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Hi. Chris Hauer.

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Hi. Kate Johnson. Nice to meet you.

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Nice to meet you, Kate.

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Chris, please, tell me a little bit about
yourself.

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Well, I'm currently finishing my Master
of Education program at Lake Erie College.

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And working on transitioning from a 
northeastern Ohio winter to

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being a member of the Jacksonville-area
community.

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Why the move?

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Well, my wife's job is moving down South,
and I'm coming along with her.

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That's very noble and admirable of you
at the same time.

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How did you hear about the position open
with our company, here at REI?

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Well, when I thought about the opportunity
of changing locations and moving from

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one physical location to another, 
I thought about making a career move

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as well. And I was starting with my main 
interests and passions.

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I love being outside. I love doing outdoor
activities and I love working with people.

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And I thought if I could use my experience
as a teacher, helping people, and my

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interest in the outdoors together, that 
would be a good place to start a

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new career. And when I was looking
online, I found REI's website and that

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there were positions available in the
Jacksonville area,

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so I thought I would apply.

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Great! So you have an interest in
outdoor activities, so

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this would be a great company for you to
work at.

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That being said, what else do you know
about our company?

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Well, I know you've been around for 
a long time, since the late 1930s,

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and what really caught my attention the 
most was the idea that it was started

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by people who had a passion for the 
outdoors and found a way to

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involve others in their experience.

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I like the idea, too, that your company
is consistently ranked among the

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top 100 companies to work for by
Fortune magazine, and I thought

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growing with a company that has
that level of success would be

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a good place to be.

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Great. [Typing].

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Why do you want this particular position,

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here, within our customer 
service department?

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Because I want to start in a 
position that allows me to learn

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everything about the company, from the
very basic level of interacting

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with the customers, all the way up
throughout the sales process,

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marketing process, and the production of
goods and services.

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When I saw the opportunity for customer
service, I thought it would align

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very well with the skill set I have, and
also with some skills I could bring

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to the company that might be
unique.

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Can you tell me a little bit more about
the skills that you would transfer from

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your previous line of work to our
department here?

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Sure. In education, it's all about making
the customer, or student, feel comfortable

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and helping them grow. I feel that within
a company like REI,

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it's the same philosophy. Getting a
customer comfortable with a product

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and helping them grow as they advance
in whatever sport they happen

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to be participating in.

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Why do you think that our company 
should hire you, specifically,

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amongst our pool of candidates that are
interviewing for this position?

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Sure. I think one skill set that I have 
involves my background in education.

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Teachers are among the highest stressed
professionals in the workplace.

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And REI offers a number of products that
help alleviate stress by getting people

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outdoors. And teachers also have a lot of
down-time in the summers.

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My thinking is that once I learn the ropes
and advance within the company, I will

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be able to market the services and
products that REI offers,

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specifically to the teaching profession.

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I have to ask this question: given that
are making a career change, here,

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especially with finishing a master's
degree in education,

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if a position becomes available in 
your current field down here in the

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Jacksonville area, how do you approach
being offered this job versus being

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offered a position in your field?

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And I'm asking that in the now and 
in the near future.

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Sure. That's a great question.

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I'm not pursuing further educational
opportunities within that profession.

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I feel like this customer service 
opportunity - the chance to work in

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a field that I enjoy as much as teaching


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is a place that I could grow into
long term.

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Okay.

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So what I get out of teaching is working
with people.

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And helping people become a little bit
better than they were

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when I first met them. And that skill
translates very well into REI's mission.

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And so I don't anticipate leaving
a successful career for something

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I've already done. I feel like this is a
natural confluence of my two interests.

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Chris, what would you identify as your
greatest professional strengths?

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I think patience is probably my greatest 
strength, that translates

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across the careers. Being able to listen
to a student or customer's difficulty

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and help them overcome that difficulty
with patience and compassion

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is my greatest strength.

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Would you consider any weaknesses that
you have to be detrimental to the job?

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I think there's a risk when it comes to
compassion. I think people can

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misinterpret compassion as being easy or
willing to roll over when it's

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important to understand that compassion
is something that is earned, and it's

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interactive, and I feel like if I
establish clear boundaries

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with customers, clients, students, they
understand that.

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I am understanding, I am patient, I 
am kind, yet, I'm also going to

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people I interact with to a high standard.

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To date, what would you say is your 
greatest professional achievement?

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Personally, becoming a teacher, earning
a Master's degree,

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those have all been wonderful experiences
for me, but the greatest achievement

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would have to be working 
with young people.

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And helping them get a little bit better 
at communicating

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with the world around them.

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Chris, can you tell me about a challenge
or a conflict that you've faced

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in the workplace and how you would 
deal with it?

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Sure.Within the education profession, 
there are challenges every day.

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You're dealing with hundreds of different
personalities, and interests, and

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levels of enthusiasm. So being able to 
engage students with content

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in an enriching way, is part of overcoming
a conflict or difficulty.

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I think building professional
relationships is another way

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to deal with conflicts, understanding
where people come from.

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Prior to teaching, I was involved with
a photography company,

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photographing events like weddings, 
and bar mitzvahs.

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Very, very important events in
people's lives.

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And a lot of times, conflicts would
arise, so again, just like in teaching,

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overcoming those conflicts with
patience, and listening to the client

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or customer's needs is very
important.

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Now you are interviewing for a 
position that is not

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an entry-level position. And there is
the possibility that those in our

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company that were overlooked for
this position may have some

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animosity regarding the new hire
for this position.

