What a Week!

Ever come back from a great vacation only to feel like you should have never left town for a full week? Well this has been my feeling all week. I am an Event Manager for a higher education center which basically means I rent space to people and companies looking to hold board meetings, training classes, large conferences, trade shows, wedding receptions, etc. and I am in charge of it all. We have a very small staff and two large buildings with lots of classrooms and conference space so when one is missing things can go wrong in a second flat. As you know I was in the Outer Banks last week for our first and only real vacation this summer. I am a pretty organized person (you have to be in order to do this job) so I left work feeling like things would be fine in my absence. All the admin staff was left with detailed e-mails telling each one of them what to do each day for the programs scheduled, everything from room set-up to catering to audio visual needs. I had also contacted most of our regular clients to let them know I would be out and changed voicemail and e-mail to reflect the dates I was gone. I didn't have very many programs last week so I thought all would be fine. Boy was I wrong!

Here are just a few things that happened last week...

Changes to the schedule - not terribly unusual but an real pain sometimes

Staff not showing up to work

Staff putting software on computers that is not allowed and looking at inappropriate websites (yes this really happened and yes this person was fired this week) - Only problem with the fired part is that now I am missing a person to help with set-ups. This really puts me in a bind for the many programs I have next week and all the different rearranging of tables and chairs I need to have done.

People calling to book rooms and not willing to wait until my return to sign contracts. The staff knows how to look at the books to see if rooms are available but they are not trained to know who signs what type of contract. This is for a reason people - work with me! Don't get me wrong some of the staff is great but others are completely worthless. And I am not a hotel with a big staff of event coordinators.

So on Monday morning I walked back into a big mess. Tons of voicemail messages and e-mails, and a new week full of additional problems. I was almost at the breaking point by Wednesday morning still dealing with aftermath from the previous week. Things have finally settled down again and I have everything organized now but it sucks to have the type of week I have had after such a great vacation. Makes me feel like I can't go on vacation and I hate this feeling.