Work Week One - Sara Seaman

Work week one was, well, wonderful. That being said...there have been some true learning moments/panics/totally lost times.

This week I started my internship with dunnhumby - a data insight company that serves as the middle man between suppliers like H. J. Heinz or Kraft and retailers like Kroger to improve the customer's experience. Speaking of, did you know they created the Kroger Plus Card and whenever you use it data about your specific purchases go to dunnhumby? Well, it does! They use this data to help retailers and suppliers work together to give you what you need and want when you go to the store. But trust me, it's so much more complicated than that...and I don't totally understand it yet!

So what do I do?

That's a good question because I don't know yet! Basically this week I have met 1,000,001 people and tried to learn their software in an afternoon by myself...yeah that was interesting. I am learning so much every day - about the corporate world, data analysis and insight, and my new coworkers. Everyone is so casually smart at dunnhumby that I feel as though I should just ask them questions all day long...which I kind of do as I try to figure out the software and different systems they use. It has all been great though and I really feel like I am getting to know my team, the Insight team, better each day (Wednesday we all went out together and went to a comedy show where two of the comedians used to perform on "Whose Line is it Anyways?"!).

On Thursday though...there are few words for Thursday but I will try to give you a picture of how that afternoon went down.

A member from my team invited me to be a part of an afternoon meeting at the H. J. Heinz corporate office located on the outskirts of London. The plan was for me to work and meet with people in the AM, grab some lunch, take a short train to Hayes and Harlington, and grab a cab to the office. All went according to plan for the morning and lunchtime was lovely (I sat in the middle of a park lit up by the very rare sunshine with purple and yellow flowers scattered about walk paths and green fields). When I arrived in Hayes and Harlington after my short train ride where I enjoyed eating a very large chocolate bar, I expected to walk out of the station and see the classic black cabs that are all over Central London (where I live). But oh no... of course not. I was in an entirely foreign part of London with no black cabs whizzing through the streets and no cell service. Yeah, no cell service. I can't contact my boss, can't book a cab using a handy app, can't get directions to Heinz apart from the walking directions I had saved to my pictures.

"Okay then...looks like I am walking an hour to get to this meeting," I thought. I began to walk in hopefully the right direction when I noticed cars driving by with very similar stickers on the driver's side window. So I hoped for the best and waved one down.

The drive informed me I had to book in his small office on the corner. So I opened the door and was greeted with a white concrete wall with a small hole that revealed a very small view of what appeared to be an office. I peered through that small hole and Voila! There was man to help me. Sort of. He basically looked at me, asked for my name, and then didn't say anything else. So I asked him if I was set to get a cab and he slightly smiled and gave me a nonchalant thumbs-up before getting back to his computer screen.

I exited the 2-by-4 office and walked up to what I hoped was my cab and not a random Indian man in a car who would take me to who knows where. The Indian man driving the cab-van looked nice enough so I hopped in the cab...sorry, Mom. I tried to act like I knew what I was doing but I think it was obvious enough with my American accent and frazzled demeanor that I did not have a clue what I was doing. I tried to make some small talk as we winded through residential, tiny streets while internally I was definitely freaking out. I thought that maybe if he was going to take me out to who knows where that if I talked nice enough and asked him about his day he would take me to Heinz instead...which he did so I guess it worked. Just kidding, he really was a very nice man and we had a good little conversation amidst his broken English and my frantic brain.

So all is well, I made it to the meeting, and now I am happily sitting in my flat a day later listening to music and writing about my minor freak out to you fine people.

Moral of the story: if you don't have cell service and you're in a different country you might end up in a cab that looks more like a van...but you also might meet a very nice Indian man who has a nice smile.

Also, I have no pictures from this week...so here's a few snapshots of Venice, my fave spot in Europe so far.