Please help!!!!!!!

[jjsmom]

We are supposed to check into Coronado Springs on Saturday...


Calling all those people with spouses who- are self employed, have lots of responsibility at work, who are ALWAYS called on at the last minute before a vacation. I am having a serious meltdown here...

why is it that before a WDW vacation all heck breaks loose with his (or her) job and WE CAN'T LEAVE ON TIME!! DH is a realtor. He has several clients that he has been working with for many months. Now, all of a sudden, EVERYBODY wants him!! He is sooo.. stressed! He is trying to write contracts, show property, make offers, all in one day!!! Now he tells me tonight that we won't be leaving until much later tomorrow. We are supposed to meet friends (who are flying) for dinner Sat. night. We have at least a 16-18 hr drive from MD.

Please help, I just needed someone to talk to. All comments are appreciated. I am so stressed now too, becase I want him to be relaxed and he won't be. Sorry if I sound like a nut case.

 

[CindysGusGus]

im sorry I have no advice for you but have been stressed like this before sending you a hug

 

[ctrabada]

Pixie dust and best wishes for a relaxing vacation! Take a deep breath and just try to let it slide. I know you are stressed, but the best medicine for your hubby right now is for you to be calm and understanding. I've been in the same boat (except I was the one stressed at work) and having my husband be the calm one helped a lot.

Be there for him and don't fight it; having 2 stressed people in a car for 18 hrs will not be a good start. I know it's easier said than done, but trust me, letting it roll and forgetting about it will make the ride easier and your vacation more enjoyable.

Getting in the car, even if it's late, is better than having to cancel. So try to relax, breathe, and have a great time!

 

[cyansmom]

I totally know how you and your DH feel.

My DH and I have our own business and everytime we go away...it was so stressful for us up until the time we were on the plane! We usually work 18-20 hour days before we would leave for our trip. Once we were on the plane, we both just let out a BIG sigh and give each other a hug and sleep!

One thing you can do for your DH is to massage his neck at the end of the day and assure him that everything will be fine. That usually helps my DH relax at the end of a stressful day. Maybe you could help him type up some of his contracts?

Don't stress out ...everyone one will be counting on you to hold it together.

Hope this helps...just think...you'll be at the "MAGIC" soon!

cyansmom

 

[decker96]

My husband is a chiropractor and it is like pulling teeth to get him to go on vacation at all and then we can usually only go for 4 to 5 days! At the end of this month we are going to a family reunion for my dad's whole side of the family and we are going to be gone for a whole week. He has been worrying about this since January. He's afraid he will lose patients because he won't be there to treat them if they have an emergency. I keep telling him EVERYONE deserves a vacation and if people can't understand that, it's their problem. His business is very successful and if a couple people switch because he is choosing to be with his family for a vacation, it's not going to hurt. He just has that kind of personality, he is concerned about everyone. Probably why he is so good at what he does! I just try to be as understanding and accomodating as I can. I do all the packing, get the money, load the car, etc. so he can work as long as possible on the last day before we leave.
Just try to understand and remember what a great time you will have when you do get there!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Right there with ya! My DH is not self employed, but he does seem to think the plant will fall down if he's not there (he's a quality assurance engineer). At the end of May we were supposed to go to the beach, but 16 hours before we were to leave, he called and said he had to cancel because they couldn't be without him at work. What the heck? They did reimburse us for the money we had paid to rent the house, but still......

Hope your trip goes great and you guys can relax a bit!

 

[Gillian]

Try not to stress - it'll all work out! Next time think about getting plane tix - he'd have to leave on time!

One good thing, maybe he'll close lots of sales and you'll have big checks waiting when you get home.

