Get on the Bus

Anyone who spends any amount of time with me knows that I love Discover Card.  It has been such an amazing company to me.  They have given me so many professional/promotional opportunities and supplied me with some of my best friends.

As a team leader, we have the occasional off-site.  Most of them have some professional development mixed with fun activities.  This off-site was scheduled to be downstairs in a conference room, so we all anticipated an all day leadership training, which is great, but if I'm being honest, all I ever want to do at off-sites is relax and have fun.  

It started early at 7:30 A.M.  We all sat in the conference room ready to be enlightened.  Our vice president got up and went over the agenda.  Just as I feared, it was a full day of leadership training, with about an hour of fun at the end.  I kept a smile on my face grateful for the opportunity to be developed by a great company, but a part of me inside dreaded sitting in that room all day, most likely getting antsy and tired.  After the agenda run through, our vice president referenced a training given 2 years back by our director.

Steve (vice president), "Most of you remember a couple years back when Mindy said that we need everyone to get on the bus."

The room nodded in acknowledgment.  Steve, "well we need everyone to get on the bus again."

We all nod in agreement thinking, "ok, we are on the bus.  We show up to work every day 'on the bus.'"

Steve says as he gives his boyish grin, "No, literally, we need you to get on the bus."

We all sit in silence and confusion.

"There's a bus outside.  We need everyone to go get on it," says Steve.

I was relieved that there was going to be some fun after all.   We got on the bus but nobody would tell us where we were going.  One of the admins walked around with a video camera and recorded all of our guesses.  Some thought Park City.  Some though frightmares at Lagoon.  Nobody was correct.  We headed up the canyon for about an hour and ended up on a ranch.  As soon as we stepped off the bus, they handed us brand new discover card jackets.  I am having trouble tracking down the picture we took of all of us in them. 

We had about 20 minutes of business updates and then were let loose to participate in about 5 hours worth of fun activities at our choosing.

The first activity we did was fly fishing.  I sucked at this, but it was a first, so I was happy to try.  Some people caught fish, but I was not one of them. 

Next we did archery.  I don't mean to brag, but the instructor said I had good form and great aim.  I have done archery once, but I have no idea how to aim.  It's all luck. 

Next we went four-wheeling.  This was a blast.  Because the company wanted to err on the side of caution, we didn't go too fast or on hard trails, but it was still fun.  

 Cathy and I drove the gator.  

 Cathy, myself, and my favorite boss Deanna got in for a picture.  What a great day filled with people I adore.

Next we went skeet shooting.  I wasn't the greatest but I also didn't suck.  I hit a couple pigeons but missed a couple more. 

  Shannan, our director, shot the gun for the first time and turned around with a surprised look saying, "Now that's a gun."  LOL I think the kick back surprises people.

 Next was horse riding.  They were really trained horses and just followed the trail, but it was still a fun experience.  

We all loaded the bus to drive back to SLC, and the social media started explode with a plethora of pictures from very happy Discover card team leaders.  What a great day with a great company!