Chapter 3

After the interview I decide that its time I became the strong powerful woman I know I am.  I'm tired of the shell of who I became after the last 5 years of pain. I make my plans to rent a condo and move to Chicago.  I speak with Chris and he lets me know that as long as I email him or call him daily then he knows I'm "working" so I can move and get paid at the same time.  He realizes I'll need some time once I'm in the city but for now he wants the money coming in for me to allow for the cost.  MM will pay for my move to Boston but not the one to Chicago so it takes a few days for me to think through how I'm going to do this with my house in WI as well as a place in Chicago.  I'd love to rent my house to a friend but as of right now there's no one that needs a place and there's no one that I'd trust not to destroy it.  Besides this job may not last knowing how MM is I decide to not rent it, but pay someone to winterize it if I'm still gone then.  Its still a few months out before that's an issue and my neighborhood watch captain knows I'm taking a job in Chicago so she'll keep an eye on it for me.

I have the money and I convinced Bob  that I want to work in downtown Chicago, it just seems like a great way to start over, to completely change my environment.  MM has offices in the Sears Tower or in another building in the Museum area.  I choose Sears Tower because I know how easy the transportation is then.  First issue solved.

Next comes finding a place to move to.  I originally stay with my friend Ann who had moved into her Grandmothers old place recently and it had 2 extra bedrooms.  I told her I'd pay rent, which although she didn't want to accept I forced the issue. I felt completely able to pay my way with this job and I wanted to.  Before I could look too much down in the city I have a minor medical procedure done.  A correction I wanted made and since I had medical insurance again I took care of it right away.  I also had sedation dentistry done and got all the problems with my teeth fixed in one day.  Of course Ann was kind enough to drive me to each so that I could just sleep off the affects.  After the sedation dentistry I also went in for cosmetic dentistry and had all my teeth chemically whitened to remove the years of coffee stains.

It took about 2 weeks for all of these appointments to get done and for me to line up a few places to see in Chicago.  Ann offers to come with me and I'm willing to let her but I do tell her we have to take the train.  "Why I can drive?" She asks.

"The point is to see how close these are to mass transit. I'm parking my car remember I want to use the trains I want to live in the city like everyone else. I'm not sure if I'll know where I'm going all the time but if you want to come you can."

She declines as her shoulder had been bothering her and her new power assist wheelchair had yet to be approved.  I get on the train and call Chris.

"Hey Serena what's up?"

"Not much Chris I just wanted to touch base and see if we could meet. Kind of a get to know you as my boss meeting, to make sure I'm giving you the details you need so you never have to question what I'm up to and we cans set clear expectations with each other."

"Sounds fantastic I'm in the city today so maybe we can schedule something another time."

"Ironic I'm on my way into the city to check out some places to live. Are you booked solid or do you think we could meet somewhere, I'll be to Union Station around 10."

"I'm actually in your new offices at the Sears Tower, why don't you come here after you get to the city and I'll make sure you get your ID and show you around a bit."

"Perfect thanks Chris I'll call you when I get out on the street level."  Luckily I decided to dress up to see these condo's as they are on the upscale end and I want to make sure I look like someone that can afford them.

The meeting with Chris goes well. He shows me my office, which I'm quite excited about.  I'm on the 15th floor and have a great view of city.  A little bit of the lake can be seen but still its nice to have an office with a door. Finally out of cubicle hell.

He has very few rules per say.

1. I come to him if I need anything

2. I email him regularly to keep him updated on progress on the projects I'm working on.  He has a meeting every Monday with Steve so it'd be great if I could get it to him by Friday.  

3. He reminds me that while he's my boss, he and Brodan  are my equals and I have to remove the EsT mentality that I'm working for them because I'm on the team now.  He reminds me I'm the expert on IST and he expects me to push the envelope and do things outside of the EsT way.

We talk about the MM way of doing performance reviews, vacation requests, Medical/Dental and expense reporting.  He doesn't have to talk about the car with me yet. "You do need to go into a Verizon store and get a phone.  Here's a card that you just give the sales clerk and they can pull the MM account and put what you need on it.  It has to be a Blackberry or an iPhone.  MM does not support Android."

"Do I carry my personal phone too?"

