Quite naturally, he was apprehensive about working with the new coordinator at head office.
The lady that left to start a family was really great. She seemed to have a knack for making things run smoothly. Anyway, all seven trucks were sitting in the yard, with drivers waiting to load. All things being equal they’d be away on time. Today’s assignments of boxes and packages were all stacked in groups along the loading bay. He quickly went through the paperwork once again; just to make sure. He was about to leave his office to hand out the day’s schedules when the phone rang. It seemed very early for a call. He hesitated. He’d really like to get all the vehicles on the road by nine, but it could be important. He answered it.
A timid voice said, “Sorry…” It was a man’s voice, this would have to be the new guy.
“Yes, how can I help?”
“Sorry,” he repeated, “we have to make a couple of changes.”
The Despatch Manager winced. He looked out at the men, who had begun milling around his door. “I was about to give the drivers their schedules,’ he said, “Is it important?”
“Important? Well, I suppose it is.” The new man sounded anxious. “As you know, I’m new on the job, but I wouldn’t be making any last minute changes like this, unless I thought they were necessary.”
The other softened. “OK. Fair enough. What have we got? You said a couple of changes, what are they?”
“Not a couple, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“How many then?”
“Several, actually.”
“Several?”
“Yes, would you like me to read them out for you?”
After a long pause, he said, “Go on.”
After a lot of mumbling and a shuffling of papers, he began. “OK. Assignment 10448 would be better loaded onto truck 3, not 6, and it should take route 37 instead of 12. Assignment 10526 needs to be swapped with 10492. That would mean that trucks 2 and 6 can now both take route 24. Trucks 1, 5 and 7 have no changes to their allotted assignments and can all use route 9, as scheduled.”
The Despatch Manager was silent.
He ended the call.
It was only twenty past nine.
He went home early.