The office on Thursday and Friday was quite quiet, and understandably so after such a vigorous but successful Rays Charity Golf Outing. the office on Thursday and Friday was quite quiet, and understandably so after such a vigorous but successful raise charity golf outing. For me, the days off Thursday and Friday were more of the same for off-days around the office. On Thursday I was tasked with driving to nearby Clearwater to deliver merchandise to one of our sponsors. This was no small feat due to some pretty tough road construction on the only logical route to Clearwater from St. Petersburg. But I did what any quick-minded intern would do and get it out, found where I was going, and delivered the merchandise. The sponsor was very happy I did.
After that, back at the office I was able to sit in on a meeting over the phone between our corporate sales and service department represented by Joe and a member of a company called Home Team Sports which represents sponsor / team interaction and partnership development in hopes of getting a future working relationship and successful sponsorship with the area Taco Bell locations. I understand Taco Bell to be a big fish that we could potentially get hooked on the line and we have been trying to secure them for some time now. Of course doing so would be a huge boon for 2015 sponsorship totals as well as for Joe. I sat in on the meeting along with Kim and Rachel to take in the proceedings and hopefully learn a little bit about how we do business with a firm such as Home Team Sports. It was a feeling-out meeting more than anything, fully understanding that it's going to take a long process to finally see any kind of sponsorship with such a large company as Taco Bell through to fruition. The results were favorable and the person on the other end of the phone with Home Team Sports was very accommodating but at the end of the day we realize that the process is far from over and still could end up resulting in a less than perfect marriage. But as they say "hope springs eternal".
Friday was a completely different sort of day from probably any I've ever seen at the office.
To start off nobody was there. Many of our regular staff members were in Port Charlotte, Florida home of our spring training facilities taking part in required activities and organizing staff. still others were taking a personal day some even as far away as Chicago and the Bahamas. So for those of us left at the office we have very mundane activities to keep us occupied on what would normally be a normal office day. Ultimately the interns were ruling the roost, taking part in small tasks and chores around the office but everyone had been previously advised to take off early due to their hard work and long hours for the week. So it didn't really lend itself to productivity, but I was not deterred. My Community Relations interns Sarah and Erin had said they were going to clean our joint 4th floor closet which was pretty much a disaster going into the day. I hate to sound like a jerk, but this mostly turned into Erin not participating and thus not cleaning anything, Sarah cleaning as little as possible and leaving early, leaving me to do 97% of the work and ultimately stay later than anyone.
After that, back at the office I was able to sit in on a meeting over the phone between our corporate sales and service department represented by Joe and a member of a company called Home Team Sports which represents sponsor / team interaction and partnership development in hopes of getting a future working relationship and successful sponsorship with the area Taco Bell locations. I understand Taco Bell to be a big fish that we could potentially get hooked on the line and we have been trying to secure them for some time now. Of course doing so would be a huge boon for 2015 sponsorship totals as well as for Joe. I sat in on the meeting along with Kim and Rachel to take in the proceedings and hopefully learn a little bit about how we do business with a firm such as Home Team Sports. It was a feeling-out meeting more than anything, fully understanding that it's going to take a long process to finally see any kind of sponsorship with such a large company as Taco Bell through to fruition. The results were favorable and the person on the other end of the phone with Home Team Sports was very accommodating but at the end of the day we realize that the process is far from over and still could end up resulting in a less than perfect marriage. But as they say "hope springs eternal".
Friday was a completely different sort of day from probably any I've ever seen at the office.
To start off nobody was there. Many of our regular staff members were in Port Charlotte, Florida home of our spring training facilities taking part in required activities and organizing staff. still others were taking a personal day some even as far away as Chicago and the Bahamas. So for those of us left at the office we have very mundane activities to keep us occupied on what would normally be a normal office day. Ultimately the interns were ruling the roost, taking part in small tasks and chores around the office but everyone had been previously advised to take off early due to their hard work and long hours for the week. So it didn't really lend itself to productivity, but I was not deterred. My Community Relations interns Sarah and Erin had said they were going to clean our joint 4th floor closet which was pretty much a disaster going into the day. I hate to sound like a jerk, but this mostly turned into Erin not participating and thus not cleaning anything, Sarah cleaning as little as possible and leaving early, leaving me to do 97% of the work and ultimately stay later than anyone.
I would have accomplished more in cleaning our 4th floor joint closet if it weren't for my Stadium operations customer service interns coming by around 3 o'clock hour and asking if I would be willing to participate as an extra in some filming they were doing on the field for the upcoming seasons video board features. Turns out, they had inquired about getting some 200 extras to come to Tropicana Field at 2:30 p.m. to stand and be a part of this filming that was to be used in in game video pieces. Unfortunately many of their extras did not actually attend, some running late or said 'I'm not attending at all'. That is why they started asking staff members and namely interns if they were willing and interested in participating. I proceeded to go to section 133 near our 162 Landing section to be apart of the group. What I found was an assemblage of hot, whiny people who had no idea what the role of, responsibilities of, or day-to-day life of an extra was. This is too bad too because the process was a long one. They had to take many takes and many shots of one specific action or one specific person in the crowd and extras just apparently don't understand that. I left the video shoot after Part One of Three for fear I might be there all night.
I ultimately made a lot of progress cleaning out that closet and got kudos from my boss Sean, with whom I closed the office that night.
I ultimately made a lot of progress cleaning out that closet and got kudos from my boss Sean, with whom I closed the office that night.