MikkiStreak

I came to the realization that I needed to do this about 2 months ago. Our sales rep pissed off the customer I spend about 95% of my time taking care of, so in order to keep our firm from being fired, I had to put together a presentation of what I do as well as the benefits of retaining a company with a "me" to focus on them. We flew our owner's husband to California to do the presentation, but once I was finished, the sales rep (had to do hers as well) dropped her jaw and said, "My God, you need a raise!" That's what put the 'bug' in me again to start re-visiting this subject. I figure I'll start with the presentation (which was basically a 4-page itemization of my job description), then also emphasize that honestly, there isn't one person here who could do my job because none of them even understand what I do (and they admit it too). Granted, that probably won't mean much to them, but maybe it will get across the idea that they would lose a multi-million dollar account, as well as some national accounts with name-brand recognition, if they lost me. Now that I'm back in town and have put an end to the nighttime phone calls, I have some time to start working on this and hopefully can finish it off this weekend. Then, it'll just be a matter of catching my boss on a 'good day'.

If you do a search on "iberostar" on here, you'll probably find a bunch of information. I know there are several of us who are planning/thinking about having our weddings with them. I know somewhere on this site I had posted previously a link to a website that is dedicated to the Iberostar resorts and had wedding reviews, resort reviews, etc... (Completely unrelated, but I just noticed I hit "666" for my posting count---- hehehe)

I love them! Especially the seahorse design!!! It's refreshing to see a new design for a 'beachy' feel. Those are so cool---- especially all the information you included for the guests...

Anny, those look great!!! Where did you get the silk flowers from? I gotta admit---- yours is one wedding that I'm dying to see the photos of already! You've really tied everything together well and it's very classy and elegant!

Quote: Originally Posted by NABUMBAH I used Jim Kennedy Photographers {800 264 4558} I highly recommend them On an unrelated note---- I've been seeing Jim Kennedy in a lot of published materials. He has a lot of work in this month's issue of "Bride & Bloom." He does some great work!

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. We just got back into town from visiting family over the weekend, so now I'm going to start digging into these areas and hopefully, we'll find out where we want to go within the next month or so. I'm excited! I haven't been able to even get a weekend vacation in for the last 3 years, so I'm seriously in need of some R&R!!!

Christa, 1- Totally agree. To me, the most successful business theory has been that a company takes care of it's employees, the employees take care of the customers, and the customers take care of the business. The only time I've come close to having a "review" was when I asked to go back into a field personnel position and the owner called me into her office and basically said I'm "too valuable" to her in my current position and that basically, field personnel are fluff jobs while I'm "more" than that and she has "plans" for me. When I've asked about raises, the answer is always that no one has been able to receive one because we're still getting back on track after 9-11. (But, mind you, we have as much revenue coming in right now as we did in the late 90's when telecom boomed and the only difference is that now we are seriously inefficient and waste labor.) 2- Yep, I'm exempt. And you nailed it on the head---- for years, I've given 100% to my job and allowed myself to be put in this situation because I was working my way up. Well, I've been "up" and it sucked. Which is why I stepped back down and took this job. But now I also have a lot of other obligations--- daughter, FI, elderly parents, and *me*!!! I've started setting limits on when I'm available to them and am also training my assistant to take over more of the paperwork side of things and am training someone else in our office to take over when I'm away. It has helped a lot, but still there's a ways to go... 3- People in our office are dense. They approach me with some work issue and I'll stp them and say, "I'll take care of it after lunch"--- then they respond with "well, ok, but here's the situation".... and they continue as if I've said nothing. Still haven't figured out how to get through to them on this one. But if I can get the other 2 things better, I figure this won't drive me as crazy as it has lately... Before working in this industry, I had 2 jobs for 8 years---- nanny during the day and working at an educational testing facility at night. So I really have no clue whether our field is an exception to how things really should be, or whether I just work for a shitty company in a crappy industry...

