The shipping company lost Jeremiah's package. I will get the money back from them whenever they feel like it. But to get him going, I have to use parts from another job and spend that time on his again, that I will not be paid for. The insurance will only pay for the parts, not the labor, regardless of the "value" you place on the package(already been around this fence a time or two) So that is essentially wasted time and another trip to ship his parts off. All part of doing business and it rarely goes as planned
Then we get the "why don't you hire help" comments.......simple answer is, there is no good help.
I'm going to jump in here because it's more time out of the day for us to discuss this in other venues i.e. email or telephone.
1) I'd love to get involved with the shipper to find my package. UPS freight lost my brand new Lenco 4-speed. I worked with them for seven days until they found it. Let's work together to find the original before we give up. Get the tracking info to me in an email and I'll help this along. I already lost my place in line so another week won't change much.
2) Dealing with work, a side business, family and property is a huge undertaking. When you are buried it doesn't take much to overrun you. I spend most of my time trying to keep from being in that position. Last year my dad unexpectedly (to me, not him) died of lung cancer. It took me almost a year to catch up both in time and finance. Still sealing with lawyers, creditors and the revenuers. I can relate to that.
3) You can't find good help these days. I'm the young guy at work and I'm getting old lol. Anybody that is worth training is already working in some capacity and has a gig. Combine that with every person thinking they should get paid to be trained and you have a "more trouble than it's worth" scenario crossed by the "if I have to show you how to do it I might as well do it myself" factor.
4) I'd get a second line for your business just to separate the voicemail. Also take the time (you don't have) to write down good times to call people along with their contact info. I have an entire set of people I almost always contact before 5pm and another set that is only available at night...and late too! Not saying that you need to work 18 hours a day (even though you probably do) but it might alleviate some stress from the business end of things if you tried it. As we have gotten busier we have also had to get much more organized which is a hard habit to instill when everything is an emergency.
Also, changing your voicemail or setting up an automated email response might help people know you are still out there just really busy. If you need help with this my consultation services are very reasonable. I offered to go down and run Lenco for a few months to straighten that place out but they declined lol.
Everybody just hang in there, it's going to be a bumpy ride for all of us technicians regardless of your field.
I have to go now, my hair is on fire.
