I no longer like Dallas.
Reasons:
1. The people here are weird. I realize this is a huge generalization. Let me revise. The people I'm in training with, all of whom are from the Dallas office, are weird. Maybe I just got stuck at a table with the weirdest, but they are all just... so intense. I feel like at the trainings I've been to with other Ohioans, we generally try to make it through the trainings without a lot of exertion. That is, we don't try incredibly hard to complete our tasks. We'll DO them, but we won't try to overachieve. Dallas? Slightly different story. These people are INTENT on finishing everything to the best of their ability, even if it's a stupid game or something we've already done 10 times. Again, maybe it's just the table I'm sitting with but... sigh. They wear me out. And I feel like I probably look like a bitch, because I just sit there and watch this all go down and don't offer to help in group assignments. Why? 1) I don't care 2) they seem to have enough trouble deciding among the 4 of them. Adding my opinion would only complicate things. They also like to tell stories about absolutely nothing. I'm sorry, I really don't care that your boyfriend is going to Mardi Gras and you're paying for his hotel room with your Marriott points and now you think his friends should pay you for part of it since you're essentially paying for their portions of the room too, but then that made your boyfriend mad. I DONT CARE!
2. Another reason I don't like Dallas is that it creeps me out. Granted, I've been confined to about 5 blocks of Dallas. It's just... empty. It's creepy. There are skyscrapers, but barely anyone going into them in the morning. My walk to the office was about 3-4 blocks today, and I passed two people. At 8 in the morning. Just... bizarre. When I walked home today, I felt kind of unsafe. I got honked at twice and someone told me 'I like your walk.' Who even knows.
3. Oh, and I got hit by a car.
Yes. I literally got hit by a car today. NBD.
I was walking home from the office and was crossing the street to get into my hotel (like... the door was right in front of this crosswalk). There was a guy turning left. Obviously I have the right of way. He was not paying attention AT ALL. When I realized he had no intention of stopping, I started running but he hit me in the hip/butt. Seriously? How do you not notice a person until after you've hit them? In the split second before he hit me, I put my hands out to slam down on his hood, as if to say 'um, what the fuck.' I had a bag from CVS in one of my hands. It was hanging down from my wrist so when the car actually hit me, the bag got hit and broke open and everything went flying. The guy stopped his car, but never got out. That's right. He never got out. He never asked if I was okay, he never even rolled down his window. Some random guy down the street came running, asking if I was okay. I was terrified and mostly just overwhelmed so I just burst into tears, gathered my scattered belongings, and ran to my hotel haha. The people in the hotel had luckily seen it all happen, and they came running out. One scary black guy went up to the car, which was still parked, and got the license plate and everything. Not until I was INSIDE THE HOTEL did the guy get out of his car and asked the scary black guy if I was okay. Heaven forbid you ask ME if I'm okay. What a douche. Anyway, the hotel employees were incredibly nice and kept asking me if I needed anything, and if I wanted to go find the guy, and if I wanted to press charges, etc. I told them no and went to go get on the elevator just because I wanted to get back to my room to compose myself. When I was waiting for the elevator, the guy who hit me came walking into the lobby, so I just bolted. I had no desire to speak to him. A few minutes later, one of the managers came up to my room. They had collected the guy's info and gave it to me in case I did want to press charges, which was nice of them. A few minutes after that I got a call from the front desk asking if I needed anything, or if I wanted any freshly baked cookies hahaha. I declined. I am somehow not hungry at the moment.
Aaaand then here I am, writing this. This literally happened like 15 minutes ago. My heart is still racing.
Sooo.. I don't know that I want to go out in Dallas tonight haha. I was going to go about a mile away to what I think is a Buckeye Bar to watch the OSU game but... I don't know how I feel about that anymore. There's a TGIF about 20 yards from my hotel, so maybe I'll wander over there if I feel like getting a drink and watching the game but it's completely possible I'll just sit in my hotel room now. Womp.
I want to come home :(
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Dallas
Well friends. It seems it's been awhile since my last post. Sorry about that! Things have been a little crazy with work and then the holidays. I was lucky enough to have a few days off in late December, and although they were jam-packed with other things, it was still great to get almost two full weeks off.
New Years was wonderful, but I had almost no time to rest after that. After my iPhone failed to wake me up on New Years' Day, I feel like I've constantly been running late. I was late to my grandparents' on the 1st because of the iPhone alarm glitch, and it seems like I haven't stopped. There is always just so much to DO now that I'm working.
