Monday, January 23, 2006

I may have killed the Costco man

He was bleeding the last time he left here. And he was mad. Probably because it was my fault that he was bleeding. J had to face his wrath since I was gone, but I was the one to blame.

Our normal business Costco order is 20 cases of water, plus soda and some other random items - all on a pallet weighing maybe 500 - 1,000 lb. Last time I made an order there were extenuating circumstances, and the order was about twice that. It is not my fault that they still put it all on one pallet. Nor is it my fault that the delivery man has to wheel it down a steep ramp to get it to our storage unit in the parking garage. But he thought it was ourfault. Oh, yes he did. He wheeled it down and it was much too heavy and picked up speed, and rather than risk it hitting a car, he sacrificed his body and was injured in the process.

Today, there was a new Costco delivery man. I have a clear scene in my mind of the bleeding man of last week returning to Costco and quitting on the spot. Possibly he waited long enough to make sure worker's comp paid any medical bills. One thing is for sure, he refused to do this route again. I don't blame him. I just hope I didn't kill him.

So now I have to train the new delivery guy. He brought the pallet to our office, unaware that it is supposed to be taken down to the storage area. He opted to put it on the elevator. Bad idea. The pallet only fit after removing the pallet jack so I went down in one elevator, and he took another elevator with his pallet jack. We maneuvered our way through the maze of parked cars, and after depositing the pallet, he asked me to show him how it is usually done. I could see the fear in his eyes as I showed him the ramp the pallet is wheeled down. He was sweating and looked exhausted. I wouldn't be surprised if he also refuses to do our route in the future. Though I think it takes a little bloodshed to really scare them off.