Day 73, 72: Nice to Know You

The story continues... Well, let's start with Day 73. It was my first day of the internship with Lowe's. I'm waking up at 5:30 to get ready and drive down to Mooresville. That part of it is not cool. So, I go down and meet Tiffany Shaw and Maria Panozzo. I had to rush to get my passport mailed to Maria, but other than that everything was in order. The building is absolutely gorgeous. It has this man made river with waterfalls, and it flows under the offic complex. Absolutely wicked. Most orientations are pretty laid back affairs. You watch a video, chat, fill out paperwork, and you're on your way. This orientation was nothing short of intense. We were given a presentation by (annonunced today as the new) Executive Vice President of Store Operations Nick Canter. It was basically an AIMS meeting for orientation. Why you should work for Lowes: Corporate Propoganda. The usual stuff, you know. Then we broke for lunch. I met a cool guy in IT named Brandon that is actually from Wilkesboro, which will come in handy, and we went to lunch. Then all the interns were taken to a RDC (Regional Distribution Center). I'd give the place adjectives, but it would do it no justice. 1.2 million square feet with 3 miles of conveyor belts, that's all I have to say. Wicked. I came home weary, and was asleep by 9:45. My god how things change in a matter of a week. On to Day 72... Well, the morning was a bit more lax. We played a guessing game of interesting facts that all the interns wrote down in a "get to know each other" type challenge. It was fun, and I have come to know and like a couple of the other people. I've particularly come to like Brooke, the intern from accounting, but I think I'll leave those details out of the blog. :p So, after that we had a trip to a store in Huntersville. There were two District Merchandisers there to meet with us and discuss lots of things like procurement of goods, dealing with vendors, etc. After that we broke for lunch. Then after lunch we went back to the office to receive presentations on multi-cultural marketing and merchandising from the VP of merchandising. I got recognized for asking a brilliant question (how the weakening dollar, growing strength of the EU, and evolving markets of China and India are affecting costs and the market for Lowes). I think the guy was surprised to find out that I was an IT intern, because he asked me what department I was going to and when I told him he had this odd expression. Anyway, that's all for today. I think I'm gonna kick back and turn on the tube. That's two posts in no time, so no complaints Jo! :)