I been driving local now for about 6 months. Deliver mostly to grocery stores and ma and pa places. I have one account, a grocery store where the woman deli manager (since she met me one time during training) has never gotten along with me. This store is not on my regular route. I only deliver it 3-4 times a month. Her regular driver (for 5 years) she loves. She has him use a produce dock in the back alley (the produce manager complains that this is his dock to be used for produce deliveries only) and does not want our company using it because we tie up his dock to long sorting through our pallets. He has fought with our other driver over the years and wants him removed from the account and replaced with me. I use the two hydraulic docks on the other side of the store where I used to deliver for Dutch Farms. I can unload my pallets into the store, sort them,put them on six wheelers in about 35-40 minutes. At the other dock setup it can take up to an hour. This is why the produce manager gets mad because his trucks can't deliver.
Well, this Friday I had to deliver there. I used the dock of my choice. I ended up with two full six wheelers for the deli dapartment. This ***** starts in about what dock I used, she wants me to use the one the produce manager dosen't want us to use. She was really snappy and rude.
I jokingly asked her "what's a matter, don't you like me?" She responded "NO" I want George. I asked what did I do to make you so mad. She said well for one thing you use the wrong dock. She she said you tie up there deliveries. I said no, actually I can get in and out faster using the main docks.(The main receiver for the store is good with this) To this she responded "just put my cases of chicken in the freezer". She had 6 pages of invoices, she didn't check anything she just signed them all and handed me my copies with a very short rude" thank you". Now as we all know there are some really nasty receivers out there and negative customers. This however is the first time I've been told point blank "I don't like you" therefore whenever you have to deliver here, I'm going to treat you like ****. How would you guys handle this. I've asked my boss to ask the route person not to schedule me any more stops there. I could see if I did something wrong, but I feel it shouldn't matter to her what dock I use and I've done nothing to her to make her treat me like she insists on doing. I say let her have her regular route guy. Sorry it was so long but I wanted to setup the scenario properly.
Thanks Toby

I'm sticking my nose in someplace it does not belong, but...

I'm not a driver, Toby, so the truckers here may disagree with me with good reason... and I would give their advice priority over mine since they've most likely "been there, done that". But in my opinion, you're never going to please all the people all the time -- and I wouldn't worry whether or not this woman likes me. You're doing the job you were assigned to do in the proper and most efficient way, and if she can't handle that, it's HER problem, not yours. Don't make it yours, okay?

Be polite to her, make your delivery, and let her rudeness roll off you. (And know that although she doesn't like you, I bet the produce guy does!) Anyway, some people are just like that. Sad, but true... <sigh>

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Well from what I get from this the produce manager does not want you to use the produce dock correct? It ties them up so they can't get trucks in that dock. The deli person might favor the other driver that is on the regular route no matter what you do. I would talk to your boss about this and explain the situation. Myself I would be polite as the job calls for customer PR, but you can be polite, but firm at the same time. Years ago I hauled carpet to 4 States. Over a period of time I delivered to a lot of stores. Sometimes we would have to run other routes due to covering vacations, etc. I have had stores that said I sure am glad you are back when I got back to my runs. I have had places I don't normally run want me to replace their regular driver and I have had places that did not want me back, but wanted the regular driver. Just the nature of people.

Our job was to tailgate the carpet or get it on the ground. I might have 20-30 drops a day. One driver I was covering told me that his customer told him they don't ever want that s.o.b. (me) back. The guy was covered up with customers and could not oversee the unload. He had bought a bunch of remmnant pieces (small carpet rolls) I waited and waited on this guy. I got a very limited time schedule to make these drops. I tossed all of them off the trailer (no dock) and took him the bills to sign. He was upset, but not my problem. I would rather have one guy ticked then several customers mad because I did not make it to their store on time today.

The thing is you have to train the customer in a matter of speaking. Best thing to do is to let your boss handle the situation. He might get another story on why this lady doesn't like you. This way he can talk to the normal driver. Get his input on the customer etc. This way your boss knows the situation. Some people are just jerks, sounds like this lady is one of them. I wish you luck!

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

Thanks for the comment. I was nice to her but I must admit I wanted to go off on her so bad. I did speak with my boss and he said he feels that because I use the dock the produce manager wants me to use and not the deli manager I am kind of caught in the middle. I guess it shouldn't matter to me which dock I use other then I'll tick off the produce manager. My boss feels what does it matter to her what dock I use, it has no bearing on the transaction that is occurring. He is requesting dispatch not send me there anymore per my request. Like you stated with the carpet delivery, I can get in and out faster not using the produce dock. This saves me time which is mine to be saved.As far as if she likes me or not I could care less. It just makes the delivery process VERY uncomfortable.
Thanks,
Toby

Yea I wouldnt sweat it too much even if you have to go back there, if she has a problem she needs to work it out herself, or with the produce manager. The one good thing is maybe if you do go back, you can save all the time of her going through the bills if all she will do is just sign them without checking everything off.....

your right! I never thought of that. She'll be saving me even more time without checking me in. Hmmmmmm Good Answer! I guess everything does have a silver lining.
Thanks ,Toby

That is what I did with all the carpet remnants. Took him a stack of bills to sign. A lot of carpet places have no docks. Many have no fork trucks either.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

Regardless of the situation, SHE is the customer.

NOW, if it gets bad enough you won't go there. Take it to YOUR boss.
Let him be the bad guy.

Grin and bear it in the meantime

well this is my opinion.unfortunately it is part of your job to go there so just suck it up,this person or store is only one very tiny part of your day,just get in do your thing and get the hell out.when you go shake all of them off before you get back behind the wheel and say well thats over,now i can go on and not have to deal with them sorry a----- for another minute of my day.we all have to deal with jerk offs like that,its just part of it.but you know you are going to work atleast 8 hours a day,they are only a few minutes of that time so get in,get out and hen dont give them one more second of oyur time by thinking about what a suckass place they have.ive been in the same crap before several times,i used to make a stop just like that once a week and the thing that i found was get in take care of your stuff and when you lave dont take them with you.hope this helps

Your right, it's just coming to the industry from a management prospective, in my 26 years of experience I never let a customer abuse one of my employees just because they felt they could. I would always nicely explain to the guest that if there was a problem with a waitress for example let's talk about it. It may improve our service and the way she services a table. My thing was to say " Oh I'm sorry, was I speaking to you in a rude manner?" they would usaully say no. Then I would ask "then why do you feel it necessary to speak to me in that manner?' Let's discuss how to improve your dining experience. I don't feel that anyone has the right to treat you like **** just because they are the "customer". I don't think she would appreciate it if i was on the other side of the counter as HER customer and decided to treat her in that manner. The funny thing is, when I talked to the other regular driver (who had to deliver to her this week) he said she was a ***** and was glad I has to deliver to her. i guess she is always miserable and angry. Bottomline, I understand what your saying, it is only 30 minutes with her as opposed to ALL day. If she dosen't check me in it is even faster. I am lucky she is the only person I have come across that is like that on any of my routes.
Thanks!