All week in the office and no calls. Though we did get a fax from Ka-Pow!, the club where I met Galina... I did leave some Al-Cool business cards there, but I didn't understand the enquiry - something in Portuguese about an order for 6 bottles of vodka and 4 bottles of Jack Daniels. Surely we didn't drink that much?! Anyway I ran it through the shredder before Max saw it...
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday-Thursday
Blew my first month's wages at the weekend... But what a party! Met this really cute girl called Galina, from Romania... or was it Poland? Or Ukraine? Anyway, one of those countries where they live in big concrete blocks (hence 'Eastern block' I suppose)...
I joked about her name being like 'chicken' in Portuguese, then said I'd got an English male chicken for her to play with... ha! ha! But luckily she didn't understand, 'cos it turns out she's really intelligent and I could've offended her... Then I'd never have got off with her. Mind you, borrowing dad's Merc helped... And she looked dead impressed when I told her I was an 'Indoor Climate Executive'... Or maybe she was just off her face. When she asked who I worked for and I said “Al-Cool - ?” she just shrugged and asked for another vodka - Red Bull...
But language is no barrier to love, that's what I say. And I like a bit of foreign tongue.
Not much work booked for this week. Strange for an air-con business in the middle of a heatwave. Maybe it's the recession. But Penguin look like they're doing OK - we keep seeing their vans all over the place. Max hates them.
I joked about her name being like 'chicken' in Portuguese, then said I'd got an English male chicken for her to play with... ha! ha! But luckily she didn't understand, 'cos it turns out she's really intelligent and I could've offended her... Then I'd never have got off with her. Mind you, borrowing dad's Merc helped... And she looked dead impressed when I told her I was an 'Indoor Climate Executive'... Or maybe she was just off her face. When she asked who I worked for and I said “Al-Cool - ?” she just shrugged and asked for another vodka - Red Bull...
But language is no barrier to love, that's what I say. And I like a bit of foreign tongue.
Not much work booked for this week. Strange for an air-con business in the middle of a heatwave. Maybe it's the recession. But Penguin look like they're doing OK - we keep seeing their vans all over the place. Max hates them.
Friday
Just got paid. It's pathetic - how am I supposed to party on that kind of money? I asked Max for a raise, but all he said was “The only raise you'll see, smart-arse, is the back of my hand. Ha! ha!”. Not funny. I could report him for that.
Monday
Been working at Al-Cool almost a month now, first pay-cheque this Friday - awesome! But I must get on the management path soon as poss, then I can work shorter weeks... Two-day weekends really suck, there's just no time to party (or recover)... Why do people do it?
On Saturday mum had an accident at the tennis club. The hot sun expanded the botox in her lips, made her mouth all distorted and she started dribbling... They thought it was a seizure and rushed her screaming to hospital. She spent the night under observation. I'm not sure if it was the Casualty or Vanity Ward (apparently the private hospital has both).
A couple of the Penguin guys were playing tennis there at the time. They took mum to hospital, nice of them... But when I told Max at work today, he wasn't happy about it:
“What did she tell them about Al-Cool?”
“Er, nothing, Max.... I think she was only screaming and drooling.”
“That's alright, then. Can't be too careful these days.... Bloody Penguin, squeezing me out...”
On Saturday mum had an accident at the tennis club. The hot sun expanded the botox in her lips, made her mouth all distorted and she started dribbling... They thought it was a seizure and rushed her screaming to hospital. She spent the night under observation. I'm not sure if it was the Casualty or Vanity Ward (apparently the private hospital has both).
A couple of the Penguin guys were playing tennis there at the time. They took mum to hospital, nice of them... But when I told Max at work today, he wasn't happy about it:
“What did she tell them about Al-Cool?”
“Er, nothing, Max.... I think she was only screaming and drooling.”
“That's alright, then. Can't be too careful these days.... Bloody Penguin, squeezing me out...”
Thursday
Blimey... Just found out that air-con can be used for heating too – no-one told me that, doh! So I had to throw away the new business cards. Max was annoyed, said something about “Airhead, more like”. Best keep my head down next week...
