Saturday Morning Meetings

So for those of you who don't know... ( and I think most everyone who reads this knows) I work for Sam's Club Corporate Offices.

Sam Walton started a tradition when he was growing the Walmart business called "the Saturday Morning Meeting."

If you want to read more about why management level employees of the corporate office at Walmart/ Sam's Club have to wake up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning once a month you can read about it in an old article in Fortune Magazine(Click Here).

Even though Aaron is at a management level (he's much higher up than I am) he doesn't have to attend because he is on call on some weekends.

I actually like the meetings most of the time. It makes us feel unified as a company, and unified in what is most important to the company and how we can move forward with a common vision. We also always have really famous people attend as guests which is kind of fun! Here are some of the past people that have visited our meeting...

Today's Guest: Halle Berry




Other Past Guests:

Steve Carell


Former President Bush and Laura Bush

Eva Longoria





Others:

Sanda Bullock
Jesse James
Sheryl Crow
Robert Pattinson
Jamie Foxx

There's a lot more but those are just a few good ones!

Some mornings it's extremely hard to get up on a Saturday morning and drag myself across town, but I am always glad that I do.

Thanks, Sam, for this great tradition!

Having a job is stressful/ Fairy Godmothers

You go to college to get a good job right?

Well.....

Here are some things they don't tell you while getting your business degree:

1. Yes you make a lot of money, BUT you don't get paid more for working more hours and sometimes you have to work many hours just to get the job done for the next day and at some point the money doesn't equal the time spent.

2. People in the "real world" are much different than you picture them in the classroom. When you wake up to reality you realize people will walk all over you any chance they get, so you better have your act together if you want to survive.

3. Everyone is extremely hard to please. everyone....especially those with a lot of power and authority...

4. There will ALWAYS be more work to be done than you can possibly accomplish. Always. It's not like homework where there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Nope. No light.

5. There will be days that you work so hard and for so long and it will go completely unnoticed. It took my awhile to learn this. It's noticed every once in awhile... but day to day it will probably go unnoticed.

6. It doesn't matter how great you were in college...what kind of grades you got....how awesome your teachers thought you were.... in the "real world" there will always be someone more experienced than you and always be someone one step ahead of you. At some point you just have to suck it up and be the best you can at your job and learn as you go. Humility gets you a LOT further than any kind of past rewards you earned in college.


Now just to be clear.... I actually do love my job. It is just a lot more stressful than I ever pictured my first job being. I am good at my job but it took a couple of months to figure things out. Some days are so stressful that I purposefully work late so that I have time to clear my head as people start leaving so that I am not stressed for the rest of the evening and can calm down before I leave for the day.


I should not be complaining... I am extremely thankful to have such a great job in such a struggling economy. I am very lucky. I worked hard for this kind of a job, but it will take me awhile before I am completely accustomed to the after college life and to come to terms with how things work in the "real world." I literally have a perfect life. The only thing I have to complain about is that my job pushes me to my limits (which I guess isn't always such a bad thing).





What I really am thankful for is my perverbial "fairy godmother" aka husband... (sorry honey for comparing you to a fairy... but it worked in this scenario ;) ) ... he's the sweetest person I know and always takes care of me. He always asks what he can do for me. And most of the time knows exactly what to do for me even if I don't say anything at all. No matter what kind of day I have had I always end up feeling like this at the end of the day ....


Thank goodness for fairy godmothers.

-SL