Evening excitement

Yesterday, I moved all of the gear from the Brentwood Inn to the Airport Hilton. What a change in environment! Everyone is in a suit at the Hilton. There are no people with their dogs and 13 children hanging out in the lobby. There is also no free breakfast, no free internet connection (cost is $10 per day!!), and you would not know that there has been a national disaster and close to a quarter million people have been displaced to Houston. There are parts of me that miss the other place. I guess it was much more real in some fashion. The only part of me that doesn't miss it is when I go to bed at night. There's something about extra thick mattresses with soft sheets and duvets that makes me keep my whining to a minimum.

Not that it hasn't been exciting here also. Last night, or rather this morning, I wanted to know what time it was. The end table clock didn't have a lit display, and so I thought maybe I was supposed to hit the snooze button, because sometimes that makes the display light come on. It didn't. But just as I released the snooze button, an alarm went off. As I was wondering what the hell I had hit, I realized that it was not in the room, but was the general fire alarm. In my sleepy state, I was really worried and trying to figure out why the alarm clock had set off the fire alarm! As I became more awake, I realized that there was a voice from above, or wherever that speaker was, telling all of us to proceed to the stairwell and that the fire department had been notified. As usual, I paniced. I went over to the window, and didn't see much going on. I stuck my head out the door, and could hear other people moving, but not outside their room. I went back to the window, and saw people gathering in the parking lot (but none of them looking up at the building as if watching flames). I stuck my head outside the door again, and saw people walking in zoombie-like states toward the stairwell. Now if you have this mental picture of me racing back and forth across the room, you don't know me well. This was all done at half speed, and my half speed is pretty damn slow. But by now, I was awake. So I went to the bathroom (what do you do when you get up in the middle of the night!), brushed my hair (didn't help any), and put on a pair of blue jeans. Lana raised up to ask me if I was reallllly going downstairs. I told her that my friend Kay said to take every opportunity to socialize with the other adjusters, and this seemed like a good time. But that I would take my cell phone and call her if she needed to evacuate. After going down 7 flights of stairs, I was sad to find that no one was in a visiting mood. What a waste! After a while, the fire department arrived. They didn't even bother to dress out. But at least they all did get off the truck. They looked around and pronounced us safe. I thought they should have, at the very least, take our names. And all the good boys and girls that sent downstairs should have gotten a free something. But as I said, there wasn't anyone that felt like hearing my opinion. Did I mention that I did finally find the time: 4:15 am.

So I actually got to start training with Lana today. I got her files to come up on the computer and reviewed them for some specific information. And she started making calls (when she could establish telephone contact) to make appointments to meet the insured at their house. So far, the ones that she talked to today do have a house existing on the property. Not that they might not be a total loss from flood damage, but at least there is something to inspect. Of course, there was the one guy who told her that his refrigerator was on top of his car. Is that a claim on your auto policy or your homeowners? You make the call. I got an email from one of the people in my class, who is an adjuster for mobile homes. She had just taken a claim from one of her insured and asked about inspecting the mobile home. The woman said that it was down the street on top of the grocery store...she was pretty sure that the adjuster could find it although it wasn't at the listed address.

I think that this is only the start of a very interesting learning experience.