The Customer Building

At work, our customer is having some problems with our software. This is nothing new. However the customer informed us that these problems are critical. They can’t wait to get them fixed. My boss told them I would take care of this. I asked the customer to work closely with me so that I will not waste any time. One member in our customer organization is retiring this month. We were all going to be in the same building for the retirement party. I planned to meet somebody from the customer organization there to work with me on their problem.

Here is the chief reason I don’t like working at the customer organization. There is just not enough parking. If you do not get there early, you do not get to park. The traffic is crazy during rush hour around here. The day of the retirement party was no different. I got onto the highway, and found it to be more like a parking lot. Luckily I left really early in the day. I did end up getting a space in the parking lot.

When I got to the front door, I had to get somebody to escort me. I called one of the employees of my company who always works on site there. He was not there. But he promised he would call somebody else to sign me in. Nobody came. Luckily one of my actual customers came in and saw me detained at the front door. She signed for me. That got me in.

I had scheduled a meeting with the customer who was to help me around lunch time. So I had to get an early bite to eat. The problem is that because I am a visitor, I need an escort at all times. Everybody is busy. Nobody wants to escort me around. So I had to take a chance and sneak down to the cafeteria. I took along a folder that served two purposes: (1) It helped cover up the escort required badge around my neck, and (2) it contained a list of everybody’s phone number in case I was detected and escorted off the premises.