Driver Helpers

[idrivethetruck]

I've got to share this story one of my driver buddies loves to tell at lunchtime.
The first day he had this particular helper he has a bulk stop for a house on his route. He backs down the driveway, opens the bulkhead door and then hands the helper the keys and tells him to go around and open the back door so he can unload the pkgs. His helper takes the keys and heads toward the rear of the truck. The driver starts shifting pkgs around so he can reach the back door and starts wondering why the helper hasn't opened the door yet. He finally reaches the back door and opens it himself and the helper is nowhere to be found. Finally the helper shows up at the back door and the driver says "Where the hell have you been?"
The helper says "I tried those keys in every lock on the back door of that house and couldn't get any of them to work"!!
Thank God the customer wasn't home or there could have been a dead helper laying in the back yard.

 

[sano]

IDrivethetruck's post brings up a good point. Don't assume the helper knows what you are thinking.
I helped at the mall one day. They had been having all kinds of problems so we had 4 helpers and 2 sups there. I think the main issue was that the driver knew the mall so well and just assumed we knew it to. He would give directions how to get to a store and the helpers (sometimes accompanied by a manager) would take off with a cart full of packages hoping we could figure out where he meant the store was. Half the time we would get out in the mall and would end up looking for a map, because we didn't understand his directions. So we have 4 helpers and 2 managers wondering around the mall looking for stores. Also he would forget to tell us if it was a front or back door delivery.

I am sure he is a very good driver, but running a pruduction like that is much different from his normal driving job.