Locked inside a depressing Greyhound depot

[Locke]

He's probably still there.

I remember eons ago when we had an upstairs cafeteria they'd put the CT stock price on the white board and he'd sit in the corner chuckling to himself.

That guy probably owns Canadian Tire by now.

[Madman]

I worked with a guy named Scott in sports, and last time I was in that store he was still there, running the show - it was ridiculous to see.

Oh man, the old green screen monochrome "computers".

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Madman

I worked with a guy named Scott in sports, and last time I was in that store he was still there, running the show - it was ridiculous to see.

Oh man, the old green screen monochrome "computers".

Oh God...yeah. Those things were antiques 30 years ago.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

This is from 2016 but I'm pretty sure they still use these.

I'll leave it in it's high resolution glory so Crappy Tire survivors can read the terminal and phone code list for old times sake. Can't say I had enough interest in learning what the Terminal could do other than looking up if we had inventory on a part number. Although I do seem to recall it was also the source of truth for what part (i.e. brake rotors) was needed for what model year and car, so I guess I used it for that. That and clocking in / out.

Hack proof though. Who needs the "cloud" when you've got the "cave"....LOL.

NSFW!

[Buff]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

This is from 2016 but I'm pretty sure they still use these.

I'll leave it in it's high resolution glory so Crappy Tire survivors can read the terminal and phone code list for old times sake. Can't say I had enough interest in learning what the Terminal could do other than looking up if we had inventory on a part number. Although I do seem to recall it was also the source of truth for what part (i.e. brake rotors) was needed for what model year and car, so I guess I used it for that. That and clocking in / out.

Hack proof though. Who needs the "cloud" when you've got the "cave"....LOL.

NSFW!

Does it say it has one on hand? You probably don't have it. Does it say 2 or 3? You're still not very likely to find it. 5? No guarantees. A dozen? Yeah, probably in stock. Over 150? That's gotta be a mistake.

Inventory control was terrible.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Buff

Does it say it has one on hand? You probably don't have it. Does it say 2 or 3? You're still not very likely to find it. 5? No guarantees. A dozen? Yeah, probably in stock. Over 150? That's gotta be a mistake.

Inventory control was terrible.

As a customer their "pick up in store" is a game changer. Because now someone else can go on the snipe hunt looking for it.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by Buff

Does it say it has one on hand? You probably don't have it. Does it say 2 or 3? You're still not very likely to find it. 5? No guarantees. A dozen? Yeah, probably in stock. Over 150? That's gotta be a mistake.

Inventory control was terrible.

Unless it was something big like a boxed lawn mower, less than 10 might as well have been zero. So many trips up to the warehouse to find the bay for that item empty. Was like half the storage racks were portals to Narnia.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Buff

Does it say it has one on hand? You probably don't have it. Does it say 2 or 3? You're still not very likely to find it. 5? No guarantees. A dozen? Yeah, probably in stock. Over 150? That's gotta be a mistake.

Inventory control was terrible.

Originally Posted by Brendone

Unless it was something big like a boxed lawn mower, less than 10 might as well have been zero. So many trips up to the warehouse to find the bay for that item empty. Was like half the storage racks were portals to Narnia.

Oh it was atrocious and Parts was the worst!

Because if the Mechanics ran out of something they'd just raid it from Parts without telling anyone.

Thats not why Inventory control was terrible, it was atrocious anyways, but that didnt help.

"I called and the guy on the phone said you had lots, how come you have none?"

*shrugs shoulders* "Some people suck."

I remember helping one guy and I forget what it was but the computer said we had a bunch in stock but they dont exist. They're gone.

And this guy was desperate so I did a stock lookout and lo and behold there was 1!! In Red Deer.

"I'm desperate! I'll drive to Red Deer and get it!!"

Dude. No.

It says '1.' That means it doesnt exist. They're more likely to have the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant in stock than that brake rotor.

If you're going to drive all the way to Red Deer...call the store and have a physical human actually lay eyes and hands upon it.

