Our second solo day yesterday wasn't nearly as hectic or long as Sunday. There were some fires to put out, but overall, it was a calm day. The biggest problem that we've discovered with these solo days is that almost all of the support has the same 2 days off. With the exception of the maintenance manager, every other support function had a second consecutive day off. That included: the other co-manager couple, Community Sales Lead person, her assistant, all of the housekeepers, and the Activities Director. It makes it that much more difficult when so many others have the day off.
We found out that an individual is coming to our Community today to train us in the Operations of the Community. For the next 2 days, we will be spending most of our hours with him. It's a shame we didn't have this training before we were tossed to the wolves the last 2 days.
There was a lot of discussion among the residents about the fish tank situation. It seems that the fish that died have been here for 7 years and had become a fixture and friends to them all. There was a lot of finger pointing and blame being tossed around among the residents as to how they died, so it has become a touchy situation for us. Terri and Charlie are going to have to decide on how to handle that one.
That should be our only and biggest problem. There are serious maintenance issues with this building. The toilet problems were fixed yesterday, but we had an ecall at 2:40 AM this morning. It was our next door neighbor who had water dripping from a huge bulge in his foyer ceiling. Josie and I helped as best we could by puncturing the ceiling to let the water drain into a trash bucket, and Josie called the maintenance manager at home to get other suggestions. He will be in early today to diagnose the problem. We checked the apartment (empty) that was directly above his, and there was no water that was flooding the floor above his apartment. It seems like it is coming from the pipe that runs into his apartment that we spotted behind the ceiling tile outside his front door, so that will be fixed today.
This morning should be very busy with a conference call on sales, meal service and a meeting with the Regional Sales Leader who is coming in to slap the hands of the Lead Sales people here who left us alone to handle a contract signing. It turned out that the potential resident wasn't fully qualified as they are going to investigate an assisted living option before deciding to move here. Then, our Operations training should begin.
Since our 2 longest days are over, we feel like it is downhill for the rest of the week. I hope we're right...
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
First Solo Day
Our first full day without any other managers on duty was eventful. The morning started with several emergencies - an ecall that was a false alarm, an overflowing toilet in an apartment and a leak from the ceiling in another apartment. These all happened within an hour of each other and resulted in our missing part of the breakfast hour.
The ecall was from a lady that had set off the alarm accidentally. The pull cord located in the bathroom is very close to the towels that hang from the towel rack and she accidentally caught it in the towel. The toilet problem was from an individual - Richard - who is constantly complaining about some problem. He recently moved from one apartment to another and the problems just follow him. This time the toilet tray in the tank was not level so the water kept running into the tank, never shutting off. Evidently, it ran all night and his apartment was flooded. The result of all this water created the third problem - the apartment below his was dripping water from the sprinkler head in the ceiling which is directly under Richard's apartment.
Between handling these emergencies and other required duties, the day was very, very busy and we were happy to see the day come to an end. Another problem during the day was that someone overfed the fish in the fish aquarium we have in the lobby, creating what looked like a snowstorm in the water. We called the aquarium maintenence company and they said it should be alright and would correct itself with the new filter they put in the week before. The water became more and more cloudy and the next thing we knew people were reporting that the fish were floating upside down in the tank - dead. Sheesh! The aqaurium tech finally came anyway - too late.
This was the first Super Bowl game that I've missed in I don't know how many years. The luck of the schedule didn't allow for any time to see the game except for the last 2 minutes, which were probably the most exciting anyway. It was definitely a different kind of day than any we've had so far. There were some discouraging moments, but overall, we think those experiences will better prepare us for the days ahead. We hope so. Almost all of the the people are very nice and friendly, and are just looking to be happy.
Business wise, I had a walk-in and a tour that I gave to an individual looking for an Independent Retirement Community for his dad who is 78 years old. It looks like a great prospect and may be my first acquired move-in. His time frame is very short, and he liked what he saw and heard, so we have a great chance for success with them.
Day number 2 as solo managers is today and it has to be a better day than yesterday. We already had a call from a resident this morning - at 4 AM - asking for the kitchen to send a breakfast tray to her apartment. Overall, we did a great job yesterday and are satisfied that we couldn't have handled anything any better than we did. The stories are mounting...
