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For over two years I've had constant problems with my largest client. They've closed multiple offices, consolidating operations in their two huge buildings. Some of the furniture from these closed offices has been re-used, but most of it has gone to storage, to be used whenever a re-configuration is done. The problem is, they don't know what they have. They just assume that since they've got hundreds/thousands of pieces, anything they need will be there. Of course there's always some vital pieces missing. I've been a like a broken record with them, telling them that they need to do an inventory. Somewhere along the line they've agreed, but they need to study and plan everything to make sure it's done right. After two years of these planning sessions, they've finally given us the green light. We've got one whole week to inventory thousands of items.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem. A typical office has standard furniture, the bulk of the items will fall into a dozen or so categories; I've single-handedly inventoried hundreds of items in under a day. These clowns however....
Okay, let's start with the panels. Your standard will be 24",30",36" & 42", all at the same height, all the same colour, with a couple of oddballs that need to go off to the side. These guys have got 6,8,12,18,20,24,30,32,36,42,48,60 with three different heights. On these panels are three removable tiles, each a different size. These 3 removable tiles have to be sorted through their 12 different colours. Hours upon hours of tedious sorting.
On to worksurfaces. Once again, the standard will be 42 & 48 corners, and 24,30,36,48,60,72 straight surfaces all the same width. Again, there's typically a few oddballs thrown in, but not enough to complicate things. These guys.... I'm estimating they've got 50-100 different sized worksurfaces. This ones the same height but wider, that ones the same width but shorter, these two are the same dimensions but reverse images of each other. Hours of frustrating work that will requires dozens of separate stacks. Their file cabinets and desk cabinets are more of the same. Dozens of different variations that have to be sorted and accounted for.
The point I'm getting at is that there is a massive sorting operation needed before we can even start counting. (In case your wondering, they've never allowed us to spend the time to get it sorted before). Doing this work isn't the problem though, the real problem is the space needed to get the sorting done. This stuff is ram packed into a couple of storage rooms that have no room to move. We can use a couple of hallways outside of the rooms, but only after 6:00 pm.
I've let them know that this in unrealistic, that we're not likely to be finished in a week. But this is unacceptable, two years of planning has gone into this and they need the numbers by the end of the week or it all falls apart. Yeah, whatever, you get my best, and if my best isn't good enough then deal with it. I'll go until 10:00, maybe midnight each night, but I'm not pulling all-nighters all week long. I'm not turning my life upside down because you can't get your heads out of your asses to see the scope of the work you've put on the table.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem. A typical office has standard furniture, the bulk of the items will fall into a dozen or so categories; I've single-handedly inventoried hundreds of items in under a day. These clowns however....
Okay, let's start with the panels. Your standard will be 24",30",36" & 42", all at the same height, all the same colour, with a couple of oddballs that need to go off to the side. These guys have got 6,8,12,18,20,24,30,32,36,42,48,60 with three different heights. On these panels are three removable tiles, each a different size. These 3 removable tiles have to be sorted through their 12 different colours. Hours upon hours of tedious sorting.
On to worksurfaces. Once again, the standard will be 42 & 48 corners, and 24,30,36,48,60,72 straight surfaces all the same width. Again, there's typically a few oddballs thrown in, but not enough to complicate things. These guys.... I'm estimating they've got 50-100 different sized worksurfaces. This ones the same height but wider, that ones the same width but shorter, these two are the same dimensions but reverse images of each other. Hours of frustrating work that will requires dozens of separate stacks. Their file cabinets and desk cabinets are more of the same. Dozens of different variations that have to be sorted and accounted for.
The point I'm getting at is that there is a massive sorting operation needed before we can even start counting. (In case your wondering, they've never allowed us to spend the time to get it sorted before). Doing this work isn't the problem though, the real problem is the space needed to get the sorting done. This stuff is ram packed into a couple of storage rooms that have no room to move. We can use a couple of hallways outside of the rooms, but only after 6:00 pm.
I've let them know that this in unrealistic, that we're not likely to be finished in a week. But this is unacceptable, two years of planning has gone into this and they need the numbers by the end of the week or it all falls apart. Yeah, whatever, you get my best, and if my best isn't good enough then deal with it. I'll go until 10:00, maybe midnight each night, but I'm not pulling all-nighters all week long. I'm not turning my life upside down because you can't get your heads out of your asses to see the scope of the work you've put on the table.
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