Yesterday (Sunday) I flew into Dallas for more auditing training. Believe me, I'm beyond excited to be somewhere with a high of 60. However, I'm completely by myself and it's a little lonely! That is, no one from my office or the Cincinnati office is here (they're the ones I've gotten to know through other trainings). There are about 30-40 people in my training class, and EVERY single one of them is from Dallas except one other girl from Witchita. This is just very sad to me. Usually trainings include people from multiple offices, and you go out to eat with other people and hang out all night. But all of these people are just... going home every night. Hence I will be spending 4:30 PM - bedtime alone every night. I'll be eating by myself, which is maybe the worst part of it. Guess I'll get room service every night? I'm not really one to just go to a restaurant and eat by myself at a table. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that but... I'm not there yet. Luckily there's a TGIFridays nearby so I can walk there and get carryout if I get sick of room service.
The other not so exciting parts of this trip:
- my return flight gets in at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only that, my training will be over by 3 PM at the latest. Which means LOTS of time sitting in the airport on Friday. Lame.
- My room's heater makes TERRIBLY loud noises but I'm too lazy to pack up all of my stuff and request a new room
- I have no car which means I'll have to request a shuttle to/from training every single day. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that we have no idea when we'll get out on any given day.
- I have no one to watch the OSU game with. This is perhaps the most depressing aspect of the trip.
- Everything is an hour off. I'm terrified I'm going to miss SVU on Wednesday. Or the OSU game.
However. Several good things about Dallas/this week:
- I am allowed to spend $45 a night for dinner. Yes, please.
- The employees at this hotel are super friendly and are so chatty whenever I am in the lobby
- Diet Dr. Pepper is in the pop lineup for training. This is awesome. Usually it's just your standard Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water. Diet Dr. Pepper is just... nuts. This is really all I have to get excited about during training.
- Southern people are hilarious to me. Not all of them in this office are Southern-born. You can definitely tell who was born and raised in Texas and it's awesome. So many 'y'alls' and silly phrases like 'holy smokes.' There is one girl who also says 'um' really oddly but it's fascinating. MANY of them are married/engaged, which is bizarre to me. Not a single person in my class in Columbus is engaged. I'm the only one that's even in a long-term relationship. Also, there are multiple guys with the Southern Boy Swoop as I like to call it. See below for an example.
New Years was wonderful, but I had almost no time to rest after that. After my iPhone failed to wake me up on New Years' Day, I feel like I've constantly been running late. I was late to my grandparents' on the 1st because of the iPhone alarm glitch, and it seems like I haven't stopped. There is always just so much to DO now that I'm working.
Yesterday (Sunday) I flew into Dallas for more auditing training. Believe me, I'm beyond excited to be somewhere with a high of 60. However, I'm completely by myself and it's a little lonely! That is, no one from my office or the Cincinnati office is here (they're the ones I've gotten to know through other trainings). There are about 30-40 people in my training class, and EVERY single one of them is from Dallas except one other girl from Witchita. This is just very sad to me. Usually trainings include people from multiple offices, and you go out to eat with other people and hang out all night. But all of these people are just... going home every night. Hence I will be spending 4:30 PM - bedtime alone every night. I'll be eating by myself, which is maybe the worst part of it. Guess I'll get room service every night? I'm not really one to just go to a restaurant and eat by myself at a table. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that but... I'm not there yet. Luckily there's a TGIFridays nearby so I can walk there and get carryout if I get sick of room service.
The other not so exciting parts of this trip:
- my return flight gets in at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only that, my training will be over by 3 PM at the latest. Which means LOTS of time sitting in the airport on Friday. Lame.
- My room's heater makes TERRIBLY loud noises but I'm too lazy to pack up all of my stuff and request a new room
- I have no car which means I'll have to request a shuttle to/from training every single day. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that we have no idea when we'll get out on any given day.
- I have no one to watch the OSU game with. This is perhaps the most depressing aspect of the trip.
- Everything is an hour off. I'm terrified I'm going to miss SVU on Wednesday. Or the OSU game.
However. Several good things about Dallas/this week:
- I am allowed to spend $45 a night for dinner. Yes, please.
- The employees at this hotel are super friendly and are so chatty whenever I am in the lobby
- Diet Dr. Pepper is in the pop lineup for training. This is awesome. Usually it's just your standard Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water. Diet Dr. Pepper is just... nuts. This is really all I have to get excited about during training.
- Southern people are hilarious to me. Not all of them in this office are Southern-born. You can definitely tell who was born and raised in Texas and it's awesome. So many 'y'alls' and silly phrases like 'holy smokes.' There is one girl who also says 'um' really oddly but it's fascinating. MANY of them are married/engaged, which is bizarre to me. Not a single person in my class in Columbus is engaged. I'm the only one that's even in a long-term relationship. Also, there are multiple guys with the Southern Boy Swoop as I like to call it. See below for an example.
The other thing I've seen that I am PRETTY sure is a Southern thing (but I could be wrong) was when I drove by a GIANT building on my way from the airport that said in HUGE letters formed by Christmas lights 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.' I mean, really, I've never seen anything like that in Columbus.
Amazing.
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