Monday-Wednesday
Week three as an Indoor Cooling Executive – neat title, eh? I even got some new business cards printed -
Aaron Head
Indoor Cooling Executive (I.C.E.)
- Geddit? Awesome !
Bit of a problem this week. Max got really pissed off. He's such a yob. 'Seems he got drinking with some wealthy guy at The Watering Hole on Saturday and was soon shoe-horning the subject of air-con into the conversation. “That's the way to get business, son”, Max told me on Monday, “Catch 'em off-guard while they're drinking. I do it all the time”. And he does too – he's always hungover.
Seems the guy's air-con was leaking refrigerant gas. Max told him that gas was banned because it's killing the Rainforest so he'd have to buy a completely new system. He even got the guy's deposit money. But it turns out the guy double-checked with Penguin and found that Max's story wasn't true: you can simply replace the gas with a substitute – it costs a bit more than the normal stuff but far less than buying a new system. So then it all kicked off - the guy came in to see Max on Tuesday and had a right go at him, got his deposit back and stormed off. I heard it all from the tea room.
Max threw a real tantrum afterwards. No need to take it out on me, though. That tea was really hot.
Aaron Head
Indoor Cooling Executive (I.C.E.)
- Geddit? Awesome !
Bit of a problem this week. Max got really pissed off. He's such a yob. 'Seems he got drinking with some wealthy guy at The Watering Hole on Saturday and was soon shoe-horning the subject of air-con into the conversation. “That's the way to get business, son”, Max told me on Monday, “Catch 'em off-guard while they're drinking. I do it all the time”. And he does too – he's always hungover.
Seems the guy's air-con was leaking refrigerant gas. Max told him that gas was banned because it's killing the Rainforest so he'd have to buy a completely new system. He even got the guy's deposit money. But it turns out the guy double-checked with Penguin and found that Max's story wasn't true: you can simply replace the gas with a substitute – it costs a bit more than the normal stuff but far less than buying a new system. So then it all kicked off - the guy came in to see Max on Tuesday and had a right go at him, got his deposit back and stormed off. I heard it all from the tea room.
Max threw a real tantrum afterwards. No need to take it out on me, though. That tea was really hot.
Friday
TGIF!!! What a week! There's actually quite a lot to this air-con business – might take a bit longer to get my head 'round it... Apparently some companies even have technicians with qualifications, can you believe? But at Al-Cool, Max reckons that's a waste: “It's just common sense and a bit of sales patter”, he said. “Just stay one page ahead of the punters and they'll never know.” Smart guy. 'Mind you, he does get caught out...
One of dad's golfing pals thought he'd help my first week at Al-Cool by calling to ask for a quote. Max was dead pleased. Though he looked a bit strained when we learned that Penguin had quoted for the job earlier that day. As a result the client was clued-up about the right systems and how best to install them, which seemed to take the wind out of Max's sails – let alone sales (ha! ha!)
“Nah, it's all about price, son”, he said as we drove away after. “See, Penguin have their qualified technicians, a fleet of vans, their marketing clap-trap, blah-blah... Just unnecessary, see? All I do is come-on a bit friendly, undercut Penguin's price but then order a lower-spec system - the punter never knows the difference. So I still make my margin, see? Bish bosh!”
I guess Max is right – after all he's been around for a while (as he's always saying). Still it's a shame we didn't get the job. Those Penguin people are really quite good, apparently.
One of dad's golfing pals thought he'd help my first week at Al-Cool by calling to ask for a quote. Max was dead pleased. Though he looked a bit strained when we learned that Penguin had quoted for the job earlier that day. As a result the client was clued-up about the right systems and how best to install them, which seemed to take the wind out of Max's sails – let alone sales (ha! ha!)
“Nah, it's all about price, son”, he said as we drove away after. “See, Penguin have their qualified technicians, a fleet of vans, their marketing clap-trap, blah-blah... Just unnecessary, see? All I do is come-on a bit friendly, undercut Penguin's price but then order a lower-spec system - the punter never knows the difference. So I still make my margin, see? Bish bosh!”
I guess Max is right – after all he's been around for a while (as he's always saying). Still it's a shame we didn't get the job. Those Penguin people are really quite good, apparently.
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