eagerbeaver:
GOG47:
Winnifred1:
AndieHyde:
Get some pointy shoes and an Audi, the rest are just details.Correct, but somewhat of a sweeping generalisation?
Surely the shoes need to be brown and pointy, and half a tub of monkey sp&ff in the overtly trendy haircut required too?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oi! I’m a planner! I don’t own pointy shoes or an Audi! As for hair,''tis but a distant memory. Mind you, I’ve only been a planner for 18months (driver of nearly 30yrs before)Maybe I need to invest in said shoes and Audi and a Wayne Rooney weave thingy to make me a pro!
Wayne Rooney and a pro in the same sentence, nice work.
Indeed, finally a planner that can do the Impossible!
On a more serious note. My last two planners have been the worst and the best I have ever had.
The one before this one was rude, arrogant, thought he knew everything. Wouldn’t listen, constantly corrected me on hours etc and eventually drove me away. I started off being planned by this one when I was employed to drive another’s wagon, then went on subbed to him when I started out. I never got any respect at all, not the respect due a driver and not the respect due one of his bosses’ chosen partners.
The current planners, though these guys are referred to as Operators rather than planners, have taken the time to get to know me and now realise that when I’m phoning up with an apparently idiotic question, its not because I’ve never encountered the problem before but because I want to know how they want it handled. They know I never ask the same ‘stupid’ question twice. They take the time to have a laugh and joke, just 15 seconds at the start of the call so its not all business, this means a lot to me, a friendly interaction during the day when all my office job friends and family aren’t available on the end of the phone. They also listen when I make suggestions, and contribute ideas when I want a sounding board for my own route planning, usually when a motorway is bolixed and I’m letting 'em know Ill be late.
On a good day we’ll speak three times. Once to confirm I’m awake, (I’m not on their tracker) once to confirm box on/box off/loaded/tipped and once to confirm I’m parked up for the night in a safe place, or plan to. On a very good day, (today was one of these) we’ve spoken seven times, Good morning/tipped, swapped, tipped, loaded, swapped, tipped, parked. Some days are bad ones, everyone gets lost every now and then, or gets stuck in every traffic jam in Europe or has a breakdown, nervous or mechanical. Apparently I’m on the good side of average for not wasting operator time but everyone has bad days.
Its a relationship of equals rather than a boss and bossed relationship which is why it works. Each party knows we could be the best driver or planner in the world, but wouldn’t be able to shift a single bloody load without the other.
And it really doesn’t hurt that they realise that Vehicle Operator trumps traffic operator when there is a disagreement.