General / Off-Topic Managers Be Stupid.. [Van Breakdown Saga]

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

So, this morning I come in to work (with all the snow) and find I have a nice "easy" morning delivery run, and no afternoon run. Wooh. Easy day.
I only have 5 deliveries. 2 are fairly close by, the next one is on the Shropshire/Welsh border, and my 4th is near Meiford, which is 70 minute drive from the store, it's also one of the few places I don't get phone signal, and my last is actually near where my first drop was.

So, I gleefully set off on my "easy run".
I get to my first drop, and try to turn the engine off, and this happens....
[video=youtube_share;gI4yYHzjUn4]https://youtu.be/gI4yYHzjUn4[/video]

I think it's try to communicate...
I dunno.

Unable to turn the engine off, i make the decision to "optimise" my route, which is something I do if I suspect I'll breakdown. (I'm not supposed to, but customers prefer to get their shopping)
So I do drop 1,2 and 5 together, because they're close together, then I ring my boss to say my van is being weird, and sent him the video. His response;


"It's fine, carry on".

...ok... I kind of imagine this;

But whatever...
The van is moving, so that's good right?, other than its electrics spaz out randomly... So I carry on.

The 3rd on the Welsh border drop goes fine.

Off to Meiford....!
So after driving through, and around snow drifts (2-4ft!), I pass in to the "dead zone", neither phone has signal now, and I'm still 5 miles away...
"It's fine"
I get about 2 miles from my last customer, and stop in the middle of the road and take a look down the lane I'm supposed to go down.
(It's ok to block the road, not much traffic)

A see a lorry coming up the lane, and think "if he can make it, so can I!"
So I watch and wait.


Annnnnd he's stuck.

So that lane is blocked, with no real way around, I put the van in reverse to get out of the road, and go grab my shovel and dig him out...... and "thud". Then the dashboard lights up.
EDC error, hill holder error, annnnnnnnnnd I can't select gears. (It's an automatic).

So I'm now stuck in the middle of this road. With no signal. Or houses to go to.

While I'm trying to move my van (by pushing it.... It's a 3t van!) the other lorry has worked his way out, and came to my aid.

He was foreign. And offered to help.
I said have a go, but "DO NOT TURN THE IGNITION OFF", in as plain English as possible.

First thing he does... Turns it off.
I know these vans, turning them off means you can't turn them on again.
So it's -5°c, with heavy winds. And now I can't stay warm while I wait for recovery. Or even call recovery.

A nice chap offers to give me a lift to somewhere with signal, which is basically the top of hill, with nothing around but phone signal. No cover, or houses. Lol

So, with no signal, I send my boss a couple of messages, with my vans coordinates, and that I'm getting a lift to somewhere with signal.

I get signal, and my messages send. He soon rings back, and asks "why have I abandoned the van!?" and tries to give me a telling off.

By his logic, I should have called recovery, from the van, with no signal, or walked to the nearest house. Which the kind gentleman informed me was roughly where I was supposed to deliver too. So 2~ miles.

Then walked back to my van, and waited, with no way to know if my recovery is ever coming, and with no heating.

Genius.

The kind gentleman heard all this, and said "I'm just going to drop you off at the near Tesco store, that guy is a complete [redacted]!".

Amazing. So he drops me off, where I am now. In the warm. So warm. TOO WARM!
(This store is about 45°c...!)
And he refuses to take my money. So I just say thank you.
Then ring for recovery, who are coming to me, then I'm taking then back to my van. Fun. Knowing my luck, we'll both get stuck. Lol

But in the mean time, I'm sitting cosy and being paid for it. Lol

Personally, I would have just caught a bus home, and left the van to be buried in the snow. Lol

So next time my van is being funny, I'm not risking it.

#ManagerLogic..

 

[Jezzah]

What an idiot you work for. You have to ask him just what would he have done in that position.

 

[Chris Simon]

What an idiot you work for. You have to ask him just what would he have done in that position.

Well, obviously, he wouldn't have broken the van in the first place.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

What an idiot you work for. You have to ask him just what would he have done in that position.

He can be an idiot sometimes. Lol

The saga continues.

I got taken back to the van, and sat in the repair van for almost 3 hours (with the heater on ), while the guy tried to fix it.
He got it started, only to find the gearbox had failed entirely and the van just needed recovering...
The guy was great, but when he rang support for recovery, they told him to tell me to wait in the van, for "60-90 minutes"... Now having been recovered by them multiple times, "60-90" minutes is closer to 120 to 300+... Lol
One poor guy broke down at 9pm, and didn't get recovered until 4am.... !

So I said "no", if recovery want to collect the van in this weather, they can come via the store and collect the keys from there, and I'm going home. Lol

I'm on my way home.

 

[Jezzah]

Definitely not weather to be out in waiting on recovery. Get yerself home with a beer and a bit of ED.

 

[lysan]

So, this morning I come in to work (with all the snow) and find I have a nice "easy" morning delivery run, and no afternoon run. Wooh. Easy day.
I only have 5 deliveries. 2 are fairly close by, the next one is on the Shropshire/Welsh border, and my 4th is near Meiford, which is 70 minute drive from the store, it's also one of the few places I don't get phone signal, and my last is actually near where my first drop was.

