Saturday, August 3, 2013

The first obstacle to overcome related to transportation.  Specifically, how to get 10 adults – none of whom are small enough to choose “jockey” as a career path but several of whom who could pick “Opera Star”.

 

We then had to combine that with the fact that the house we are renting – called “Cardiff by the Sea” is 7 miles beyond the end of the pavement up the beach.  They’re very adamant about the fact that you have to have a 4WD vehicle (not “All Wheel” drive, as we saw some people trying).  

 

A nuisance, but not insurmountable – after all, we have EB’s new-to-us Jeep (a beautiful red 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee that only had 2,700 miles on it when we got it last month) and the phone number for a car rental place.

 

So back in June – yes, over 60 days prior to our departure – calls were made to Enterprise Rent-A-Car and, after a conversation of over 30 minutes with the young lady on the phone explaining exactly what we were doing and what we were needing a reservation was in place for a super-size SUV with 4WD capabilities.

 

So imagine my frustration when I called to confirm earlier this week only to be told, “Oh, sorry, but we don’t ever have any 4WD vehicles.  We have you down for a regular size SUV,” or roughly the equivalent of the Jeep we already had.

 

For seven people.

 

At least six of whom are at least one standard deviation above the norm in all dimensions.

 

So I talked with the manager, who seemed remarkably flipabout the fact that this middle-aged guy who was now scrambling to try to figure out how to transport 10 people to the beach was only semi-stable emotionally was quickly becoming a raving lunatic on the phone.

 

So I got the manager on the phone.

 

Here’s a hint to all managers who deal in service industries.  If a customer is close to melting down on the phone because of something that is clearly the fault of your company (because, remember, I had a printed confirmation that showed exactly what I’d ordered and when), DO NOT under any circumstances offer the fact that an unpaid high school student who was in the office as an intern the week the customer made the reservation and didn’t know any better as an excuse.

 

I didn’t call the number for “unpaid, untrained interns having a bit of fun”. I called the number for a national organization that advertises all the heck over the place to do what they advertise to do AND got written proof of what I’d been promised.

 

And don’t be flip about it.  Even if you’re not going to do squat, at least pretend you are if for no other reason than to keep a raving lunatic from coming to your office to discuss the situation with you in person.

 

The regional manager was a bit more perceptive as to the severity of the situation, and to his credit, called back within half an hour, had found a 4WD Yukon on the eastern side of NC and was having it transported over for us.

 

That was good, because it meant there was not going to be a need to use any of the vacation fund to post bail before we left home.