They say attitude is everything…and when you are working on a team it probably is. This week Libby Kofford from our Customer Service Department and, I, Nancy Reimann from Sales and Marketing, traveled to Washington DC to attend Leading Edge Training at the Nomadic Display Headquarters. Now, you need to understand, EXHIB-IT!’s force of tradeshow marketing experts work together consistently to offer clients professional and informed services; however, each department does specialize in a different area of expertise. So, did Libby and I really know each other? Were we really a team? They say if you really want to know somebody, travel with them!

Libby suggested they plan on traveling comfortably, so she came to work in jeans and a t-shirt. I dressed in tan slacks, a white camisole and a red jacket. When Libby saw that, she said, “I thought we weren’t dressing up!” The trials probably began when we decided to split a Navajo Taco before we boarded the flight to DC with one change in Dallas–(the layover and change get important later…). Less than 10 minutes into the trip, but notably after checking our luggage, I dropped a dollop of red chile in the middle of my white blouse. I frowned. Libby pointed and laughed.

Until the plane started making the descent into Dallas, the trip was uneventful; a little chit-chat about work, family, friends. However, as the pilot announced it was time to fasten seat belts and put the seats in an upright position, Libby began to feel the pain of a thousand needles in her ear. But no matter how much yawning, gum chewing and swallowing she did there was only one way the pressure was going to stop–a ruptured eardrum. In a fury of pain and loud gurgling the pressure gave way. “OUCH!” Libby squealed. “You’ve probably ruptured your ear drum.” I replied. I didn’t think to tell Libby that ruptured eardrums heal. A fact Libby was glad to learn a few hours later when she called her sister certain that she would forever be deaf in that ear!

Just as we landed in Dallas the rain began to fall. Huge sheets, lots of lightning…fun for two travelers from New Mexico, but not good for airline travel. What was going to be less than an hour layover stretched into 2 hours, just long enough for us to decide we were hungry again, but not long enough to get something to eat before we had to board the plane. So two hungry and tired travelers headed down the ramp to board the plane, but the image was not what you may picture. We weren’t discouraged and grumbling…we were laughing! Especially when the leak in the ramp’s ceiling dripped an apple sized drop of musty water square on Libby’s head and hoodie. Libby stuck out her bottom lip. We both laughed.

After a continuing series of events that would make most travelers grumpy (i.e. the four year old who kicked Libby’s seat from Dallas to DC, the food cart that ran out of everything but potato chips, the $2 ear phones for the in flight movie) this daring duo arrived safely, just past midnight at Ronald Reagan Airport. We retrieved our luggage and headed toward the exit wondering just how we would make it to the hotel. The train had stopped running and the taxis were nowhere to be seen. We approached a transit booth where the ladies were counting money to ask if we could get a ride, but the women looked at the road-weary travelers and didn’t offer any hope. As we headed out the door to wait by the curb for any late taxis, a young gentleman offered us a ride. Now, at the end of a very long day, Libby and I felt relieved. Wow! This guy comes up to us and offers a ride! Great! The rate he offered seemed reasonable! Yay! It took about five minutes of walking toward the parking garage instead of the curb before we started thinking, who is this guy? Why is he taking us to the parking garage? Apparently the concern showed on our faces, because as we approached his vehicle he pointed out the license plate, which read, “For Hire”. Whew! We weren’t going to be abducted after all!
Upon arriving in our hotel room at nearly one am, we decided we had to eat. We ordered a pizza and ate the entire thing! Snuggling down into our beds, just drifting off to sleep after a long hard day of travel… and the phone blared in our ears. I looked at the clock…it was 2:23 am! In a bit of panic wondering who would track us down in the middle of the night I quickly answered the phone. “This is Larry from Pizza Delivery. I just wanted to make sure your pizza was okay!” “Fantastic!” I replied and dropped the phone back into its cradle.

So what lessons did we learn even before we attended our first training session? We learned that a smile and a little laughter go a long way. We learned to communicate all the information to avoid unnecessary fear. We learned that sometimes what could be a bad situation really isn’t after all. And we learned not to make customer service calls at two in the morning!

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This entry was posted by Marketing on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 11:29 am and is filed under EXHIB-IT! News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.