The ecall was from a lady that had set off the alarm accidentally. The pull cord located in the bathroom is very close to the towels that hang from the towel rack and she accidentally caught it in the towel. The toilet problem was from an individual - Richard - who is constantly complaining about some problem. He recently moved from one apartment to another and the problems just follow him. This time the toilet tray in the tank was not level so the water kept running into the tank, never shutting off. Evidently, it ran all night and his apartment was flooded. The result of all this water created the third problem - the apartment below his was dripping water from the sprinkler head in the ceiling which is directly under Richard's apartment.
Between handling these emergencies and other required duties, the day was very, very busy and we were happy to see the day come to an end. Another problem during the day was that someone overfed the fish in the fish aquarium we have in the lobby, creating what looked like a snowstorm in the water. We called the aquarium maintenence company and they said it should be alright and would correct itself with the new filter they put in the week before. The water became more and more cloudy and the next thing we knew people were reporting that the fish were floating upside down in the tank - dead. Sheesh! The aqaurium tech finally came anyway - too late.
This was the first Super Bowl game that I've missed in I don't know how many years. The luck of the schedule didn't allow for any time to see the game except for the last 2 minutes, which were probably the most exciting anyway. It was definitely a different kind of day than any we've had so far. There were some discouraging moments, but overall, we think those experiences will better prepare us for the days ahead. We hope so. Almost all of the the people are very nice and friendly, and are just looking to be happy.
Business wise, I had a walk-in and a tour that I gave to an individual looking for an Independent Retirement Community for his dad who is 78 years old. It looks like a great prospect and may be my first acquired move-in. His time frame is very short, and he liked what he saw and heard, so we have a great chance for success with them.
Day number 2 as solo managers is today and it has to be a better day than yesterday. We already had a call from a resident this morning - at 4 AM - asking for the kitchen to send a breakfast tray to her apartment. Overall, we did a great job yesterday and are satisfied that we couldn't have handled anything any better than we did. The stories are mounting...
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Chores and Family Visit
We were able to get only one of our scheduled apartment chores done yesterday. The new shower head was put on in the bathroom (nice), but I didn't have my drill to install the new shower curtain rod and the new door locks had a problem with the screws, so we couldn't use them to replace the existing locks.
There was a list of things we still needed to pick up from the fifth wheel, so we went over to the RV storage area and picked those up on the way back to the Outlet Mall to exchange some clothes that Josie bought. That still represents, to me at least, a shopping experience that is rare these days:
We stopped at Wetzel's Pretzels in the mall to have a soft pretzel snack which we haven't had in some time - umm, good!.
It was back to the apartment and we did a little bit more of our homework assignments and then called Costco to order a couple pizzas to pick up and take to visit Debby and her family who are staying at George and Cheryl's timeshare condos on the beach in Oceanside. It was like Christmas shopping at the Costco that is located in Vista. Parking was difficult and the crowd was immense. It has to be one of the busiest in the Costco chain of stores. But, our pizzas were nearly ready and we were out of there and at Debby's by about 5:15 PM.
We had a wonderful visit with them and we took these shots of the sunset:
and of Debby and Taylor while standing on the veranda that overlooks the ocean:
David was off somewhere watching TV and we had to catch him later, watching TV in the bedroom:
It amazes us to see the changes in the kids as they grow up. It was great seeing them and we look forward to their visit to our apartment sometime down the road.
We returned to the apartment at around 8 PM and were ready for bed shortly after 9 PM.
Today will begin the first real test for us as we will be on duty alone, all day today and tomorrow. We hope it goes smoothly. There is so much to remember that we are bound to forget something, but hope that we do enough of the necessary tasks to get through the week without any disasters. We are confident that we have enough knowledge at this point to successfully handle the job...
There was a list of things we still needed to pick up from the fifth wheel, so we went over to the RV storage area and picked those up on the way back to the Outlet Mall to exchange some clothes that Josie bought. That still represents, to me at least, a shopping experience that is rare these days:
We stopped at Wetzel's Pretzels in the mall to have a soft pretzel snack which we haven't had in some time - umm, good!.
It was back to the apartment and we did a little bit more of our homework assignments and then called Costco to order a couple pizzas to pick up and take to visit Debby and her family who are staying at George and Cheryl's timeshare condos on the beach in Oceanside. It was like Christmas shopping at the Costco that is located in Vista. Parking was difficult and the crowd was immense. It has to be one of the busiest in the Costco chain of stores. But, our pizzas were nearly ready and we were out of there and at Debby's by about 5:15 PM.
