Posted On: Tuesday - January 31st 2023 7:57AM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Artificial Stupidity Big-Biz Stupidity Muh Generation
This post is about the latest generation, so to speak, of communications. The anecdote itself is about a delivery of building supplies from the local big box building supply store.
It turns out, if you have a business account/card from the store, delivery - this was about 20 miles - is only 20 bucks as opposed to $75 without one. Not only that, but the savings of 5% on the amount of wood and concrete I bought brought the total down to below what I'd have paid without my friend's card, not to mention my labor and that it wouldn't even fit in my truck.
I also noted the nicer, more professional, service I got at this counter, as compared to at the normal registers. It may have helped that there was a new, pretty motivated, from what I saw, crowd there, consisting of 2 White guys and a very friendly Hispanic girl. Bingo! I got the girl. Her English was pretty good... up to the point of the story here on the communications.
You must arrange for the delivery half-day period. OK, that was no problem, as there was no hurry. I would need some notice to meet the delivery guy the next Wednesday afternoon (Noon to 4 P) though, at least 1/2 hour, but better yet, 45 minutes, The girl said she'd type in a note about 2 hours. We worked on the notes together on the computer terminal, as her English was not good enough to allow non-ambiguous notes for the driver.
Wednesday morning, yeah, at the coffee shop, at 10:15, I got a call: "Hey, I've got your stuff to deliver first, I'm on my way to REDACTED [number] REDACTED street now." Oh, man, that was the wrong address, first of all, the billing one, not where the stuff goes. "What happened to 'Noon to 4'?" Very luckily for me, I got a White guy, someone I could work with. (The ability to communicate, and without drama, is a big part of this point.) The driver was very decent about the whole thing. "I'll be at least 45 minutes, as I've got to load up something myself" I told him, along with giving him actual, REAL directions that involved turns and landmarks. "You'll have to wait about 10 minutes, is all", and, sure enough, he'd been there for only a short while, and he did a nice job putting the materials where I wanted them with the big fat-tired fork-lift.
My problem is not with the driver. He was a friendly, conscientious guy. I nicely tried to figure out with him where the communications problems lie (with this post in mind, in fact). "They put my stuff on the truck last, so if I couldn't deliver it first, we'd have had to do it another day." I tipped him 10 bucks, and all was well.
However, I think about this stuff and wonder: "How in the world did we all get things done before mobile phones?" OK, there's a customer-arranged timetable in the computer, with notes and everything. That can be texted, IM'd, whatever, all over the place, including to the driver. All that doesn't do a hill of beans worth of good, if nobody USES that information! Why was the truck loaded that way? Did anybody make use of that timetable at the store? I suppose that kind of thinking is simply out of the question nowadays.
Yes, this generation of communications can get information anywhere in milliseconds. This generation of people, on the other hand, seems not bright enough to USE the information in these communications to make things work. Without everyone having mobile phones with which to sort out the screwage, things wouldn't get done at all. #SAD
Comments:
MBlanc46
Wednesday - February 1st 2023 11:13AM MST
PS You import enough Third Worlders, you get the Third World.
The Alarmist
Wednesday - February 1st 2023 8:45AM MST
PS
My wife says I need a hearing aid. I tell her that I would then have no excuse for not listening to people.
My legal training tells me to get everything in writing in every case.
My wife says I need a hearing aid. I tell her that I would then have no excuse for not listening to people.
My legal training tells me to get everything in writing in every case.
SafeNow
Wednesday - February 1st 2023 2:33AM MST
PS
“This generation of people, on the other hand, seems not bright enough to USE the information in these communications” - Moderator
The above is really important. This is analogous to defensive driving, in which you recognize that the people you are interacting with have a deficit, but if you are very good, you can make up for it. But the analogy breaks down with communications, when your interactee must later pass the message on to someone else. Hence, your task is not merely to induce understanding by the interactee. You must also plant a durable pass-along. This is extremely difficult when the pass-along is going to be verbal.
