TDRA/TDRP

The above are truck pricing codes that we use during peak times. Being the last Saturday of the month, work was insane today. At the end of the month, trucks are rented out in 2 shifts - the 8am shift and the 4pm shift. Throw on top of that everyone who wants to rent a vehicle for the weekend (for one reason or another - especially with the pseudo long-weekend this week) and the usual business from body shops/service departments (the larger ones are open on Saturdays), it can get downright crazy.

Today was no exception. We sent out 24 vehicles (many of them 3/4 ton cargo vans and 2-1/2 ton cube trucks) and checked 22 in. This is in addition to the customers who came/called in wanting to extend their contracts. Chad and I realized around 11:30 that there was no way either of us would have even a minute to run next door or across the street to grab food, so I called my folks - who I knew would be heading out to run errands anyway - and they were nice enough to bring us lunch from Subway.

Saturdays we only work 8-1/2 hours shifts (as opposed to the usual 10 or 10-1/2), but we don't get an official break. During the week, we get an hour off for lunch; but on the weekends it's only a skeleton crew on staff, so one person is allowed to head out (during a lull) to quickly grab lunch and bring it back to the office. Either way, we eat at our desks (taking bites here and there, whenever we get the chance). While I know this sounds unfair to a lot of my friends:

• Weekend shifts usually go by pretty quicky and, besides, they're shorter than weekday hours to begin with.
• I'm salaried, so they're allowed to make rules like this.
• I knew what I was signing up for when I was hired.

Anyways, I got an interesting call this afternoon, not long before lunch arrived...

Me: Thank you for calling Discount. Selena speaking. How can I help you?
Man: Hi, Selena. How are you?
Me: Good. How are you?
Man: Great. You look really pretty today.
Me: Uh?... Thank you...

At this point I stood up and looked out the office windows to see if there was anyone looking in, because my first thought was that there might be someone outside watching me. I guess from my tone of voice, he realized that he'd forgotten to introduce himself (and how offsetting his compliment must've come out sounding, because of that) and took the opportunity to do so. He turned out to be one of the CSRs (that I deal with regularly) from our 2nd largest account, calling to notify us that one of our rental cars had been left at the dealership. I'd been there about an hour earlier, dropping off customers and paperwork and had been talking to him then.

Was I ever relieved. Hooray for not having a stalker! And when I got back to the office from picking up our car, my parents were there. With food. Hooray for tuna on honey oat bread!