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So how do you approach this potential
challenge in the workplace?

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The important thing is to listen to 
the people around me, and understand

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that I am a newcomer, and that they
know more about the work

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environment than I will coming in.

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I think because I have a friendly
demeanor, and I'm not confrontational

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when meeting new people, that in time,
we'll have a chance to earn each other's

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mutual respect and understand that we
both want the same thing -

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the company to grow and us to grow
within the company.

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Where do you see yourself in five years?
Specifically within our company?

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Hopefully I'll be able to develop a 
market that allows me to interact with

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people within the teaching profession, 
and grow our brand using

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that market as a target client base.

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That's great.

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Are you interviewing currently with any
other companies, and if so, what interests

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you about those particular companies
as well?

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Since I'm new to the area, I haven't had
the opportunity to interview with a

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wide variety of companies. I have looked
at Bass Pro Shops, and I'm currently

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scheduled to interview with them.

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They have a similar mission and similar
goals to REI. It's just that their product

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line is more specifically tailored than
REI's more diverse offerings.

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We here at REI, you know, it is...
being in customer service,

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there are aspects of your job that are
going to be a little less active

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than I could expect you being in a 
teaching position

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where I assume you're on your feet more, 
one-on-one, face-to-face with

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individuals. Do you prefer a specific type
of work environment?

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Do you thrive in a variety of work
environments?

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And what does this look like?

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I thrive in a variety of work
environments.

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I wouldn't expect to be sitting 
in a cubicle interacting with customers

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unless I'm handling a phone call,
and that's fine. That's part of the job.

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But what I would expect is to be
actively engaged with the customers

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who come into the store, and helping
show them the products that might

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best suit their needs and introducing them
to products that they might not have

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considered before. So I would expect to 
be up, moving around, and

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being consistently engaged with the
customer, or trying to find ways to

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improve what we offer to our customers.

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Can you describe a time for me ever that 
you may have disagreed on a decision

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that was made for you and staff members 
at work, and how did you deal with this?

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Sure. Within the field of education, there
are new initiatives being rolled out

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all the time. And sometimes those 
initiatives get mandated.

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You have to teach this way, this 
many times a week.

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And when something like that happens, I
think it's important to go back to

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what you know about your profession or
your skill set.

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And be able to provide research that 
supports why you do what you do.

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And I think when faced with a difficulty,
again, it's important

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to do what the boss says, and it's 
important to also advocate for what

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might be best for the customer or student.

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Alright. We're gonna move on to some 
cognitive behavioral questions.

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And basically these questions are 
designed...they're not necessarily about

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your past, your experience. They're sort
of out-of-the-box questions.

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And so, just do your best at answering
them as we go through this.

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If you were an animal, what would you be
and why?

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That's a tough question.

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I think, considering the traits of 
my dog, if I had to be an animal,

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I would certainly want to be a
domesticated dog.

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They just have that ability to
love unconditionally, they're

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intensely loyal, and they just provide
so many benefits to people.

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That's something I like to do in my 
life as a human, too.

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Alright. Next question.

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How many tennis balls can you fit
into a limousine?

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Tennis balls in a limousine.

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Well, I guess to effectively answer
that question, I would need

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some help. I would need to know
what type of limousine, because

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if we're talking about a stretch SUV,
that's a much larger volume than

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a smaller limousine. Are we talking
two-door, four-door?

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I also don't know what's in the 
limousine already.

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Are there people in there, or 
is it empty?

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Once I had those questions answered, 
I'd have to do some calculations

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about the size of the tennis ball. How
much area, or how much volume it takes

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up. Calculate the inside of the limousine,
and then make sure that math works out.

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I could get that answer to you. I just
can't do it off the top of my head.

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Great.

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Let me ask this final question.

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Do you have any questions for us?

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Well, I mentioned a couple times about
being interested in helping grow a market

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for REI. I'm just curious, as a new
employee, or someone starting out on

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a lower level, how open is upper
management to hearing the ideas of

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an employee?

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We do try to have monthly meetings where
we meet with a variety of employees

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at random. So these aren't things that are
necessarily scheduled regularly.

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They're very semi-annual. They're very
informal. We do like to hear our

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employees' opinions, about our products, 
especially. And about marketing.

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One thing that we don't necessarily do is
the lower-level positions that are dealing

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maybe with, collections or you know, the
intake and distribution

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of customer service calls - we don't
necessarily talk to that group

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of employees very often. But I'd be very
interested to hear your opinions on that,

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should you be hired for the position, and
maybe ways that we could do better

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as well, by reaching a larger group of 
our employees to benefit our company.

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Okay. And the last question from me - 
what, from your perspective,

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is the best part about working for REI?

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I think the work atmosphere with our
company is very welcoming.

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And even in my position in somewhat
upper management, those that I work

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for that are above me, they're very - 
we're very good to our employees.

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And I think because of the treatment 
of our employees, we retain employment.

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It's very easy for us to get things done,
because people want to do their jobs.

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I have worked myself in positions where 
I've worked underneath people who

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were more tyrannical in nature, and it's
very difficult to want to do more,

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and go above and beyond what you
need to do in those situations.

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So I believe that's the number one 
benefit of working in our particular

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company, it's the atmosphere itself.

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Great. Thank you so much for your 
time, Kate. I appreciate it.

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Thank you so much. Take care.

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You too.