“This generation of people, on the other hand, seems not bright enough to USE the information in these communications” - Moderator
The above is really important. This is analogous to defensive driving, in which you recognize that the people you are interacting with have a deficit, but if you are very good, you can make up for it. But the analogy breaks down with communications, when your interactee must later pass the message on to someone else. Hence, your task is not merely to induce understanding by the interactee. You must also plant a durable pass-along. This is extremely difficult when the pass-along is going to be verbal.
Welcome to CostCo I Love You
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 5:29PM MST
PS They thought it was about convenience when it was really about power and control.
Any utopia or improvement is for them and not US.
Never had a sailfawn (cellphone) but I have found a couple while out on a heel and toe or walkabout.
The Apple (Unique just like everyone else) was chock full of games and the other Samsung belonged to some bankster and it was PW protected.
It was fun throwing them in the creek.
Any utopia or improvement is for them and not US.
Never had a sailfawn (cellphone) but I have found a couple while out on a heel and toe or walkabout.
The Apple (Unique just like everyone else) was chock full of games and the other Samsung belonged to some bankster and it was PW protected.
It was fun throwing them in the creek.
Moderator
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 4:01PM MST
PS: Possum, the only rental equipment I cause trouble with ("we", actually, as I wasn't driving) was a totaled rent-a-car that rolled twice down an embankment. I was looking forward to some excitement at the place where'd I'd rented it, as I came in to tell them, but it was just "here, fill out this form." That's no fun!
Moderator
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 3:57PM MST
PS: I missed your comment earlier, Alarmist. It'd have been even worse if the removal guys were going to be late and the delivery guys early!
A housemate of mine bought a couch so big that it had to stay in the hallway vertically for a couple of months till we got to taking the window apart and putting it through that way. Luckily, I was already gone when he and the other housemate moved out. The couch made it out, got to Chicago, could not make it into the elevator there, and was last seen in St. Louis, Missouri.
A housemate of mine bought a couch so big that it had to stay in the hallway vertically for a couple of months till we got to taking the window apart and putting it through that way. Luckily, I was already gone when he and the other housemate moved out. The couch made it out, got to Chicago, could not make it into the elevator there, and was last seen in St. Louis, Missouri.
possumman
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 1:23PM MST
PS ooooops it is spelled moffett----guess I never really thought about how it is spelled---but they always called it a moffett---which is enerally a 3 wheel rough terrain forklift attached to the back of a flatbed--used for delivering building materials---one of the suppliers I used also had a "sideways moffett " for special delivery situations. OT- Once we got a 4wheel drive rough terrain 80'boom lift stuck in the mud at the bottom of a steep hill of a customer's yard--rental company was not happy--expensive extrication--fun times
Moderator
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 9:58AM MST
PS: Thanks for the input, PossumMan. I didn't know that was called a moffit till now either.
The Alarmist
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 9:48AM MST
PS
I bought a couple new sofas on my last new visit to Florida, so I arranged delivery from one company, but I had to have the old ones removed by another company.
Wouldn’t you know it, the removal guys decided they could be four hours early, leaving me with the dilemma of having no sofas if for some reason the new ones couldn’t be brought up to my place. I finally negotiated having everything happen simultaneously for a modest gratuity to both crews, but it went without a hitch.
There are times when I wished I still lived full-time in the land of convenience.
I bought a couple new sofas on my last new visit to Florida, so I arranged delivery from one company, but I had to have the old ones removed by another company.
Wouldn’t you know it, the removal guys decided they could be four hours early, leaving me with the dilemma of having no sofas if for some reason the new ones couldn’t be brought up to my place. I finally negotiated having everything happen simultaneously for a modest gratuity to both crews, but it went without a hitch.
There are times when I wished I still lived full-time in the land of convenience.
possumman
Tuesday - January 31st 2023 9:18AM MST
PS When I was in the business --on the receiving end of the deliveries- I always found the drivers of the flatbeds with the moffit on the back to be the most professional guys---also invariably middle aged white guys who worked hard all day.