The Last One

It's official. No more new DCs! With the addition of Memphis this week, we have finally reached the end of the line for additional people calling in. After these past 3 months of rapid expansion and little extra help, we now seem to have come to somewhat of a calm in the busyness of the day. I am sure that it is the proverbial "calm before the storm", but I am still able to relax a bit more now even with a total of 11 DCs to service.

One of the most surprising (and yet it really shouldn't have been a surprise!) elements is that fact that most of the customers from the other DCs mostly had no clue on how to do anything in relation to the DC. They depended on the people at their own DC to do everything for them. They really have a I-need-someone-to-hold-my-hand mentality that is still shocking for me. I used to get aggravated at the Raleigh customers for some of the things they wanted me to do, but I have to admit that I had them trained pretty well. Most of the newer customers didn't know their account numbers, barely knew which DC serviced them, and wanted Kenneth or myself to look up their parts. Since there is no possible way he and I can do every little thing that each customer wants from us in a day's time, we have to make sure they understand the ground rules from the beginning. Sometimes it is difficult to educate them when the ladies that answer most of the calls don't want to be a bit firm with them during the initial calls. I can tell it's going to be a long, uphill battle with some of them beacuse they are spoiled brats that whine when they can't have their way, but I will perservere and re-train them in the proper manner!

In addition to their spoiled ways, there have been some of them that have been downright rude and ugly. They make no bones about how much they don't like this big change in the way business is run. What ticks me off is that they vent their frustrations out on the people that answer the phones. I can tell you one dead on fact: We customer service agents at the Raleigh DC definitely did not ask for all these extra calls. And we certainly didn't need anymore attitude. Raleigh already has its fair share! Since we are all rowing in the same boat, please leave your attitude on the shore!

Well, now that we are all one big "happy family", I am sure we will get to know each other more and more. I hope the bumps in the road will smooth out over time. When the busy season hits, we certainly don't need anything that would knock us into the ditch.

Have a blessed day!