The Life and Times of Jubi-Lee... Super-Assistant!

The "my job is better than your job" Mentality.

Now, working as an assistant isn't as easy a task as one would think. I should know, I've done it for the past three summers and last Christmas. The thing about it, is that you don't need much qualification because all you have to do is, do whatever it is your boss needs done. Besides, who needs a first degree to photocopy documents, send faxes, make phone calls to schedule meetings... blah blah. That's pretty much all I had to do... in the past assistant posts I've held.

This summer I'm working with the Caribbean Development Manager of JMMB, a rather cool individual... a "CoolDad" kinda character. LOL!
So, what's different about this job? In case you didn't get the hint from his title, his work takes him to different countries in the Caribbean, including those where the inhabitants don't speak English.

So the latest task that I've been appointed was to book hotels, set up meetings with organizations and arrange for pick up of all the members of the team from the airport in the Dominican Republic.
The first one I got over quickly... thank God for the internet... Looked online for the hotel and discovered that I can call a toll free number in Jamaica and book rooms for the hotel at any of it's locations all over the world. GREAT! Objective one completed.

Objective two is skipped... *rolls eyes*

Objective three however posed a problem. I had to call the taxi driver that my boss had been working with since he started goin to do business in the Dom Rep... Senor Acosta.
For those of us who don't know, Dom Rep is a Spanish speaking country. Now, since I didn't excel in Spanish in high school, and I stopped at CXC - how many years ago - I would have to dig deep in the rear compartments of my brain to sift through the little Spanish I put in permanent storage.

There I am with my little Spanish, calling a taxi driver in the Dominican Republic - the chance of him speaking English obviously slim - to secure his services for pickups from the airport.

Dial the number...listen to it ring... listen to Senor Acosta speak... understand the Buena part then get lost... ask if he speaks English... he puts me on to another person who speaks English relatively well... get through one of the reservations... moving on to the other... then she starts saying Bye. Gracias. Bye. So I'm like No, no, no, no... I'm not finished!! But it's pointless... click... the dial tone.

I relate my current dilemma to Shevz who advises me to plan my conversation and then use an online translator to figure out how to say what I need to say. Good idea.
So with the help of an online Spanish translator - AltaVist Babel Fish Translator ... thank God for the internet AGEN ... I was set to call Senor Acosta to let him know the itinerary for the other team members. I relayed information about all five members to be picked up and hung up from the call feeling very accomplished.

Days later I get an email, informing me that there will be another member going to the Dom Rep and I need to enlist Mr Acosta's assistance again... as well as make hotel reservaitons. sigh
So as before, I called and reserved Senor Acosta to pick up the new team member. No big deal.

Then just yesterday, I get an email saying that three of the team members will be goin to the Dom Rep a day earlier. *glare* So here I am, planning my conversation so I can call Senor Acosta and cancel the reservations for those three and re-reserve his services for them again... Even considering cancelling all the reservations and re-reserving for everybody again (all six members of the team)

What am I typing all this for, besides to vent? I dunno *shrug* Joke. It's just to remind you that all jobs are important in an organization. Imagine if I mess up those reservations for the pick ups? ...... That would be quite interesting actually. :D

So ... Live, Love and Work hard... really hard!