This morning I was able to wake up at around 7:45 am local time (5:45 by my brain's time) even without my alarm, and surprisingly I felt pretty refreshed. The hotel's breakfast service was pretty decent; ten times better than the "continental" offerings at the places I usually stay when I travel.
The drive to the office only took about 10 minutes. There they were, two nice-sized 2-story buildings, standing pretty much in the middle of nowhere, all alone. The parking lots were very large and very full, but we were lucky enough to get a "visitor" spot. First each of us took ceremonial pictures with the PayPal sign out front, then we went inside and got our security badges upgraded to work at these offices.
The drive to the office only took about 10 minutes. There they were, two nice-sized 2-story buildings, standing pretty much in the middle of nowhere, all alone. The parking lots were very large and very full, but we were lucky enough to get a "visitor" spot. First each of us took ceremonial pictures with the PayPal sign out front, then we went inside and got our security badges upgraded to work at these offices.
Composite by Anna F.We were met in the lobby by a program manager who had helped out a ton with consulting on my last project. Finding seating for our group was going to be difficult, but we ended up being set up in a cubicle corral made for four -- perfect! After settling in, we were taken in twos to observe agents at work on live cases. Over the course of the day we spent about five hours observing Omaha employees' work, including over an hour of listening in on incoming calls and watching issues being resolved in real time.
It's fascinating how much work the agents do with their dual screens and four to ten (or more) windows open at a time. I can't give any details, and even if I could I wouldn't because it's so sensitive, proprietary, and important to so many people. Suffice to say, though, there are a lot of sophisticated algorithms being run at all times and a lot of people working multiple shifts, and there is a lot of diligence & teamwork going on to help keep PayPal buyers & sellers safe and happy.
For lunch we went to the new building across the street. Opened just six days before, it was filled with a thick smell of fresh paint and many areas were still under final construction. In the cafeteria we came upon a couple more familiar faces -- PMs from my previous and current projects. We'd see one of them again later for dinner, along with 4 Omaha PMs I hadn't met yet.
Speaking of dinner, we went to a brewery/restaurant a little Westward called Upstream. The food was good and I had my first Hefeweizen before eating other peoples' overly rich desserts. There were a laughs around the table for a good while before we all headed upstairs to play pool. For once I even got in a few good shots. Just a few.
When we got back to the hotel we all immediately headed to the little 'net cove for a final late-night fix of email, and I hung out the longest to get caught up with URC before retiring uptstairs to watch Psych & Dirty Jobs.
Quotes of the day:
"At least it's not a tire" -Anna F.
"No, this is asphalt" -M.e.
"I'm gonna name my next project, 'Not Tellin'..."
"'What project are you workin' on?' Not Tellin."
-Barry G.
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