Delivery D'oh Moment

[lupo pazzesco]

Mk, my boss is at jury duty, and the campus is closed, so it's just me at the store today. Very slow, I'm busy resetting the whole sales floor, when a random freight driver comes in and we have the following exchange...

RD: Hi, I've got a pallet by the back door?
Me: Oh crap. I don't have keys for that one. I can't unlock it, as unfortunately my boss has the only set of keys, we weren't expecting any deliveries today.
RD: You don't need to unlock it, you just need to OPEN it so I can bring the pallet in.
Me: ...
RD: What?
Me: Uhhm...k...well, how many boxes are we talking?

I go to peek out the front door. There are 12 smallish boxes, none could've weighed more than 30 lbs, and I may be grossly overestimating that. I pop back inside and am all smiles

Me: Oh, well that's not a problem. Just use the pallet jack and drag it over here near the stairs. I'll go grab my dolly, we'll break down the pallet and I'll toss 'em on my dolly, and drag them back that way.
RD: But that's why I usually use the back door...that's a ways to drag them...

I look out the door again. It's 50 feet. Tops.

Me: ...uhhmm...I don't have KEYS for the back door.
RD: So...you can't just push it open...? It's got a bar! (you know, one of those metallic bars on some Emergency exit doors...? Yeah, those)
Me: It's...locked...
RD: Pushes open though, when I've been here before.
Me: ... I'll go get my dolly now...

I putter off, and just leave him there for a second, giving me a nasty look, before he stomps off. When I come back with the dolly, he's got the pallet next to the stairs, and is cutting off the plastic. I count the boxes, and he starts hefting them up to me, I toss them on the dolly and bring them inside. He had a sour look on his face the entire time. I just ignored him and sang along with the radio.

Seriously, he spent enough time arguing, he could have dropped the boxes and gone. Idiot.

[sms001]

I totally understand the truck driver's point... a door can be locked from the outside and be openable from the inside, especially those push-bar ones... right up to the moment when an employee at the store SAYS it's LOCKED.
Then you say "Well, what should we do?" and go about your day. (If you're not the kind of grump who thinks that someone would go through all the work of hand trucking separate boxes just to jerk you around.)

[lupo pazzesco]

I was understanding until that point as well given the door layout. But the locks were recently re-keyed, and a new deadbolt was put in with keyed entry from both sides, that remains locked unless in use, I believe. Plus, I could've done without the grumpy grumbles and sour face. I did most of the work. There's a sidewalk platform with 3 steps leading to the store, followed by a single step into the store. He dragged the pallet to the foot of the 3 stairs, and put the boxes there, I loaded them on the dolly, and hefted them into the store and through the sales floor to the back room. Considering it's a shipment from corporate, that specifically says "Inside Delivery" with the amount of the fee paid, I was well within my rights to have him do it.

See what I get for being too nice?? Blah.

[Teskeria]

Personally I would be mean and let corporate know that he did not deliver inside as they paid for.

But you are probably a ton and a half nicer than me.

[PepperElf]

RD: So...you can't just push it open...? It's got a bar! (you know, one of those metallic bars on some Emergency exit doors...? Yeah, those)

Out of curiosity ... is the door an emergency exit?

Cos I was thinking, if it is the same kind then legally the store could be in trouble for blocking exits. But if it's not, then hey "no key" is "no key".

[fma_fanatic]

Oh I've been there. We used to have a dock on our building a long time ago, but sometime around our first renovation, someone had the wise idea to get rid of the dock and make it into part of an office suite. It wasn't a very functional dock as it was hard to get into and hard to lock the doors, so it posted a safety issue.

The first year we didn't have the dock, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the delivery people because we had no dock. They didn't want to come in through the front door or even break down the pallet because it would mean extra work for them.

Finally after several calls to the delivery companies and to the corporate office that was sending things to us via pallet delivery, it stopped.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Finally after several calls to the delivery companies and to the corporate office that was sending things to us via pallet delivery, it stopped.

Was it the complaining or the pallet delivery that stopped?

[Shalom]

Every bookstore I've been in that had a panic-exit device on the back doors, if you hit the crash bar without first unlocking the lock, sure the door would open, but it made the most God-awful noise. And if you don't have the key, you can't make that noise go away.

Hell, I used to sell and install those things, in my previous life as a locksmith.

[fma_fanatic]

Was it the complaining or the pallet delivery that stopped?

Both actually. I managed to convince them (and I think thanks to the several pictures with my cell phone) that we didn't have a functioning dock, and it was pointless to send supplies that way via freight. Not to mention a huge waste of company money.

Since then everything has come UPS Ground. It makes much more sense and is much cheaper.