Guy comes back in 20 minutes.

"Yeah I called them. They dont have it. Can we order it?"

Maybe. They dont always deliver that either.

"What is with your stock system?"

It is Holistic and Haphazard, the Inventory System is One With the Universe! Last week I ordered a brake caliper...do you know what I got? A brake caliper box with a radiator hose in it.

Why? Nobody knows. And I've stopped trying to figure it out. We just dont question it anymore.

Now....do you want an unspecified radiator hose? We sell Auto Parts here, not chit-chat!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Brendone

Unless it was something big like a boxed lawn mower, less than 10 might as well have been zero. So many trips up to the warehouse to find the bay for that item empty. Was like half the storage racks were portals to Narnia.

"Gimme back my brake line ya Goat bastard!!"

[SutterBrother]

I had an art teacher in junior high who was alleged to have purchased a leather jacket in Turkey using a wad of Canadian Tire money. It just felt like... money?

I say alleged because I asked him about it, and he said it was a "friend" who did it... but got the sense he was a little embarrassed.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SutterBrother

I had an art teacher in junior high who was alleged to have purchased a leather jacket in Turkey using a wad of Canadian Tire money. It just felt like... money?

I say alleged because I asked him about it, and he said it was a "friend" who did it... but got the sense he was a little embarrassed.

Lol! I bought LOTS of stuff with Canadian Tire money.

They used to give you these Coupons that would give you 'X-times' Canadian Tire money, but I never bought anything at Crappy Tire.

However...the Macleod CT had a Gas Station and I'd fill up there all the time to and from work.

Eventually I had a gigantic wad of CT money and I bought the new rear-gears for my Mustang with it!

I think it was $350 bucks or something and I special-ordered the gears myself and when they got in I just slapped a stack of CT money down and essentially didn't have to pay for them.

It was glorious...for me, not so much for the poor cashier girl who had to count the stacks and file the paperwork.

The Managers were NOT happy campers, but hey, I legitimately collected the CT money from filling up with gas. Nothing un-toward.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by SutterBrother

I had an art teacher in junior high who was alleged to have purchased a leather jacket in Turkey using a wad of Canadian Tire money. It just felt like... money?

I say alleged because I asked him about it, and he said it was a "friend" who did it... but got the sense he was a little embarrassed.

a guy i know told a story of how he was visiting in the southern states and used canadian tire money to buy something... convinced the cashier it was canadian currency and added a little for the exchange rate

[Locke]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

This is from 2016 but I'm pretty sure they still use these.

I'll leave it in it's high resolution glory so Crappy Tire survivors can read the terminal and phone code list for old times sake. Can't say I had enough interest in learning what the Terminal could do other than looking up if we had inventory on a part number. Although I do seem to recall it was also the source of truth for what part (i.e. brake rotors) was needed for what model year and car, so I guess I used it for that. That and clocking in / out.

Hack proof though. Who needs the "cloud" when you've got the "cave"....LOL.

NSFW!

I dont know about other stores or departments, but in Parts I think we had 3 of these bastards just hidden through the aisles.

So if a customer stopped you with a question you didnt have to go all the way back to the desk, you just peeled back this panel there and BOOM! Oldest Computer known to man!

"Where did that come from?"

- Where did what come from? That doesnt exist. And neither do I! Haha!

I remember on one of my first days commenting: "I've thrown out better computers than this POS!"

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont know about other stores or departments, but in Parts I think we had 3 of these bastards just hidden through the aisles.

So if a customer stopped you with a question you didnt have to go all the way back to the desk, you just peeled back this panel there and BOOM! Oldest Computer known to man!

"Where did that come from?"

- Where did what come from? That doesnt exist. And neither do I! Haha!

I remember on one of my first days commenting: "I've thrown out better computers than this POS!"

Yeah, those are terminals. At our store we had one in each department on the floor at a desk that took up a 4-foot section. Parts had two or three at their desk and one in back parts. There were others throughout the store, like at customer service and in the warehouse and up in the offices. Maybe 30 in the entire store.

