the 6686 factor...

eight-six is a really good messenger. he may not be all there but the man is good. he's hard to deal with at times but overall...if you can put up with his silliness then the work will get done. how? i have no idea but i know that it does.

he recently made the jump to full-time. not a big deal...as my boss put it, "as long as they give me 40 hours im ok with that". see...at our company messengers are employees not independent contractors. he works with the other bike dispatcher until about two or so and then he calls me to finish off the day. as some of you know im the late dispatcher...sort of. anyway, back to the beauty that is 6686...

6686...yo, eight-six.

j.dot...what up? what up?

6686...alright man. im standing by 1 south wacker and im not leaving till i get twenty.

j.dot...umm, ok? umm...stand-by for a second while i figure out where to send you.

6686...im serious dude. i ain't leaving till i got 20. im going to try and get 40 by tomorrow.

...the whole time i was thinking he wasn't leaving till he got twenty runs. we've been slow but i didn't think we were that slow. i was wrong.

j.dot...yo, i got a twenty north wacker headed north.

6686...alright but im not delivering it till you give me more work to go with it.

j.dot...umm, well, it's all yours. if something pops up i'll send it your way but that package is due by xxxx and it's on you if you want to hold that package ransom.

...he delivered the package by the time it was due but he was not happy. i don't blame him but if i don't have work then there isn't much i can do. at least i got him another one? either way...six o'clock hits and i call him to say goodnight but, guess what? he doesn't leave. not much i can do about that either. i have to leave...he calls the dispatcher taking over...

6686...what up? im standing by.

night dispatcher...what?! go home. we don't have bike service after six. i don't need you out there.

...some time goes by and guess what? around eight he calls that he's standing by...holy sh*t!! all the night time dispatcher could do was laugh and tell our boss what was happening. see...while i thought he wanted 20 runs he actually wanted to knock out 20 HOURS!! when our boss told him that as long as he gives 40 hours a week he thought to himself...i could do that in two days. poor kid...i say kid but he's a grown man who has just lost a few nuts and bolts. the next day we had a huge laugh about it. i sat down to dispatch and when he called me around three it was business as usual...

j.dot...eight-six, eight-six.

6686...yeah, whats up?

j.dot...i got a 330 wabash headed to 19 lasalle.

6686...alright man. i'll do that one but, just so you know, im not headed back north. thats all im going to say about that.

j.dot...umm, ok. thats all im going to say about that.

...like i said, the man is good at what he does...you just have to be willing to put up with a few, how do you say, intricacies...peace.