PeteB

Ship

Away promptly to drive to Hereford. Mission? To get to see a hire outlet who were in line to buy from the sacked dealer, to Shanghai the deal. This outfit has several yards and run a fleet specialist stuff to help service the electricity companies and own one of our tracked machines and were thinking of increasing their fleet. The postcode took me a residential address so I phoned. I was at the owners house. I got ushered into his huge kitchen, sat at the counter, fed a great lid of tea and half hour of banter! Switched them to direct account! Sweet! Then back to factory and myther! I get bored, frustrated and infuriated following 'process'. If someone has an issue, I fix it, end off the story. I don't need a paper trail, I don't need a meeting, I don't need an order number or a claim form! All got asked for today on a simple broken part! Grrrr. I collected a dead one the other day, fixed it and will return it tomorrow. No doubt the OCD driven people will get annoyed as my 'process' gets results even if it doesn't fit their convention! I also passed over a situation involving an upset client, who mentioned refund. I had the MD then ask me to deal with it in my style as it usually gets results! This show we are doing at Westonbirt is also causing grief, the organisation was took off me and given to my colleague but he hashed up the last three years. This year, with the new machine launch, the office based staff are doing it. They forget that it is some 2.5 hour drive for me and they haven't booked a hotel! No I'm faced with Cotswold prices!

Letter

Today started with "I'll just do those few emails then go to see people in Herefordshire" to "I still got too much to do to go driving over there!" As a consequence, I've gone square eyed looking at the screen! However, going to see a Q7 on Friday with Caz! Sold my saw bench and the new owner has paid but not in a rush to collect it. The chap who brought the "wreckage ride on" is paying cash and sending a lorry on Saturday afternoon, going to be fun getting that on! Caz did a shorter shift but poor girl is knackered. She away back home until Thursday and I'm going up there on Saturday to do stuff in new house, sort mower, walk dog and probably cleaning house too. I been trying to sort out stuff for this new machine launch road trip at the end of the month. Already had two dealers go back on their original comments and enthusiasm which isn't very promising! I think that we shall be close to madness as it may be that machines are not ready, gazebos not delivered and brochures not printed either!

Chocolate

Caz up at silly o'clock for a 4-16:00 shift and I left before 7 to head off the swap machines in Bradford. Infuriating day of driving to deal with a warranty issue. Even more infuriating to see some fairly shocking paint on a machine that is less than 6 months old.... Good lads on site and hood chaps at the dealers. I took pictures of the paint issues and sent these in for the records. One showed a cast steel hydraulic track drive motor which we sent out late, it had not been painted! I was fair raging when the chap who is responsible for this type of thing stares at me and suggests that the parts guys aren't to blame as we buy it in like that. As if that makes it okay!!! We sacked the dealer who is advertising a competitive make, no trade out period, account closed. I got to visit the three deals he had on the go and Shanghai them! More work! I had a worrying episode today, towing 3000kg down the M6, the car went in to limp mode! Got it on the hard shoulder and switched off and switched on again. Thank heavens it seems to have reset the problem!

Turf

Caz was up at 7 to get ready for work. The rest of us stopped in bed until 9 then had a light breakfast. Dad and Mum had arranged to go to the next village to see his sister and her husband. Another depressing visit, his bro in law has bottom end cancer. Three chances/choices, do nowt and gave a messy/painful end that could take 3 years, lots of chemo which he is on already, or have bladder and bowel removed and bags fitted! Ain't life awful!!! They already got dealt a rum hand when a grandchild was born with learning difficulties - poor kid is now 25 with the habits and abilities of an eight year old. Dad mentioned his "special" tablets again! I made a decent Sunday roast with shoulder of lamb blah blah, ready for when Caz got back at 13:30. Then the Devon crew set of home, just over three hours drive at the age of 83! They off for their usual holiday in Crete and have asked locally for a shed to be included in accommodation price as the usual car hire placed deny the privilege due to age! Now sat with a glass of wine with Caz in front of the box with Crime and Investigation channe!

Caz was away early on Saturday morning, while the old folks and I had a leisurely start to the day. Both of my parents are in their eighties, and drive up from Southern Devon to Leicestershire to see relatives, Grand Children, Leicester Tigers and have a drink! They'd love to have a drink at the match but full bladders can be a PITA when at these events and the walk/drive home! They have discovered the joy's of a Toby Carvery for after match supper and I got to admit that is value and easier than me cooking! The match itself was painful, a usually strong team, this year's Tigers aren't on form and Exeter Chiefs are! The experience wasn't made any more pleasurable by having some Chiefs supporters behind us, one of whom had better eyesight and understanding of the rules than the ref and liked the sound of his own knowledge! I got to admit too, that their Indian like chanting is an absolute dirge when coming from a beered up expert!! Other duties during the day include buying a lawnmower and getting that down, clothes washing and house work. They old folk went off to see an ill relative who is in god's waiting room. She has a pin sharp memory but a body that is failing, she cannot manage at home, so us in a spot where everything is done for her including her physical functions. I cannot think of anything worse than ending up like that. Father said, "before I get like that, they'll be some handy tablets". Upsetting but, I understand. Tom and Pip left us at the carvery to go out on the town. We did think of trying to catch them up at Revolution Night Club, only to show them how it's done, but an early night had more attractive appeal!