So, I gleefully set off on my "easy run".
I get to my first drop, and try to turn the engine off, and this happens....
https://youtu.be/gI4yYHzjUn4

I think it's try to communicate...
I dunno.

Unable to turn the engine off, i make the decision to "optimise" my route, which is something I do if I suspect I'll breakdown. (I'm not supposed to, but customers prefer to get their shopping)
So I do drop 1,2 and 5 together, because they're close together, then I ring my boss to say my van is being weird, and sent him the video. His response;


"It's fine, carry on".

...ok... I kind of imagine this;
https://i.imgur.com/c4jt321_d.jpg
But whatever...
The van is moving, so that's good right?, other than its electrics spaz out randomly... So I carry on.

The 3rd on the Welsh border drop goes fine.

Off to Meiford....!
So after driving through, and around snow drifts (2-4ft!), I pass in to the "dead zone", neither phone has signal now, and I'm still 5 miles away...
"It's fine"
I get about 2 miles from my last customer, and stop in the middle of the road and take a look down the lane I'm supposed to go down.
(It's ok to block the road, not much traffic)

A see a lorry coming up the lane, and think "if he can make it, so can I!"
So I watch and wait.


Annnnnd he's stuck.

So that lane is blocked, with no real way around, I put the van in reverse to get out of the road, and go grab my shovel and dig him out...... and "thud". Then the dashboard lights up.
EDC error, hill holder error, annnnnnnnnnd I can't select gears. (It's an automatic).

So I'm now stuck in the middle of this road. With no signal. Or houses to go to.

While I'm trying to move my van (by pushing it.... It's a 3t van!) the other lorry has worked his way out, and came to my aid.

He was foreign. And offered to help.
I said have a go, but "DO NOT TURN THE IGNITION OFF", in as plain English as possible.

First thing he does... Turns it off.
I know these vans, turning them off means you can't turn them on again.
So it's -5°c, with heavy winds. And now I can't stay warm while I wait for recovery. Or even call recovery.

A nice chap offers to give me a lift to somewhere with signal, which is basically the top of hill, with nothing around but phone signal. No cover, or houses. Lol

So, with no signal, I send my boss a couple of messages, with my vans coordinates, and that I'm getting a lift to somewhere with signal.

I get signal, and my messages send. He soon rings back, and asks "why have I abandoned the van!?" and tries to give me a telling off.

By his logic, I should have called recovery, from the van, with no signal, or walked to the nearest house. Which the kind gentleman informed me was roughly where I was supposed to deliver too. So 2~ miles.

Then walked back to my van, and waited, with no way to know if my recovery is ever coming, and with no heating.

Genius.

The kind gentleman heard all this, and said "I'm just going to drop you off at the near Tesco store, that guy is a complete [redacted]!".

Amazing. So he drops me off, where I am now. In the warm. So warm. TOO WARM!
(This store is about 45°c...!)
And he refuses to take my money. So I just say thank you.
Then ring for recovery, who are coming to me, then I'm taking then back to my van. Fun. Knowing my luck, we'll both get stuck. Lol

But in the mean time, I'm sitting cosy and being paid for it. Lol

Personally, I would have just caught a bus home, and left the van to be buried in the snow. Lol

So next time my van is being funny, I'm not risking it.

#ManagerLogic..

Sorry mate but you work for an idiot, I would never tell my guys to do that, first it’s not safe and as you know safety first, second it’s really not safe in the type of weather you got right now, stupid stupid.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

He came to his senses later on.

He's just one of those managers that can't cope with a break in procedure, nor is very good at understanding the conditions.

The official procedure for a breakdown is wait with the van. Which I would normally, no problems. Even without heating it's normally ok as long as the doors are shut.
Just not this time... Lol

There's a very high chance recovery wouldn't make it to my van, the blizzard was getting worse when the repair guy called it quits, and we struggled to get back to the store.
No idea how a low loader would cope, it'd probably get stuck, or blow over from the heavy winds.
and then what? I sleep in the van with no heating all night? Go and invade some poor persons house for an uncomfortable amount of time?
I tend to look at all of the variables in a situation and make my decision on the most likely outcome.

But my manager just seeing "a breakdown" and nothing else. At least until I tell him otherwise. Lol

My main manager actually commended me on my decision, and said I did the right thing. And then he gave me more hours. Lol

So I'm not sure if that's a "well done, have some money!" or "more opportunities to try and kill you!" gesture...

There's been two attempts on my life so far from these vans...
A while back the brake pads just fell out... That was fun. I was approaching roundabout! (I was fine, I've driven with no brakes before... Lol)


Then this attempted murder by hypothermia.

I win again!

Me: 2, Iveco: 0

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Update:

The van is still in Meiford. Lol
Most likely buried now.

Today's run, I'm off to Church Stretton, and the Shropshire Hills.

So, by the end of the week I may have littered the countryside with Tesco vans.

