Holland, MI (where I spent the night) is known for it's tulips. This morning, however, it was cold and snowing (got about 3-4 inches overnight).
The roads were fair--I was surprised at the number of fender benders on the freeway (I thought people who lived up here knew how to drive in snow!).
My delivery was right up the road. I was the first delivery of the day. The guy who unloaded me was very efficient. He unloaded the entire trailer by hand in about 30-minutes. Of course it was comprised of 50-pieces of light furniture so all he did was stick a hand truck under each wrapped item and the truck was unloaded in no time at all. Now I know how they ship couches--they wrap the ends up in cardboard, cover everything in plastic, and then stand them on one end. Then they squeeze as many as will fit into a trailer (along with other furniture odds and ends). And that's how they also store them in the warehouse (at least with this company). The front half of the warehouse was their furniture showroom area. So, when a piece sold, they just went into the warehouse, unwrapped what they needed and another brand new piece of furniture was ready to be sold.
I next traveled northward to pick up some bottled water heading for a Wal-Mart in Indiana. I again traversed the exact same route I went for some of the previous day. I ran into numerous snow squalls. It would be blue sky with white fluffy clouds and then it would turn cloudy and start snowing furiously. Then it would be over in 10-15 minutes. This happened over and over again throughout the day. Kept me on my toes!
Well I finally got to shower (refreshing!) and ended my day's journey near Indianapolis, IN. I was instructed to keep the truck idling as the water would freeze if I didn't. It seems the vibrations from the motor is just enough to keep the water from freezing very solid in this 10-degree weather. I will be most interested to see the state of the water bottles when they are unloaded tomorrow.
After tallying up my log book, I have an hour and one-half worth of time tomorrow before I run out of hours. That's just enough time to get to where I need to be, get unloaded, and park at the truck stop a short distance away. And there I will sit until the next day. It won't be a 34-hour restart, but it will certainly feel like one. This week will not be one with many driving miles at all.
Oh, I talked to customer service at Tripp Lite about my power inverter problem. Not impressed. I felt like I was an inconvenience--a problem--to the people I spoke with. I admit, I let my frustration boil over at times, but I still felt like a second-class citizen. They should have had all my information into their computer since I filled out the warranty registration and sent it in. They didn't have access to that information. So in a very public place, I had to give out personal information over the telephone. Not very cool. Then she needed the serial number of the unit. I didn't have it. So, I would have to call back with that before they could do anything. Murmur, grumble, grumble.
So I called back and got another individual. The information I gave him was not the serial number. The serial number was supposed to be on a sticker stuck to the unit. It wasn't. Finally, he said they would send a replacement unit to my house, he paused, and said "wait a minute" and put me on hold. He knew I didn't have much juice left in my cell phone because I told him so (because the broken inverter charged my phone). After nearly 10-minutes of being on hold, I hung up and called my wife. I asked her to call them and fill me in with the details. She did. They needed some additional information--like how many watts the 13-inch TV had (that is what I was watching when the fuse blew). This is asinine. Their literature clearly states that the unit I use can easily handle 13-inch TV's. I really think that they think I somehow dragged a 36-inch monster TV into my truck instead of a 13-inch TV and that's why the fuse blew. In other words, I'm a total idiot and can't read how much watts this unit can handle. I'm also beginning to feel that I'm being interrogated for a crime I didn't commit. Enough already. Ever hear of trusting the customer?
So tomorrow, I've got to get all the information they want and call up again. Oh yeah--here's the kicker--when I'm calling them, it's on my dime. That's right they do not have a toll-free customer service/technical support number. Hello! This is the 21st century. Quit nickleing and diming your customers! Make it easy and convenient for them to contact you. And it sure would help if you paid someone to enter the warranty information into the computer so that the customer service people can actually see your information without you having to repeat it all.
Enough ranting and raving. I'm going to eat some noodles and crash.
miles driven = 401
8:35:12 PM
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