Ordered

An unrewarding day, fraught with issues that needed covering! A couple of fruitless hours on the phone and a trip to Buckland in the Cotswolds.mi had previously sold a tractor mounted machine to a stage private estate there and after 9 hours of work, it doesn't! Grrrr. I take it back to the factory but our two tractors are busy. I make other plans while there to find that one isn't busy, neither is the lad using it! Too late for me! So I do a couple of video clips instead! After a sit down with the Sales Director, we just discussed how to sack a dealer in a Monday meeting. I start to head out home but the phone goes. The firm who had the bother recently phoned to say their repaired machine has stopped again! It is stuck on a site in Bradford. After some frantic thrashing about and several angry calls, I head home with a different loan machine, trailer and Monday diary! I got to try and placate the owners and regain their trust and enthusiasm for our products! Got home and my folks have driven up from Devon to see other ageing folks, go for a meal out, and we got tickets for the rugby! Poor Caz is shattered with her shift pattern and upset as she wasn't awarded a worthwhile contract at the airport! A complaint gas gone in, but her enthusiasm for the place has been dented!

Spent a couple of hours talking on the phone before heading off to Dunnockshaw. My loan tracked machine was to be collected from my dealer along with some spares sent in error band some parts that were subject to a warranty, then back via another Network Rail yard in Wakefield. But typically, everyone had gone home! My loan machine was supposed to be poorly, but it started straight away and ran well! Don't know what the issue was and it means that we potentially got a demo that could go bad in the future! I had the gobby chap on the phone for 45 minutes today. Trying to convince me that I'm wrong and his blades were not blunt and the wedged timber which caused the vibration from the flywheel wasn't the cause of the vibration and that the dealer Service Manager was out to make him look a fool! I think this customer is getting close to being off my list in line for an Xmas card!

Flyers

Prince

Training this morning, showing a bunch of Network Rail guys how to get the best from their new machine. Good bunch of people but a tad frustrating that they wont or aren't allowed, to do basic service stuff to the machine. NR have an agreement for someone else to do all that stuff but at a cost! Then off to see the chipper that the gobby lad was complaining about. A lump of wood had got stuck in the flywheel, causing it to vibrate while running. I'm amazed and saddened that he still ran it despite this crazy vibration! I am always saddened to see poorly maintained or ill machinery and the user doesn't realise or care!!!! The blades were not sharp either, another misdemeanor, and when I rang him, he gets all stroppy and defensive! Blaming everyone else including the dealer! Home for divorced Dad's Wednesday and Caz is here to start the toil again. She'll be up at 01:00. It Madden's me that she will be overtime at flat rate as MAG overspent on x1.5 or X2 on overtime as they are understaffed but now plead poverty! Her house is coming on but not sure when she will be able to spend a night there! Slightly annoyed that my colleague has left a load of machinery at one of his dealers following an open day to save him having to work late into a Saturday afternoon. It means that two things that I wanted to do are binned for 7 to 10 days!

A slow start to the day and things just feel messy! Sales are down and generally slow. I hope that it is just a phase and things will change! I seem to have plenty of activities but no sales!!! It does seem to be my week of buffoonery though. Even down to getting a reasonable offer for the 82" ride on mower, cash deal, but cannot get on to internet banking to see if the goodwill offer is in, then cannot get into eBay to end sale! Also, the program for today, set up and agreed last night, went out the window when the customer staff rang to find out when I was going to be there, but then informed me that both of the loan units they had, didn't make it to Bradford had got left in Cumbria!!! I also got a gobby chap yawpping on about the issues with his chipper meant that he wanted his money back. I've been asking to meet him on site since Xmas to view the issues but he keeps prevaricating!!! I'll twerk his machine and send it back to him. Then speak to his boss who has not mentioned anything! I think that, because his back hander never got paid, he is having a twist of the knife unnecessarily! Found a decent Q7 in Leicester too, so maybe back in the club soon enough!

Street

Infuriating day at the home office. I really get frustrated at the activities of others who don't really have any haste, spacial awareness or common sense! An important part ordered on Friday morning hasn't been sent out yet - the lackadaisical comment of "it might go today", makes my waste water boil! I have to 'sell' us and our products to the dealer principal, his reps, his service people and parts chaps not to mention the tree surgeon who uses a chipper and our own staff think I'm a burden, an overhead, a prima Donna who swans about with an expense account!!!! One of my dealer's has a small territory with low numbers and has asked for more but we could not give any more acreage because nothing was available. His other depots already had good dealers who we where committed too. Anyhow, I looked at our competitors webpage to discover they are trying to sell ours in one county yet another make from another depot. Business politics mean that this don't happen! I have the call to make to organise a termination. Shame as the rep who I handled was a good chap and now he is an enemy! First time I have had to part company with a dealer like this but it isn't a black mark on my credibility. Not personal, just business and they have signed up to a competitive make, do we part company.

