Multiply 365 Day 323 - Island of misfit or broken toys

So here I am, fully ensconced in my yearly vacation, having just had dinner (steak, french fries, green beans) and figured I would write about some things that happened before I was sent on my merry vacationing way.

My last day of work before taking a week off was on Thursday, and while the day started okay, it didn't quite end that way. Around noon I started the countdown, that is, I kept announcing how much time was left before I went on vacation, so I started with the whole 'T minus 3 hours and counting....” that I do when something is about to happen. I do that sometimes when Sammy and I are planning a Deluca's run on Saturday, with my countdown starting as early as two days before we actually go, so the fact I waited until 3 hours were left to start the personal clock on my vacation countdown was what I would argue was a considerable amount of restraint on my part.

But the thing was, as soon as I opened my mouth was when things all started spiraling downhill. My first announcement that I had 3 hours left was met with some disappointment from Clare, who apparently was going to be doing some baking for the staff Thursday night and bring in the confectionery goodness on Friday, with me leaving I guess that means I was going to miss out on whatever she had planned on baking for me.

That was just the small disappointment for far greater disappointments to come however. By the time I had made my first time announcement, the Coke order had already been delivered and I had placed the grocery order for Friday for our other store, Universal News, and given how slow things were with the students at the Art Institute and Point Park University already gone for the holidays, business was incredibly slow, so getting things done on time didn't seem like it would be much of an issue.

I started putting together the order for our store to be delivered on Friday, I did the deli order at my desk, as well as the tobacco order and then ventured off to our cigarette room, where I did a quick inventory for us and then put together our cigarette order.

The device I used for ordering is call a Telxon, it is a handheld device with a wand and a keypad and a speaker on the back. What you do is basically enter the items into the device one of two ways, either by using the wand and running it over the shelf tag and then inputting the quantity of the item you would like, or you can manually input the 6 digit item number and then inputting the quantity that you need. After you have everything you need in the device, you then go to a telephone, call the appropriate 1-800 number, hold the speaker of the unit against the phone's receiver and press send. And electronic signal is then sent down the phone line and received on the other end which is all of the items you ordered.

As I am on the floor doing the grocery order, the last piece I need to do before sending the order in, I was joking with the staff, I was down to like one and a half hours before I was done for a week and Sammy and I were joking about something when one of us said something funny. What it was, I don't even remember, so I guess it couldn't have been that funny after all, but I was laughing hard enough that I had stomped my left foot on the floor as a point of emphasis. That was a mistake.

Long time readers of the blog know that earlier this year I had a problem with my foot, what that problem was I really do not know, but for a few months it was incredibly hard to walk on, so a day at work was pretty much an agonizing thing. But that issue seemed to have healed up, I haven't had an issue with my foot in months. Until Thursday. As soon as I stomped my foot, a pain shot right through my heel, sharp enough that I spent the rest of the day (and a couple of days afterward) literally hobbling around. Once again it was hard to walk.

Still I mustered on, at that point I had no idea that I would suffer for a few days for what was an apparent stupid move on my part. I continued putting the order in when I noticed that the volume on the Telxon got considerably lower. Usually when you scan or input an item, there is a beeping sound that goes with the pressing of the keys, now I couldn't hear it unless I held the unit very close to my ear. Again I didn't think too much of it, if the unit could still send an order and have it received at the other end, then all was good, I don't need to hear anything, I just have to make sure I am careful in putting the order in.

So I finish the order and head down to my desk to go ahead and send the order in. The phone on my desk is apiece of work. Usually it will work, but if I have to hang up and place another call there are problems with getting the dial tone to come back. So I call the 1-800 number to place the order and the line is busy, so I have to try again, but when I go to call them a second time I can't get a dial tone. I spend a good 5 minutes fighting with the phone before I manage to get a dial tone and get through so I can send the order. I hold the unit up to the receiver and press send and I can faintly hear the tone being sent down the line. When it is complete I bring the receiver back to my ear where I get the message “Excessive phone line errors, please hang up and call again”. So now I am worried that I may have a problem with the unit itself, so I call our grocery provider to see if there isn't a way I can amplify the volume so the audio will get through. If ever you want to see why we outsource customer service jobs, call customer service for Sledd some time, there suggested solution was to place a piece of tissue paper between the unit and the receiver and send the order again, because obviously when the sound isn't loud enough the first thing you want to do is place more items between the two devices. Their proposed solution was one generation removed from the two cups and string solution.

So I continue fighting with a defective phone and a defective Telxon unit, trying another 5 or so times to get the order in. With my vacation coming up, I couldn't just blow the order off, I had to put something in before I went away. And so I was going to just called them and read the order in, which would have taken quite a bit of time, but even that option was taken from me when the Telxon quit working entirely.

Instead I had to go to our other store, grab their Telxon unit, come back to our store and redo the entire order. So for the last hour of work I ended up doing that which I had already done, then hobbled off to start my vacation. So while I am all kinds of relaxed and stuff now, it didn't start off that way.