bringing down the (ware)house

so i was struggling to stay awake at work yesterday... the post-lunch lull... head in hands, elbows propped on desk, eyes closed, mind thinking: bed. pillow. sleep. want. very much.

then the phone rings, and the receptionist tells me that a guy is here to pick up some items. what? who? why? how does this have anything to do with me? (as it turns out, nothing really... but what's new? we seem to regularly receive stuff that other people should really be dealing with). so, there being no one else around, and me having been silly enough to answer the phone and thus now loaded with sorting out this customer, trod off to investigate.

i find out where he's from, and what he wants to pick up. go out to the production warehouse (since he's picking up new items - not my area!), and try to track down his order with the production warehouse clerk.

nothing.

back out to reception. confirm where he's from. no record of any such orders.

he goes to make a phone call, and now we have some reference numbers... oh and a store code - not the same place where he's from, but a totally different store! of course the order is there, but only a mind reader could make the connection based on the information i was working with.

so now we have to get the stock, and lo and behold, it's up on the very top shelf in the warehouse. only way to get it down is to use the electric forklift, which i'd not previously touched, let alone tried to operate. nobody else around who knows how to use it... customer waiting... doesn't look that hard, i mean, you turn this to steer, and these other buttons make the forklift go up and down, and here's how to move forward and backward. quick test, and away we go... turn... realise it's going a little fast for my comfort, and formulate hindsight lesson #397: learn how to stop before actually beginning to move! such knowledge might prevent results like crashing into some metal bins on the bottom shelf and attracting attention with the noise!

but then one of the guys who came out to see what was going on has significantly greater proficiency than i in operating the forklift, and got the goods down. so the customer was all sorted in the end, and i wasn't feeling sleepy anymore after that incident... :p