(Another driver abandoned their van on Wednesday and it's still stuck out in the hills... Lol)

 

[AkenBosch]

I get to my first drop, and try to turn the engine off, and this happens....
https://youtu.be/gI4yYHzjUn4

I think it's try to communicate...
I dunno.

Welcome to the amazing, adventurous, randomly blinking world of Fiat's electrics! A true staple of Italian craftmanship.

Even if honestly, that's the first time I see such a failure and a vehicle that couldn't be shutdown, mildly unsettling.
I've had random unexplainable electrical failures on each and every Fiat I had in the years...at least the engines and basic mechanical parts are nearly unstoppable! Even on my relatively new Tipo, not even two years old, I already had a case of daytime lamps going poltergeist with a generic failure reported on the dashboard...low beams off, daytime lights working ok; low beams on, daytime pulsing and blinking randomly. Restarted the car the morning after, error still present, not even 30 seconds and the body computer apparently regained a hold on itself and fixed the error. Never happened again. Fingers crossed.

And yes Cosmicspacehead, your manager has been a bit of a tool there!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Welcome to the amazing, adventurous, randomly blinking world of Fiat's electrics! A true staple of Italian craftmanship.

Even if honestly, that's the first time I see such a failure and a vehicle that couldn't be shutdown, mildly unsettling.
I've had random unexplainable electrical failures on each and every Fiat I had in the years...at least the engines and basic mechanical parts are nearly unstoppable! Even on my relatively new Tipo, not even two years old, I already had a case of daytime lamps going poltergeist with a generic failure reported on the dashboard...low beams off, daytime lights working ok; low beams on, daytime pulsing and blinking randomly. Restarted the car the morning after, error still present, not even 30 seconds and the body computer apparently regained a hold on itself and fixed the error. Never happened again. Fingers crossed.

And yes Cosmicspacehead, your manager has been a bit of a tool there!

Lol gotta love em!

I've owned 4 fiats.
My first was a Bright Red 2003 Fiat Punto 1.2 8v. (Back in 2006, newest car I've ever owned!)
Broke down on the test drive. So, naturally, I brought it. Lol
(Battery connector fell off..) had that a few years with not a single problem.
2nd fiat was a White Fiat Bravo. I forget the year, but it was the older shape. Loved it.
Chavved it up a bit, with alloys and slightly lowered suspension (because it was like driving a boat before), never had a single issue in 3 years.
Then, I got a Fiat Coupe, 2.0 24v. Lovely car. Bright yellow. Drove like a bag of [redacted]. No power. Hated it. Lol
Then my last fiat was a 2004 Black 1.2 8v Punto again. Almost identical to the first one. Brought it privately because it was dirt cheap. Clutch and battery went before I got it home. Lol
But then I used it to move from Cornwall to Shrewsbury, drove up and down loads of times. Never once has a problem.
Until the MOT was due. And I knew it was going to be a nightmare. So I exchanged it for a Vectra. Which was also a nightmare.
All in all, fiats have been more reliable than most of my other cars. Which is odd, considering one was a Toyota.

Back to the vans, we have 14 Iveco's in our store. At any one time, atleast 10 of them have major issues. More often than not, the spare vans we get (which are also Iveco's) come with major issues of their own.
We've had spare vans to replace spare vans.
And the car park often looks like an Iveco graveyard.

All our next vans are apparently going to be Mercedes... Lol

 

[Patrick_68000]

Easy day.

Yes everything can switch in an unpredictable direction at any time

Deserves a rep for this difficult day

 

[starman]

Lol gotta love em!

I've owned 4 fiats.
My first was a Bright Red 2003 Fiat Punto 1.2 8v. (Back in 2006, newest car I've ever owned!)
Broke down on the test drive. So, naturally, I brought it. Lol
(Battery connector fell off..) had that a few years with not a single problem.
2nd fiat was a White Fiat Bravo. I forget the year, but it was the older shape. Loved it.
Chavved it up a bit, with alloys and slightly lowered suspension (because it was like driving a boat before), never had a single issue in 3 years.
Then, I got a Fiat Coupe, 2.0 24v. Lovely car. Bright yellow. Drove like a bag of [redacted]. No power. Hated it. Lol
Then my last fiat was a 2004 Black 1.2 8v Punto again. Almost identical to the first one. Brought it privately because it was dirt cheap. Clutch and battery went before I got it home. Lol
But then I used it to move from Cornwall to Shrewsbury, drove up and down loads of times. Never once has a problem.
Until the MOT was due. And I knew it was going to be a nightmare. So I exchanged it for a Vectra. Which was also a nightmare.
All in all, fiats have been more reliable than most of my other cars. Which is odd, considering one was a Toyota.

Back to the vans, we have 14 Iveco's in our store. At any one time, atleast 10 of them have major issues. More often than not, the spare vans we get (which are also Iveco's) come with major issues of their own.
We've had spare vans to replace spare vans.
And the car park often looks like an Iveco graveyard.

All our next vans are apparently going to be Mercedes... Lol

SKODAS are the best cars in the world (according to Skoda drivers). There is a big dealership near me. Not that I have ever seen an actual Skoda on the road.


Back in the day I knew someone whos stereo system cost more than the car. But that is another story.