31
Why are you here? She looks damned good in the morning.
It's a long story but, understand one thing Anja. None of you control me.
No, she didn't!
She didn't what?
She didn't tell you she deciding who is in your bed.
Oh, yes, she did and she said you are part of it.
No, Sir. She tell me but, no! I think she is joking. You going to kick her out?
No, but I did punish her.
Where is she?
Probably in my bed and still tied up.
You tie her up?
Yes and then I tell Jana and Maria to do her, a lot.
Hehe. I bet she now learn her lesson. Those the two she wanted away from you most. I tell her you love both of them very much.
I bring Anja in close to me, lifting the bottom of her slip. Gordon, what are you doing?
You know damned well what I am doing.
Anja's giggles turn to sighs as my fingers reach her mound. Oh Gordon! Oh... but I have to pee! And she jumps out of bed. Oh well, so much to a romantic morning encounter.
I walk back to the house and up the stairs to my bedroom. Maria and Jana are gone. Dian is lying there. She has been crying. I release the ropes, pull her up and push her into the bathroom telling her to shower while she is in there. I sit on the edge of the bed and wait. She is quick about it all and appears in a towel. Get dressed, go back to your room and stay there until I call for you.
Sir, are you throwing me out?
No. You are here permanently. I told you that before. I do not lie. But you have acted in a way that will not be accepted.
Yes, Sir.
Now go. And she does.
Breakfast. It's a nice thing. Not formal like dinner, not interrupting the day like lunch. It is the beginning of things, the setting the stage for that which will follow. I am sitting enjoying a quiet breakfast. We will have work crews here today and things will get noisy. But they are not here now. The girls are all on different schedules this morning. People wander in and out. Zelle and Cynthia are talking about something that has Zelle animated. Eve sits down by me. I hear there was some excitement in your world last night.
Five females in bed is more excitement than I want!
I am not talking about that. I am talking about Dian. Why did you tie her up and leave her with Maria and Jana?
She had promoted herself to a position which is not available.
No! She try to decide things for you?
Yes.
And you teach her, she cannot do that!
Yes.
OK, now I know! She not leaving, correct?
Correct. She stays. She just needed to learn a lesson.
OK. Good. She is very smart.
Yes, but, sometimes smart people think they have more power than they really have. We needed to fix that and I think we have.
You were up late with the software architects?
Yes.
Things OK?
Yes, we will have the code to test in a week.
OK. Good. Zelle and I will not do any more training until the new code comes. I think we pretty much have a week off.
Yeh and the huts don't get here until next week. The CR won't be done until next week. I agree, most of you have a week or more off.
Most but not you?
I will be working with the San Jose folks to perfect the code all through the week. This is not like ordering a coke. We are making it up as we go. Plus, I have to look at how many trucks and depots we need to really make this work. Zelle and I are going to be very busy for a few weeks on this.
Ah, OK. I guess I know this. I mean about the code. I not think about the trucks.
Well... you have been part of small tweaks to code. This is a more major issue. As to the trucks, we also have to look at GPS tracking along with other transmittable intelligence.
Why the software people willing to do this? What you mean about the intelligence?
Because the Philippines is not the only place that they will be able to use the technology. It gives them something to sell that no other product will have. As far as the trucks go. I want to know, where they are, when they are moving, how fast they are going. I want to know how long they are at each stop. I want to know fuel consumption, and engine readings. I want to know what things come off the truck and where that happened. I want to capture that in near real time.
What you mean, near real time?
It would be too expensive and impracticable to stream data, so we can do it in batch uploads every so many minutes. It can come in via data over cell from the trucks without the driver's intervention. It can tie the readings to the GPS location at the time of the read.
Why do you need this?
For many reasons. Let's take the worst issues first. The truck gets stolen. Where is it? Is it in an accident? How fast was it going? Less serious but affecting our bottom line. Is the driver taking too long at the stops? That happens here a lot. The driver unloads the truck and decides to add an hour gossiping at the customer site, or during a break at a roadside stand. Is the truck being maintained? Are the drivers watching the gauges? Has something happened to the truck or driver? It allows us to know before a truck reaches the next depot if we need to maintain the truck. We can even get parts at the depot before the truck arrives in some cases. Trucking companies live and die by whether they can keep the trucks loaded and on the road. Failures wipe out profits and lose your customers.
