My Guilty Pleasure

I am such a sap, but I totally love this show. Every season it comes on, I tell myself its stupid and say I'm not going to watch it, but then I somehow always get sucked in. Tonight was the finale, and although he didn't pick the girl I really wanted him to, it was really a great season. This show and sappy Hallmark Christmas movies are the two things that make me wish I wasn't single. Then I watch Dr. Phil and feel better. Just kidding! (about the Dr. Phil thing.)

P.S.
They showed the next bachelor and WOW. Usually I don't think the guys on the Bachelor are all that good looking (except Firestone. He was cute.), but this guy is HOT. Makes me wish I was skinny so I could apply! Just kidding again! Or am I....

Customer Service is Key

Yesterday I was sick and stuck sitting at home watching all of the awful TV that goes on on Saturday afternoons. I found a show called "Airline" that is a series of mini-documentaries about issues at airports with Southwest Airlines. I watched three episodes and it cracked me up the whole time because each incident showed one of two things: either an idiot passenger or Southwest Airlines being idiots.

One incident in particular involved a flight that from Ft. Lauderdale that was landing in Buffalo with passengers connecting to Cleveland. The flight from Ft. Lauderdale was delayed and the passengers missed their connecting flight. Not the worst thing to happen, but Southwest REFUSED to do ANYTHING to accomodate the passengers to get them home. It was Sunday and the next flight that had seats available was Tuesday. They wouldn't put them on another airline, get them a rental car to drive home, or even pay for a hotel! They wanted these people to sit in the airport for 2 days, and when the people got upset, they called security on them!! It was ridiculous!

The thing that killed me about this situation is that reaccomodation is a HUGE opportunity for airlines to gain customer loyalty. You can gain a customer for life simply by showing that you are making every effort to help them out. But yet, these workers chose to actually say the words "Its not our problem" and when the customers offered suggestions of very reasonable things that would make them okay (hotel room, rental car, refunds so they could rent a car themselves), the airline refused. And the airline industry wonders why the public thinks they have poor customer service....

There were some good incidents on the show too. A lady's bag fell off a cart and was drug 100 ft, shredding nearly everything inside of it on her way home from a trip. That customer service agent called another agent in Vegas where she came from and replaced all of the souveniers that the customer had, plus some extras. Good job Southwest. I guarantee that that lady will always fly Southwest when she can. Just a little bit of customer service will go a long way.

Apparently I'm Suicidal....

It's 1:45pm on the day after Thanksgiving. I'm bored. So I am going to venture out and battle crowds at the Best Buy down the street. If no one hears from me in the next couple of days....send out the search party. Wish me luck!

Mini-Clicked

Ryan hasn't posted his weekly clicks yet, and I'm getting impatient. So here is my mini-version for the day:

• I'd like to introduce you to the dumbest. person. ever.
• Tired of hearing about the "destroyed" or "fictitious" Ancient Wonders of the World? Now you can name your own wonders!
• I'm glad they got this guy off the road!

In other news - I officially accepted a full-time offer today! In the spirit of a "this is what I clicked" post, I'll give you a quick rundown of my interview experience this semester.

• I had interviews here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. (McKinsey, Dell, American Express, Kelloggs, FedEx, GM, MGM Mirage, American Airlines)
• Got rejected by 2 companies officially (McKinsey and FedEx)
• Pretty sure that one was a rejection by never hearing from them again... (American Express)
• Think I'm about to get a rejection from this one (American Airlines)
• Am still getting calls from two companies (Kellogg's and Dell)
• And after all of that, decided that I really like where I am and accepted my full-time offer with Sabre! Ha! (I love the gnome...)

So thats all I have for today! Tune in tomorrow or Saturday for tales of an unusual camping trip!

P.S. - If you don't actually want to click on all those job links, I put cheats in white font so you can just highlight it. :)

"It's only 2 years..."

Brandon Kennedy wrote a post about success and for some reason wanted to know what I thought about success and what makes people "successful". I started a comment, and realized it was turning into a blog. So now it is! :)

Disclaimer: I am only talking about professional success in this blog...I know that personal success can be measured in so many different ways.

First of all, if I knew what success was, I probably wouldn't be on "interviews, interviews, interviews" as Brandon mentioned! But as I think back on things, I basically find I've been viewing my life in 2 year chunks....After college I said "Maybe I should just go to grad school. Its only 2 years, and then I can do what I really want." Then I decided I want to work in strategy and discovered to get into strategy, they want me to be in consulting for 2 years. So I apply with consulting firms thinking "Its a hard lifestyle, but I can do anything for 2 years..." Then I decide that I really want to be a consultant, and now I find that consulting firms want MBAs with 2 years of work experience. So if my last consulting interview comes up short, I'll stay where I am (which I would be very happy with by the way....Sabre is a GREAT company) and then try the consulting thing again in another 2 years. After all....it's only 2 years. I can do anything for 2 years...

In a lot of ways, this scares me. Although I'm not planning on doing something for 2 years that I absolutely despise, I can see how it could be easy to fall into a trap, always just looking for something a little bit better and never being content where I am. But I really do believe there will be a point where I will get into a job that I don't feel is a step trying to get somewhere else. I'm not saying that I'm going to stay in that job forever - I get bored too easily and would want a new challenge - but at that point my next move would just be to do something that I think is interesting and not simply a means to an end.

So I guess to sum up Brandon's question - I will consider myself successful when I reach a 2 year chunk where I can't see an "and then" afterwards....when my next 2 years is simply for another challenge, and not another step to get where I'm trying to go, that is when I'll be successful.

Gotta go for now....have to finish studying for another interview tomorrow morning! :)

Meet Me In St. Louis....

For the past month, I don't think I've spent one weekend at home.....Atlanta, Houston, Austin, and this weekend on Emily's National Tour....St. Louis! I went for the National Association of Women MBAs conference (the one that was in Boston last year). To make a long weekend's story short, went to some speakers/panels, saw the arch, feared for my life driving down the most dangerous street in the most dangerous city in the USA, and flew first class on the way home. :) Here are some pictures from the weekend.....thanks to Vineeta for actually carrying a camera!

The Mandatory Arch Picture:

The Mandatory "Us in Front of the Arch" Picture:

What happens when you tell people walking in suits to turn around? You get a picture that looks like a cheesey ad for the new Law & Order coming on.
Waiting for a session to start:
Eating at a really fancy Italian restaurant. We wouldn't have gotten in the restaurant except that a lady at the airport recommended it and told us to drop her name with the hostess because she's a VIP there. They made an exception and seated us as a favor to her.....but only after a 1-1/2 hour wait and if we sat in a back room away from the other guests! We felt special and insulted all at the same time....

And that was my weekend! If I ever get pictures from the Houston trip (Ashley, it was less than 24 hours! I flew in at 10 am Thursday morning, had meals and ceremonies all day long, and flew out Friday at 6 am! Don't hate me for not calling!!) I'll post those too.

A Dream Has Died!!

Its official....I will never get to do this:

I'm sure this will make Ryan's "Things I Could Blog About, But Won't" list sometime soon, but I can't believe that Bob Barker is retiring! I mean, I can believe he's retiring, but I'm so sad! Unless we do it soon, Lindsey and I will never get to make our random LA trip to go on The Price is Right. :(