"Most people do.  MM doesn't monitor your call usage unless its international since all of our plans have unlimited talk.  I personally don't want the possibility of accidentally dialing my customer when I'm trying to tell my wife I love her.  If you have Verizon now your MM discount is 22% so its not bad. That's about it except I do want you to know I'm happy your on the team.  You kicked ass in your interview from what Brodan told me and what Steve said you had the speechless that's hilarious.  Serena you are a very smart and talented woman, keep that fire up, don't be afraid to offer solutions even if we haven't seen the problem yet, that's what puts you on the Strategic team. We think outside the box."

"Thanks Chris, so what officially is my title anyway what Bob  said sounded like a mouthful."

"I think I renamed it before I sent the final paperwork to HR.  Its National Strategic Sales Team Manager or something like that.  That's still a mouthful. Maybe I just left it as National Strategic Team Manager."

"So you get to make them up?"

"Yes.  You basically are still working hand and hand with Brodan  so I wanted the titles to match some what. We'll see when you log in to your computer.   Oh because you'll have an office, you can use the ordering system I showed you to order a bigger monitor or two, and a docking station for your laptop so that will be your hard drive but you can work like you have a real size computer besides that small screen."

"Do you expect me to come in to the office every day?"

"NO you can work from home most of the time if you want just remember Bob  had to pull some strings for you to have an office here so if you're never in it people might get pissy, but cold disgusting days just work from home.  Just remember to bring your laptop home every night."

We talk about dress code and odd details like MM's quirks on things like hours - Chris laughs, "you know we work whenever the mood strikes so that's not an issue and I know you're the same way I remember getting emails from you at 9pm so I have no worries that you won't put in an honest week."

With that we are done with our meeting and Chris leaves.  I lock my office and head to Verizon which is only 3 buildings away and get my company cell phone.  I pick a iPhone 5S 64GB - GOLD.  With of course an otter box because I'm bound to hurt it.  I originally wanted a 32 GB and was told that the standard on the account is 64 so I tell them as long as that is what I'm supposed to get on MM's account that's fine.  I text Brodan  to ask him and he confirms 'get the largest phone, you'll have 800 emails a day in it.'

That being done I spend the rest of the day running to the appointments I had set up to check out condos.   I have an appointment at Lake Point Tower down by Navy Pier and I fall in love. The place has panoramic views, a private park just for residents, indoor and outdoor pools, along with onsite services like a drycleaner, grocery store, spa and dentist the place seems perfect.  However the price per month is a bit extreme $3100 a month plus $250 a month to park a car.  Knowing my income now I could afford it the problem is do I want to waste all of that or do I want to pay off some of my house from that bad mortgage deal.  I decide to keep looking.

The next place I visit with my realtor Judy is the Marina Towers on the river.  This place looks like a honeycomb and the cars are parked below the units.  Right off its not as appealing as the first place but Judy assures me there is a 2 bedroom unit available that has the lake view that I’m looking for so we go in to check it out.  After about 5 minutes, I tell her no. This place is shaped like a pie piece, how I would fit furniture means all of the backs would be at the windows taking away the view.  All the amenities as the first place exist except the view.  Not to mention it would be $2000 a month rent and the car parking is $250 it just does not have what I want to call home.

Off we go to location three, and so on we end up checking out 6 more before we get to Legacy at Millennium Park.  I truly fall in love with this place.  There are 8 two-bedroom units available all of them on the lakeside with a great view and all of them have the same great amenities.  A locked entrance with 24 hr doorman, concierge, dry cleaning on site. Membership to the University Club and per Judy more businesses are moving in, a grocery store and spa will be in before the end of the year.   Once I see the unit, I’m in love because of the views primarily, but also its only $1750 a month and $200 for car parking, the least of all the ones I’ve seen, the square footage was smaller but I don’t care.  The extra square footage wasn’t necessary, I have my house in WI with all the room and I just keep buying more stuff to put in it. Maybe this will make me live with less stuff around, after all I still had almost 1400 sq feet, which should be more than enough space.  

This time I would definitely buy smaller furniture.

After seeing all of the places it was close to 7 o’clock so I thanked Judy immensely and told her, I’d be back with her tomorrow or the next day with a decision.