First Day of Work

Today was my first day of work which was pretty exciting. I was picked up at 7:20 to start my day and it was non-stop til about 6:00. Most days are going to end up being quite so long but we had quite a bit to get through. So we went into the office and I was introduced to my new company vehicle. Sadly it was not the Ford F150 that the boss mentioned on the phone. While it was still a Ford it was a pretty large sized cube van. Kinda hard to be ballin' in that mobile. But a free ride is a free ride.
Basically my job is going to be to keep all of my accounts as happy as possible. There are going to be a lot of challenges that I am going to overcome in the next little while including but not limited to; learning to navigate all 27 Yellowknife roads (i made that number up), getting the warehouse guys to actually fill the orders correctly, and managing to keep myself pretty well entertained. Already I am accepted into an awesome group of friends because of my bro's previous hard work on making them. So there are plenty of people to hang out with and entertaining myself might not be too difficult. However, back to writing about my work day...
Throughout the day we went around to accounts and ensured shelves were stocked and there was plenty of product waiting to be moved our to the coolers as they are emptied. Essentially I just write the orders for all of my customers and manage all of their inventory. What I am doing is getting familiar with all of the products that we carry up in the Knife. Not only am I selling Coke but also Old Dutch Potato Chips. Thats a large product line to say the least. Although there are only 20 or so account that I am managing almost everyone requires a weekly visit at the very least. Almost all accounts are visited daily by either myself, the merchandiser, or the delivery guy.
I am pretty pumped because the boss also mentioned that he is likely going to have me write up some marketing plans for one of their biggest suppliers and that will get me started in doing what I would potentially like to do in the future, marketing consultation. There is another guy in town that is interested in potentially having me do some work for them also by designing and implimenting a marketing plan for his communication business. I am looking forward to the potential. While my job is going to be demanding from time to time I am certain I will be able to manage and with any luck reach my personal goal for sales increases.
I am off to bed, this weekend one of the boys in town is celebrating his birthday at my bosses cottage. Interestingly enough, my boss is his father-in-law. Small towns, go figure!

The Move is Complete. Sort of.

Well I made the move up to Yellowknife and its been a pretty interesting time since I got here. I am really impressed with my first couple of days up here.
I took off on Monday morning after spending extreme amounts of time packing about 45 minutes before I left for the airport. Needless to say I am sure I forgot more than one item under my bed. I waited for quite sometime in the Edmonton Airport before getting one of the last seats on my flight up to the Knife. I was really impressed that my bro was actually waiting IN the airport when I walked through the doors. Its a nice feeling to arrive with a drive waiting. After stopping by the softball field where I decided I am definitely going to join the summer league we went out for a couple of beers. I was home in bed pretty early as the next day I had to get out to the office and meet my boss and get a tour of the warehouse as I went through the hiring process over the phone and e-mail. The sun is pretty much up overnight so I pretty much didn't feel tired at all. The sun does set, but it remains "twilight" overnight. Lots of people have a lot of trouble sleeping because the sun seeps through the blinds and lights the room. People even put tin foil on their windows to block out the sun. Luckily I am having minimal problems. When have I ever really had a problem sleeping?
The next day I spoke with my boss and we arranged to meet at 3 PM. I had the day to kill so my bro came by and we took off into town to pick up a few things that I need around the place. Afterwards I witnessed the funniest driving test I have ever seen in my life. Questions that I overheard included...

"Are you suuuure that you want to pick this answer?"

"How about you sit back down and try again on these 5 questions that might not be correct."

Needless to say I am pretty sure that person passed the test.
I ended up being pick up in the grocery store parking lot while I was walking to work by my boss. He noticed a guy in headphones he had not seen around town and assumed it was me. What a guess! I got the tour of the plant and got some more information on my position. There is loads of shelf stocking to be done but there are also some marketing projects that the owner has thought up of for me. I am pleased to have the opportunity to expand my role and hopefully gain some meaningful experience. I was home in time to meet up with a few people for the White Stripes concert. They are doing a cross country tour visiting every capital city in Canada. Good Luck in Nunavut...
The concert itself was pretty good. The beer lines on the other hand... well I missed most of the concert waiting for two beers. I managed to get back to the main area for the encore. I was happy that it ended up being about 30 minutes. At the end of the concert they picked up the Territorial flag and waved it around while the audience went nuts! It was a pretty awesome experience. I am not a big fan of the Stripes but it was nice to get out and see a band. After the show I headed home for some shut eye as the next day was my first full day at work.
I will post about that later as I am getting picked up for grocery shopping shortly.
Stay well...