OK now we been in the bus business for a while now. And before that I owned trucks, so being in business and having good days and bad days is nothing new!
But why do all the bad days have to run together?
OK since we bought this other company out I have taken a pay cut (nothing from nothing is still nothing!), become full time in the shop and still have office duties too, have to baby sit more drivers, make emergency road service calls, shuttle buses and drivers cars back and forth from point to point, and still drive when absolutely needed or on personal requests for me only!
But this weekend really took a toll on us! Austin Peay University is now our bread and butter contract that pays the bills around here as we provide almost all of their ground transportation (they have their own vans and mini buses, but we do ALL of their charter work!). That said by all means we HAVE to make buses nice buses (as in the 2 '05 S417's) available to them when necessary! So here it is basketball season, and the boys team are (were_ the 2008 defending Ohio Valley Conference Champions, so going into the terminates we knew we would need a bus for them. But the girls team who were not defending champs, nor were they favored to even make it to the terminates, did just that!
OK so now we have a problem we have 5 buses on the road and one is on a week long trip to FL. Now AP calls and says we need 2 buses Thursday, 4 buses Friday, and depending on if the teams win Friday we'll need 3-4 buses Saturday! Oops where am I gonna pull these from?
OK I get things lined out for Thursday & Friday and am waiting at 6 PM on Thursday for a bus coming in from Chicago to be serviced and cleaned to go back out and spot for AP on Friday AM, when I get a call that it is broke down in Paducah (an hr away) with no air pressure!
OK now I'm in the service truck on my way to Paducah, KY to fix a broken bus. When I get a frantic call about the driver hauling the women's team not being where he should be and not being able to be found! Oh boy! So I get that worked out. I get a replacement bus pulled from a job where it was going to be just sitting for the day Friday. (as a matter of fact I pulled 2 of them from that job!) So now I have dependable drivers to put where I can count on them and I can shift the flaky driver to a harder job so he won't have time to get lost!
All is good again! Well sorta I need to get the old MCI that lost air back on the road ASAP! I know for a fact that the compressor is not pumping. But why? Well I tell "Booger" (don't laff at me! that is what he says his dad has always called him & it's what he goes by!) to yank the one off the MCI that is out of service with the broken frame and I'll get a replacement for it on the way! (which thank you Brian Diehl & Craig S. aka Gumpy for hooking me up with a good take off!)
Well Booger doesn't exactly follow instructions and while I am at the house on the computer getting #'s of the above mentioned "Heroes"
He takes the old compressor of the bus that is not pumping air. (really he did right as I should have told him to do that first!) When I get back to the shop he tells me I found the problem. "This here gear is busted up!"
OK so now I have a compressor on it's way from MN that I don't need, what I need is a new fiber gear that drives the compressor! I talk to dad on the phone and he tells me that there is a bad compressor "somewhere" in the shop that he knows has a good gear on it!
So Booger and I look and low and behold here at the base of the re-buildable core pile of cores to be rebuilt when time allows is a compressor with a METAL gear on it! No more weak breaking fiber gear for this ol' girl!
OK Booger and I are just finishing installing the compressor when I get a call the girls won and are going to be playing Sat. Night as well! Cool I got a bus to send to replace one needed to go and pick up the kids at 4H camp! Next comes a call from dad his bus won't start! Won't do nothing from front or rear!
Argh...... OK call Robert and have him transfer your team I'll find someone to look at it for you! Booger and I are now on standby @ 7 PM on Friday night maybe going to Nashville to fix a starter!
I have the cleaning crew go ahead and clean # 727 so it can go in the AM!
I load the crew in the crew cab dually service truck and take them all to Joe's (since we don't know what is up in Nastyville yet!) As we are enjoying our steaks, fried catfish, etc. Dad calls and says "Nick got him started but it's in the bus system not the starter! They jumped the starter solenoid and it started!" OK well at least he can get it to the hotel! Dad and I make the truckers type thought that hey it's a 60 series and truckers leave them run 24/7 until they get home, so leave it run! Problem solved till it gets home!
OK cool it's Sat AM and I have covered all the obstacles so far this week, except that I need to get # 727 to James since he didn't get to take it home the other night when it broke on him! So I need to drive it to him, and bring mom's van that he drove home back. (his car wouldn't start on top of all else Thursday night so I sent him home in mom's van)
OK great things are starting to smooth out again! Well my sister has her CDL permit and needs wheel time to get skilled so she can take the test and get her CDL so I ride to Clarksville with her and we meet James there.