As probably everyone knows already, I have come to really hate my job. I like what I do, but I hate the company and hate the industry. So I'm curious if other people have the same type of situations in their jobs and I've just gotten so tired of it that I've developed a bad attitude that I can't seem to shake, or whether our company/industry just really sucks and takes advantage of people. And, if there's anyone out there who knows HR/employee law, I'd be very curious to hear their input also... So, here are the primary issues I've had with my job: 1) I haven't had a review or a raise (merit based or cost of living based) in the 2.5 years I've worked here. I am literally making the exact same dollar amount now as I did when I was hired. 2) I am salaried, and I get called to handle work issues after I've left the office at the end of the day, and also while I'm on vacation/sick time. When our office closes (weather days) and everyone is home, I still get called to handle work issues. None of which I am compensated for at all. 3) When I take a break or take lunch, I still get called if I leave the office. If I don't leave the office, co-workers will page me overhead to deal with issues. If I don't answer the page, they will come looking for me to take care of work issues whether I'm in the kitchen, break room, sleeping on my sofa, etc... Now, for a general vent again. I swear my boss wants me to look like the office peon. A vender in Minnesota signed a new National Account and was referred to me to handle the implementation for their new systems in Texas. Great! So I've been working with the customer for about 2-3 months now--- giving them quotes on different aspects of their project, advising him on communications platforms, etc... I come back in today and the customer emailed saying he's flying into town tomorrow and wants to meet me since I've been his primary point of contact and will remain the manager for his projects. So my boss (the owner) has decided to send one of her sales reps instead. I'm just kind of like, "WTF?" There's nothing to sell to this guy! He's already a customer and this sales rep will *never* have any interaction with him because I handle all the National projects. But, the petty side of me is going to let him flop on his face. He approached me with a huge sales presentation he's going to give this guy, and I just sat there nodding like, 'wow, you've really got it going on!' He has no clue what this project entails or what he's purchased for hardware or timelines, etc... And I'm just going to get a nice little chuckle out of this tomorrow....

I am leaning toward having 1 usher, but only because someone on here had once talked about the fact that it was like none of the guests knew what to do when they arrived at the ceremony because they expected to have an usher, like in a traditional wedding. Other than that, I plan on skipping a lot of these type of functions because I want people to just sit and relax and have fun- not to 'watch over' some wedding/reception process. I think it depends also on how many people you have as guests.

Hey Glenda--- Count me in! It'll be 15 of them for me, in a light blue. I'll PM you my info.... Thank you *sooo* much! You are always so helpful to everyone on here, it just amazes me!!! Maria

Beautiful work! Welcome!!

So the already "senior" titles were stripped? That sucks.... Damnit, TammyM--- she's wrecking the posting curve for everyone!!!!!

Hey, anyone notice that some people don't have the "Senior Member" title anymore? Lisa (lryates76), Jaime (JaimeLynne) and myself are the ones I've noticed so far. All of us have over 500 posts and had the "Senior Member" banner by our names last week and now it just says "full member". How exactly does this work anyways? How many posts and what the titles change to? I'm still noticing how some of the stuff works on here...

Have you actually put a deposit down with them? When we were looking into St. Thomas as a location, we contacted about 10 different wedding planners and all of them wanted some type of deposit to secure the wedding date (usually low, like between $200-500) before they would give an actual quote for what we wanted (we were going to customize everything- like cocktail reception on a yacht and dinner reception at Havana Blue, etc...). I'm guessing that if you're just in contact with them and haven't put a deposit down with them, that this is the reason why. They usually are concerned that the bride will use the vender list and not contract them as the planner...

Those are amazing! Absolutely *loved* them all!! You know, I was just thinking that I don't think anyone has ever posted pictures from their AHR---- would love to see what people are doing with their AHR's...

Ok, I have no clue about this---- but wanted to echo Jaime by saying hello, I'm in Dallas too---- and a group of us from on here are getting together next week, if you'd like to join us---- Honestly, I'm a space cadet right now and don't remember what day it is, but if you "Search" for "DFW Meet-up" you'll probably find the thread with all the details....

