angestellt wurde, Schwimmen lernte und mich als Baustellenleiter vergnuegte, habe ich heute MEINE Station eroeffne!

Wer haette das vor nem Monat wohl gedacht...