WEEK FROM HELL CONTINUES

The week from Hell was off to a good start yesterday and seems to be continuing quite well. I've had all kinds of stuff thrown at me in the last two days. I'm talking mind boggling. It might have been just a wee bit easier if anyone had shown me how to do any of it. I received a 'crash course' in how to place a 'typical' order, and I mean 'crash course'. I think it took all of 5 minutes because that's all the time she had.

The only problem is that I have yet to receive a 'typical' order. Everything has been thrown at me as though I'm supposed to know exactly what to do with it. Some of our builder clients follow regular procedures, some don't. Since I had no idea which ones don't, I have questioned everything when I don't have all the required paperwork, which I'm sure the clients haven't liked. "We always do it this way" is what I've been hearing. Yeah, right. I'm sure it may be the case with some of them, but I know every single one of them puts pressure on getting stuff ordered without having a signed agreement. Or they want to change things, affecting the pricing, without signing a new or revised agreement reflecting that.

On the good side, I did help manage to thwart a $20,000 mistake because of the fact I wasn't going to let them rush me into placing an order sooner. Even though I've gotten orders, reorders, add-ons from Jacksonville, St. Augustine and here and 99% of them are not anywhere close to 'typical' orders, I feel I've handled everything fairly well for not knowing any of this and having to basically learn as I'm going along. Besides, I like challenges, right?

On the bad side, I'm having to try to get these orders placed, make sure contracts are signed, know when everything is expected to arrive or to be sent out to job sites, what everyone else is doing, what items we are short and follow up on those, approve and email order requests back all while answering the phone, and everyone else expecting me to drop what I'm doing to take care of THEIR problem right away or proof their stuff right away or fix their computer problems, email problems, fax machine problems, credit card machine problems and make decisions on whether or not to go ahead and order stuff for one of our clients who hasn't made the customary 50% deposit yet. Oh and of course approve billing for the accounting department and make sure the bill outs are done. Corporate gets a little testy if we don't have enough bill outs getting done.
And someone just asked me yesterday what it is I do, or what my 'job title' is. Hell, I don't know. I have to make sure the right things are ordered off the design drawings in the right colors, amounts, door styles, etc. Before I order, I have to make sure I have a signed contract and unless it's one of our major clients, a deposit before I order. Generally on the major builder clients, I have to track down a notice of commencement for the property in case they have to put a lien against at some point. All of that gets scanned and emailed to corporate. They send me back what I ordered, because they have to key it in for some reason. I check it again, approve it and say that it's OK to order. I wait to receive a confirmation that it's been ordered, approximate date it should arrive at the warehouse or wherever it's going. Then I do the same thing for counter tops if they are needed. Once stuff arrives, it has to be checked off (I have someone else physically do this) and a tentative install date set for our subcontractor. We have to make sure we have an installer available when the builder wants it installed and make sure all the items are delivered to the job site as well. Then I have to make sure installer invoices are paid, counter top invoices are paid, bill outs are done and send the service guy to inspect the work and sign off on it. Well, at least that's normally what I do when everything goes perfectly smoothly, but we all know that doesn't normally happen. This is all what happens on one job, or one file. I have a little over 50 sitting and waiting for different things and I have to be able to tell anyone anything about any of those files at the drop of a hat. Plus, we get new ones every day. Today alone, I have gotten about 10 new ones.

Salespeople are fun to deal with too. They are just as bad as the builders about wanting to push things through without appropriate CYA (cover your ass) paperwork. I don't do sh-t if I don't have it in writing. The answer is exactly the same as when you called the last 5 times today. And also, if you didn't stop me by calling so many times, I might actually make more progress on your file.

Add to this that I've had some personal things on my mind lately that are bothering me somewhat and the fact that it's that time of the month for me, which tends to make me a little more emotional or crabby. Also yesterday I was here for 12 hours, no lunch, because the best time to actually make some progress is early in the morning or late in the afternoon when everyone else is gone and I know I won't be interrupted.

It's only Tuesday. It's gonna be a fun week. Yep. Piece of cake...