I agree with Kelly on this one---- I think part of the reason everything has had so much drama is because Erik hasn't seemed to willing to put a stop to it. His mother is going to keep milking the drama until *he* is the one who puts his foot down and just flat out tells her, "Mom, this is what *I* want, what *Drea* wants and there isn't any more discussion about it. You can either join us and celebrate, or stay here and pout. Either way, I don't want to hear one more word about our wedding unless it's happy thoughts or else you simply won't be invited." I know that sounds harsh, but it seems like every phone call from this women just throws everyone into a tailspin---- like your whole lives are suppose to revolve around making her happy with this plan. And when she's upset, it's like everyone panics and scrambles until she gets happy again. You know what that's called? BI-POLAR! Mental instability! I'll be blunt too--- I don't think the fast changes in all the plans have helped. It's kind of self-induced. The wedding plans have changed 3 times in the last 2 months and this kind of sends the message that you guys aren't certain about *what* you want, so why wouldn't she try to talk you into doing what she wants? I don't mean to sound harsh---- But until *Erik* sets her straight and stops *letting* her vent on him about your wedding, she's going to keep doing this.

mememememe----- (can you see me frantically waving my arm in the air?) I would love to see the photos!!!! This is one of the resorts at the top of our list and we have been thinking about going for a site visit/vacation later this year and staying at Azul to really get a good feel for our wedding.... My email is: [email protected] Thank you!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by LadyP CONGRATULATIONS YOU BOTH DESERVE IT. Ps Tammy 20 left.hehehehe I think her tag needs to change to "Never Logs Off Member" when she hits the 5000 mark....

I first heard of destination weddings about 10 years ago when a cousin in my birth-family took her immediate family to Jamaica and got married. I thought that was just the coolest thing and fell in love with the idea of just grabbing a small handful of close friends and family and heading off somewhere for a wonderful extended weekend. After having announced our plans and having had the word spread through the grapevine, I can say that even tho we are firm with our decision to have an 'untraditional' wedding out of the country, I think it would have helped me if someone had told me to really think about what the reaction would be from extended family. And not in a vague way---- like reading about it on here and thinking our family wouldn't react like "that". Well, they did. Don't get me wrong---- I'm not trying to dissuade you from this idea. I am still just as committed to getting married outside in a vacation setting as I have been for the last 10 years. But, when you start to hear negative things and judgement from people you care about, it kind of zaps the joy out of planning your wedding momentarily. For me, I wish I would have been better prepared for that so maybe it wouldn't have bothered me as much as it has. Really, this is the only downside I've found so far---- but to me, it's worth it. I just have to remind myself that these are people who are set in their ways and they were going to find something to complain about...

They're also checking for pregnancy and if that comes back positive, it's a no. I read that somewhere online a long time ago... And I think they're looking for STD's, which could be a no also. But I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly because it's been so long since I saw this...

Quote: Originally Posted by Clussy75 I LOVE the "man-whore" bags idea! LOVE IT! Because the men that we're thinking of are so... well, that type. heh. Thank you so much for this idea! I guess we can inter-change 'phrases for picking up men' for the one guy who's not into the ladies. Brilliant! You could put a "baby" syringe in the bag with a note that says, "A little shot to clear up whatever you pick up in Mexico!" hehehehe, wow, there are *soooo* many directions I could take this man-whore idea!!! The guy who prompted my "Man-Whore" bag idea is one of 'those' guys too---- in fact, I tried to enter him in a man-whore contest on the radio. He's already told us that he isn't bringing anyone with him because he knows he'll pick someone up whether he's trying to or not....

Quote: Originally Posted by lryates76 What do they use to for?? Um..... Maybe for..... itching down below Might be wrong on that tho----

It's very "Pretty Woman".....

Ok, totally crass, but we have 3 single guys who will be attending our wedding (who happen to be all the groomsmen and are FI's best friends). We're giving them "man-whore" bags---- backpacks (instead of the pink tote bags for women), with a beach towel, margarita glasses with margarita mix and a tequila bottle once we get to Mexico, custom Mexican phrases for picking up women, poker chips/cards, and condoms.... hehehe....