Some Days You Just Say Screw It

It was one of those days. Not unlike some days most people run into from time to time. Not that it was a particularly bad day. It was more of a frustrating day.

And so I said screw it and left work 15 minutes before quitting time. I had just simply had enough, and luckily my job is such that sometimes I can just do what I want. Not always, and I don't generally make a habit out of it.

But sometimes.

It started off with a phone call this morning from one of my customers who ordered a kingpin kit for his concrete mixer truck that he said, "The bolts are too small. They don't fit in the pin."

"Too small?" I asked.

"Yeah. Like, I can literally put the bolt in one end of the pin and it just comes out of the other end. Slips straight through the pin."

So, I contacted our purchasing department who builds these kits in Dallas and asked if it was possible that we put the wrong bolts into the kit? We went back and forth for a while between the warehouse manager out in Dallas, the purchasing manager, and I seemed to be not getting my point across as to what the issue seemed to be.

The problem? Nobody was listening.

It is a lost art these days, you know. To actually close your lips and engage your ears. This point became clear when I was asked at one point, "Are we sure that the customer ordered the right kit for his truck?"

Wait. What? What difference does it make? And I said as much.

"Well, maybe he ordered the wrong kit and that's why he's having trouble with the bolts," even my boss said to me. "We need to know what kit goes on his truck. Get a serial number."

I stood there a bit flabbergasted. Was I really even having this conversation? Did I need to schedule an appointment to have the wax removed from his ears?

"Even if it is the wrong kit for his truck," I explained to my boss, "It doesn't matter, does it?"

"Well, of course it matters. If he has the wrong kit that's his problem."

"No," I said. "That will be a problem. But it has nothing to do with the problem he has now."

The boss started to try to chime in and put in another two cents worth. But I shut him down quickly.

"If we sent him a kingpin pit, regardless if it is the right kit or the wrong kit, the bolts we put in the kit should fit in the pin in the kit."

This of course still fell on deaf ears. I had basically at that point virtually put my arms in the air and gave up on trying to get through to him, or anyone else. At this point, on this day, in this moment, the only thing I was dealing with were idiots.

Of course, not everyday these people are idiots. But in this moment? Their brains had vacated their cranial cavities, and it was clear.

Funny thing, I still do not have an answer. Well, I know what the answer is. We sent the wrong damn bolts. But until anyone can get their heads back onto their shoulders that's not going to matter.

I have taken care of the customer, no help to them of course. I sent him another kingpin kit and hopefully this time they put the right bolts in the box. But I guess we will just have to wait and see.

But in the meantime? I bolted (pardon the pun) out of there simply having had quite all I could take of the incompetence and outright stupidity of the whole day.

I am now sitting here writing this, getting out my frustrations for whatever that is worth, sipping an ice cold beer. In fact, I will likely have several.

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Coffee. Screws Thread Allen - Free image on Pixabay