Crazy Work Trip - Week 1
=>Posted by: paul.
=>2003-01-13 12:44:31
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So, I made it through the first week of this work trip.
Background
- I am training/mentoring Ryder/BellSouth people in the use of my work's new software, ActiveTrac.
So, my work partner and I flew out of Fort Lauderdale Last Sunday night. Except our flight was delayed (got to watch the ending of the San Fran game). One hour into the flight, the pilot notifies us that the reason was because of a missing part that had to flown from Atlanta.
So, we finally make it into Atlanta after midnight, and we are stuck at the gate for 20 minutes because the jetway is stuck. (never voluntarily flying Delta again).
We pick up the rental car, and head out to Macon (hour drive). We stop at a Steak and Shake, but they don't have any food, only steak! So after getting a steak patty and a bun, we make it finally to the hotel. Mine you, its freezing (literally) outside... something I am not used to.
So, we get about an hour sleep, and then we head off to the warehouse. Its cold, and dirty... I am not one to complain about dirt, and have no problems rolling up my sleeves, but this place was disgusting. Worse yet, there was no heat in the warehouse, the manager I guess was too cheap to buy kerosene. So, we finish up around 2 AM, and we head back to the hotel. At that point I get to recharge some sleep (practically up for 24 hours). We finish up Tuesday night at 2 AM, except this time, I stay in the office and make them come in to me (no need for me to get sick).
Wednesday, its off to Jacksonville, Fl. Nothing really spectacular, pretty much attempting to get some more sleep. But then, they try to change the training and implementation times all around. After a couple hours of phone conferences, we get them back to where they were.
Thursday, we arrive at the warehouse, and get setup. We discover the Delta's security people had opened our equipment case, and in closing it, had crushed one of the scanner screen's. About $1000 worth of damage. Thanks Delta and HomeLand InSecurity. Training was ok, the weather was a little warmer, and they actually had working heaters! The only problem was that the workers were not following proper procedures, and they did not like us being there. Too bad for them.
Friday, at this point we could tell that the dock workers disliked our presence, they must have thought that we would care about their bad practices, its their problem, not ours. I can understand their point of view, if the item gets there, their job is done. But unfortunately the managers there could not convey the importance of visibility of the material they transport.
So after all of that, I flew out Friday night, back to Fort Lauderdale, and to see my girlfriend - who I had not had the oppurtunity to spend time with for 2 weeks.
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