Tammi's World

Early Morning Thoughts

Well, I managed to get about an hour and a half's night sleep. As tired as I was I just couldn't shut off the mind. So much going on.

Ya'll think you're tired of reading about hurricanes? You should try living with 'em. I know, I know - live in Florida, deal with hurricanes. But I can honestly say this is way out of the norm. Way Way out of the norm. And it is just draining.

Beyond draining. It's numbing.

Bou is seeing her #1 son deal with it. You know, it's tough on adults, but imagine how difficult it is to be a child. Hear about it, see your parents prepare, live through one, lose your school, see the devastation and then WHAM here comes another one. Damn. My heart hurts for them.

Personally I'm about all in. These damn storms are literally ruining my life. Really, I'm not being overly dramatic. Let's see if I can explain (bear with me folks, I gotta get this out).

I'm in sales. I get paid based on how my sales go. In order to build sales I need to foster relationships with my customers, train them, and open new accounts. In order to do that you have to be focused, organized and out there.

So here comes Charley. Shit. Tears up the southern part of my territory pretty damn bad and does one hell of a number on Orlando. When power is out, stores are closed. Oh, you gotta figure things will pick up when the insurance vouchers come in, but there are a couple of factors involved there also. First, this is CENTRAL Florida. Not a lot of people have hurricane insurance. If they do the deductible is incredibly high. So....no insurance, when they replace their mattress it isn't going to be a really expensive one. If they do, they gotta wait for the adjuster, get the house fixed and THEN replace the stuff. All that has a long wait attached.

Now, we just get most places back up and running after Charley and WHAM here comes Frances. (bitch) Slow and steady she works her way across the state and spreads the mess. There goes the eastern part of my territory. The only part NOT effected by Charley. Shit. More down time, more destruction. Longer waits for repairs and insurance.

Then the threat of Ivan. Everyone panics. No one moves. We watch, we wait.

Hell, you get a stiff breeze and a couple drops of rain and people are reeling. I've been in stores where customers are calling and canceling orders saying they'll just wait until AFTER hurricane season is over before they replace anything. I can't blame them. Not one bit.

So......sales suck. That puts a bit of strain on a person. No pay, kinda tough to afford gas, paper, ink, food - you know, the things you need to just do your job.

Now let's look at the mental mess these hurricanes leave in their wake. Folks, there is a hurricane coming and every one of the FLORIDA BLOGGERS on my blogroll are saying the same thing. I'm tired, I'm spent, I can't do this ONE MORE TIME. As worried as I am, it's like watching things from outside my person. I see all that I need to do, but I just can't make myself move. I just sit here thinking - Yeah, I ought to do that. And then just take another sip of coffee. It's not that I don't care. I'm just...well, you know.

So - That's it folks. Those are the thoughts going through this woman's mind early on a Saturday morning, trying to balance work, home and hurricane yet again.

Pray - Please. We need it.

Posted by Tammi at September 25, 2004 06:10 AM | TrackBack