 

[motaei]

Boy - do I know where you are coming from. DH & I own our own company & everytime he leaves on a business trip or the rare family vacation, he pulls an all-nighter right before. He stresses out at least a week in advance mumbling to himself that there is too much to do. (he does handle the more deadline sensitive stuff as opposed to me) So my job is to make sure he is packed and has everything he needs. I stay supportive & know that things will get better once the plane leaves. However, once we get there, we still need to check and reply to both voicemail & email. One time, on Thanksgiving weekend, DH was answering his cell phone for tech support as we stood in line waiting for a ride at LegoLand! I just do my best to keep him relaxed with massages, etc. & be as supportive as I can. I've learned that fretting & stressing accomplish nothing but more stress. If we are a little late, then it's not the end of the world. We will still get our vacation.

Good luck & have a wonderful vacation. (I did)

PS - I found the atmosphere at CSR to be so relaxing. I actually enjoyed the walk to El Centro just to see the lake & trees. The grounds are just beautiful.

 

[Jungle Skipper]

I know how you feel...we'll be praying everything works out okay, I am sure it will.
In January, we were scheduled to leave for Orlando from an airport 2 hrs away....well my dad had a scheduled vacation time at his work and was supposed to leave at noon....but his supervisor renigged on this, telling he had to work the full day...this caused hysteria in my household.

He worked as long as possible and todl the guy he had to leave right away and the boss held his ground saying no...so my dad walked out...and while I drove to the airport...he called the union and filed a grievence..we arrvie at the gate 2 minutes before takeoff....talk about stressed.

Jungle Josh

 

[Wendi]

Hi!

I hope this will help being I have almost the same situation here. My Mom who goes with us about every other year is a Realtor and she has the same thing going on. Here are my thoughts:

Does he have a cell phone? Duh, dumb question; but everyone that needs to know-needs to have his number to reach him. Make sure they know it's only if it's a MUST situation and there will be periods of time that he will NOT be answering his phone when you get to Disney, but he Will be checking messages and WILL call them back. Contracts can be negotiated from anywhere. My Mom does them all the time from the Mall, Disney, my house and even in the car.

Does he have a close "work" associate that he could entrust with a few of the people that "might" need to write a contract before he gets back home? He can always pay a referral to the associate for the help.

While driving, if there seems to be a lot of calls; volunteer to drive so that he can take his time with the clients. You will feel more comfortable and he will feel like he is "taking care of business" (which he is doing).

Once there, or hopefully while on the way there - establish whether or not he can leave his phone turned off and check messages every 2-4 hours. Just NOT all the time.

I understand the "When it rains, it pours" life of Real Estate. My Mom goes through it all the time. And when it stalls, boy does it stall. I feel your pain, but hopefully he can get things lined up, have someone to help back home and only worry about business every 4 hours.

Say your prayers tonight, get a good nights sleep and Have a WONDERFUL Vacation.

Wendi

 

[jjsmom]

Thanks so much to all of you. It's a new day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and... I'm leaving for WDW tonight!. I feel much better, even though I didn't sleep well. Hubby is very well prepared with his phone, laptop, and the fact that CS is a computer hook up hotel. I have resigned myself to the fact that this is the way it's going to be forever and I'm (1) very lucky to have a spouse who works so hard for his family and (2) business is going very well right now and has afforded us a very nice vacation. Because of increased business, we've even been able to book the Autotrain to come home (it was full on Southbound). This will surely help our stress level.

A lot of my stress comes from worrying about him, and having to handle all of the details with packing, car care & loading, house preparation, banking, mail, newspapers, you name it. Of course something is always forgotten.

Thank you all again, friends, for all the kind words, advice, pixie dust, and hugs. I guess I just needed to vent and talk to people who've been there and can put my mind in the right gear. We have a family friend who's a retired agent and he said to us once; "Want a sure fire way for business to pick up? Book a vacation and watch everyone jam you at the last minute!! Boy was he right! See you guys when we get back!!

