Everybody is stupid
Feb. 24th, 2004 01:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2No I don't mean my friends, I mean customers at work. More on that in a moment. ^_^
I was sooooo tired yesterday. I hate it when I'm busy all weekend and can't be lazy, because it feels like I didn't have a weekend at all. But mostly I hate it because I'm tired and therefore in a bad mood. Everything sucks when you're tired. And I slept more than 8 hours last night too, but apparently didn't sleep very well.
I made stew on Saturday night. I'd been wanting to do that for a while. I put in stew meat (beef), onions, red potatos, carrots, parsnips because that sounded like a cool thing to add, celery, mushrooms. I used an onion soup mix base. Added some garlic, salt, pepper, two bay leaves, some thyme I think, I forget. Some worchestershire sauce.
I think Jwy'l was the only one besides me to try it. I figured this was because we had so much food for the game on Sunday, which was true, but that didn't stop people from rushing in to grab the pizza that Julie made. So anyway I was so tired that I unplugged the crock pot and went immediately to bed. Tom said he'd put the stew in the fridge. Ten hours later it was still in the crock pot on the counter. So I turned it back on, figuring I could have some in an hour before I went to work. After I got out of the shower, I went into the kitchen ready to have some of my stew... and discovered that Tom had turned the pot off and put the stew in the fridge.
You'd think he might have clued in that the crock pot was on, but the stew was cold? But nooooooooo...!
My piece of cake that I put in the fridge got all dried out and yucky and I had to throw it away. Bleah.
So anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Stupid people. I'd count Tom but since he cleaned up the kitchen I can't be too hard on him. But anyway...
I went in to work. A guy called. He said he was from XXX company in Longview and they were shipping a shipment today, and he needed the charges. He said we were going to be in to pick it up within the hour.
Now, we ship like 1400 shipments a day so I have no idea what shipment he's talking about. Since we haven't even picked it up yet, only Portland dispatch might possibly know anything at all. There will be nothing in the computer for me to look at until after the driver picks it up and gets back to Portland at the end of the day, and they scan the bill of lading into the computer and a biller enters the information from the bill of lading into the billing system. But I figure he must know this and just wants a quote. So I start asking information:
Me: What zip code is it coming from?
Cust: What?
Me (speaking more clearly): What zip code is it coming from?
Cust: What's the color?
Me (speaking VEEEERY SLOOOWLY): WHAT. ZIP. CODE. IS. IT. COMING. FROM.?
Anyway we get all the way to where I ask him what the weight of the shipment is, and he sounds quite frustrated by this point. He suddenly blurts out: "Don't you have all of this information in front of you?"
Oh yes. All you have to do is say you're Bob in Longview, and I can know everything there is to know about the shipment that we haven't even picked up yet.
Me: No, I don't know anything about this shipment. That's why I'm asking you these questions, so that I can quote you. What is the weight of the shipment?
Cust: I don't have that information!
Sigh. I guess it's too much to expect the shipper to know anything about the shipment that they want me to quote them on.
Last week I had a guy who wanted a quote to Rhode Island. He didn't know where in Rhode Island. Just somewhere. I mean, it's a small state, right? What does it matter where it's going? Or what it weighs? Anyway, he said, the details weren't important, he didn't want to waste my time, he just needed a quick estimate. LOL. Those are the funniest ones of all... as if not giving me specific information on where it's going and how much it weighs will somehow make it easier and faster to get a quote. Hello? Specific information is what gets you a quick, fast quote! ^_^
So... a few minutes after Brilliant Bob in Longview, I get a call from a woman who begins the conversation with "Hi! I'm desperate!"
I wanted to say, "Hello, Desperate, my name is Mark." But I restrained myself.
This one was good too. She has a bunch of furniture and possessions in Rhode Island. (What is it with Rhode Island anyway?) She needed to get them out "here", but the companies she'd talked to were too expensive. I tried to explain that we don't pick up in Rhode Island (or anywhere east of Idaho and Montana) but she already knew that. But she knew I could help her because, "You're a big freight company, I see your trucks all over the place. I'm sure you can answer my questions."
