All week we\u2019ve been living in existential dread of an empty oil tank.\u00a0 Right before the snowstorm on Sunday and Monday we got an email from our oil company saying they would be delivering a shipment on Tuesday.\u00a0 Looking at the tank gauge I could see we had less than a quarter tank.\u00a0 And for the last few weeks the temperature had been well below normal and the forecasts said this week would be skirting with sub-zero temperatures almost every night.\u00a0 Well, no problem.\u00a0 I planned to spend all of Monday clearing the top driveway and there wasn\u2019t any snow due again for days so all would be well.<\/p>\n
Of course, when I woke up Tuesday morning another inch or two of snow had fallen and since I was headed off to work, I got up early and shoveled it down to the pavement.\u00a0 Of course, I was grumbling the whole time about the usual crummy weather forecasting in the area but what can you do.\u00a0 When I got home that afternoon the fuel truck had still not arrived but they often came later.\u00a0 At about four, a truck showed up.\u00a0 But instead of backing down the driveway he parked in the street in front of the curb cut and after five or ten minutes he left.<\/p>\n
So, Camera Girl called up the oil company and reported this oddity.\u00a0 After speaking to several flunkies who knew nothing, she spoke to a flunky who claimed to know something.\u00a0 The knowledgeable flunky said (repeatedly) that the driver noted that there were snow and ice on the driveway and due to fear of the truck sliding and even rolling over he declined to come down the driveway.<\/p>\n
Now this was pure nonsense.\u00a0 Every driver in their fleet had come down this driveway many times when there was more residual snow and ice than what was there that afternoon.\u00a0 The only thing I could think of was that the driver was a temporary hire unfamiliar with the route and didn\u2019t want to back up the long narrow driveway.\u00a0 Camera Girl complained to the flunky and assured her that the driveway was clear of ice.\u00a0 The flunky said that the photos from the driver would be evaluated the next day and things would be resolved.<\/p>\n
Seeing that she was dealing with idiots she resolved to be proactive.\u00a0 She told them to send a truck the next day and the driveway would certainly be passable.\u00a0 I treated the driveway with 200 pounds of sand and convinced myself that no one could claim the driveway was impassable.\u00a0 But I hadn\u2019t reckoned with the fecklessness of my oil company.\u00a0 When no one showed up by 3pm she called them up and was told that since they hadn\u2019t heard from us, they hadn\u2019t sent a truck.\u00a0 She argued that the day before we told them to send a truck.\u00a0 They claimed they had sent a text message asking us if we wanted a delivery.\u00a0 She informed them that we don\u2019t have a cell phone so no text message was possible.\u00a0 They stuck by their story.\u00a0 She once more asked them if we would be getting a shipment the next day (Thursday).\u00a0 They assured her they would.\u00a0 But by 3pm on Thursday when there was no truck, I knew what she would hear.\u00a0 The same story.\u00a0 Once again, they claimed to have left a text message.\u00a0 It was maddening.<\/p>\n
So yesterday I stepped back and thought what kind of operation I was dealing with.\u00a0 Apparently, they only hired idiots that couldn\u2019t be held accountable for their poor performance.\u00a0 They thought they were leaving me messages.\u00a0 Now the tank was down around an eighth of the tank and I was worried that in the cold weather the small outlet line might not provide enough suction pressure for the fuel pump.\u00a0 I was worried we really wouldn\u2019t have fuel after Friday.\u00a0 I reckoned if they failed me again, I\u2019d go out and buy ten gallons of diesel oil and pour it in the tank just to keep things going.<\/p>\n
But I resolved to call them at 6:30 am and tell them to make a delivery today.\u00a0 And by golly it worked.\u00a0 They must have thought I was answering the imaginary text message and they sent a truck that got here at 10 am.\u00a0 As I imagined the driver was a newbie.\u00a0 He was a young middle eastern man and he confessed he had a hard time finding me because he put the wrong address in his GPS.\u00a0 I was so relieved that I just smiled and showed him where the tank inlet line was.\u00a0 Well, civilization will die not with a bang but with a whimper.\u00a0 Incompetence is the rule now not the exception.\u00a0 But tonight, the temperature is supposed to reach ten below zero.\u00a0 I am comforted that Abdul filled the tank.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 Grateful for small favors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All week we\u2019ve been living in existential dread of an empty oil tank.\u00a0 Right before the snowstorm on Sunday and Monday we got an email<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,1263],"tags":[4664,4663],"class_list":["post-35918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-corporate-incompetence","tag-incompetence"],"yoast_head":"\n