The Key To The Problem Is Not The Key

(I do vehicle maintenance admin for a regional ambulance service. This is both emergency and patient transport. I get a call from a PT team leader based at a small station.)

Team Leader: “Hi, we’re missing the keys for [vehicle number]. Do you know if it was cleaned last night?”

Me: *checks* “No, it looks like the cleaners haven’t been to [Station] yet this week.”

Team Leader: “Oh. I’ll just go check with the crew.” *talks to ambulance crew and returns* “They say that they gave the keys to the cleaners, and the last time they saw it, it was being cleaned in the garage. The cleaners must have taken them and we need them back right now.”

Me: *knowing where this will lead* “Okay, well, the cleaners work night shifts, so they won’t be at work right now. I can ask their supervisor to get in touch with them at home, though.”

(This is deemed a necessity, since we can’t have working ambulances off the road. I call the supervisor and explain. Ten minutes later, the team leader calls back again.)

Team Leader: “We can’t actually find the vehicle either. We’re worried the cleaners might have taken it, since they have the keys. It’s needed urgently on the road and we’re already low on vehicles today. Our response level will be affected because of this.”

(I then relay the information to the supervisor. They call me back an hour later, since the cleaners didn’t pick up at first. I get in touch with Team Leader.)

Me: “Our supervisor has been in touch with the cleaners, but they haven’t been to that station last night–”

Team Leader: “Oh, I was meaning to call you back. We found the vehicle. It was actually outside in the car park and, uh… one of the crew had the keys in his pocket. Sorry about that.”

(That station was tiny! It had FIVE vehicles allocated to it! How could they not notice one outside? And why did they never ask crews to check themselves for keys before automatically assuming that cleaners took them? Those kind of issues happened so often that we raised it with management. But crews are the life-savers, so it didn’t matter how they behave.)