For Y2K the general manager was worried about them crashing. Mostly he was worried about our server since the terminals got everything from the server. So he spent December 31, 1999 at work waiting for midnight to see if the system would crash. It didn't but there was a legit concern because the system was so ancient. Waste of a fun night for him. I'm sure he was drinking to celebrate by himself.

[Locke]

I keep de-railing other threads so I'm moving these posts in here.

Originally Posted by Locke

I once worked the Christmas depot with Greyhound and we had a lot of temp workers working for us.

The biggest problem with the temp workers...was that most of them were immigrants.

Which in and of itself isn't really the problem, they were good workers, but the overall issue is that the key part of the job was sorting freight.

And they had no understanding of Canadian Geography. They didn't know where places were so...they were under-qualified at the most important aspect of their job.

If you have to ask me for every box...I may as well do it myself.

That being said, the most disgusting comment I ever heard was from the head of the temp agency on our first day with them.

He said, and I quote: "If you run over one of them with a forklift? Get them into the dumpster and I'll have a new one here in 15 minutes."

I. Was. Floored.

I was disgusted at such a callous statement.

But...it was just...'So typical Greyhound.'

"Yeah, its the busiest time of year with stuff going everywhere, lets hire a bunch of people who essentially can't help."

Brilliant stuff.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh....the stories of that place.

Day 1 of the 'Christmas Depot?'

So...the Christmas Depot was the old building across from Eau Claire, its Condos now.

My first Christmas working there? Oh my God.

So...when Buses need maintenance they drive over a bay. But this place has been closed and, dare I say it, I think actually condemned.

But our job was to sort freight and load it onto trucks. So we sort freight into cages and bins and pallets and then use the forklifts to get them into the trucks.

Remember that bit where I said there were maintenance bays? Yeah. Those are pits. Kind of like if you go to a Mr. Lube or whatever and you drive in and the tech is below you.

But this place is condemned. So...guess what those pits are covered with?

If you guessed 'Plywood' then you win the prize!

Wanna know how Plywood stands up against the weight of a forklift? I think you can guess.

And those pits are like 6 feet deep.

God....what a job....

Post 2.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Locke

Oh! And the best part? They weren't our forklifts. We rented them.

From who? I have no idea. That was none of my business.

But we had about 10 'Houndies' to about 50 temps. I did that 2 years in a row and they must have wrecked at least 3 forklifts.

I had enough Union seniority to get a 'Christmas Depot' shift but not enough to get a 'Forkie shift' despite technically being the most qualified forklift driver.

You wanted a 'Christmas Depot' shift so that you werent dealing with the teeming masses at the main Depot trying to travel the Dirty Dawg at Christmas.

Boxes don't talk back. Or attack you.

And I'd already been physically assaulted a couple of times by then so I took the easiest shift I could.

The temps largely were great! There was a group of Africans who were hard workers but they just didn't know where things had to go.

We had a gigantic Map taped to the wall but...if you're reading a shipping label and then taking 10 minutes to stare at the map then we're falling behind! Trucks have to leave on a schedule! The drivers only have so many available driving hours.

Not to mention, some of these packages are going to very small towns that aren't on the map. You have to know where they are.

And don't even get me started on Sydney BC and Sydney NS. I'm certain there were unhappy people in both places.

Oh God...Greyhound. That was a helluva job. Good God...

My first year? I had to work the main depot at Christmas, if you can get out of that you take it! People traveling at Christmas aren't the most...sane.

I think that was the first time I was attacked.

I did get into some Police trouble once at the Christmas Depot, but I'll tell that story another time. I was nearly arrested but thats a funnier story. And it was innocuous...no one was hurt and it worked out hilariously.

I'll tell the tale of the Christmas Depot Police interaction at a later date. You wont believe it.

It is still miraculous that I never got fired. I actually quit that job with (very small) pension payout!