It’s been an undoubtedly interesting few years.
Of course, I imagine that has been the case for all the people in business.
The pandemic, ensuing financial problems and now inflation has kept my supplier practices evolving. But I think I’m lucky that I work for a business that is of a size that can stay nimble for changes. That was never more the case than when we were sent house to work from the central air conditioning of our homes. I wasn’t so sure that I’d see the inside of my office and enjoy the commercial HVAC of that building again. I just didn’t think if I would survive or if the supplier would be able to hang on. It was absolutely all hands on deck that summer of 2020. For me, I had to serve purchasers. And I couldn’t always do that from the air conditioning comfort of an online meeting hundreds of miles away. I needed to be careful for sure but I also needed to get to our purchasers. Even though airlines kept strict mask mandates and HEPA filters, the supplier said no flying. So those in my position just packed up the car, put the air conditioning on high and hit the long, hot interstate. That’s the only method of travel we had open to us at the time. It worked out though because our supplier was nimble enough to get to our purchasers and we even gained market share during the worst of the global health crisis. At the end of each morning that summer, I always knew just where to find the most consistent lodging. It was always the mid tier hotels off the interstate that had the ancient university wall air conditioning units.