No one does this here.
And that is one of the reasons why we will take business away from them.
Will the drivers know you are spying on them?
Yes. We will make sure they sign a disclosure form in which we will tell them of all the things we will be monitoring. We will also make them pass a breathalyzer when they take a truck at the terminal and when they return the truck. No one is allowed to drive while impaired.
I think you will have a hard time finding drivers!
What if I hire Muslim drivers?
Oh! You going to hire all Muslims?
Yes, mostly. Just like we do locally now. I intend to do that. I will make an outreach in the Mosques for the drivers. We will hire Christians as well. Muslims will want Friday off. Christians will want Sunday off. By having both, I can keep the trucks running seven days a week. I figure I need two or three Muslim drivers for every Christian driver. Of course there is a large Seventh Day Adventist contingent here and I might work some of them in as well.
This is why you wanted Muslim speakers?
Yes.
You knew this from the beginning?
Yes.
OK. You and Dian are scaring me.
I find Dian in a bedroom. You say you do not hurt! Why you do this to me?
I didn't whip you. I restrained you to teach you to never, never try to control me. Did it work?
Yes. It worked.
I hope it has. I guess I will only know as we move forward. I value your intelligence, your ability to understand complex issues. I appreciate your beauty. You are mine permanently and that will never change. But your ability to work with me in my office is based on my ability to trust you. Scheming, even if you think it is for my good, damages my trust in you. Do not scheme, ever again. If you think that something needs to change, your responsibility is to come and tell me. I may agree with you. But you cannot do anything like that without my intentional approval. Remember I say intentional! You cannot do something to trick me and later say I gave approval. Understand?
Yes, Sir. I do understand.
Good, as I say, I hope so. We have a lot of work to do this week and your assistance is needed. Get yourself put together, get something to eat and come to the office, we have work to do.
§ § §
It takes three weeks to get the huts here, the CR built and the code ready. The dorms will be up in two more months. Dian, Zelle and I are busy each day with the details of leasing trucks, leasing depots, searching the truck technology I want and arranging to install all of it. We will not be ready to start the new enhanced operation for another month at the earliest.
§ § §
The huts and the CR are ready and so there are another seven mothers and daughters on the lanai, along with my retinue plus Jun and Joy. Dian and Anja were on the other side of this last time. This time they are sitting with me as are their daughters. There are more of us than there are these aspirants. We go through the dance we did last time. No one leaves again. This time they are told that they are provisionally accepted but that if they work out on the work side, they and their older daughters will join me as mistresses. I will touch no one, unless we are sure they will work out.
There is no push back and once it is over, no one on my side thinks there will be any problems. Anja and Dian have mingled with them during the breaks.
The very next day, all the huts are filled with these women and the remaining thirteen from the first group. Eve, Zelle, Jiecel, Cynthia, and Dian are doing the training. Taciana is running our current trucking operation during all this.
I have nothing to do with these families during the first three weeks of the two months of training.
We are waiting to see if anyone just isn't cutting it or if we have personality issues, or just cold feet. But they all seem to be winners. Eve gathers the strongest five and asks, if they are ready to join me.
All are but they ask if I am taking the older girls too. Eve informs them, no not now. Not yet.
§ § §
Janella is simply another beauty queen. It defies understanding but 2:30 this afternoon, she will be escorted to my office. I have seen her around but really haven't interacted with her. Eve says she's one of the very best we have. I have no reason to doubt Eve's assessment.
I am focused on a set of specifications relating to engine electronic readouts and transmission capabilities, when Eve pretty much hits me on the arm to get my attention.
Oh, hi. What's up?
Gordon! It's 2:30! It's time for you to meet Janella.
Right. Oh, OK. Sorry. And I close my work. I am done for the afternoon.
I turn around in my chair and she is standing in front of me, a bemused smile on her face. Sir, for a man who has a harem of many women, you are the least likely person I would think looks like such a man!
