Tweet
... and it scares me.
We've got a lot of items in storage for one client, about 10 bays worth of it. Of that, I'd say that about 2 bays, maybe three have items worth holding on to. The situation is this: their sister companies are constantly updating their furniture, I don't know why they have the budget for new furniture while my client's division doesn't. So anyways, as the one division replaces their furniture, they offer their old stuff to my client, who happens to be a total packrat hoarder. The only stuff she rejects are the items broken beyond repair, everything else, old and worn out, old and outdated, scratched, damaged, butt ugly, broken but repairable, she keeps. But hey, doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's hours for me, and storage money for my company, and looking at this crap gives me something to laugh about.
So they're looking at their storage fees and realize that they've got way too much in storage. They come in to go through everything and do a major purge. Yeah, right.
Me: Yeah, so somebody obviously got mad at this cabinet, the bottom drawer is kicked in and can't open.
SC: Oh, but are the other two drawers okay
Me: ummm, yeah, I guess so.
SC: Okay, we'll keep that, somebody might be able to use it.
Me: Okay, the leg is falling off this desk
SC: Can you fix it
Me: The only thing I can do is drive a few screws through here, but you'll be able to see them, it'll be ugly
SC: Well, we'll hold on to that
And so on. I can kind of see their point, a new client could be right around the corner at any time. They'd have to hire new people and need to have something for them. I think there is certainly a better way to do it, but I know nothing of how their company operates.
So they decide to part ways with a couple of really bad cabinets and desks, about one bay of stuff, then we get to the systems furniture. This is panels and surfaces, and the parts that go with them, all stuff that's taken apart, so it's all flat, about 100 pieces in total. They've decided that they want to get rid of some of this, leaving only enough for three workstations. Okay, a workstation can be a single desk, an L-shape, a U-shape, with a hutch, without a hutch. "Oh, just use the usual for their office". Long story short, they remained ambiguous, refusing to commit to anything. Since this was only going to empty half the bay at best, I figured it would be best to keep it all, and just tell the boss to knock a half bay off their bill.
So they've gone from 10 bays to 8 bays... and they are furious. They were expecting to be down to an absolute maximum of 5 or 6 bays.
Me: Well you only got rid of a half dozen desks and a few cabinets...
SC: Yes, and all that system furniture
Me: Yeah, but that only cleared half the bay that it's in
SC: No, it has to be more than that, you must have thrown out 50 items
This carried on with her making no sense at all. Then I figured it out. You see, in reality, in the physical world, these items take up the combined area of their length, width, and height... but on a spreadsheet, each item takes up an equal amount of space. So you have 9 bays with 10 items in each one, and 1 bay with 100 items in it, you cut the 100 item bay in half, you've knocked out half the cells in the spreadsheet (okay, that math doesn't work, but keep in mind, this is SC logic). The spreadsheet is now half the size, therefore, the physical space the items take up should be half the size. It all makes perfect sense.**
** if you happen to be a complete moron or an SC
We've got a lot of items in storage for one client, about 10 bays worth of it. Of that, I'd say that about 2 bays, maybe three have items worth holding on to. The situation is this: their sister companies are constantly updating their furniture, I don't know why they have the budget for new furniture while my client's division doesn't. So anyways, as the one division replaces their furniture, they offer their old stuff to my client, who happens to be a total packrat hoarder. The only stuff she rejects are the items broken beyond repair, everything else, old and worn out, old and outdated, scratched, damaged, butt ugly, broken but repairable, she keeps. But hey, doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's hours for me, and storage money for my company, and looking at this crap gives me something to laugh about.
So they're looking at their storage fees and realize that they've got way too much in storage. They come in to go through everything and do a major purge. Yeah, right.
Me: Yeah, so somebody obviously got mad at this cabinet, the bottom drawer is kicked in and can't open.
SC: Oh, but are the other two drawers okay
Me: ummm, yeah, I guess so.
SC: Okay, we'll keep that, somebody might be able to use it.
Me: Okay, the leg is falling off this desk
SC: Can you fix it
Me: The only thing I can do is drive a few screws through here, but you'll be able to see them, it'll be ugly
SC: Well, we'll hold on to that
And so on. I can kind of see their point, a new client could be right around the corner at any time. They'd have to hire new people and need to have something for them. I think there is certainly a better way to do it, but I know nothing of how their company operates.
So they decide to part ways with a couple of really bad cabinets and desks, about one bay of stuff, then we get to the systems furniture. This is panels and surfaces, and the parts that go with them, all stuff that's taken apart, so it's all flat, about 100 pieces in total. They've decided that they want to get rid of some of this, leaving only enough for three workstations. Okay, a workstation can be a single desk, an L-shape, a U-shape, with a hutch, without a hutch. "Oh, just use the usual for their office". Long story short, they remained ambiguous, refusing to commit to anything. Since this was only going to empty half the bay at best, I figured it would be best to keep it all, and just tell the boss to knock a half bay off their bill.
So they've gone from 10 bays to 8 bays... and they are furious. They were expecting to be down to an absolute maximum of 5 or 6 bays.
Me: Well you only got rid of a half dozen desks and a few cabinets...
SC: Yes, and all that system furniture
Me: Yeah, but that only cleared half the bay that it's in
SC: No, it has to be more than that, you must have thrown out 50 items
This carried on with her making no sense at all. Then I figured it out. You see, in reality, in the physical world, these items take up the combined area of their length, width, and height... but on a spreadsheet, each item takes up an equal amount of space. So you have 9 bays with 10 items in each one, and 1 bay with 100 items in it, you cut the 100 item bay in half, you've knocked out half the cells in the spreadsheet (okay, that math doesn't work, but keep in mind, this is SC logic). The spreadsheet is now half the size, therefore, the physical space the items take up should be half the size. It all makes perfect sense.**
** if you happen to be a complete moron or an SC
Comment