I was on an oversea trip returning from India and I stopped in Europe for a short visit with a customer. I got in late and with the time zone change had trouble sleeping that night. So I went to the meeting the next day feeling a little groggy. About mid morning I reached into my bag to take some Advil and knock down the throbbing in my head but instead of taking 2 Advil, I ended up taking one Advil and one Ambien. The next 20 minutes were interesting. The pounding in my head was getting a little better, starting to feel a little more relaxed but my eye lids were starting to feel like lead.
From this point on, I went from being mostly useless to completely being out of it. Trying to follow the conversation was like wading through mental quicksand - I always seemed to be a sentence or two behind in the conversation and I was just praying that nobody asks me a direct question. I excused myself, splashed some water on my face, got some caffeine and tried to figure out how I was going to get through the next 3 hrs without embarrassing either myself or the team. Luckily we had a couple other employees to help cover and ensure that I stayed out of trouble for the next 5 hrs.
Note to self for next trip - DIFFERENT VIALS FOR ADVIL AND AMBIEN!
--Todd G., Rapid City
I was on a flight from Washington to Ottawa that had a stop over in Boston. In Boston, we were all asked to deplane and told to that there would be a delay to make some repairs to the plane. We were all disappointed but about 5 to 10 men got together and got seats on another flight that was going to Ottawa. They looked very pleased with themselves as they boarded that flight and left the rest of us behind.
About two hours later, the repairs were completed and we were on our way to Ottawa. We landed and went through immigration and customs. As I left the customs hall, I saw something that looked familiar. My suspicions were confirmed when the same passengers who ahd elft me behind came over and asked if I was on the flight from Washington.
They had made it to Ottawa with no problem but they ahd forgotten a major detail. Their bags were still on the plane in Boston while they were flying to Ottawa. While we waited in Boston, they were waiting in Ottawa.
Turnabout is so sweet.
My second trip to Finland we had a 2-day strategy session planned at some nice resort. It was August and the weather was great. I had left my Claritin at home thinking surely I wasn't allergic to anything in Finland-- wrong!
The second day at the resort I was suffering so bad I could not keep my eyes open during an important meeting. Nothing worked, not caffeine, not cold water, not getting up occasionally... my eyelids just kept slamming shut on their own. I wasn't even sleepy-- just allergies irritating my eyes.
I was told later that the VP giving the main presentation was not thrilled. oops.
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