Early morning pickups are fraught with danger.
Everyone (in general ) has cut the timing right to the bone, so every minute counts. One particular job comes to mind, a 3:30 am collection time, although I must say that there are plenty just like it. For a start, the customer's house was in a fancy gated community, which all take an age to navigate.
What's with the endlessly winding streets spread out over thousands of acres, guys? There's nowhere to walk. There are no sidewalks. There are no shops. There's nowhere to go and nothing to do. Unless you are endlessly entertained by golf what the hell is there to do in these places? And if golf does entertain you 24/7, there's no saving you. And neither should there be.
I'm there, early as usual, at this guy's mock Italiante Villa on a golf course in Florida. The time is 3:15 am. I've been up since 2:00 am. I'm ready to drive this dude to Tampa, and go home and go back to bed.
It's not reasonable to knock or ring the doorbell that early. Maybe there are kids, maybe there are relatives. I reverse the Town Car into the driveway and wait. The hope is that the customer will walk out the door, luggage in hand, and be ready to go.
Fat chance.
At 3:30 I rang the bell.
A minute later the wife opened the door and scampered down the faux granite steps to explain to me that her husband had overslept, and that he'd be out momentarily. Sure. Whatever. Like my time's worth nothing, because dopey forgot to set his alarm.
Thirty minutes later, Mr Business appears at the doorway, grip in hand, freshly showered, ready to go. Excellent! Good-morning sir, may I take your luggage? Please, take a seat here, we'll be under way as soon as I can.
Sorry, he says, the alarm didn't go off.
And you know, I believe him. He was completely apologetic, and an interesting guy to boot. And I feel bad that his company, which trades on the Pink Sheets OTC is not doing so well.
We all screw up. But at 4:00 am, it seems that much worse.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Inconsiderate, Inc
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5 comments:
maybe i'm just a jaded old cow, but i can't remember the last time i overslept before a trip, work or play, sugar. but at least your man was polite and apologetic! but then again, maybe it's because i have to drive myself to the airport! ;~D xoxoxo
People down in FL are wicked nice compared to the Massholes up here! If I was you and in that same circumstance, the client would have acted like it was MY fault for not waking he/she up when I first arrived! Then they would proceed to tell me to speed, risk MY valuable license JUST to get them to the airport on time. yea...i don't think so! Ohhh sooo sorry!
I understand shit happens and alarms sometimes don't go off (recently, there was a chick up in my area that got fired from her job because her iphone alarm did not go off due to a "glitch") but that certainly does not mean I am gonna get a ticket for you!
Sugar, if I was closer, I'd be happy to drive you to the airport - any time, day or night.
Even if you did sleep in :-)
Massholes! I've heard this name before, Sammy, but it seems all the more funny coming from you!
Yeah, people here seem mostly nice. Of course they kinda sorta try to hint that a fast trip would be good, but somehow they back off when I say they I'd be happy to do so if they both pay the fine AND do the traffic school.
Those golf villa things are so stupid and pretentious. Some friends lived in one; they were about 50 feet from the tee! No privacy whatsoever in the back yard.
Alarms are small, reliable electrical devices that can't talk back; at least not that I've heard.
Yes!
That privacy issue is important too, Don. Who wants people carting and walking through what is effectively your front yard all day?
I don't get the golf course home at all.
Re alarms: Yes. I set three different ones for myself on the understanding that sometimes shit happens. Why doesn't everyone else?
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