This story and the comment section prompted me to tell you a story from my past.
This was years ago when I worked for a man who ran a business that offered many services to companies, henceforth Bossman. The main service he offered, where I worked for seven years, was a warehouse. He rented the space and warehousing services to companies that needed them.
Our biggest customer was an international logistics company, which had a client that needed a hub warehouse for their products. So, our customer bought our services and offered it as a part of their logistics chain.
The client produced cleaning chemicals, which were shipped to us. We received them, stored them, and when they needed to be shipped out, we collected them and informed our customer, who sent one of their trucks to pick them up. It was quite a repetitive job, and when you spent years doing it day after day, you get pretty good at it.
When this story happened, I had been at the company for over four years and was basically a manager without the power of a manager.
This happened during winter. Every day, if there was new snow, a local plow driver would clear our yard. So far, the day had been uneventful, and I was working with my coworker Jen. We heard a truck approaching, and when I peeked through the window, I saw it was the truck our customer had sent to us.
I returned to finish the job I was doing, since I knew the truck driver didn’t need my help to back up to the docking bay. Except this time, he couldn’t, and first sent his assistant to ask me for sand for the yard.
The assistant walked in and asked where the sand was, and just as I pointed it out to him, the driver stormed in and started shouting. I’m not going to type everything he said, but imagine a Scottish sailor saying this:
Driver: “Why is it so difficult to get some sand to the yard? What are you even doing all day?”
I didn’t reply; I knew there was no point in arguing. I left the work I was doing, walked outside, and took the shovel from our box of gravel. [Driver] got back to his truck, and his assistant stood there, hands in pocket, while I threw some gravel next to the tires so he could get some grip and park at the dock.
The rest of their visit was pretty quiet; I saw no reason to talk with either, and after loading, they left. I thought he was just having a bad day and decided to just let it go.
Two days later, I got a phone call from the Bossman.
Bossman: “Hey [My Name], are you busy?”
Me: “As much as usual. Anything wrong?”
Bossman: “Have there been issues with the snowplow?”
Me: “No, why?”
Bossman: “Two days ago, did the snowplow not come at all?”
Me: “No, it did, and there was no problem with snow. Why are you asking?”
Bossman: “Look, I know you, and know that you don’t cause problems. But the customer has filed an official complaint against us, and you specifically, and I’m trying to figure out what happened.”
Me: “What?!”
Bossman: “I’ll forward the message to you. Read it and reply to me when you can, okay?”
I was heated. I told Jen I needed to check an email and went to the office to see what was going on.
Bossman had forwarded me an email from the customer’s chief of operations. In short, the driver had made a claim that our yard had so much snow he couldn’t drive there, and when he asked for help, I had been rude and unhelpful and barely did anything to assist, thus he had to work extra time that day to keep up with the schedule.
All right. He wants to dance, and I accept. I wrote my reply to Bossman. This is not word-for-word, but imagine this being said by a drunk Australian who steps on a Lego:
Me: “The yard was plowed without issue. We had several trucks that day; no one else had any issues with driving to the dock, just the driver. We didn’t throw gravel into the yard in advance because no one had asked us to do so. We have actual work to do here; we don’t have time to patrol the yard with a shovel and a bucket of gravel just in case. He didn’t ask, he shouted at us, Jen and me, while we were packing the pallets he was there to pick up. I ended up needing one and a half shovels of gravel while his assistant stood there with his thumb up his butt. And one more thing. You don’t pay me enough to be shouted at by anyone. Next time anyone, ANYONE, comes here with that attitude, I will push them out, lock the door, and demand a new driver.”
I said to Bossman:
Me: “That’s my reply. Clean up the message any way you want and reply to them.”
I didn’t hear about the issue until next Monday, when the customer’s truck arrived, and the driver marched in. Before I had a chance to say anything, he took his hat off and dropped this bomb:
Driver: “I’m so sorry. I apologize for my behavior. I was having a very bad day and took it out on you. I hope you can forgive me and we can forget about this.”
I was too shocked to know what to think.
Me: “Of course, I accept your apology.”
After he left with the day’s load, I went to check the emails.
I was still part of the chain and saw that instead of editing my reply to Bossman, he had forwarded my reply to the COO. He didn’t tell me anything more, but sometime later, another driver approached me, laughing. He said that the story of what had happened has been going around. He told me that the driver is not well-liked at all by anyone.
So far, he had been banned by every major mall, factory, and warehouse in the local area, thus forcing him to drive long-distance hauls. This was really bad because he was the local union representative, and it was reflecting poorly on every union member.
The last time he had a disciplinary hearing due to complaints, the union lawyer present at the hearing had told him that if he got fired due to official warnings about behavior, the union would not back him up.
So, did he learn his lesson? Cut to four years later, I’m working at a new job, in a warehouse of a local food processing plant. While walking near the loading bay, I hear a familiar voice.
Driver: “Just be patient, the kid is new, okay?”
I go to see if I heard right, and there he is, talking with our loading bay operator.
Me: “[Driver], good day.”
Driver: “Oh, hi [My Name]. You are working here now, I see?”
Me: “Yeah, fancy seeing you here.”
Driver: “Yeah, they gave me a new driver to train, just told your colleague to be a bit patient. New kids have to learn to be professionals like us, right?”
He gave me a friendly nudge to the shoulder and then turned his attention to his truck, where a young driver was doing his best to navigate his pallet truck out.
Driver: *To his assistant.* “Nice and steady, focus on backing out straight!” *To me.* “Nice seeing you.”
Me: “Likewise.”
And I left to continue my day, happy to know that people can change for the better.
