Operations manager or Kindergarten teacher YOU decide...

I am an operations manager for a local/long distance moving company. That means I do everything BUT the move. I answer phones, do the book keeping, do all the paperwork(and there is a lot to do at a moving company), handle the claims, and general customer resolution. I would usually say customer service, but with the crew I am running these days it's more about resolution that service. You see it all started about 9 months ago...How many times has a story started like that?....I was gainfully running my own e-Bay business, and having a grand ole time, but needed something more stable as my business partner was a freaky hippy flake who thought he was really funny when he spoke. (He was not) I had submitted a few resumes, and after a few days of turning down offer after offer to interview(HEY! A girl needs her beauty sleep!!!) I finally went to one. I ended up walking into this office with an enormous desk in it...Well at least there looked to be a desk under the huge stack of papers my future boss had his feet propped up on. That should have been a clue that something was wrong, but he was cute, and I needed to go shopping soon so I needed a job. There he was dressed in some khaki shorts and a polo shirt, feet propped up on a desk, answering phones like a madman. I knew right then I could get this one. When he finished his phone conversation I said "Are you ready for me?!" That was all it took. I ended up accepting a position as operations manager for a moving company that had previously been run nearly out of business by the previous OM. Later I would find out that the previous dip-shit OM had dated my best friend(and room mate at the time) Jen B. I started the next day. I had no idea just how bad off this company was, but I was soon to find out. They were over $100,000 in debt, They had no workmen's comp insurance, Claims had not been handled for 7 months prior to my arrival, nothing had been filed, we had lost most of our licenses, and our main driver wasn't even licensed to drive the rig he owned. I now understand why the previous guy had bottle of booze in his desk drawer. I started trying to figure out how a box of wine would fit in my drawer undetected, to no avail. After thought: Maybe I just didn't try hard enough.

After months of this torture I finally got everything in order with the funds I had to work with. My day would run smoother if only I had a crew that didn't act as if they were 2 years old.

"Pinball": Nice enough guy, would be almost cute if he didn't open his mouth, oh yeah...And if he had TEETH!

"Roonie": Nice, has way too many kids for his age, smokes way too much pot which leads to him being well.....Not all that smart

"Tonga": Now I love this guy, he's funny as heck and we have been drunk as skunks together. However, he gets into a fight with everyone, and is always running his mouth to our shippers...Not a good plan...He's like an unruly ADHD child without meds.

"Terry": Not much to say here, he's slow, and slow....and um S L O W.

"Christina": Chris is a really nice guy, one of our newbies, and tries really hard, but is also slow as molasses in January up hill in the snow.

I used to have Alan, but he left because everything was just crazy and he was tired of all the drama...I don't blame him...But it makes me sad. I had such a crush on him. *swoon*

Then there was Madison, he was the bosses brother. Nice enough guy when I don't have to work with him, but he talked to much crap about me behind my back that well it makes me feel like yeah know his skin condition deserves it's own blog article it was so gross. I'm not bitter though.

So there ya have it, my crew. None of which have a class B license to drive the trucks, half of them don't know what they are doing, and the other half have trouble spelling "Materials". I know it's that silent um......Wait there is no silent letter in materials....nevermind they are all just dumb. Every morning it's like "story-time" I have to slowly explain what they are doing that day, and why, and then when I am done it's "question & Answer time" where they ask me questions that have nothing to do with the job, like " What day is it?". Sometimes I just sit at my desk thinking if I just be real quiet they won't know I am there, and they will go away. That never works, by the way.

By the end of the day I am ready to just cry at all the stupidity, that runs ramped with my crews, but I wouldn't wanna be doing anything else. Aside from it being total comedy everyday...Well except for the day when Alan drove his rig down a grade into a Toyota Tacoma, while Tony exclaimed "ALAN!? Is this what is spose to be happening?!"...I mean that day I crawled under my desk and cried...I love my job. Where else can I get paid good money to sit around all day laughing at stupid men while playing with my slinkey(tm)?