For those not in the loop, my "main boss" is currently in Mexico on a week-long vacation with his family.
Thankfully he heads back tomorrow and will be back in the office Monday morning.
Why, you ask?
Dan actually owns 2 businesses....the one I work for (selling and drop shipping switches and parts for security system installations) and another one where he used to do installations and now just takes maintenance calls on his installed systems. All the calls from this other business was forwarded to my cell phone and was told to just start taking messages and to call the accountant over more serious issues as she would know what to do.
Yeah right.
2 system issues require an on-site visit and we have no contact person for the guy that Dan sometimes uses when he is busy. I can't tell if Dan is simply out of a calling service area or if he has turned his phone off but I can't reach him THAT way and there has been no response to the emails I've sent.
Ugh. I hate feeling like an idiot when someone calls and opens the conversation with "I just have a quick question about my system" because I have to take their info, tell them I will call them back, call the accountant and hope she can find the info I need (I have no access to the other companies' files since its not based in this office). At that point I call back the client and either give them the info they requested (praying like mad they don't ask any other questions) or inform them that the owner is currently out of the country and we will have an answer for them when he is back in the office on Monday.
So NOT professional.
But I digress. Murphy's Law is still in full force in the company that I actually DO work for.
I got a call from a very upset client the other day who didn't realize that the equipment he ordered didn't come with a specific tool for the job. Yelling, threats, etc....this guy has never been a nice guy to either one of us here. I explained that I would check into bringing the part in the store and that I would have to call him back in a few minutes rather than keep him on hold (more shouts). This from the guy that yelled and screamed earlier this week that I personally deliver ONE SWITCH all the way to a facility of his in West Valley City because he was too stupid to plan ahead of time and order it in a timely manner (more yelling and screaming when he found out Dan was out of town and not a single thank you when I volunteered to deliver it myself....in fact he called me the next day and sneered how he wasn't going to use that one switch and instead make his own changes to the original part he'd ordered.....freaking heck).
Anyway, back to the story. I find out pricing and have half a dozen of these plastic punch tools shipped over to our office here in Orem only to find that they were accidently shipped to Dan's home in SLC. Take #2 the company reships the package UPS overnight to the correct address.....however it is routed to California for no reason that UPS can explain and delayed there. More screaming from the customer as he wants the tool now and he doesn't care how I get it (did I mention he screamed and yelled and threatened until I finally told him I would give him the stupid part for free because he insisted he wasn't going to pay for a tool that we should have given him anyway for buying this particular piece of equipment).
As I said....he's a jerk.
Well now the package is delayed for who knows how long and I am tired of being screamed at. UPS.com shows the originally mis-shipped package was left on Dan's doorstep so I drove up there and back in a nasty windstorm, fetched the package, brought it back to Orem, repackaged his precious tools and then personally delivered them to his head electrician who lives down here.
12 and a half hour workday yesterday.....nearly 70 miles racked on my car....and not a freaking thank you from the customer.
Guess its just all in a day's work but still...what a jerk.
Funniest thing about it though? I'm actually in a really good mood today....maybe its because this guy has no real reason to call me today to scream some more. Any day you are NOT screamed at has GOT to be a good day.
2 comments:
When he told you to bring it to his house you should have told him that you didn't feel safe doing so because he obviously had severe emotional problems and you feared for your own well-being. That would have pissed him off, but if he yelled at you again it just would have driven your point home.
Yikes! I'm so sorry! I hope you unwind and recover quickly.
Miles and I have experienced similar things in our business. We found that the nicer you are to some people, the more they think you owe them the world! Small businesses with small staff can't meet every little demand, and they shouldn't have to.
We found we just need to be very polite and kind to everyone, including ourselves! If things aren't right for us, as well as for them, they aren't right. People tend to respect you more when you respect yourself.
Good luck with future (hopefully VERY RARE) stressful happenings! :D
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