Don’t Get High On What You Create, It Might Just Steal Ya

Monday. Ok, everyone I'm back. You can all now let out your collective sighs of relief... Overall, I think everything went well on this trip. I was invited to attend and present at a regional sales meeting for all of our company's sales representatives in the southwest region, the area in which I represent financially. Going into this thing as a financial rep is like voluntarily entering a den of lions. Generally speaking, our friends on the sales and customer service side usually don't care for us folks in financial (or as they like to call us, "the sales prevention department") for rejecting their orders, making them jump through bureaucratic paperwork hoops, and all-in-all being proverbial wet blankets where their commissions are concerned. Considering that I was there to present a riveting report on financial numbers, figures, receivables, and other things that sales people couldn't care less about, I thought everything went over ok. I tried to sugar coat my doom-and-gloom receivables numbers, etc, with a bit of levity throughout to ease the pain, and I think it was well received. I heard chuckles and not crickets in the right spots, so that was a relief. The true test will be whether or not they listened, and not just heard, what I had to say. We really do need to tighten up our receivables in a bad way, and it is to everyone's benefit to do so. Hopefully they got that message.

There was also quite an, um, "active" roundtable discussion in which the sales and customer service reps aired out their many grievances, many of them towards the financial department (*gasp!* like we could do any wrong...). During this time, I got one of the best professional compliments I have ever received. One CSR was going off about all of the things that her financial rep (not me) was requiring her to do in order to get an order released, and a sales rep sitting in front of me turned around, extended a handshake and thanked me for being "the best financial rep she ever had" because she "knew exactly what (that CSR) was talking about and she was so glad she didn't have to deal with it anymore." There is a bit of a back-story to that compliment, but basically it confirmed to me that my personal professional philosophy and approach is working. Since I took over that account group last August we have made mile-long strides in cleaning up those large outstanding receivables, plus I made a friend and an ally with someone who previously did not work well with the financial department (not solely for reasons on her part). While tradition in this company sets our two groups as opposing forces, I see things differently. I remember getting odd looks when I first started at this company for things I would do that went against the way things were done. I got a flood of cold stares when I once walked over to the customer service department to talk face to face with someone regarding a discrepancy. When I noticed the tinge of oddness in the air, I asked "what?" To which I was told "You are over here. Financial people NEVER come over here." Why the hell not? We all work for the same company, don't we? And that's just one example.

Anyway, I think the trip went well. If anything I got to meet face-to-face a lot of people that I usually deal with only via phone or email, so hopefully that will kind of soften the cold financial guy envisionment of me that they probably maintained up until that point. It is weird matching up faces to how you picture them. A lot of people were nothing like I expected. I wonder if I was what others expected of me?

Random thought:

I usually listen to cool jazz when I'm on an airplane. I find it very relaxing and disarming, plus it provides an excellent backdrop to read, look out the window, rest your eyes, or whatever you find yourself doing strapped to a chair several miles above the ground. However, this time I listened to a couple of Cat Power albums instead. Excellent decision.

Today's music selection on the drive in to work this morning was Broken Social Scene by Broken Social Scene. This pick comes from a strong recommendation from Sweet Li’l Gal, who suggested picking this album up after I reviewed BSS's You Forgot it in People. I am happy to report that this album (and SLG's recommendation) did not disappoint. I enjoyed Broken Social Scene thoroughly. Broken Social Scene (the band, not the album) reminds me a bit like Pavement (the band, not the sidewalk). Not so much in musical style, per se, but in their approach. When listening to a BSS release, you don't exactly expect 10-15 independent tracks combined together to form an album, but something that needs to be soaked in and appreciated as a whole. I'm not talking about a concept album, or songs that simply flow into each other, but axioms that build into a single proof. In the days of a la carte downloading (of which I admit contributory guilt), the idea of the single, solid album has been pretty much rendered obsolete (along with album cover artwork, regretfully). It's good to hear a band that isn't afraid to open themselves up musically, and not be so concerned about putting out a dozen or so ready-made singles thoughtlessly compiled to form an album. I highly recommend picking this one up.

Boy, that was a long post.