Monday, November 20, 2006

Surly you jest

Often times while driving from point-to-point on our deliveries, Pat and I will converse via Direct-Connect on our phones. This morning, I arrived at a local convenience store, loaded up my hand-truck and was wheeling it into the building. Pat was concluding a thought on the DC as I entered. The clerk looked at me like I had just passed gas in a closet after eating a million hot dogs. "It's awfully ignorant of you to be talking on the phone when you come in here!" she screamed. (Literally.) "Why can't you finish your conversation outside?!"
"And a happy Monday to you, too," I thought. "What's the problem? We're not checking in the order yet, and he's talking to me," I noted.
"That's just rude," she snipped. "Where's your sense of etiquette?!"
Obviously, I had inadvertently hit a sore spot with this gal, so I just resigned, "Fine!"
The shift manager then followed me into the back room (as I was taking the goods there and boomed, "You have no business using a phone while you're in here!" (To this moment, I still don't know why this was such a federal issue.)
Anyway, I motioned for him to cool his jets, and pushed the talk button to sign off with Pat. "I'm gonna have to go. I'm---"
"WORKING instead of gabbing!" the manager loudly interrupted, leaning over my shoulder into the mic.

Oh, sorry. My bad. That wasn't at all ignorant.

So, I guess it's fully acceptable to be unprofessional and surly, but God forbid you should use a phone in a public place!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So let me get this right...

You were making a delivery. You were not working FOR this store. You were delivering to that store...

In all my time in shipping/receiving, which was short but painful, I wish MORE drivers and delivery guys would find someone on their phone to talk to instead of making chitchat with me.

Not that your chit chat wouldn't be da'bomb...