Welcome to the Inside Perspective! I’ve got a special treat for y’all this week. A long time Forum member and Retired Mod, Fluff n’Stuff, e-mailed me with the following story. Enjoy!

Now, you must understand. My job is to drive folks from their homes to the Airport, and vice versa. It’s what I do, and if I do say so, I’m good at it. Part of that job is to carry folks’ luggage from their house to the van… I have no problem with that, it’s part of the Customer Service, and something my company is known for. Granted, sometimes the luggage is large and heavy; technically we are not required/supposed to lift parcels heavier than about 50 lbs, but I’m a big guy so I never say much. More than likely I can lift more than my guests! 😀

Every once in a while, we get a passenger who has LOTS of baggage. I mean, sure, everybody has a carry-on, and sometimes only one largish suitcase isn’t enough… so our rule of thumb is that everybody gets two large pieces and a carry-on. Simple. In some cases, folks have a dozen boxes and they get to Charter the entire van themselves. We don’t mind doing it at all, in fact it is easier on everybody involved, especially since there would not be any room for more luggage and the next guest (were there to be one) would not be able to fit their luggage in… most are reluctant to travel without their stuff as you can guess.

There are some folks who, while not needing the ENTIRE van to themselves, DO indeed have more luggage than the average. In those cases, we accomodate them by offering to charge them for an extra seat; that way they don’t need to pay for the whole vehicle, what they are really paying for is the luggage space that WOULD have been used by the person who would have used that seat. It’s a neat way to provide good customer service without forcing them to pay too much.

Today I had a couple going home to Australia. They told us in advance that they had 7 large parcels, so we charged them an extra seat each. No problem, right?

Inside Perspective - Editorial 2
Click to Enlarge

We forgot to ask about the size of the parcels; those are bicycles in the top two boxes. When I arrived the luggage was still up in their fourth floor apartment. The Husband got home 20 minutes after I arrived. We ended up sending another van for my the other guests assigned to my van… and to top it off I left my footstool there when I pulled out.

So. How’s YOUR day going?


Link of the Day: Security Warning: Microsoft Warns of 3 ‘Critical’ Flaws


Missed the last edition of the Inside Perspective? For shame! 😉