Is that a good or bad thing?
I think it is maybe a good thing. I not know yet! My friends here are all very beautiful. You leave us alone. We are all supposed to be yours but, I am the first one to be with you and you are so busy with work, you forget I am coming. I am confused! You like women, yes?
Yes, I very much do. I think Eve can assure you that I do.
Yes, we meet all your women here, so I think you must. But, in truth, Sir, when most men look at me, they do not look at my face and my eyes. You look right at my eyes. This is different. Women look at my eyes, not men.
Ah, I see. Well, come sit here for a bit. If you have questions, now is the very last best time to ask them.
And sit she does. She looks so damned confused. OK, I have some questions. You have many women, why do you want more?
Janella, you and I are going to have a real relationship. You and I are going to have a child, or more than one, that you will carry and we will care for. I am going to care for you and I hope you will care for me. Together with the other women downstairs, we are going to build one of the most powerful companies in this country and your children will inherit part of that. It will take all of us working as a team for years to make it happen but, it will happen. Tell me, which is better, to have people I don't care about, and do not care about me in this company, doing the work, or is it better to have my girls, the mothers of my children doing this?
You are serious. Oh my God. You ARE serious. That's what we are? The mothers of the ones who will inherit the business we are building?
Yes.
This isn't about sex, not like selling sex. This is family. Oh Mother Mary! You don't want my sex, you want my heart! You want my loyalty to my man. You want me, not someone to have sex with! You have that already!
Yes.
You are going to be my man. Now, now I know. OK, now I really know. You understand that not all will understand this?
Yes and some may need to leave.
Oh God! Yes! If they not the right ones they no good even if they can do the work, di ba? OK,... OK. I am the right one. Please take me to your bed. We need to begin this.
Down the stairs and into the bedroom isn't so far a walk but, it is when you feel that you are leaving one world and entering a new one. A world you never expected to enter before you die. Janella holds my hand tight, as if to let me go, she might lose all she hopes to receive.
Inside the bedroom I turn to her. Janella, here and now there is no right or wrong way to love. It is either to love or not to love. I think you have already chosen that, and so nothing else is a test you have to pass. The rest is only the process of us learning how to please and love each other. Everyone has likes and dislikes. That is normal and expected. If you like something, let me know. If you don't like something, I need to know that too. I have the same responsibility to you. Do you understand?
You are telling me, I am already accepted. OK, I am still scared but, all your girls, they say one thing over and over. You never lie. So I do believe you. How we start?
Would you like me to take off your clothing or do you want to take it off?
You mean seksi1?
Yes, that would be nice.
She smiles and proceeds to playfully disrobe. One article at a time. Sir! Why do you keep on looking at my face?! Men not do that.
You don't like it?
No, I do but, it is scaring me. Sir, I not used to a man who sees into my soul like you doing. And as she is saying this, the last of her clothing, her panties are removed. Janella is completely naked.
Now come undress me. She approaches, her fingers almost afraid to touch as if my body is on fire and will singe her fingertips. Carefully and with caution, she removes all I am wearing.
Janella, your brains and your beauty have brought you to this moment. If you didn't have either, you would never be here. Those things were your ticket in the door. What we do now, is neither. It is love. Having sex and having a baby and not caring would have stopped you from even getting into this room. So come and kiss your man. Come give me your love and I will give you mine.
Janella closes the distance, puts her arms around me and we stand naked, in the bedroom, just holding and kissing each other. Her lips are committed to the task and we begin the process of nonverbal communications that we need to have in these moments.
I guide her to the bed and have her recline on her back. Getting low between her legs, I taste her pussy. She is frightened, wanting to know what I am doing. Has no one ever done this with you? No apparently, not. I ask her to relax and trust me. She says OK, and I return to her fresh, sweet hairless cunt. Carefully my tongue makes a circuit over the labia before spreading those lips and caressing the interior with my lips and tongue. From fear, I sense a relief flow through Janella's body as she feels what I want her to feel. There is a moment of realization that sex isn't just jump, pump and leave. And in that instant, I have a real partner.