 

[TN Traveler]

JJsmom---By now I'm sure you are on your way to the wonderful world of Disney and all the problems and stress are slowly moving behind you BUT I did want to send you a note to let you know I truly do understand. I am a home based travel agent. The majority of my clients are folks I have sent on vacations before or referrals from previous clients. However I do have a large ad in our local phone book and get several calls. If one of my close clients/friends call wanting vacation info, I always tell them we're getting ready to go wherever and they understand. BUT it ALWAYS seems to happen the day before we are to leave a problem pops up or I have a new client to call wanting a trip. B/C I work on commission and need the business, I bust my hump to take care of my clients new and old. I too am very concerned about my people and want them to have the best possible vacation. The Friday before we left on Sunday I closed 8 vacation packages!! When I thought I was almost finished I had a person call that I didn't know wanting a trip to Cancun!! And of course like alot of folks she wanted a quote for a date that was just a month away and wanted prices now!! I called her back w/some great deals and got the answer "Well, let me think about it and I'll call you tomorrow." I then explained to her that we were leaving "tomorrow" for our family vacation and would give the info to one of my coworkers. She is also a home based agent and we back each other up. I don't know exactly what happened but client claims co-worker never called her back, co-worker claims she did and left messages but client never returned her call so I lost the package. Cleint booked w/another agency. Of course I didn't think about it while we were on our vacation but when I got home I was very upset. I called Cleint when I got home and apologized for the miscommunication. She was pretty huffy and snotty to me which bothered me alot. But then I looked at it another way, if Client was that upset and got all bent out of shape, then she wasn't worth having as a client anyway. Granted your DH makes alot more commission off his houses than I make on my trips so it may not be so easy for him but I had to let it go.

Another problem we have is we live on a 45 acre farm. We have 30 head of cattle and 18 goats. We are forever mending fences and checking our animals to make sure all is ok. All of our nannies are bred so they have their babies in March and April. However, this year one of our Nannies didn't get pregnant when the others did. We knew she would have her babies while we were gone. We always have 1 or 2 people watching our house and taking care of the livestock. Since she had babies before we weren't too worried about her but this time when she delivered there was a problem and she lost both babies. My hubby now feels if he had been here to help her deliver, we wouldn't have lost the babies. Who knows right?

I hope ya'll had a great time and all worked out. When I go on vacation, I'm on vacation.....no phones, no computers, nothing!
It's a nice break.

 

[samnbilly]

Why do people try to rain on our Disney parade? I hope things get better and you have a wonderful- stress free, rain free, and whining children free vacation! I know how you feel, we were supposed to go to Disney last April and at the last minute DH's boss said he couldn't go due to a very important job. My plane tickets were non refundable and we had to travel (my kids and I) to Florida for a non-Disney vacation. It was awful.

 

[jjsmom]

Shame on those awful bosses! I know this a dog-eat-dog capitalist society, but for heavens sake they've got to let their employees take their hard-earned vacation!! Now I know I don't have any room to complain because at least DH is (kind of) his own boss, he answers to his own pressure. I am so sorry for all of you who had to live with such tyranny at work. I sincerely rolleyes: ) hope all the share holders of those companies appreciated such a sacrifice.

TN traveller, I had a similar experience several years ago when I had to take a few days off for some minor surgery. I used to work in sales/customer service an industrial parts manufacturer. During a period of time the co. was shuffling positions and this particular high dollar customer was extremely unhappy that he lost "HIS" sales person and was stuck with me. Anyway, this jerk called my boss kicking and screaming saying that I did not respond to his request for quotation, that I didn't know what I was talking about, that if he didn't get his old rep back he'd give all business to the competition. He even called our outside traveling salesman and complained. So the outside guy made a special trip from his home near Atlanta to central FL to pacify this guy. To make a long story short, I came back and everyone descended upon me like buzzards on roadkill. I cried, I was still sore, and was just sick that a customer would think that I didn't do the best I could. Come to find out, a clerical worker on HIS end did not send a fax requesting a quote. No one ever apologized and about 3 months later I told them all "where to go".

Well folks, it's time to go to WDW. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Mortlives]

I hope you have a great trip, but I can't help but think how much your story sounds like the set-up to the Haunted Mansion movie. LOL

Let us know if you meet any ghosts on the way!

Kungaloosh!
Mort.