Cap'n Obvious

When I was in my mid teens, I was known as the pizza kid among my family and friends. Generally most teenagers like pizza and I was one that took it to an extreme. I loved Pizza Hut’s Pepperoni deep dish, and there was a period of time that my parents would just order a medium for me to eat myself. Just imagining eating that much induces nausea now.

So when I was 16 and ready to get my first job, I obviously considered working at Pizza Hut. Why not get the milk directly from the cow’s teat? Luckily, someone wiser than let me in on a little tidbit: wherever you choose to work, you’ll grow to hate that food within 2 months. You’ll combine an overindulgence of the product with a hatred of your job and never want to go back. So I took this wisdom and choose to work at a carwash. And to this day, upon entering a car, I can instantly tell when that car has had been to the carwash chain I used to work at by the awful scents they spray under the seats.

Unfortunately, it seems as though I didn’t take this advice 15 years later. When I was interviewing for the job I currently have, they asked me “What do you like to do in your free time and how does that aid you in your career?” I replied with something along the lines of how I loved to travel and how seeing different cultures allows you to get a better understanding of consumers, what unites them and what makes them different, etc. There was some corporate speak in there I’m sure. Overall, I was pretty proud of the response I gave. And actually, my boss confided with me later that answer is what got me the job.

What’s come back to haunt me is that I wasn’t BS’ing when I gave that answer. I love to travel. The problem being is that part of why my boss gave me my job is that it involves a fair amount of business travel. And I fear that traveling for business is taking away some of that love. My first few trips on business where exactly as you would expect; I was giddy with the corporate card as I flew to sunny places in the winter on the corporate dime. Free beer, good food, etc all for work.

But the realization that hits you very quickly is that it’s still work. You spend half your trips in these sunny places tucked inside a hotel for days or out in the city walking through store after store analyzing retail. You feel like shit because of all the free beer you drank the night before. And unlike pleasure travel, you are traveling with those same people you spend too much time with in the office already.

And I won’t even get into the obvious of missing your family, that goes without saying. But with that, a big downside to business travel that I failed to see is that if you are gone for a few days, it makes it much harder to get out and do things when you are home. Going to my once a month poker night on Thursday becomes a much bigger deal if I was already gone on Monday and Tuesday that week.

Yes, nothing shocking that business travel sucks. I’m just surprised I was caught by the siren song and had to find that out for myself.

And yes, I do realize that all my recent posts are about my job. Funny thing about having a 9 month old is the only time you have to navel gaze is when you are on a plane.