May 2014

This is pretty standard for me driving 3+ hours. People ask me how I can stand to drive so much and this is the answer. Coffee, sunglasses, and good music = I can drive all day.

This is pretty standard for me driving 3+ hours. People ask me how I can stand to drive so much and this is the answer. Coffee, sunglasses, and good music = I can drive all day.

In May, I had some great learning opportunities when I shadowed an internal audit. To be totally honest, I was afraid I was going to be bored, but I actually loved it! I think the word “audit” always gets a negative connotation, but that was not my experience at all. Especially for a person in my position, it is critical to learn the correct way to do things for several reasons. There were many real and hypothetical situations that were pointed out to me which I had never considered. I would say that multi-faceted approach is definitely one of the best things about this program. While I have learned A TON at the PC in Kingsport, I would say getting to visit other profit centers and see how they are run differently – more or less efficiency, warehouse layout, different personnel structures, totally different types of business and customers – is paramount to becoming a well-rounded manager.

Obviously the nature of the audit is highly confidential, but some of the aspects that were inspected were the building and trucks to ensure a safe working environment, storage and maintenance of files, order processing, tax forms, cash reconciliation, and various other reports and documents. It is a great deal of material to cover in only a few short days, but personally I work a little better under the pressure of a deadline, so I didn’t mind it at all. And if you have read any other my other posts, you know I love to travel, so any opportunity I get to see a new place, is fine with me!

In other news, I am almost done with phase one, and should be moving to a new location in a couple of months. I do not know exactly where yet, but I am excited about the new opportunity. I will miss the folks in Kingsport, though. It has been a crazy ten months (in a good way), and I look forward to what is to come. It is funny to think about the fact that less than a year ago I literally knew NOTHING about plumbing, and while I am no expert now, I have learned so much. It was daunting at first, but I am glad I stuck with the challenge, because it has been very rewarding.