Be Careful Who You Complain To

First, a little background:

I caught a cold from my snotty-nosed little granddaughter, bless her heart. Of course she appeared unaffected by it, but it's now kicking my butt. That along with the lack of good sleep because of said cold made me a miserable person yesterday. But I still have a job to do. That being said...

I rolled into the shipper yesterday afternoon. After waiting in line behind what seemed like 127 trucks, I finally got up to the little phone booth to check in. Gave my pickup number and

"That's not a good pick up number. Pull over into the side lot and call your dispatcher. When you have the right number, get back in line..."

Ugh, not what I wanted to hear.

So I fire off a quick message to dispatch, simply asking for a new pu#. 25 mins later I still hadn't received the reply yet. So I ask "copy that?"

"Just got back...asking sales."

15 mins later I get a phone call from "Bob" asking if I ever got things straightened out with the shipping lady. I said:

"Umm, there's nothing for me to straighten out. She says I have the wrong pu#, and that's that."

"Ok I'll check on it. Let me know if you hear anything."

At this point, between being sick, the delay, the heat, and the long line, I was a little more than frustrated. I sent a message to my FM:

"Hey man, this Bob guy from sales just called wondering if I fixed the problem yet. What the heck am I supposed to do?

A cpl minutes later, this mssg:

"This is Bob, and I'm not from sales. I'm filling in for your FM this afternoon, and all day tomorrow. Sorry, I'm trying to figure this out."

Oops, at least I didn't say anything too bad. I'm not usually a complainer, but as mentioned I was miserable yesterday and let a moment of weakness get the better of me. Now I have complained to Bob, about Bob. That can't be good. And guess what...

I'm now broke down at a rest area in Florence, KY. Do ya think Bob will go out of his way to help me out? He's not in Road Assist, but you get my point.

DOOOAHHH!

I've learned my lesson too many times. When it comes to kids I eat an orange to boost my immune system before seeing them or risk getting punched in the face with disease the next day, lol. Hope you feel better.

Good lesson. It's hard sometimes to keep frustration in check. Especially when you cant see what's going on behind the scenes. You cant help but feel like you're being ignored sometimes. Especially when you want or need answers quickly. I yell at the QC a lot. Although if I had a student they might think I was lunatic for doing so. Lol. I also constantly remind myself that my anger should be directed at the situation, not at an individual. Chances are they too are not getting answers as quickly as they want.

Update:

Bob just called to check on how I was making out with the breakdown. I was of course back to my usual pleasant self. Lesson learned.

Road assist is on-scene and currently changing out the starter as we speak.

That should be a very quick fix.

"This is Bob, and I'm not from sales. I'm filling in for your FM this afternoon, and all day tomorrow. Sorry, I'm trying to figure this out."

Sounds like he actually understood your frustration and wasn't offended. Your regular FM must have told him that you are an online celebrity and he needs to treat you good.

I'm quite sure Bob was not even phased by your comment. I'm sure if you brought it up to him, his answer would be......Huh.......I have no idea what you are talking about! Bob has dealt with much worse if he has been in this business for more than 15 minutes!

Whenever I'm around little kids, I always spray 'em down with Lysol, WD40 or whatever I have handy. My own grandson prefers Pine Sol for some reason. Preventative measures will always keep you on the road.

WD40..? You are parent of the year in my book.