holding hands...

so...we have a new biker on our hands. no big deal...just show him the ropes and he'll come around. well...not as easy as it sounds. he's the son of the city board dispatcher...city board meaning car/driver dispatch. thats not a huge problem but 6750 keeps communicating with dad instead of with me or scott, the token bike dispatchers. this is very difficult especially cause he won't get used to us dispatching him and how am i supposed to clean up my board when he's busy working off the car board...also, how am i supposed to clean up my board if he's not communicating the problems he's having out there? i told him and his father that at some point he has to talk to me or scott and we will help him through...i even promised not to make too much fun of him. every rookie has to go through some ritualistic ridicule of sorts...sh*t, if i don't do it someone else might...ha!

well, the other problem with 6750 is that he doesn't know the city at all. much the way i was...born and raised in chicago but not familiar with the loop at all. streets and direction(n.s.e.w.) are all hard to get to or understand. lets say he's at 25 east washington and he has to get to 140 south dearborn...

j.dot...yo, yo. how you looking?

6750...im alright. finally figured this washington out. which one do you want me to drop first?

j.dot...no worries kid. we'll get this. head to the dearborn drop first. now, what you want to do is head south. you can take wabash or state. when you get to adams hit a right and you should be headed west. once you see dearborn you're there and the building is on the northwest corner...cool?

6750...yup. i got it.

...well, he didn't really get it. even though i literally sat through it and held his hand to the delivery he didn't get it. he's blazzing through his stops for some reason. i think he thinks that as long as he goes fast then he's making the deliveries fast when in reality he's burning himself out and missing his stops. at my last company i dispatched for i found myself routing many cats and holding their hands from drop to drop. so this situation isn't a big deal for me and i hope 6750 comes around cause he seems like a good kid. after a good month he'll be flying through the city knowing exactly where everything is at and coming across shortcuts as they come. i do wish him luck. slow-n-steady wins the race...

on another note, some of you might already know but i am getting married and this holding hands situation has reminded me that "i wanna hold your hand" by the beatles might be the song we walk out to during the wedding...peace.