This is the first story that I have ever written. I apologize ahead of time if there are grammatical mistakes. I only used Word. Let me know what you think.
Cheers!
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Cast of Characters:
Bill Jones - Main Character
Jim - Bill Jones's boss
Kim Smith - A new hire
Alex - A supplier for Bill and Kim
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I hate business trips. I really do. Between the car rentals, time at the airports, and the drives to suppliers, it really gets old quickly. You'd think that spending nights in different cities and great hotels would be nice. Especially if the hotel has free booze in the President's club, but there are only so many cheap beers that one person can drink. It's always the same three types of beer too.
Every hotel is a little different, but really it is a bed to sleep in, a TV to watch, a desk to work at, and a bathroom that is too small to move around in. Especially the space between the toilet and the shower. Who designs this shit? Every now and again there is something better, but my company limits what you can spend on a room, so those better suites aren't always within the allowed stipend.
Breakfast in hotels just suck. It could be a high end hotel, but if the breakfast is free, forget about getting something edible that you could actually consider breakfast. The crappy bagels, the shitty cereal, the fruit that is some odd color that it normally shouldn't be. Don't even get me started on the coffee if that's what you'd call it.
Going out for lunch and dinner isn't bad, but there are only so many times you can eat at a high scale restaurant by yourself. The waitresses are usually nice, but really don't care to talk since they just want to do their job and get out of there. At bars, it's the same, but the flies typically want to keep their heads down and drink their drink. It gets really lonely too eating all by yourself.
The days usually start at the airport to flying somewhere and then getting a rental car. Nothing flashy or exciting to drive, ever. My boss won't allow it since it is outside the budget. I then have to drive to a supplier for some sort of part my company uses. You wait for a while at their reception area, the person arrives, shakes your hand, the business cards are exchanged, the person then leads you to some conference room deep in the boles of the building, and then offers you a cup of coffee. The coffee isn't ever good.
You go over the details of whatever the meeting is about. I find that the company representative never is ready for the meeting. They've never read the documents before you get there. The two of you spend about 1 - 2 hours reading through them as if you were in middle school. Discussing point by point all the things that should have been read and understood prior to the meeting, but aren't.
After spending way to long at the company, going to lunch at some chain restaurant, finishing up for the day, you hop back into your rental car and head to the cookie cutter hotel. Unload your bags, pull out your laptop, and check your work email. I check the email and set the replies to be delivered late in the night. It's good to know the little tricks so your boss thinks that you're working late into evening when actually you really aren't.
Dinner, bed, repeat. Over and over again. It's like a terrible merry go round were the operator just went for a smoke and your stuck going in a circle, listening to crappy music.
So why all this talk about travelling for work? Why do I keep doing it? For the life of me, I just don't know. I guess I don't think there is anything better. I am looking though, my resume is out there and every now and then I get a hit, but the jobs just don't excite me. Most of the time the prospective company only wants someone to travel for them. Why should I change jobs just to do the same thing for them if I am already doing it now?
My life needs to change, I need to do something different.
My boss called me while I was on the road driving from the airport to a hotel. The next day I was going to see yet another supplier.
"Bill, how yah doing bud?" Jim, my boss, asked with fake excitement. He know that I am getting tired of the business trip. I've been on the road for over a month now.
"Not bad, not bad. You know; living the dream". I wasn't really in a good mood. My flight had been delayed for two hours, the airline lost my bag, and the flight attendant dropped soda on me when she tried passing it to the person in the window seat.
"Bill, I got a request from the director for you. We've got a few new hires that are starting next month and they need to be trained up. They aren't all going into the field like you, but they need the experience".
I mute the phone and groan. I had this happen to me a few months ago and it was a disaster. The new hire was so not cut out for the job and had lied on their resume. It took me all of five minutes to realize it during the first meeting with a supplier. Let's just say that guy only lasted a week more and then was let go.
"You still there?"
I unmute the phone. "Yeah, yeah, I'm still here".
"So, I know that you aren't heading back to the home office any time soon..."
Here it comes. I hold my breath waiting for my boss to say that the new hire was going to meet me in some shitty little city; that I was going to need to hold his hand and wipe his ass for him.
"I booked the flight for her and she is going to meet you in Buffalo."
Buffalo, in February? Hold on, wait a minute, did he say her?
Continuing, "Her name is Kim. Right out of college with a business degree too".
Where was this going? Everyone out of college today has some business degree or other piece of paper. A guy I knew once said that a degree now is only good for a hand shake and maybe a cup of coffee.
"Ok..." I added to the conversation.
"I want you to take her to meetings, explain the process, go over the paperwork, etc." My boss droned on.
"Anything in particular that you want me to train her on?" dreading where this was going.
"No, no, just the stock stuff. Make her feel welcome to the company and make sure that she gets on the right foot on her first assignment."
"Can you send me her resume so I can review it before I meet Kim was it?"
"I'll send it over tomorrow morning" promised my boss. "You know it isn't going to be much, she's young and only has work a few entry level jobs elsewhere."
"Sounds good. So where and when do I pick her up?"
"Kim is flying into Buffalo on Monday. You'll need to fly out this Friday or on the weekend so you can make it in time to pick her up at the airport. Here flight arrives around 1:30 pm or so".
"How will I know who she is?"
