My best contractor story is....

It was 1996 and I was working for Onsite Commercial Staffing, a division of Aerotek. I had a contractor named Herbie. It didn't matter if I needed general labor, a cable puller, or a forklift driver. Herbie was as reliable as they came. He worked short term and long term projects. He would go to work at 5 AM or 12 PM; he just wanted to work. I loved working with Herbie. He was #1 in my "Hot Book" (if any of you remember that term). One day, I asked him to come in on a Saturday morning to work for Central Transportation and help move things until Noon. I was in my early 20's and I was single. I did what most people do when they are young on a Friday night. I went downtown and stayed up until 2 AM. Needless to say a 5 AM call from the hiring manager on Saturday Morning was not ideal. He said not one of my 10 people showed to work.

My coworker and I hit the phones at 5:30. That was as quick as we could get out of bed and get to the office. Were we crazy?? We must have made 100 calls a piece before 7 AM. We couldn't find anyone to go to work and no one was answering their phones. I called Herbie. Herbie answered, "Hello". I said, "Is Herbie there?". He said "Naw, he ain't". I then said, "Herbie, is that you?"... Slowly he answered. "Awwww man- I'm so sorry, I forgot". I couldn't get mad. I am still laughing! We didn't get anyone to go to work that day, and we did get an earful from the Account Manager on Monday. We lost the account. Not a big deal from where me and my coworker stood!

What's your story?

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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on December 5, 2012 at 6:57pm

Oh Herbie! :)

Ok here goes... I was managing a staffing office for a small, So. Cal based niche agency. We placed drivers in pharma and automotive delivery roles. One of my account managers was the company prankster (he'd call other offices in response to the "Diver" ads and tell how good he was at diving for golf balls). One day he calls our VP to let him know one of our drivers, in a 14 foot box truck, had driven into the side of a house. The VP started flipping out, yelling at him for calling him at 5 am with one of his stupid practical jokes. He had to put the account manager on hold to take a call from HIS boss, the CEO, asking why in the hell was our truck on the morning news hanging out of the side of a house. LOL

Not funny at the time... but hysterical now. :) That guy was our "Herbie" - went everywhere all the time, and we had him on one too many shifts that night. He fell asleep at the wheel. No one was hurt thankfully, and the house was damaged but obviously insurance covered it. What a mess.

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Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on December 5, 2012 at 9:20pm

That is a great contractor story!

Amy Ala said:

Oh Herbie! :)

Ok here goes... I was managing a staffing office for a small, So. Cal based niche agency. We placed drivers in pharma and automotive delivery roles. One of my account managers was the company prankster (he'd call other offices in response to the "Diver" ads and tell how good he was at diving for golf balls). One day he calls our VP to let him know one of our drivers, in a 14 foot box truck, had driven into the side of a house. The VP started flipping out, yelling at him for calling him at 5 am with one of his stupid practical jokes. He had to put the account manager on hold to take a call from HIS boss, the CEO, asking why in the hell was our truck on the morning news hanging out of the side of a house. LOL

Not funny at the time... but hysterical now. :) That guy was our "Herbie" - went everywhere all the time, and we had him on one too many shifts that night. He fell asleep at the wheel. No one was hurt thankfully, and the house was damaged but obviously insurance covered it. What a mess.

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Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on December 7, 2012 at 12:18pm

Really, no others?

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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on December 7, 2012 at 4:45pm

Ok one more. :) Fast forward a year or so from the truck driving incident. I'm now living in So Cal (moved from Seattle by way of Portland) and managing the office directly on site. I mentioned we did pharma delivery, right? Well that includes something called an Emergency Kit, or E-Kit. Think ready to inject medications, insulin, morphine and the like. If the kit is opened, even if only one item is used, the entire kit has to be replaced. We moved LOTS of these back and forth, sealed and unsealed.

Well, one day one went missing, and so did the driver responsible for it. We couldn't get ahold of him for DAYS... finally I piled my warehouse manager, an account manager and one of my favorite contractors in the car and drove out to his mother's house in a really bad part of Moreno Valley. I was terrified! Our contractor never came outside (even though his car was there), but his mother came out, searched his trunk, and found the kit buried under some blankets or something.

We returned the kit to the hospital and NEVER called that contractor again! :)

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Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on December 7, 2012 at 5:46pm

Yikes, I have a few like that, but mine aren't quite appropriate for the internet. :)

Amy Ala said:

Ok one more. :) Fast forward a year or so from the truck driving incident. I'm now living in So Cal (moved from Seattle by way of Portland) and managing the office directly on site. I mentioned we did pharma delivery, right? Well that includes something called an Emergency Kit, or E-Kit. Think ready to inject medications, insulin, morphine and the like. If the kit is opened, even if only one item is used, the entire kit has to be replaced. We moved LOTS of these back and forth, sealed and unsealed.

Well, one day one went missing, and so did the driver responsible for it. We couldn't get ahold of him for DAYS... finally I piled my warehouse manager, an account manager and one of my favorite contractors in the car and drove out to his mother's house in a really bad part of Moreno Valley. I was terrified! Our contractor never came outside (even though his car was there), but his mother came out, searched his trunk, and found the kit buried under some blankets or something.

We returned the kit to the hospital and NEVER called that contractor again! :)