About a half dozen times a year, we have to work around the clock - literally - to get a project done. We had one last night. Here were a few highlights.

A piece of equipment that we needed broke a week ago. It's under warranty, with guaranteed service within 24 hours. But that doesn't mean they'll get the thing working. After 5 business days, trying in vain to get working equipment in for last night, I was told that they could get replacement to us in an additional 10 business days. When I repeated that this was not going to help me with my immediate need, the company rep told me that he had completed his "due diligence". B.A. has a tongue-in-cheek version of this when he asks people, "How can I delight you today?"

Having missing equipment, the project took far longer to complete. This was for a meeting, held at 8 am, in the Chicago suburbs. At 5:30 am, we still had another hour of work ahead of us. I sent one of my bosses ahead with everything that we had, and said that I'd drive the rest of the stuff out as soon as I could. He gave me directions.

I got in my car at 6:45 am. Normally, the drive out would be 30 minutes. Nope. Rollover accident on the expressway. The clock was ticking. At 7:50 am I was within a mile of the place. But I had been given incorrect directions. There wasn't an expressway exit in my direction. I had to drive an extra 5 miles, to the next exit, and loop around.

At 7:58 am, I was at the gate of this company. The guard would not let me in. The boss was standing 200 yards away - waving at me, and at the guard. The guard said, "I don't know who you are. You could be anybody. Tell your guy over there to give me a call at 50500." I pointed out that we were outside, neither my boss nor I were employees of his company, and I just needed to hand him a package. No dice. The guy just kept repeating, "He'll have to call me at five-oh-five-oh-oh." Over and over again. "He's on a cell phone. That's five digits. That will not make a call." Didn't matter. He just kept repeating it.

The boss called me on my mobile. I handed the phone to the guard. Same thing. Same instructions. Finally, he gave us a whole 7-digit number to call. Voila. He opened the gate. And the package got to the boss.

Just after I pulled out of the gate, I got an email. The equipment vendor had "pulled a few strings", and would be in today to take another look at their equipment. Day late. Dollar short. As of 5:00 p.m., they still hadn't showed.

The bright side, the adrenalin burst from being so angry at the guard, but knowing that I had to keep my tongue in check, gave me a much needed energy boost for the drive home. Another 26 hour day. Yay.


BTW: Dr. Sardonic and Dilf had their birthdays today. I love them both like brothers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 23, 2006 at 10:37 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.