Janella gets playful, helpful, talkative, silly, seksi, and loving. We spend a long time just learning to touch, exploring bodies and getting introduced to each other. Is it sex? Yes, it is. Not the heart stopping, screaming, mattress slamming type. No, it is mostly the gentle, at ease, honest and loving type. But after a couple of hours of pure happiness, I mount Janella, and I do take her hard and steady, pinching her nipples, squeezing her clit, as I ream her cunt. Janella has her very first orgasm and it freaks her out. She needs to stop and understand what has just happened. It is not the way I would have wanted to play it but, when a girl says stop, well, my friend, you stop.
We talk about it a little and Janella is ready to go again. We are back in the saddle and just a few minutes later, we get an encore. This time there is no stopping and we fuck right through it. She is grunting and swearing in Visayan as I push her into the third big O. Catching her breath she growls at me, OK, Sir, now, give me your baby now! NOW.
I keep on fucking her, as she begs for a child, until my balls insist on erupting. As my cum enters Janella, she starts bawling. Huge inconsolable wailing sobs. I am out of her and holding her in my arms as she shudders.
Minutes later she gains control and I ask her if she is OK.
Sir? That was lovemaking? Di ba?
Yes, Janella, that is what it was.
Sir, I have two children and I never have that in my life until now. Never. I have a man who say he love me. Now I know he not! No, he not! Only you love me. Now I know. Sir, we do this again, if I not pregnant?
Yes and even when you are, Janella. You are mine now. That is for real.
Yes. Yes. It is for real. OK. OK. Sir, do I have to leave now?
No. Would you like to spend the night with me?
It is OK?
Yes, Janella, it is OK.
§ § §
In the six weeks, I bedded the other nineteen. Some have sexual knowledge, others not so much. More than half had never cum before. That is sad. But during the training time I do not touch their daughters.
Some I am with only twice. Others, like Janella, I bring back a number of times, often with Eve in bed with us. For all of them on their second time, we do include Eve.
But in the end, all of them stay. We have not lost one of them. I am amazed. I wonder what would have happened to Ladylyn and her group if we had run them through this way. Perfection is the enemy of the good.
§ § §
Zelle is deep into her eighth month of pregnancy and is so ready to do this thing. She tells me that the first seven months were a blast but, these last two, not so much.
§ § §
We start the job of recruiting drivers. We have to reject some because they just aren't going to work out. We are very clear that if we find them speeding or dawdling, they will be let go. We get smirks from some until we tell them the trucks are wired to send us the information while they are driving. We are told by two guys that others just don't believe us.
When we are finally ready with the vehicles, I call a meeting of all of the drivers we have hired, both men and women. I have a few trucks already installed with the technology. From the truck depot in town, we ask two drivers to each take a truck out for a test drive but, if we find they have been speeding, or not following the assigned route, or drinking, we will not keep them.
We give them a route, which, in one part, will allow them to cheat, take a shorter route but, warn them again that any deviation from the route we give them will mean they will be let go.
We have set up a tent on the property and I have set up a laptop connected to a 55 inch TV screen in the tent. The rest of the drivers we have hired are at the house under the tent. The screens are on and displaying information on the two trucks. Joo is there, explaining to the drivers, what they are seeing as the trucks begin to roll. The trucks have been on the road for twenty minutes by the time I get back to the house.
Things are very noisy. Joo's impression as to which ones would be speeders appears to have been right on the mark. Both of these clowns she chose for the test, have violated what we have given them as the speed limits. What's more, they are taking the shorter route and have pulled off at a bar. The disclosure each signed said they would get a breathalyzer test. We didn't do it when they left but, we will when they return here to the house.
All the other drivers see the path the trucks are taking on an on-screen map. Cameras on the rigs show the bar they are stopped at and display along the mapped route, the speed of the rigs while they have been driving. What the guys don't know is the employee ID badges they are wearing have RFID tags in them and we now know they have switched trucks they are driving as they leave the bar. Joo has found two real assholes. Those under the tent start to yell as the photo of the driver attached to the truck numbers switch on the screen.
Joo explains that we track everything that happens in the truck. If they drive for us, it must be with the understanding that we are watching everything all the time. Eight guys just get up and leave. Joo shrugs. She figured this would happen once they saw what we were doing. For the record, none of the Muslim men left. The Catholics were the ones to leave. Say what you will about the problems in the Muslim world, when it comes to upright behavior in this type of matter, they are the real deal.
When the two drivers pull up at our gate, they are brought to the tent. I sit them in front of the TV screens. Joo plays the video we recorded at the depot where each man is told in English and his native tongue what the rules are and what the route will be. We show the part where they are told about the breathalyzer and sign a consent form for this. In the video, they sign a disclosure form related to the reasons for termination. I then ask them if they understand what they signed? Yes, they understand.
Joo stands up and asks them to blow into the breathalyzer. They are refusing. I hold up the consent form and play the video about that again. I tell them they must comply. Each does and each has alcohol in the test. I tell them that this may qualify as grounds for termination.
I then put up the map displays. It shows their real trip, speed, the stop time and the switch of drivers. Gentlemen, you are both fired. Two more Christians are gone. The Muslims take notice. Three guys come up and one asks, This means if we have a problem, you will know?
Yes and we will try to send help if needed.
You are OK with normal breaks for the CR and meals?
Yes. Your packet makes it clear we don't want you driving for too many hours before you take a break. We do not want you driving too many hours each week. We will not ask you to drive on your holy days. You may pull over to pray when needed.
We do not understand, are you a Muslim?
No.
Why you hire us?
Did you see any Muslim leave earlier?
No, of course not!
That is why I want you as employees.
Then why you hire the Christians?
I need my trucks on the road on Fridays. It is that simple.
If we know others who want to drive for you, it is OK we send them to you?
Yes. Even if we do not need them yet, we will later.
It doesn't look like we will have problems hiring the Muslim drivers but, the Christians may be a difficult deal. A few suggest I consider Baptists, Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists. I agree. We start making outreach in those congregations.
§ § §
As Zelle gave birth to our daughter five weeks ago, she is not doing many new activities at the moment and Eve has stepped in for her as a courtesy though Eve is only two months behind her in the procreation business. She is due in maybe three weeks. Joo and Giselle are shadowing Eve, as Eve will need to step aside before Zelle is ready to return.
§ § §
Eve is at the lying-in clinic2and at this moment is on her back, ready to give birth. I expect to be running out of here at that moment to be with her. But for now, I can trust that my girls will hold things together for Eve.
I am reviewing the leases we have signed for depots when I get a text. It is time to leave, and to do it on a dead run. My second daughter, Eve's Faith, is on the way.
§ § §
OK I'm a daddy twice over. Two wonderful daughters. Am I hovering all the time? Am I a metrosexual cool dad? No. Am I changing diapers in the middle of the night to spell the mother? No. Am I taking turns caring for the little ones? No.
There are a host of surrogate titas3 And Eve is now getting the full package of support that comes from a united family. I am not ignoring Eve and I am spending time with her and Faith. I count myself very lucky. So does Eve, who can't stop smiling. Gordon, remember? Remember when you say we might as well have an affair? You say I can't live with you and you will not tell me you love me? Remember, sweetheart?
Yes, Eve. I remember.
Well, Gordon, I have everything except the ring, and right now, your wife is changing our daughter's shitty diaper. You, Gordon, are my man. You will always be my man. And sweetheart?
What?
Thank you. Thank you for everything. Gordon, remember when my tita kick me out of her house?
I smile. I do remember that her aunt had smelled the sex on her and told her to move out. Yes. I remember.
She just texted. She wants to see her niece. You know what I tell her?
I hope you said, yes.
No! I tell her, No! She kick me out and I will never forget.
Eve, were you damaged by her action?
No, but, that is only because you not let me be hurt. She not care if I am hurt. You think I should turn the other cheek? No! I know the difference between good people and bad. I may have to ignore the bad ones in our work. I do not have to ignore them in my personal life.
OK. It is your decision.
Good, I make another decision.
What is it?
Next year we work on another child. I want a son. I want my own little Gordon.
§ § §
Prior to the hiring of the drivers, we trained the twenty females on how we want the depots run, on how we want the drivers dispatched, on how we want cargo loaded, on the modules and apps, on hiring staff for the loading bays, on use of RFID tags for materials and employees. We have had them out on site at our existing depots.
We then, using teams of five, sent them out to open four depots. They are also to contact local businesses and talk to the decision makers who choose the trucking company they will use. We give them literature, a price schedule and an offer of free shipping for two weeks, on a specific start date. Joo and Jiecel check up on and evaluate each team, spending time with each as they open up depots.
The first depots have five girls there opening it. When we open the next four depots, each new depot has three, two staying behind with the first depots. After the first eight, we will have four girls free to open up two more depots. These pairs will be on their own but will have been through it twice before. We are opening up ten new depots on this island this first round. When all ten are up, all twenty girls plus some from our second group will be in the field, if it works. If we don't lose any. If they work out.
They will train local girls as their replacements before relinquishing the depot and returning here or moving on to another depot that we need to open. We need to open a total of twenty depots before we move to other islands.
It takes us six additional weeks to get the ten depots ready. The trucks are ready. They have all been fitted with our technology. We had been running a prototype of the technology in our existing depots as we tested and perfected the design. Thanks to our buyers, we were able to take the various electronics and firmware we had in our prototype and bring it to a factory in Guandong, China. They have built a single controller for all the sensors. It is less expensive than what we were using as the prototype, and is also smaller, easier to maintain and is unique!
§ § §
This is STDay, start trucking day! This is the day we start the offer of free service for two weeks. It includes where we have been before both to old as well as new customers. Each customer has a mobile app they can use to watch the exact location of their shipments. The app also allows them to reroute shipments and to initiate pickups. The app is free and of course only works with Gordon Logistics Service trucks.
Everyone in the house is excited. We set up four large screens on the lanai. And we watch. No one moves inside for lunch and instead it is brought out onto the lanai. We have stats on estimated delivery times and actual delivery times. We watch the truck performance statistics for road time, time on delivery, fuel consumption, and actions outside allowed ranges.
If every day goes as well as today goes, we are golden. The first day goes without incident. Our depot agents, which today means our girls, call customers for their first day experience. They are told to ask: what went wrong, what went right, what changes does the customer want to see, how can we improve for them. I tell them to not ask for any commitment at the end of the two weeks.
The depot agents are posting the responses as they get them. We are getting a few valuable comments and they will be pushed out to all the agents, for them to see first thing in the morning.
We see only two negative comments. We do not ignore them. Both have to do with damaged boxes. We are supposed to check boxes as we receive them for visible damage when we receive the shipment. If we see damage, we are supposed to take a picture, fill out a report and have the shipper sign that the box is in this condition as we receive it. Do we have reports on these boxes? Yes! OK, why wasn't the delivery driver notified and provided with the evidence at time of delivery? That needs to be fixed.
Tomorrow the agents will travel to both locations, apologize to not having this information for the customer yesterday, promise to do better and leave the evidence with them. All our agents will also get a heads up on this. We missed this in the training. We failed to make the connection for them. The delivery driver and customer needs to have this information. The customer should be able to see the condition of the damage before the box arrives. This has to be like the Holiday Inn used to say... no surprises.
§ § §
Day two is as important, maybe more important than was day one. Can we perform as well today? Yesterday everyone was on their best behavior. How will it go now?
Our agents have been told to give out a phone number here if the customer does not feel the local agent isn't fixing a problem they have identified. I don't expect the speakerphone to ring but, it is here on the lanai, just in case. At 10AM it rings. Shit. What has gone wrong?
I have Eve answer. Not because I am afraid to but, she is better with all the dialects. Good morning, Gordon Logistics. How may I help you?
Yes, hello. I am calling to thank you.
Ma'am, that is very nice but, what have we done?
You bring over pictures that show me the truth about the bad box! I have a signature! Proof! Now they can't say, 'Oh no, Ma'am, it not us, it your shipper!' Ha! They do this to me before but I never have proof!