We had a wonderful visit with them and we took these shots of the sunset:
and of Debby and Taylor while standing on the veranda that overlooks the ocean:
David was off somewhere watching TV and we had to catch him later, watching TV in the bedroom:
It amazes us to see the changes in the kids as they grow up. It was great seeing them and we look forward to their visit to our apartment sometime down the road.
We returned to the apartment at around 8 PM and were ready for bed shortly after 9 PM.
Today will begin the first real test for us as we will be on duty alone, all day today and tomorrow. We hope it goes smoothly. There is so much to remember that we are bound to forget something, but hope that we do enough of the necessary tasks to get through the week without any disasters. We are confident that we have enough knowledge at this point to successfully handle the job...
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Relaxing on First Day Off
It was nice to relax and not worry about taking in more input on work related activities. It was a week of overload, for sure. There are so many activities and functions to perform that it will take a while to get them all memorized to the point they become automatic.
Our morning was spent just relaxing and having a light breakfast in our apartment. We went over to the fifth wheel to get a few things and to return some items we don't need. From there, we went to the Carlsbad Premium Outlets to find some work clothes. What a neat place to go. It is one of the nicest outlet malls we've seen anywhere:
All of our favorite stores were represented there and it was very enjoyable just walking around and looking at the different planters, trees and architecture. We found some good buys on clothes and stopped at Ruby's Diner for a great burger.
I had my appointment at the Audiologist at 2:45 in the afternoon and that went about as expected. I definitely, and desperately, need the new technology that is offered in today's hearing aids. They are super expensive, but I can't take a chance on getting less than I need to function as close to normal as I possibly can. The process of testing, evaluating and taking molds of my ears was completed and I have ordered new devices to be delivered in about 10 days. I wish I could get them sooner, but that is as fast as they can go.
After coming home and relaxing some more, we did a few of our required homework assignments that need to be completed during our first 7 days on the job. Mine are now finished and Josie only has 2 to go to finish up on hers.
It was off to bed and we were in a deep sleep when, suddenly at 2:20 AM, the ecall alarm sounded. Josie was up in a flash and we both ended up going to assist the other couple with the emergency. The woman that had the emergency just fell in her apartment and couldn't get up by herself. She was asked if she could get up by herself and she answered "honey, I'm 98 years old and can't do much of anything". She had no injuries, but we are not permitted to lift the residents, so 911 was called and Paramedics came to help. It was back to the apartment and back to bed again.
Our second day off today will be filled with apartment activities: replacing the shower head, shower curtain rod and the locks on our patio door. We plan to go and visit our niece, Debby, and her family at around 4PM at Oceanside, and we will bring a couple pizzas along to enjoy some dinner with them. It should be another fine day in Vista, CA...
Our morning was spent just relaxing and having a light breakfast in our apartment. We went over to the fifth wheel to get a few things and to return some items we don't need. From there, we went to the Carlsbad Premium Outlets to find some work clothes. What a neat place to go. It is one of the nicest outlet malls we've seen anywhere:
All of our favorite stores were represented there and it was very enjoyable just walking around and looking at the different planters, trees and architecture. We found some good buys on clothes and stopped at Ruby's Diner for a great burger.
I had my appointment at the Audiologist at 2:45 in the afternoon and that went about as expected. I definitely, and desperately, need the new technology that is offered in today's hearing aids. They are super expensive, but I can't take a chance on getting less than I need to function as close to normal as I possibly can. The process of testing, evaluating and taking molds of my ears was completed and I have ordered new devices to be delivered in about 10 days. I wish I could get them sooner, but that is as fast as they can go.
After coming home and relaxing some more, we did a few of our required homework assignments that need to be completed during our first 7 days on the job. Mine are now finished and Josie only has 2 to go to finish up on hers.
It was off to bed and we were in a deep sleep when, suddenly at 2:20 AM, the ecall alarm sounded. Josie was up in a flash and we both ended up going to assist the other couple with the emergency. The woman that had the emergency just fell in her apartment and couldn't get up by herself. She was asked if she could get up by herself and she answered "honey, I'm 98 years old and can't do much of anything". She had no injuries, but we are not permitted to lift the residents, so 911 was called and Paramedics came to help. It was back to the apartment and back to bed again.
