Job Chronicles: Sales, Sales and more Sales

I know, I know, I know....I'm slippin! Here it is July and I'm just now getting to the next post.  I think I need a blog manager to stay on my ass so that I can get these out in a timely fashion.  I'd probably end up fired from my own blogs!

So, I come to Maryland to work for the Corporate Housing company, Oakwood Corporate Housing.  Now as you remember from before, corporate housing is when these companies take high end apartments, take over the lease, furnish them, and then lease them out at a daily rate to business travelers.  The job was relatively easy, but it certainly had it's ups/downs.  I had to get acclimated to the state of Maryland...and fast!  Luckily, I was an Account Coordinator, meaning I handled all of the inside sales for Oakwood and supported the Account Managers who handled the outside sales.  The outside sales person I supported had accounts in Gaithersburg, Germantown and Montgomery County of Maryland....yet I was in Baltimore.  I had to look at a map everyday in order to really know the state of Maryland.  I had to learn all the airports, the large companies, and public transportation...and I learned it fast in order to maximize on sales.  I was rather good at my position.  I loved my job at Oakwood because I could feel myself growing professionally. 

The first 3 months were very trying for me.  I was out of my element.  Keep in mind, I was on the west coast living it up.  Drinking, smoking, paryting and do whatever, whenever.  I didn't really need a car, because there was pretty good public transporation in Seattle.  I had friends and family, so if anything were to happen, I had them to fall back on.  Oh but no, not in Maryland....I was on my own.

I lived the first 3 months with my line sister, Tennille.  A brief history between the two of us....when we first met, we didn't quite exactly hit it off, she was just straight up MEAN!!!!  Like I had NEVER met before, for no reason...just a damn bully....we were like this....

see that is her attacking me like she often did! 

...but now we're like this....

 This is really me and Tennille

Don't get it twisted, sometimes I have to look at her with the WTF Tennille? 

Her and her husband held me down when I first moved by letting me live with them, and she and I became close over the years, but let me tell you...you just can't become Tennille's friend, you gotta earn that shit! Fa real....and a friendship like that is worth earning!  

Nevertheless, I was very reserved and stayed to myself for a while.  Yes, I had all my sorority sisters, but I had to get re-acclimated with everyone since I had been gone for so long.  That was cool, but then it was time to get into the real world.  Which meant getting my own car, my own apartment and starting on my new journey. 

So, first order of business...get a car.  Now, remember, my dad and I had a falling out about me moving back to Maryland, he didn't want me to go and said I would be back home.  So imagine the serious pride pill I had to swallow when I asked him to borrow $2,000 to purchase a Honda Accord.  

And to my surprise...he hooked it up, and I made sure I paid him back a $100 per month. 

they see me rollin...they hatin' 

I got a new car, and as of December that year, I had a new roommate.  A girl who will forever change my life.  My soror, Shazzle Dazzle!  This chick is the most frugal person I've EVER MET!  When I moved to Maryland, my credit was SHOT!  However, living under a frugal household, I was able to pay off a bank, and 3 credit cards.   The best thing about Shazzle...she will make a dollar out of .15 cent and show you how to save .75 out of it! lol  This girl is so resourceful and no matter how much she thinks I play her...I learned a tremendous amount from her and admire her "Lifestyle"

 Me and My Shazzle Le Dazzle! Love that chick!

The job is going good.  I was making $16/per hour plus commissions, incentives and overtime.  Let me tell you when I say my commissions were PHAT!  Sometimes my commission checks would be bigger than my paycheck.  I was stacking money, paying off bills, rolling in my Honda and getting acclimated again with Maryland.  I was told I was a push over, too sensitive, too naive and passive when I first moved to Maryland.   I thought everyone was overly mean, aggressive, judgmental and conservative.  However, it wasn't that....it was that I was in an element where I was forced to grow up and handle my business.  No nonsense!  

The best thing about working for Oakwood, was my co-workers.  Now, as you can see from all of my previous jobs, I did not stay around long enough to really make friends, but after working for Oakwood I made long life friends.  Sonja, Rose and Stacy.  These girls were my sorority sisters at work.  It wasn't anything they wouldn't do and we all had fun.  We went on trips together, go out partying, go to church and worked together.  

I worked for two 1/2 years at Oakwood, from 2003-2005.  I was doing great and one day, I was asked to go on an  outside sales call for my Account Manager who had double booked herself.  I remember how it all worked out so divine.  I remember getting a call from a sales manager from Marriott who was looking for a corporate apartment in Maryland.  I went on the call, and to my surprise, the regional manager, general manager and sales manager to Marriott hotels were on the call...and you know my ass...I did the damn thing!  So much so, that the Owner of the new Marriott Hotel told me, "have you ever considered a job in outside sales, you'd be really good."  

2 months later....I was working for that hotel owner at Marriott hotels! 

Next:  Downtown Working, Downtown Livin'