On Friday I had the pleasure of going to Lidl at Enfield - I got there at 930, got allocated a bay from the dozens of spare ones at 1040, unloaded by 1120, and finally got the paperwork back at 1330. What a ■■■■ hole of a place. There was a German driver inn front of me booking in, who got moaned at by the Goods-in bloke because he handed his paperwork in still in it’s envelope - he got it thrown back at him and told to take it out, as it wasn’t his job to do so! I’m normally a happy cheery person, but I could feel the will to live being sucked out of me, like some huge morale vacuum cleaner! The only good thing to say about the place is that there are some FaF eyecandy to watch whilst you’re in prison.
Then on Saturday, I loaded 6 tons of freshly picked grapes and took them to Camel Valley Vineyard in Bodmin. What a contrast - as soon as I pulled up, the people there started opening the curtains and unloading, the boss came over and invited me and my boy in for coffee and food, gave us a tour of the place, made sure had somewhere warm & comfortable to sit if we needed it, and also invited us to stay there overnight if we wanted to, rather than heading back up the road. If you’re ever in the area, and have some time to kill, go and pay them a visit, fantastic people!
Funny thing about RDC’s, that miserable as sin attitude must come from someone or a group of people who work there, and it infects all who end up working there…you couldn’t pay me enough to work with such people regularly, fortunately i don’t have to visit such places anymore and thats fine by me.
I had similar attitudes at many RDC’s, except for two notable places, only visited M&S Magna Park once, the people there were as nice as could be and a friendly attitude seemed to infect the whole site, and Argos Bedford where i used to visit daily, always found the reception staff and shunters to be as right as rain there with only the odd exception.
On the flip side though, i’ve seen some of the most miserable awkward bolshy drivers at some of these sites, i wouldn’t have given them the time of day either had i worked at the site.
All we can do is take people as we find them, if they are decent they get the same in return, if not then i will always be polite but thats it, you can’t compete with a professional ignoramus.
Woolworth RDC in Swindon used to be my worst drop.
Never had an easy time in there. Best time was 2 hours for one pallet. Worst was 7 hours for 8 pallets.
On a contrast, there was a camping place I delivered to in the sticks of berkshire, and as soon as you pulled up, the woman in the cottage would bring out a brew, apologise if there is any waiting, and would force you to sit in the kitchen if the weather was bad.
This was the place:
