Friday, March 27, 2009

Tampa, FL - You want me to go where?

The situation with work is getting increasingly bizarre and frustrating every time I call in. I've been telling them all week that I'd like to move to Indianapolis if possible, but they've continued to insist that I pick up a truck from someone living in St. Petersburg who was fired after having multiple accidents. It wasn't until yesterday, after they'd already arranged a rental car, that they bothered to tell me why they weren't even considering Indianapolis, despite my willingness to drive up there myself. Among other reasons (which they never bothered to elaborate on), they'd want me to have my CDL in the state before they'd reassign me to the operating center. Had they told me that on Monday, when I first brought up the idea, I could have gotten all that taken care of by now. Instead, I'm here in this quagmire.

The situation here is roughly as follows: when I called in yesterday afternoon, despite being told that we'd arrange things via a conference call before I even got started, I was simply given the former driver's phone number and address (which says something about our company's privacy policies) and told to call him myself, then hung up on before I even had a chance to process what I was told to do. Needless to say, I have not called and will not call. I most certainly will not meet this guy at his house; it's just common sense to not meet a stranger in a place where there would be no witnesses if something were to go awry. Operations' insistence that he's not a weirdo and they wouldn't send me down here if he were a threat are not comforting, since unassuming people can snap and, well, I can't say I'd be cooperative if I were on the other side of this situation.

So I called in, conveyed about half of what I've typed above, and basically said that if it's not arranged via a three-way call I'm not going to even attempt to deal with this. Unsurprisingly, the other driver didn't answer when operations tried calling, so we just left a message on his voice mail asking him to call. I got off the phone at 10 o'clock (eastern) and said that I'd call back in an hour if I've not gotten a call from the office before then. As it is, I don't think the rental car is going to get returned by noon, but that's not exactly my problem at this point. Given that the guy no longer works for us, he can't return the rental car (frustrating, but understandable), but operations insisted they would not put me in a position where I had to rely on him for a ride and was quick to offer a taxi ride from the airport if it proved necessary. In light of that, I'm going to propose that we meet at a fast food restaurant in a locaton convenient to both the former driver's residence and the truck's location, where I can take the keys and don't risk being alone with someone potentially dangerous.

I'll probably update again later in the day when I have more information.

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