Sometimes, I feel sorry for my customers.
Jan. 5th, 2006 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreNormally, when I can't do a job, it's because of the customer not measuring their space, or not remembering that we need a gate code, or something similar on their end. Honestly, we want to do our jobs - if for no other reason than not being able to do a drop or pick up can really screw up our day. So when I can't do a job and its nobody's fault, i really feel sorry for the customer.
Remember the guy I signed Ground Forces for the other day? Today, I went back over the hill to pick up his loaded pod and bring it to the warehouse.
Now his place basically sits on a large grassy lot. No real driveway. The house is well back from the street, about forty feet or so, and at the same distance is a fence and gate that leads to a second yard. This is where I sat the pod down. A simple, straight back in, made dicey only by the size of the gate, but since I was the guy who dropped it, I knew exactly how I was going to approach the pick-up.
I get there, greet the customer (the original guy's girlfriend), and get into position and back up. About six feet from the gate, my rear wheels just start spinning. I get out, and discover that last week's storm had completely saturated the ground. All I'm doing is digging holes in a mixture of soggy grass and mud. I try again, coming in at a slight angle to avoid old ruts (a trick I learned in the Army) but no luck. I'm still spinning my wheels and going nowhere but down. I pull forward and think. Empty, I weight about 5.5 tons. That weight is causing me to sink into the mud. This is a full pod, going to Washington state with most of these nice folk's furniture. It probably weighs close to 6 tons, all told. What will happen when my truck weighs in at close to 12 tons?
Images of the La Brea Tar Pits came to mind. "Here we see a remarkedly preserved Harvester truck and driver, located in the Santa Cruz area..."
I apologize to the customer, and explain that they need to either let the ground dry thoroughly, or put down some sort of support over a 30 foot length. Wood, gravel, even a thick layer of hay might allow me to get in and out.
It really bufgged me, not being able to do that job. Not only because they were cool gamer-folk, and not because I wasted almost 90 minutes driving back and forth over those damn mountains, but not being able to do a job is an insult to my professional pride. If I can do a drop in pitch darkness on a narrow road during a howling rainstorm, I should have been able to do this, physics be damned.
Remember the guy I signed Ground Forces for the other day? Today, I went back over the hill to pick up his loaded pod and bring it to the warehouse.
Now his place basically sits on a large grassy lot. No real driveway. The house is well back from the street, about forty feet or so, and at the same distance is a fence and gate that leads to a second yard. This is where I sat the pod down. A simple, straight back in, made dicey only by the size of the gate, but since I was the guy who dropped it, I knew exactly how I was going to approach the pick-up.
I get there, greet the customer (the original guy's girlfriend), and get into position and back up. About six feet from the gate, my rear wheels just start spinning. I get out, and discover that last week's storm had completely saturated the ground. All I'm doing is digging holes in a mixture of soggy grass and mud. I try again, coming in at a slight angle to avoid old ruts (a trick I learned in the Army) but no luck. I'm still spinning my wheels and going nowhere but down. I pull forward and think. Empty, I weight about 5.5 tons. That weight is causing me to sink into the mud. This is a full pod, going to Washington state with most of these nice folk's furniture. It probably weighs close to 6 tons, all told. What will happen when my truck weighs in at close to 12 tons?
Images of the La Brea Tar Pits came to mind. "Here we see a remarkedly preserved Harvester truck and driver, located in the Santa Cruz area..."
I apologize to the customer, and explain that they need to either let the ground dry thoroughly, or put down some sort of support over a 30 foot length. Wood, gravel, even a thick layer of hay might allow me to get in and out.
It really bufgged me, not being able to do that job. Not only because they were cool gamer-folk, and not because I wasted almost 90 minutes driving back and forth over those damn mountains, but not being able to do a job is an insult to my professional pride. If I can do a drop in pitch darkness on a narrow road during a howling rainstorm, I should have been able to do this, physics be damned.
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no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2006 05:56 (UTC)www.petitiononline.com/1049/petition.html
www.savechannel1049.com
Link to journal of friend who works there http://www.livejournal.com/users/phoenix_dragon/
I don't know if he can get you an album, he's too pissed off to ask yet :)
no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2006 17:37 (UTC)But I'm trying to imagine the situations where the future version couldn't make pickup.
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2006 00:46 (UTC)1. Access to the container is blocked somehow, or the customer has moved items to close to the pod.
2. Customer has moved the pod himself, and the new space is unreachable by our lift.
3. Pod is unlocked, or incorrectly locked. (You can lock the pod with the door latch in the open position. Happens every so often.)
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2006 01:53 (UTC)my IPOD is bigger then your iPod...
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2006 04:19 (UTC)Be glad you aren't in some parts of the south. I can picture a container that was inaccessible due to kudzu growing up around it.
no subject
Date: 8 Jan 2006 18:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Jan 2006 19:27 (UTC)Assuming they wanted to actually go somewhere, that would be a BX container (used exclusively for moving between different office's service areas.
We don't lift loaded pods that aren't locked.. and the lock is on the outside.
A BX can sit in the warehouse for weeks waiting for a flatbed.
The flatbeds we use can make multiple stops along their route, dropping a loading pods with different offices.
Finally, someone at vacation destination would have to schedule a delivery of that BX.. which might take up to a week.
Easier to hop frieght trains. Safer too.