The saga continues...
August 8th Day Fourteen
Checked everywhere, still no furniture.
August 9th Day Fifteen
Discovered the joys of Happy Hour at the Radisson: $2.50 Budweiser and $2.00 appetizers.
August 10th Day Sixteen
In the initial correspondence I was sent from the movers, I was told to only contact my "personal move coordinator" in Seattle for any communication regarding my move. Today I decided to call the company in Tustin that picked up my goods directly. It's my stuff, I will call whomever I damned well please. I spoke to a woman at Schick Moving & Storage in Tustin—an agent for Allied Van Lines. She confirmed that my goods were now scheduled to load and depart California on August 12th.
August 11th Day Seventeen
It's been nearly a week since I was promised $500 and I thought it might be prudent to make sure the check wasn't lost in the mail. The woman whom I originally spoke to is out of the office until Tuesday, naturally. I called Allied Customer Service and entered their phone tree... "If your move is in progress please press four…" After muttering a few obscenities, I begrudgingly pressed four. When my call was answered, I told the woman I was waiting for a check for $500 that hadn't arrived yet. She asked me what it was for. I told her "you have my stuff and I don't". I guess I was feeling a little hostile at the time. She said, "oh, it's a delayed shipment check, hold please." Yeah, sure. She came back on the phone and told me the check wouldn't go out until Tuesday. Almost a week after I was told they were sending me a check for my "inconvenience", I find out the check won't go out for nearly another week. That's much more convenient. Now even more wound up, I told the poor woman who had the misfortune of taking my call "oh this will be exciting, we'll have a contest to see what gets here first, my furniture or the check".
August 12th Day Eighteen
I've had enough. I called Schick this afternoon to find out about the status of the truck that was supposed to be leaving with my goods today. After putting me on hold for a few moments, the woman came back on the line and asked me if I'd been in contact with my booking agent in Seattle already. This was not a good sign. "They're going to have bad news for me, aren't they?" I asked her. She replied, "I don't know what kind of news they'll have, but you need to give them a call". This was clearly a load of bullshit. The woman has the same access to the "system" that my contact in Seattle has, the fact that she didn't want to tell me what the "system" said was a tactic on her part to not have to deliver bad news to me that she was afraid I would most likely take out on her. I called her on it. "I worked in the moving business for nearly ten years, I know what's going on here" I told her.
I called Seattle. Sure enough, the truck DID NOT load today and was not even close to leaving. It was time to escalate this to the next level. I asked to speak to a supervisor. At this point I thought I had dropped the call. There was literally a full minute of silence before my "move coordinator" told me that she needed to talk to her supervisor and get back to me. I verified the return call would be before close of business today.
Next I got in contact with Boeing Traffic—it was time to bring in some bigger guns. The lady I contacted was appalled at my situation. She lit a few fires under Allied's ass and at 5:15PM Pacific time my "move coordinator" called me back. To make me feel better, she told me I wasn't the only Boeing employee in this type of situation. I'll sure sleep better tonight knowing that they treat ALL their customers like this.
August 13th & 14th Days Nineteen & Twenty
I've spent the weekend trying to calm down from the events of the week. I have been unsuccessful. I'm still madder than greased owl shit coming out of a scalded monkey's ass.
August 15th Day Twenty-One
Still no furniture, but my "move coordinator" now calls me daily at 4PM (2PM Pacific). I think she said something about my goods leaving on a day ending in "y".
August 16th Day Twenty-Two
No furniture, still. The "move coordinator" thinks they have a driver (I've heard that one before). She should know for sure tomorrow. Goody gum drops, I just can't wait.
August 17th Day Twenty-Three
It is now confirmed that someone is supposed to pick up my goods on Friday from Tustin, California. Just to make sure I understood the situation, I stepped through it with my "personal move coordinator".
Schick loaded my stuff from Mission Viejo onto a trailer (one). They took the trailer to their facility and loaded the goods into their warehouse (two). On Friday, they will load the goods into another trailer to be transported over the road to the destination agent in Austin, Texas (three). The destination agent in Austin will unload the goods from the over-the-road trailer and load them into their warehouse (four). One day, the goods will get loaded onto a truck (five) for delivery to my residence in San Antonio where they will unload them into my apartment (six). I asked my "move coordinator" if I had it right. She said yes. I said good, I'm out of fingers on one hand to count how many times my goods will be handled. She said "I just love your sense of humor".
August 18th Day Twenty-Four
My "move coordinator" is really excited that my goods will load tomorrow. I'm glad she has some pleasure in her day.
August 19th Day Twenty-Five
Amen to the 9/80 work schedule. I am off today and enjoyed a morning of leisure. I slept until ten, went out to breakfast, then took my car to the car wash. I know there is balance in the universe because ice now falls from it. At least there was no furniture blocking my path as I ran to the window cursing.
Oh yeah, the truck is allegedly "on the road".