No Container Can Hold That Level Of Entitlement

I used to work as a logistics and shipping coordinator for a big novelty and party supplies company. Most of our novelties were manufactured in the Far East and, as such, were shipped to us on container ships.

When the Suez Canal was blocked by the grounded Evergiven, we had some stock on boats that were stuck behind it and would therefore be delayed. As a coordinator, it was my job to inform our customers that due to the grounded ship, our boats were running late and stock would be delayed.

Most of the customers were fine with it, some of them even responding to me with memes about the boat. One customer, however, decided this was unacceptable and phoned me to yell at me that he needed his stock by the original date we had promised him and it was IMPERATIVE that we got it to him.

I apologised for the delay and said the situation was beyond our control, but as soon as the stock was available, we could get it overnighted to him — which would cost him extra because overnight freight isn’t cheap.

He absolutely lost his mind, swore at me for being incompetent, and hung up. I shrugged and went on with my day. Being yelled at by angry customers is part of the job.

Twenty minutes later, I got a call from our head of sales.

Head Of Sales: “I just spoke to Mr. [Customer]. He said you told him he couldn’t have his order?”

Me: “No, he called me to complain about his stock being stuck behind the grounded ship, and I said we would overnight it to him as soon as it landed. Somehow, that’s not good enough. I can’t do any more.”

Head Of Sales: “That’s fine. Leave it with me.”

I hung up and got on with my day (again).

After about forty minutes of relative quiet, I got up to make a coffee. Our senior Vice President of sales came into the kitchen looking extremely ruffled.

Me: “Are you okay? Do you want me to make you a coffee, too?”

Senior VP Of Sales: “I just spoke to Mr. [Customer]. He has demanded that we get his stock that’s stuck behind the grounded boat to him tomorrow, or he’ll never trade with us again.”

I would love to know how the customer expected us to get the stock off the boat and to him the next day, but I wrote it off as just another unreasonable customer and thought no more of it.

The next morning, I got a call at precisely 8:01 am. We open at 8:00 am.

Customer: “WHERE IS MY CONTAINER?!”

Me: “Still in the Suez Canal, sir. As I explained to you yesterday, your stock is on the [Vessel], which is stuck behind the Evergiven, and—”

Customer: “GET ME YOUR MANAGER! I WANT YOU FIRED!”

I put him straight through to the sales VP and went to make a cup of tea.

When I got back to my desk, the VP was sitting on the end of it, looking extremely ruffled… again.

Senior VP Of Sales: “That man seriously expected me to somehow get his container off the boat, get it to the UK, and get it to his warehouse by 5:00 pm today. Does he not watch the news?”

I kept my mouth shut and got on with some work. My day was mostly answering emails from customers politely wondering if we had any updates on our stuck vessels and any new docking dates. I updated them as best I could and advised that they also keep an eye on the news and social media for updates about the grounded ship. My day was mercifully free of the demanding customer.

Until…

At 4:59 pm, my phone rang again.

Customer: “WHERE IS MY CONTAINER?!”

Dude, seriously?!