Went to Wood Lane do little or no internet again. Got back late too! I cannot believe that 10 days of doing nothing renders me so weary! Usual round of 'Wood Lane' jobs done over weekend. But we did get to look at a Disco 3 and a Q7. Cannot make up my mind although, it was neither of those viewed. The Disco got sold and while it was good, mileage was a tad high and the Q7 had too many scars externally and a tatty interior with scratched or busted trim and it just didn't 'grab' me. Oh well, the search will continue.

Keep it if you got decent storage! She wouldn't cost much and good ones are thin on the ground! The number of cars that I should have kept (or brought and kept) just purely for financial return later on us huge, and I would have culturally and financially better off!!!

Crown

Home after a ten days break in Hurghada,, Egypt. The type of sun holiday that involves some drinking, lying in the sun, eating and very little else! TBH, the area is a tip, nothing worth visiting but what a hotel! The Pharaoh Azur Resort. 5* spot with 3* guests by and large. And I include my self to a degree! Very smart place, very well run, excellent staff and a decent spot but, Russian currency and Chinese money is king and boy are they a strange breed of people. Not many Brits about which is a shame as far as many Egyptian folk say. Security is still high at airports and hotels, which is comforting. It was an 'all inclusive' deal and good value if you like that sort of thing, and I did on the whole. We didn't drink over the odds, ate what we felt we needed and did not really move from the pool either. Was slightly shocked at how much people put on their plates but didn't eat and the table manners of some of the others. Maybe, if you eat with two sticks then mastering a knife and fork is difficult. Maybe if western (?) food is so different that beef liver and melon tastes good!!!! As they say, 'the things you see when you ain't got your gun!' springs to mind. Caz's house purchase got completed while we were away and we eventually decided to look for another Q7 or maybe a decent Disco 3 or even a 4. Who knows! Looking at both this weekend!

Hey Ho!!! That's us done for ten days or do! Quick race down to a recycling spot near Stratford, the want to chuck oversize tree waste shredding a into a machine to resize them. I look at the pile and say, "this type of machine is for tree waste and so on, that stuff is gritty and abrasive so your running cost are higher than average. Consider a shredder, it costs more to buy but may be a more practical answer!". I'm told by an expert on a huge salary that they need cheap but ours ain't right. This guy is on twice what I get paid and tells me that he is an expert. Most projects that he has been involved with only survived on handouts as they weren't viable! A quick trip to the office to check in/out then my day is done! Off to buy Caz a present then home to pack blah blah blah! Wicked!!! I got some emails to do but CBA! I'll take the laptop on holiday and do that in a day or two! I got a couple of cases of people not doing what they agreed to do or changing tack that I find infuriating!!! Grrr.

about

Got to admit - the holiday apathy was strong yesterday! Put the trailer back together and loaded the loaned woodchipper on it which took a bit of messing around. I hadn't got the winch control cable so had to park trailer, witch chipper and reveres it up the bed! Then unhitch, hitch to trailer then strap etc. You need a bit of space to turn the trailer around and reverse up to it so grateful that the field wasn't too soft despite the rain. Caz and I did a few household chores then a trip to town to stock up with dog food etc. During last spring, a roll of roofing felt appeared so that the cats outside shed, dog pound and hut could get a new cover, I suggested that he does the garden shed/workshop too as the felt was gone on the windward side and the walls are no longer weather proof either. I suggested that I do the shed at the end of the summer and again at the end of Autumn. At Christmas, I asked where the felt was and I'd do it. All to no avail. Infuriatingly, the shed has got a touch of wet rot in the roof now and holes in the walls where the timber has cracked and opened. I decided to put a plastic sheet over it to keep the weather out and things like the tools and bikes dry and get a black look from him and the comment that the winds will have that away! Sometimes, I want to walk away and let the place tumble down as he cannot manage and appears to not be bothered either! I went and had a nap on the sofa!!! We fly to Egypt for 10 days tomorrow and it is Caz's birthday while we are there. So her kids had already told us that we were going to an Italian and they would pay. Doing anything like going out for a meal is always difficult at hers - we have only managed it once without Caz's sister's family and her Parent's coming - whether they are invited or not! They just assume that they are! Then they railroad the job, insisting that we go to a 'food for the masses' pub and to be honest, I don't think that it is good value food/pub either! So, they are advised that we aren't about in the evening and they invite themselves and reach for the phone to book mediocre pub. Daughter takes the hump and to be honest, needs her legs slapping! The old folk mean well and do a lot for the family and to forcibly tell them that they aren't coming is hard. The txt row with the daughter goes on to the point we get a message saying that she isn't coming where ever we go and she will see us, if she can be bothered, when we get back! Kids! Aren't they a joy at times..... She agrees to come as long as we don't get angry at her as non of this is her fault....Anyhow, we had a decent Italian in Wildwood in Lincoln and come away. Caz is staying there while I go back to Shepshed. I am still a little 'fizzy' about talking the car back and the young one's attitude!