First thing James walks up from behind the bus and says "OH my this bus is slinging oil bad!"
OH boy can anyone tell me why I wanted those new Setra's that came with these new headaches too?
;D BK ;D
Oh my goodness! My head hurt from reading all of the coordinating of this bus here and there.
And really? Booger? LOL
Sounds pretty much like a normal day to me, remember, I was there while you and your dad, did the last minute stuff at midnight on buses that were going to roll long before daylight and saw you answering the phone and lining up the parts for the one that was coming in tomorrow afternoon with the other problem that would be the next crisis lol, what would you do if the panic meter ran down to a dribble lol. Just think of all the good times like when malcolm decided to wash all his cars in the pond, or when the nice lady thought she could jump franks bus over the pond lol.
You gave me a headache just reading it...I can't imagine the headaches of living it...but then again you are a highly trained professional ;D ;D
Hell, just take your stimulus check and go buy all brand new buses, no problem.
Man, BK. Sounds just your style ;D ;D ;D. Whew.
Sorry. Maybe things will go better for ya.
God bless,
John
The solution is easy BK, just shut the phone off, grab a beer, head out to the screen porch and invite malcolm over for some quality male bonding time, put your feet up over a good cigar and relax.
Cody, if Malcolm comes over he will need WAY more than 1 beer. ;D
BK,
I worked up a sweat just reading that one. No wonder you don't have much time to post the way you use to. Hang in there, hard work usually pays off.
Booger wouldn't, by chance, be from down around Holly Springs, MS, would he? I had a diesel mechanic friend down there by that name a few years back when I lived in that area. Since it's not a common name, I thought maybe he might have moved north.
Mick
BK -
Need a dispatcher w/ 25+ years of industry experience??
;)
Nah..( BK ) He's just starting to get his stride and spring is on it's way.
Actually he complains louder when things go right !!! ::) ::)
Heck, If I was a few miles closer I would go help him get even more confused...
8) 8) 8) 8)
BK, If it was easy, anybody could do it!!
Dennis
I waited as long as I could for you to find your solution and save you the expense of shipping that compressor, but you didn't call or email, so I put it on the truck yesterday (just a few hours before you started this thread). It should be there Thursday. If you don't need it, just bring it back up the next time you come to Minneapolis.
craig
Sounds like every other small busness owner.
Thanks for your hard work and long hours BK; you keep the country going.
LOL BK, your killing me here I just threw my back out because I started laughing as I leaned back in my chair, which then went to far and I fell over backwards injuring by back and cracking my head on the floor. I didn't have a headache before, but I do now, I'll be sending you a bill for the damages via my attorneys, DoWe Cheat um & How. Hang in there buddy just think of all the $$$$$ your making, Oh I forgot you took a pay cut well XXXX that thought. Think of all the college girls you'll be driving with on your new Setra, Oh darn I forgot you ain't driving anymore you are stuck in the shop and answering the phone. Well XXXXX that thought also. Just remember BK your an ace mechanic and if you apply yourself real hard to your chosen endever you could someday own this company. Hang in there dude you are in out thoughts and we'll be praying that things smooth out.
WVaNative
This is a reminder why I don't work for myself any more, and work for a huge corparation with 73,000 employees.
If I take tomorrow off and say, go to the beach, no one will miss me. ;D
(okay, not all 73,000 are in one locatons)
Bill
If you can Juggle like that, you can always run off an d join the CIRCUS. ;) :) :D ;D ::)Hang in there. M&C
Wow that reminds of running freight with five DC-3 gooney birds. I was in charge of the turn a rounds at night. I would arrive at 10:00pm get the gooney bird on the ramp warmed up and do the run up checks. Then it would get loaded with freight and off it would go to Seattle or LA catch our breath till the next one arrives. We had one hour while the freight was off loaded and more freight loaded, in that time we had things to fix like oil leaks, generators, airframe squawks etc.. On top of that we serviced the oil, fuel, hydraulic fluid, de-ice alcohol for the props and do the pre-flight inspection. These airplanes were old birds and lots of things broke.
BK if I were near you I would love to give you a hand driving or wrenching. Keep your chin up things will iron themselves out and you will look back on the hard times and know it was all worth while. Sounds like fun driving the teams. God knows I've done a bunch of those field trips, they can be enjoyable or a nightmare.