So she wanted to know how to get a container that she could load herself, and wouldn't that be the cheapest method? I didn't know what to tell her. Container freight isn't our business... all I know about it is what I knew five years ago when I was working at WOSCA, which is now out of business. So I told her she should call the big freight companies... ABF, Yellow, Roadway. Mind you, they probably don't want to mess with packing up someone's personal possessions, or if they do they'll quote her thousands of dollars, but that's just what it costs to ship a housefull of personal possessions from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. What she really wants is something like the Mayflower company, only she doesn't want to pay for that kind of service.
So I was giving her the phone numbers for these three carriers, and I wanted to give her the number of the terminals closest to her. So we had the following conversation:
Me: Where are you?
Her: I'm on Blue Mt road.
Me: What town are you in?
Her: I'm right here.
Me: Where is that?
Her: I'm right here in PA!
Me: You're in Pennsylvania?
Her: No! I'm right here where you are!
Me: Then you're in Auburn?
Her: Are you in Auburn?
Me: Yes.
Her: Oh... I'm in Port Angeles.
(As an aside... she's seen our trucks all over the place? In Port Angeles? We have a single truck drive up there from our Bremerton terminal on any given day....)
After that she wanted to know if it would be cheaper if she just rented a Budget truck and drove everything across the country herself... well, duh! It's a lot more of your personal time invested, but of COURSE it's cheaper. She said, "You're a frieght person, so you'd know!"
So... that was looney person #2. Right after that the guy that runs our Spokane dock called me to ask if our "scat" code was PENS. I don't normally think of Brian as a looney, but just about everyone in our company should know the answer to this question off the top of their head. It's on every bill where we interline with another carrier... which is something we do at Spokane probably thirty or fourty times a day. But whatever.
Lastly, I got yet another fun call from another customer. This happened to be the same company as Bob in Longview, but this was the Sequim branch. She knew of a shipment coming to her and wanted the delivery address changed to a job site, instead of her store address. So naturally I need to know where it's going.
Me: What address is it going to?
Her: Princess Lane.
Me: Princess Lane?
Her: Yes. Here's the phone number for ZZZ Company...
Me: Where on Princess Lane?
Her: They don't have an address. You take a left on this road...
Me: I need something to put in for the Consignee address...
Her: The driver can just call for directions.
Me: (Sigh). Is it going to ZZZ Company?
Her: Yes.
Me: And what city are they in...?
Well anyway... you get the picture. Some people you have to take by the hands and lead them down the path or they'll never figure things out.
I was sooooo tired yesterday. I hate it when I'm busy all weekend and can't be lazy, because it feels like I didn't have a weekend at all. But mostly I hate it because I'm tired and therefore in a bad mood. Everything sucks when you're tired. And I slept more than 8 hours last night too, but apparently didn't sleep very well.
I made stew on Saturday night. I'd been wanting to do that for a while. I put in stew meat (beef), onions, red potatos, carrots, parsnips because that sounded like a cool thing to add, celery, mushrooms. I used an onion soup mix base. Added some garlic, salt, pepper, two bay leaves, some thyme I think, I forget. Some worchestershire sauce.
I think Jwy'l was the only one besides me to try it. I figured this was because we had so much food for the game on Sunday, which was true, but that didn't stop people from rushing in to grab the pizza that Julie made. So anyway I was so tired that I unplugged the crock pot and went immediately to bed. Tom said he'd put the stew in the fridge. Ten hours later it was still in the crock pot on the counter. So I turned it back on, figuring I could have some in an hour before I went to work. After I got out of the shower, I went into the kitchen ready to have some of my stew... and discovered that Tom had turned the pot off and put the stew in the fridge.
You'd think he might have clued in that the crock pot was on, but the stew was cold? But nooooooooo...!
My piece of cake that I put in the fridge got all dried out and yucky and I had to throw it away. Bleah.
So anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Stupid people. I'd count Tom but since he cleaned up the kitchen I can't be too hard on him. But anyway...
I went in to work. A guy called. He said he was from XXX company in Longview and they were shipping a shipment today, and he needed the charges. He said we were going to be in to pick it up within the hour.
Now, we ship like 1400 shipments a day so I have no idea what shipment he's talking about. Since we haven't even picked it up yet, only Portland dispatch might possibly know anything at all. There will be nothing in the computer for me to look at until after the driver picks it up and gets back to Portland at the end of the day, and they scan the bill of lading into the computer and a biller enters the information from the bill of lading into the billing system. But I figure he must know this and just wants a quote. So I start asking information:
Me: What zip code is it coming from?
Cust: What?
