Saturday, August 2, 2008

car runs galore...

remember when me and the city board dispatcher had a few words and i swore to not help him out anymore...well, all was forgiven on the first of the month. yesterday completely kicked me in the nuts. i sit on a damn chair all day with the occasional stretching break and i was worn out by the end of my shift. i can only imagine how the crew was feeling, especially on a hot day, but the work load was much welcomed(at least i hope so...ha!).

the bike board was fine. we had work but not a crazy amount. little by little they all checked in and all the bike work was getting done and slowly we were running out of work. i click over to the car board occasionally and notice his board getting more and more red. well, this is the fun part...

j.dot...yo mike. i got a cat up north that checks in around 10 or so i can grab your norhtern work.

city dispatch...take whatever isn't dispatched.

...thats all me and the other bike dispatcher needed to hear. we look over the 3 pages of work sitting on the car board. yup...the poor guy is short staffed and is in desperate need of assistance. me and the other bike dispatcher discuss which ones to grab and come up with a few sets to give out. i call up 6706 and have him pick up a set up north bringing him in. as his picking up all that madness i call up a 6721 to pick up a set in the loop headed north. as one is leaving the other is coming in...perfect...why? cause i never lose coverage in the loop to keep tabs on my board...the bike board.

it's friday so we have work coming out of base so now i lose 1168 and 6665 on car sets. no big deal...that one was expected. 6731 has an emergency he had to go take care of. no big deal...i tell him to call me when he's ready to rock again. he calls me from way out west and again, i click the car board and low and behold, i set him up with a set from the northwest coming in. 6706 cleans up in the loop and i keep him somewhat busy and the car board is still slammed...well...

j.dot...yo, yo.

6706...what up?

j.dot...wanna strut some muscle?

6706...you know it. what you got?

...i hit him with boxes and some more boxes. by now it's getting a bit later and work is dying off on the bike board. it's about 1600 or 1615 and i call up 6752 to rock out one last job which happened to be a car run that would bring him somewhat close to base so he can pick up his check and call it a day...great way to end things, right? well, for 5-2 it is but i still need to stick around and help the car board clean up.

by now the late dispatcher has arrived and has stolen 1168 to play clean up...meaning, he's picking up packages all over the loop to dish off to drivers. company's are starting to close and we need to grab these deliveries before it's too late. there's a package we slept on or fell through the cracks so now it's the bike board to the rescue again. i have 6721 roll over and scoop it up but, the even better news is that a set pops up going with it taking him north and right where he lives. nothing like getting work that takes you straight home and enjoy a cold brew for a long, LONG, LONG, DAY...peace.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

thats sweet. I'm a dispatcher/manager now but when i rode in DC and lived in Alexandria Va (still do), they used to hook me up with 4-5 car runs to take into Alexandria, and that is the way to end the day.

j.dot said...

i wish everyday ended that way for the whole crew...eh, when times are good they're great but when they're bad they can be horrible...peace.

Anonymous said...

have you guys been sending bikes out further since the price of gas is getting so out of hand we've been doing it here in pdx...still charging car rates of course.
bikes are cool with it, since we get more runs, and base is cool with it since they don't have to pay gas

j.dot said...

naw but the price of gas has been hurting the driver board by losing drivers. it does benefit our bikers but at the same time i don't want to burn them out.