I see. I am glad we have helped you.
The call goes on for a while but it is only good. I am relieved and the screens are also looking good, though the day is early. Today I do go inside for a brief lunch. We are sort of going in shifts. There is always someone watching. Each depot is watching their screens but we can see all the depots here.
At 3PM a truck has a flat tire. I watch what happens. The depot has a spare truck and a mechanic. The mechanic, with two alalays, drives the spare truck out to the stranded driver. All four move the remaining freight from the disabled truck to the other one quickly. The driver is on his way twenty-five minutes from the time of the flat. The spare tire is eventually changed forty-five minutes later and the truck is driven to the shop where the bad tire is taken for repair. All the packages get delivered 'on time.' None of our customers is even aware of the problem. We send out a congratulations message to the depot. We get a message back, walang problema4.
The agents are not to call customers today. We will call again next Monday.
The third day, the last one where we will have the screen up on the lanai is completely uneventful. It just works. I have asked depot agents to ask the drivers to make any comments they want about how it is going. The comments can be neutral, good or bad. I don't care. I want to hear from the drivers. I tell the agent that any driver who submits a comment gets a bag of chips or a soft drink. Believe it or not, that works. Almost everyone makes a comment. Some want better seats in the trucks. Some are just happy. A few think our routes are wrong and suggest better ways. I tell the agents to believe the guys and have one of them drive the suggested alternate with the driver. If it is better, go with it. One driver doesn't like the situation at one customer's delivery location. She says, she has a better way but the customer won't let her do it. I ask the agent to go out with the driver and see what's up.
We may find we have one or two drivers who just like to complain but, we start by believing them. We can't succeed unless we have happy drivers. I am having our agents follow up every negative comment with the assumption that the driver is right.
Day four, a Thursday is also without incident. The phone here is not ringing and it is looking good. At the end of the day, I am getting feedback from my depot agents. Every route that was identified as bad, has been changed. All the drivers were right. Each is told that we have made the change in the system. The driver who wanted to deliver freight differently is also right. The agent convinced the customer to allow the driver to try what she wanted to do. It went perfectly and it is no longer a problem. We are investigating what to do about the seats in the trucks.
My agents tell me that word is spreading among the drivers that we are listening to them. Friday is a day without the Muslim drivers. I am holding my breath.
Friday goes fine. It is just another day. Same with Saturday. And now it is Sunday. We deliver on Sunday. My agents have been instructed when they signed up their customers, to find out if they want Sunday deliveries. We got some incredulous looks. We were asked more than once, how much more it was going to cost. It's free now and the cost is the same as weekdays if they sign up for the service after the two week period.
I don't think they really believed we deliver on Sunday. But we do. If we have something that needs to be delivered, that other services might wait to deliver on Monday, well we give it to you on Sunday. So while those who sort of believed us, might have been thinking about some priority service, well we have the normal stuff for them. Just in case, on Friday and Saturday, we call the customers who have freight we will deliver on Sunday and ask, 'will you be there to receive it?'
The responses are fifty/fifty in their ability to take delivery but, overwhelmingly positive on the service. Sunday's deliveries are light and we need less than half the drivers to run routes. How that will work out in the future is unclear. Once they get the idea that it is possible, do they take advantage of it? We like it because traffic is so much lighter on Sunday.
§ § §
OK a week has passed and it is time for the agents to call the customers again. For some customers this will be the first call they get. We ask them the same questions. But we also ask, do you think you will want to continue using us after the free service ends?
The answer is a resounding yes. They are almost without exception signing up. I have been hearing that other services are fuming about our free service and telling their people, just wait until the customers have to pay! Well, we are less expensive and better. Right now we are just on one island and we don't have ships. We are not a DHL or Air21. We are a freight service. And we are going to own the freight service in this country if we can continue to perform as we have this week.
§ § §
1 - Taglish for 'sexy' and but is pronounced with the hard 'k' sound of the spelling.
2 - An alternative to a hospital for birthing.
3 - Tita is aunt. [Pronounced: Tee-TAH]
4 - No problem.
§ § §