Me (speaking more clearly): What zip code is it coming from?
Cust: What's the color?
Me (speaking VEEEERY SLOOOWLY): WHAT. ZIP. CODE. IS. IT. COMING. FROM.?
Anyway we get all the way to where I ask him what the weight of the shipment is, and he sounds quite frustrated by this point. He suddenly blurts out: "Don't you have all of this information in front of you?"
Oh yes. All you have to do is say you're Bob in Longview, and I can know everything there is to know about the shipment that we haven't even picked up yet.
Me: No, I don't know anything about this shipment. That's why I'm asking you these questions, so that I can quote you. What is the weight of the shipment?
Cust: I don't have that information!
Sigh. I guess it's too much to expect the shipper to know anything about the shipment that they want me to quote them on.
Last week I had a guy who wanted a quote to Rhode Island. He didn't know where in Rhode Island. Just somewhere. I mean, it's a small state, right? What does it matter where it's going? Or what it weighs? Anyway, he said, the details weren't important, he didn't want to waste my time, he just needed a quick estimate. LOL. Those are the funniest ones of all... as if not giving me specific information on where it's going and how much it weighs will somehow make it easier and faster to get a quote. Hello? Specific information is what gets you a quick, fast quote! ^_^
So... a few minutes after Brilliant Bob in Longview, I get a call from a woman who begins the conversation with "Hi! I'm desperate!"
I wanted to say, "Hello, Desperate, my name is Mark." But I restrained myself.
This one was good too. She has a bunch of furniture and possessions in Rhode Island. (What is it with Rhode Island anyway?) She needed to get them out "here", but the companies she'd talked to were too expensive. I tried to explain that we don't pick up in Rhode Island (or anywhere east of Idaho and Montana) but she already knew that. But she knew I could help her because, "You're a big freight company, I see your trucks all over the place. I'm sure you can answer my questions."
So she wanted to know how to get a container that she could load herself, and wouldn't that be the cheapest method? I didn't know what to tell her. Container freight isn't our business... all I know about it is what I knew five years ago when I was working at WOSCA, which is now out of business. So I told her she should call the big freight companies... ABF, Yellow, Roadway. Mind you, they probably don't want to mess with packing up someone's personal possessions, or if they do they'll quote her thousands of dollars, but that's just what it costs to ship a housefull of personal possessions from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. What she really wants is something like the Mayflower company, only she doesn't want to pay for that kind of service.
So I was giving her the phone numbers for these three carriers, and I wanted to give her the number of the terminals closest to her. So we had the following conversation:
Me: Where are you?
Her: I'm on Blue Mt road.
Me: What town are you in?
Her: I'm right here.
Me: Where is that?
Her: I'm right here in PA!
Me: You're in Pennsylvania?
Her: No! I'm right here where you are!
Me: Then you're in Auburn?
Her: Are you in Auburn?
Me: Yes.
Her: Oh... I'm in Port Angeles.
(As an aside... she's seen our trucks all over the place? In Port Angeles? We have a single truck drive up there from our Bremerton terminal on any given day....)
After that she wanted to know if it would be cheaper if she just rented a Budget truck and drove everything across the country herself... well, duh! It's a lot more of your personal time invested, but of COURSE it's cheaper. She said, "You're a frieght person, so you'd know!"
So... that was looney person #2. Right after that the guy that runs our Spokane dock called me to ask if our "scat" code was PENS. I don't normally think of Brian as a looney, but just about everyone in our company should know the answer to this question off the top of their head. It's on every bill where we interline with another carrier... which is something we do at Spokane probably thirty or fourty times a day. But whatever.
Lastly, I got yet another fun call from another customer. This happened to be the same company as Bob in Longview, but this was the Sequim branch. She knew of a shipment coming to her and wanted the delivery address changed to a job site, instead of her store address. So naturally I need to know where it's going.
Me: What address is it going to?
Her: Princess Lane.
Me: Princess Lane?
Her: Yes. Here's the phone number for ZZZ Company...
Me: Where on Princess Lane?
Her: They don't have an address. You take a left on this road...
Me: I need something to put in for the Consignee address...
Her: The driver can just call for directions.
Me: (Sigh). Is it going to ZZZ Company?
Her: Yes.
Me: And what city are they in...?
Well anyway... you get the picture. Some people you have to take by the hands and lead them down the path or they'll never figure things out.