Our second day off today will be filled with apartment activities: replacing the shower head, shower curtain rod and the locks on our patio door. We plan to go and visit our niece, Debby, and her family at around 4PM at Oceanside, and we will bring a couple pizzas along to enjoy some dinner with them. It should be another fine day in Vista, CA...
Friday, February 3, 2012
Wrapping Up The First Week
Everything went smoothly for most of the morning until it came time for Terri and Charlie to leave for their trip. There was a conference call scheduled for 11 AM with the sales gurus from the region which started on time. It was a typical conference call, similar to those that I sat in on for more than 35 years in sales. There are 13 Communities in the region, and we had to sit and listen to reports from each of the other 12 during the call. I will never understand why management takes up so much productive time of so many people to waste with information that does not affect them. There should be one-on-one calls with each Community to discuss their sales. That would make a 1 1/2 hour conference call a 10 minute conference call and everybody could be doing what they are paid to do. Oh, well.
At noon time, with the conference call still in session, we had several activities occurring simultaneously: a couple walked in asking for information and a tour, Terri and Charlie had to do last minute things to leave, Josie and I had to do pour service for the meal and there was a resident that wanted to pay his monthly rent. It was mass confusion. We left Jamie (half of the other couple) to end the conference call, Rob (the other half) took the walk-ins on tour, Josie and I left to do the meal service and Terri and Charlie left without goodbyes. Somehow, the check from the resident was accepted and he was given a receipt.
There has only been one serious concern since we started and that is the effectiveness of my hearing aids in certain situations. I cannot hear conversations clearly in a crowded room, such as meal time, nor in meetings where there are several individuals speaking at once. The conference calls are also a problem since the speaker phones do not send out a clear message. The telephones are also difficult for me to use and that is one very important part of the job. I have an appointment scheduled with an Audiologist today to see what can be done to resolve those problems.
Other than that, our first full week is in the books. It has been a good experience so far and we are happy that we get a chance now to finish up some details on the apartment. We plan to go back to the fifth wheel today to pick up some miscellaneous items and to take back some that we decided we don't need. We also need to drop off some clothes at the cleaners for next week and we may go to purchase more dress clothes somewhere. It has been so long since we had to dress in business clothes that we got rid of most of that stuff over the last several years.
The weather has been perfect and we heard that the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday. We'll take the 6 more weeks of winter here...
At noon time, with the conference call still in session, we had several activities occurring simultaneously: a couple walked in asking for information and a tour, Terri and Charlie had to do last minute things to leave, Josie and I had to do pour service for the meal and there was a resident that wanted to pay his monthly rent. It was mass confusion. We left Jamie (half of the other couple) to end the conference call, Rob (the other half) took the walk-ins on tour, Josie and I left to do the meal service and Terri and Charlie left without goodbyes. Somehow, the check from the resident was accepted and he was given a receipt.
There has only been one serious concern since we started and that is the effectiveness of my hearing aids in certain situations. I cannot hear conversations clearly in a crowded room, such as meal time, nor in meetings where there are several individuals speaking at once. The conference calls are also a problem since the speaker phones do not send out a clear message. The telephones are also difficult for me to use and that is one very important part of the job. I have an appointment scheduled with an Audiologist today to see what can be done to resolve those problems.
Other than that, our first full week is in the books. It has been a good experience so far and we are happy that we get a chance now to finish up some details on the apartment. We plan to go back to the fifth wheel today to pick up some miscellaneous items and to take back some that we decided we don't need. We also need to drop off some clothes at the cleaners for next week and we may go to purchase more dress clothes somewhere. It has been so long since we had to dress in business clothes that we got rid of most of that stuff over the last several years.
The weather has been perfect and we heard that the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday. We'll take the 6 more weeks of winter here...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
More and More New Stuff to Learn
The amount of new information and new tasks keeps flowing to us at a phenominal rate. It's a wonder that there is time for potty breaks during the work day with all of the work that needs to get done each day. Our managers are leaving today to go to OK to visit Charlie's mother who has cancer, and they are trying to bring us up to speed as quickly as possible. The schedule has them leaving around noon today which will leave just the other couple and us to finish the day. Josie and I are off work at 3 PM today and will not return to work until Sunday at 7 AM.
