Well, I have received my first assignment for the DNC. I am driving on Thursday night from 3-11.
I have avoided writing about this too much as of late because I did not know quite what was going to happen. I received a couple of requests to sit at desks at various hotels. I sit at a desk all day long so it didn't quite seem like my cup of tea.
The real reason I haven't blogged about it? Ok...
I went to the driver orientation session out at DIA a few weeks back. It was...interesting. We met the folks in charge, we sat through a great deal of speechifying, watched an inordinately lame video on how to operate the vehicles donated by GM and then did a driving test.
Let's start with the video. This was a budget film. Done by two staffers for the DNC motor pool. Not only were their jokes incredibly poor, the sound sucked (wind blowing past the microphone the entire time) and it was poorly edited. Could I have done better? Honestly, no. But they were explaining how to unlock the car, use the a/c and adjust the mirrors. Are we really that low brow that we can not figure this out on our own?
Then there was the "driving test" which answers the previous question.
I was paired with three other volunteers and our instructor.
The first took about 3 minutes just trying to figure out how to operate the mirrors and adjust everything to fit properly. The volunteer also spent a ridiculous amount of time checking out the features of this brand new car. Then, we were carefully backed out of the space and off for the first driving test. This went ok but the steering movements were jerky and I was incredibly uncomfortable in the backseat since the volunteer rolled the front window down (on a 110 degree day...I'm not kidding) and proceeded to drive down the highway at 65.
The second was not any better nor any more memorable. I drove third. And then there was the fourth....
The vehicle was floored away from our stop at the airport terminal. We were doing 45 mph over speedbumps in a 25 area. Then, hard on the brakes when trying to merge. And we were jerked all over the road as the operator veered from lane to lane whilst trying to drive in a straight line. I was holding on to the holy shit handle in back...white knuckled. I was happy to get out of the car back at the depot. But this final operator couldn't figure out how to open the door. Continuous pulls at the door handle but to no avail. A cursory glance at the door lock (locked) and then additional pulls which ended in the same result.
These people will be driving our elected officials around Denver. Elected. Congress and Legislature. From both the national and state level. VIPs for the convention.
We have our best and our brightest on the job. I go to work on Thursday....
I have avoided writing about this too much as of late because I did not know quite what was going to happen. I received a couple of requests to sit at desks at various hotels. I sit at a desk all day long so it didn't quite seem like my cup of tea.
The real reason I haven't blogged about it? Ok...
I went to the driver orientation session out at DIA a few weeks back. It was...interesting. We met the folks in charge, we sat through a great deal of speechifying, watched an inordinately lame video on how to operate the vehicles donated by GM and then did a driving test.
Let's start with the video. This was a budget film. Done by two staffers for the DNC motor pool. Not only were their jokes incredibly poor, the sound sucked (wind blowing past the microphone the entire time) and it was poorly edited. Could I have done better? Honestly, no. But they were explaining how to unlock the car, use the a/c and adjust the mirrors. Are we really that low brow that we can not figure this out on our own?
Then there was the "driving test" which answers the previous question.
I was paired with three other volunteers and our instructor.
The first took about 3 minutes just trying to figure out how to operate the mirrors and adjust everything to fit properly. The volunteer also spent a ridiculous amount of time checking out the features of this brand new car. Then, we were carefully backed out of the space and off for the first driving test. This went ok but the steering movements were jerky and I was incredibly uncomfortable in the backseat since the volunteer rolled the front window down (on a 110 degree day...I'm not kidding) and proceeded to drive down the highway at 65.
The second was not any better nor any more memorable. I drove third. And then there was the fourth....
The vehicle was floored away from our stop at the airport terminal. We were doing 45 mph over speedbumps in a 25 area. Then, hard on the brakes when trying to merge. And we were jerked all over the road as the operator veered from lane to lane whilst trying to drive in a straight line. I was holding on to the holy shit handle in back...white knuckled. I was happy to get out of the car back at the depot. But this final operator couldn't figure out how to open the door. Continuous pulls at the door handle but to no avail. A cursory glance at the door lock (locked) and then additional pulls which ended in the same result.
These people will be driving our elected officials around Denver. Elected. Congress and Legislature. From both the national and state level. VIPs for the convention.
We have our best and our brightest on the job. I go to work on Thursday....
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