Well my mom and Mike have returned to America, they seemed to really enjoy their vacation in the UAE. They didn't spend too much money and stayed busy seeing the sites for their 10 days here. They didn't have as much interaction with my coworker friends here as Fred did last year. but there were some memorable moments. Hayley and Nick spent the most time with them...Mike has already befriended Hayley on Facebook, and Hayley gushes about the fun she had with "Helen". Seeing mom and Hayley sharing a camel ride in the desert is a site that I will never forget. Mike stayed with Nick, and mom helped me to finish moving in to my apartment, fixing my curtains and giving bountiful opinions to decorating my place. I am happy that they had a vacation to remember for a lifetime.
Kelly hosted our dinner at AL Hallab, the obligatory Lebanese meal. She is so adaptable and so damn like able. I was so happy to finally get to promote Kelly this week. She has worked so hard, and is so deserving. Her new title is "Sales Development Manager." A nice catch all that allows her to help in so many ways.Speaking of work, we had another awesome month (ho hum), with 116% growth in sales, and our second biggest month ever. January is traditionally the second slowest month (behind August) here, so to sell over 10.5 million and have our second biggest month ever...wow...the team just continues to set new bars. February brings the Gulf Food Show to Dubai, so it will be a busy month with plenty of distractions, we will have to keep our eyes on the ball.
Last night we had "Transmed has Talent" event. We had it at one of our country club customers, and I am truly surprised that I had as much fun as I did. I sat at a table with most of our team (remember Transmeds retail team dominates our company, over 10 times our size, and probably 20 times the employees) and watched the show. We had one member of the food service department participate (sang and danced Indian song) and he won. there was a 6,000 AED (almost $2000) prize for winning, and he was overjoyed. "Saif" works in supply planning, and I had absolutely no idea of his talents. The event was outside right next to the golf course, and was first class. It didn't end until after midnight....I am such an old man.
I am still getting to know Bob's replacement Steve. He took the approach of observing first, then making some changes. I think he now understands that it is not as easy to Westernize, and shape our company's Food Service department into the profitable, full line distributor that the company's top management wants to see work here, and then replicated throughout the Middle East. He did win an award this week. Most expensive driving month...lol...Steve now has learned the cost of not obeying the traffic laws here. He got his first bill from the car rental company. Five speeding tickets, and three parking tickets...not a record that I would want. ( yes a lot of damage in less than one month of driving)...We are building a good relationship, as he is steering my actions while allowing me to run sales (seems like an obvious move with our growth, but trust me , in my career I have seen a lot of bone headed managers that want to change and control for no good reason.) I seemed to have dodged a bullet, my fears that Bob's replacement would come and change what Bob allowed me to build in a team are now alleviated. There still is the pressure to change the compensation plan for my sales reps, that has been a constant now for over a year.
This morning when I woke up, turned on Fox news, and checked out the latest on the Internet (I am so happy to finally have cable and Internet) it dawned on me that this is the big football weekend. It is an example of how removed I am from the western world. I may watch some of it (no commercials and 3 in the morning kick-off) so I am not sure how much I will check out. This is a "Soprano's" weekend. Hayley and Nick are coming over tomorrow night to watch the next two episodes of the HBO Series that I so loved when I first watched it. Kelly has a date with her new boy interest (Syrian guy that I have not met or approved of yet...lol) so already a crack in our fun night. We are watching shows 3 & 4, so awfully early to already have an "I forgot and made other plans"....sigh...
Nick is getting to fly home next weekend (CAB meeting) and he is so looking forward to it. Fred is coming to visit in late March, that is my next "event" to look forward to. The calendar keeps ticking of days until I can move back to my homeland....My mission here is not completed, and I can not see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but my apartment is now my home, and I can return to some normalcy here. Hopefully, I will have something entertaining to talk about next week....
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