When Sunday rolls around, it will be just the 2 of us for the first 2 days next week. It is a lot of responsibility to be the only managers on duty for 2 days, especially after having only been here for 1 week. Terri and Charlie have done everything they can to prepare us for next week, so this morning will be a wrap up of last minute items to remember.
Working with the other couple has been an experience in itself. They are definitely short timers here as they don't seem to want to get involved in much of what we are doing. They will be moving on to another assignment in a couple weeks so it doesn't matter, I guess. They seem nice enough but are not going out of their way to be sociable. They don't even wear their name badges which we don't understand. We just mind our own business and do what we are asked to do.
We're looking forward to the time off so that we can settle in some more at the apartment. When we work such long hours during the day, we haven't felt much like working around the apartment. We still need to get some things from the fifth wheel, so our days off will be pretty much filled with these final set up duties.
It's off to work for our final day this week...
When Sunday rolls around, it will be just the 2 of us for the first 2 days next week. It is a lot of responsibility to be the only managers on duty for 2 days, especially after having only been here for 1 week. Terri and Charlie have done everything they can to prepare us for next week, so this morning will be a wrap up of last minute items to remember.
Working with the other couple has been an experience in itself. They are definitely short timers here as they don't seem to want to get involved in much of what we are doing. They will be moving on to another assignment in a couple weeks so it doesn't matter, I guess. They seem nice enough but are not going out of their way to be sociable. They don't even wear their name badges which we don't understand. We just mind our own business and do what we are asked to do.
We're looking forward to the time off so that we can settle in some more at the apartment. When we work such long hours during the day, we haven't felt much like working around the apartment. We still need to get some things from the fifth wheel, so our days off will be pretty much filled with these final set up duties.
It's off to work for our final day this week...
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Shorter Day
Even though we still worked a little bit past our designated end time of 3 PM - we worked until about 3:45 - it was a far cry from the previous 2 days. Charlie, on the other hand, was still meeting with prospective residents when we left. He was under a different pressure to close more business before the end of the month. Our Community has to climb out of the basement in terms of occupancy (70%) and there already is a sign that the trend has been reversed. Even though Terri and Charlie have only been here for about a month, the occupancy has risen over 3%. The goal is always to achieve over 90%, so we have a way to go yet.
The day was almost entirely taken up with sales activity for me, and Josie again was learning more office procedures and accounting functions. It is a different kind of sales from the kind I used to do, but the elements of the sale are the same. It should be a fun and interesting experience.
We will always perform our pour duties at meal time and we did that yesterday for only the 2 meals we were scheduled to work. The other couple (Jamie and Rob) came on duty at 11 AM and they were to work until closing at 8 PM. We didn't get much of a chance to talk to them as they were busy doing their thing, whatever that is. Honestly, we don't know what their responsibilities are except to assist Terri and Charlie until our arrival. There is some kind of issue with them that Terri and Charlie haven't shared with us, and that is OK. Now that we are here, it is a little awkward working around them. The problem for us is that Terri and Charlie are leaving Thursday afternoon to visit their home in Oklahoma to see his mother who has cancer. They will be gone all next week and we will be the managers, along with the other couple. Our understanding is that they have another assignment somewhere and will be leaving us shortly after Terri and Charlie return from their trip. We'll see how that turns out.
Our start time today is 11 AM so it was nice to sleep in a bit and catch up on rest...
The day was almost entirely taken up with sales activity for me, and Josie again was learning more office procedures and accounting functions. It is a different kind of sales from the kind I used to do, but the elements of the sale are the same. It should be a fun and interesting experience.
We will always perform our pour duties at meal time and we did that yesterday for only the 2 meals we were scheduled to work. The other couple (Jamie and Rob) came on duty at 11 AM and they were to work until closing at 8 PM. We didn't get much of a chance to talk to them as they were busy doing their thing, whatever that is. Honestly, we don't know what their responsibilities are except to assist Terri and Charlie until our arrival. There is some kind of issue with them that Terri and Charlie haven't shared with us, and that is OK. Now that we are here, it is a little awkward working around them. The problem for us is that Terri and Charlie are leaving Thursday afternoon to visit their home in Oklahoma to see his mother who has cancer. They will be gone all next week and we will be the managers, along with the other couple. Our understanding is that they have another assignment somewhere and will be leaving us shortly after Terri and Charlie return from their trip. We'll see how that turns out.
Our start time today is 11 AM so it was nice to sleep in a bit and catch up on rest...
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