Annual Vegas Trip

An annual Vegas trip is usually something people look forward to. Gambling, going to clubs, relaxing by chic pools - I'd look forward to that too! My annual trip to Vegas is nothing of that stort. It's a minimum 12 hour work day, no lunch break, and no lunch for that matter, full of stress, stupid timeshare owners, stupid questions, two airplane rides, and high heels. Not fun.

Before I continue I guess I should tell everyone why I go to Vegas. I am a Foreclosure Administrator for an association management company. My company strickly manages timeshare associations. We are responsible for all of the accounting, billing/receiving, collections, hiring & firing and the foreclosures if the timeshare owners don't pay their yearly maintenance fees. I am a one-man-department. We usually have foreclosure sales a few times a year at various timeshare properties (we manage 12 total - 8 in CA, 2 in NV and 2 in FL). I only have to attend the sales in Vegas because that is our only resort that actually has people that show up to bid on units. I have yet to figure out why anyone would want to own one of these things. I've been doing this for 7 1/2 years and I would never buy one.

This year I had the pleasure of two trips to Vegas for work! YIPPIE! (Sense the sarcasm?) My trip in June was a piece of cake compared to trips in the past. My trip in November was the worst one yet! I am responsible for making sure the sale goes off without a hitch. I also transport the deeds from my office to our foreclosure company and then they take them to be recorded at the county. I collect money, fill out paperwork, etc.

I flew into Vegas like any other day. At this particular sale we had about 150 units for bid. For each unit foreclosed we have to record two deeds (I'll spare you the details of that mess). So I had to carry 300 deeds through the airports. Each deed consists of 4 pages. It was heavy.

I arrived at the resort around 9:30 (the sale starts at 11:00). I started setting up and people started coming in. An owner who I'd spoken to many times even brought me a gift. A small, pretty, silver watch. I was appreciative. He even offered to take me to lunch but I had to decline.

I passed out a disclosure form, auction cards, explained how the sale would be conducted and answered questions. We had 6 bidders total. We had a couple from Hawaii, a seasoned timeshare owner, an Asian business woman, a married couple, my friend from the past sale, and a hard of hearing woman bidding for her friends.

The sale started late, around 11:20. We started calling bids and no one was bidding. About 10 units deep the hard of hearing woman starts asking questions. Then the couple from Hawaii started making their fair share of interruptions - talking on their cell phone, arguing over what unit to buy, asking questions that were already answered, etc. It like sparked the "interruption frenzy." We explain EVERYTHING before the sale starts. It was completely unnecessary. We even had to stop the whole sale so the hard of hearing woman could use the restroom!

At the end we sold 8 units total. The married couple bought two units and the hard of hearing woman bought two units, everyone else bought one. There was even an unnecessary bidding war that broke out and cost one man $300 extra. Pathetic.

After the sale ends my hard work begins. I must sit down with each buyer one-by-one to help fill out the paperwork for their deed, collect their funds, figure out any refund due, etc. It takes about 10 minutes per unit solde. 10 minutes x 8 units sold = 1 hour, 20 minutes. Mind you while all of this is going on the people who work with me at the resort go on their lunch break. Most of them bring their lunch but that also means they eat lunch and I work. No lunch for me. It's not like they went out to get food and could fetch something for me. So the paperwork was now filled out and entirely too many stupid questions had to be answered. YES, there is such thing as a stupid question.

Now here I was with a few money orders (my fav) and about $6000 in cash. I must carry the cash to the bank to make into money orders, then make my way back to the airport to go home. I went to a near by hotel (Planet Hollywood) to catch a cab because our resort doesn't have cab service. When I got in the cab the taxi attendant told the cab driver that I needed to go to the bank, he would have to wait for me and then take me to the airport. He knew what he needed to do before he drove away with me in the car. FYI the cab's charge for waiting is $30/hour.

This is where my day turns from bad to worse.

I get in the car and the driver doesn't mutter one word to me. He gets lost on the way to the bank. We finally find the bank and I go inside. I purchase 5 money orders (it's the way I had to distribute the money). The bank teller took entirely too long, about 25 minutes. I come out of the bank and thankfully the driver is still waiting for me. I get in the cab and apologize for the wait. At this point I wasn't sure if I would make it to my flight and the next one didn't depart for another two hours. I was stressing, hungry, tired and sore!

Then I made a mistake - I asked Mr. Crabby Cabby if he minded waiting for people, just thought I'd make some small talk on the way to the airport but I was not prepared for his reaction - HE WENT OFF! He yelled at me and I mean YELLED! He screamed that I made him "lose his time" and "lose lots of money." I asked about the $30/hour wait charges, he screamed that if he drives he could make up to $80/hour but because he had to wait for me he's losing out on his money. I had no idea. I apologized and then started crying but I didn't let him know that. That was not what I wanted to deal with after what I had already dealt with. Again, I was tired, hungry, and my body was hurting from all the walking and carrying heavy documents.

We arrived at the airport. My fee was $27, I gave him $40. I probably shouldn't have but I did and he was appreciative... really, really appreciative. It made me feel so much better.

I ran to my gate (in heels) and on the way I saw and smelled this awesome bagel place! I was so excited! I decided to check into my gate just to make sure we weren't boarding or anything like that. Well, I'm glad I checked first because we were indeed boarding which also meant no food for me. I seriously had 2 fig newtons all day and it's about 5 PM. I'd been up since 5 AM.

I flew home and picked up Carley from my aunt's in chino. Jeff picked up Alissa from my other aunt's house in Corona. I had a few errands to run and then I got food and went home. I didn't consume my first meal until 9:00 that night!

Through the whole day I kept telling myself that I was not having a bad day! I just kept thinking how it could be worse, how someone else has it worse, and how I'm lucky for what I have. I think it's what helped me make it through. I did NOT have a bad day. It was just rough.

The next day was a whole 'nother adventure! Blog post coming soon! P.S. It was an awesome adventure!!!