Multiply 365 Day 222 - The grind

 

We have our first victim. I missed volleyball tonight because of work. Well technically it wasn't entirely because of work I did get home in time to go, though I would literally have had enough time to shower and change and then run right back out the door.

It all started relatively easily enough, I got into work and the first truck, Pepsi, was getting ready to unload as I got in the door. Even better was the fact they sent a palette truck as opposed to a side loader. The difference between the two is with a palette truck there is just one door in the back, and usually they have a motorized dolley inside, much like a forklift. This makes unloading much easier, as the order is pre sorted at the bottling plant and loaded onto palettes and each pallete can hold about 50 cases of product. When you are getting orders of 200+ cases, a palette is a nice thing to work with. A side loader has instead, a bunch of doors on the side and the driver has to open each bay and pull the required product, it is sorted on the truck by type, not by order. Worse, all the driver has is a hand dolley, so he is unloading at most ten cases at a time. Usually that is what they send us and it makes unloading a pain. But today was off to a good start, the order went pretty quickly and we actually got it put away in the basement in less than an hour.

I got a few coolers done when they had Sammy do a bank run for the Universal News. This is nothing new, they usually call him to get the change for that store because they are usually shorthanded early in the morning. Of course while he is away I get my second truck, Arizona Tea, but it is pretty small, so I am still doing quite well time wise. By 11am I have both trucks in house and checked in, the Pepsi order (213 cases) put away and I go to drop the Arizona invoice on my desk to be broken down later. Sammy has made it back from the bank and all is going swimmingly. I finish a fourth cooler and tell Sammy I am going to go put in the grocery order for Universal, but before I can I am handed a cigarette order for one of the people that orders through us. No problem, but I haven't even had time to connect my laptop yet, so I get it all hooked up, find the file for cigarette orders and type it in, then call the order in, gather my things and head to Universal, thinking at least I have four coolers done, if Sammy can get a couple done in my absence we will be in good shape.

But it doesn't work that way. Because of another fucking call off, Sammy gets pulled into working the deli, and from there the wheels just proceed to fall off the wagon. I get back, there is still a ton of stuff to do, and then Ed starts piling on the projects. Make sure the new deli signs get posted outside. Run to 7-11 and CVS and see what they are charging for 20 oz bottles of soda. Check the company email and see if our deliveries are scheduled to arrive. Find the number for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette circulation department. Wait, we are charging .10 less a bottle than 7-11 for soda? Change the prices on all of the 20 oz, Pepsi and Coke products we carry. Fix the Frito – Lay rack, it looks like a mess.

By the way, is that grocery order for us done yet?

I had finally gotten most of that stuff done as the clock was nearing 4pm, an hour after I should have been done, but still soon enough to probably sneak in a quick bite at home (I was working on two cups of coffee and three Reese Peanut Butter Chips Ahoy Cookies all day) and just as I was packing my things up in the office, the dreaded Pricemaster order Ed has been warning me about arrived. Now had this been a normal vendor I would have refused the delivery and told them to come back tomorrow, but since it wasn't I was fucked. I had to stay and at least catch that order as it came in as well. So by the time I got out of work and finally caught a bus home it was 5pm, till I got in the door it was a quarter after 5 and for me to get to volleyball on time and have some time to loosen up I would have had to leave my place no later than 6pm. It was just a little too much running around for my tastes, so I passed and opted instead to just stay in tonight and make something to eat. I will be so happy in three days, when I can finally have a day to just step away from all of this. It is really starting to wear on me now.