WOW what a week!

Sorry for the lack of communication but I have been WAY to busy for this blog! Such good news at work and with my personal life! Its all good! I have to run out to grab dinner with my new boss to talk about new positions with more responsibility but I'll get back to you all VERY soon with a proper update!

Zack

What to do about Anna

So I am finally done with my old client conversions.  Total of 44 clients stayed with me!!  So with those and the new clients I have here I have around 100.  I was actually complimented in a staff meeting by our regional manager for all the conversions, so I think they are happy with me here.

The people here are getting a little better too.  The women are still very nice and the men have cooled down a little bit, which is good. I have actually started becoming close with one woman who works here, Anna.  She is a local from Vienna which is actually quite rare, most people move to the city after growing up somewhere else.  But anyway she has a great accent that is very specific the Vienna natives her ‘W’ sound like a weird mix between a ‘V’ and a ‘F’.  

I am having trouble with the next step though.  I would like to ask her out but I am not sure what working/relationship norms are here.  Plus all the guys are still pretty crazy even after having cooled down a little bit not to mention that a few of the men are especially protective of Anna.  Maybe I should let it go for now and see how things play out.  I don’t want to create unnecessary drama in a new work place. Do I?

Zack

Hard Work and Coworkers.

Okay so not a lot of time to post but I have to get this out…  There are a few majorly attractive Austrian women working in this office and I mean MAJORLY.  They are very friendly and totally willing to help.  But what’s crazy is that a number of the men working here are extremely protective of the women in the office and don’t really seem to be warming up to me at all.  Am I threatening? Haha are you kidding me!? These guys need to calm down, I feel like I’m in high school and all the jocks are defending the cheerleaders…   Oh well maybe it will all just pass over once the guys realize they have nothing to be worried about.

Anyway about work, I was able to get 37 clients to switch to this company with me so far which is huge according to my uncle.  I am actually still working through my old client list so I need to get going because my deadline is tomorrow morning at 11.  But things seem to be going alright at this new place so far.

Zack

First day at the new office.

Well that was quick.  It wasn’t too bad saying goodbye to the people at the old office; I think some of them were actually happy to see me go.  But enough about the past, this new office is intense. I think it will be a good fit once I get used to it, but right now it’s all a little overwhelming.  The sales system is completely different but doesn’t seem too bad.  The woman helping me get comfortable here is not the nicest person either but she is direct and helpful, so I’m not complaining.  Lastly the overall work ethic seems to be more intense which is nice; maybe some friendly competition can take place.  This is a smaller business than the last as I understand it and Ludwig told me they are very focused on growth right now so it’s very important to keep new clients and business development my main priorities.  He also told me that he thinks there will be some pretty amazing perks for those of us who perform at the top.  

As my first task here I have been told to try and get as many of my past clients to come to this new company.  I think this is regular business practice in this industry but I feel kind of uneasy about it… Should I feel this way? Eh whatever, Ludwig told me to do it and I have followed him this far and I have been doing pretty well so I should just stop worrying and get back to work.

Zack

Going with Ludwig...

Damnit…  I have to go with Ludwig.  He has been so gracious to me and helped me set up here in Vienna.  If he is all of a sudden leaving then there must be a good reason for him to go, right?  All I know is that if I didn’t go with him, after all he’s done, I would really have a hard time with myself.

There goes that raise… Maybe the new gig will be just as good…

Zack

A Beer with Ludwig

So for my celebratory beer Ludwig and I went out.  Ludwig is a nice guy but very strange.  It really takes a lot to get him talking but once he is he won’t stop.   I insisted on buying the first round and we had some light conversation about something going on in the Austrian football (soccer) league.  But then once we finished our first beers Ludwig bought two more and all of a sudden put a very serious face.  He told me he was leaving the company because of some political bull shit and wanted me to come with him. 

The moment was short lived because he then told me to think about it and again started talking about Austrian football.  I had stopped listening to him and began thinking about what I should do.  I have been thinking about it until now.  What should I do? I mean, I would have nothing if it wasn’t for him, but I am on a really good track where I am now with this company.  I need to think about this further, but I have a feeling he’s going to want an answer from me at some point soon.   I think I’m actually mad at him for putting me in this situation.  Giving me a raise and then telling me to pick up and leave with him? What the hell, right?!

Zack

No Promotion… But a raise!

So I have some great news and some bad news.  

I’ll start with the bad.  I didn’t get the promotion and I think people in the office are getting mad at me because for the second week in a row I have been the leader in sales by a huge margin.  I don’t really care about them though, I’m doing well and that was my goal.  If they want to get mad why should I care?  The second bit of bad news is that I didn’t get the promotion.  Ludwig has already found another person who is much more qualified to manage a team like ours and although he said, “I am very pleased vith your vork” he doesn’t think I have developed the management skills I need yet.  I was really excited to maybe do something different but I guess that's just the way it is..

Okay so now the good news! After Ludwig told me that he didn’t think I was the man for the management position, he gave me a promotion with some very serious new sales incentives! I did some math and if I keep performing the way I am now I could be making more than I would have in the management position!! I feel like I should celebrate, but it’s kind of hard when you don’t really have anyone to celebrate with… Maybe I’ll see if Ludwig wants to grab a drink at some point.

So it looks like I’m going to continue to work hard, make more money, and have a lot of really unhappy co-workers.  I wonder if any of them will step up and challenge me or if they will just leave me alone at the top.

Zack