The paint debacle
Recently, I had to deal with an order for three different colors of paint. The quote was so high, several of us were sure that the paint company must've put us down for 20 5 gallon buckets of paint instead of 20 gallons. But, no, it turns out the paint really is $30 a gallon. Dafuq. Anyway, word came down from on high that at that price we should order half as much. Thus, I amended the purchase order to reflect the new price and reported all these developments to the supervisor who normally interfaces with the paint people.
That supervisor then went on vacation. Today, he got back and the first thing he tells me is that he couldn't wait any longer and so he ordered all 20 gallons of each color paint even though he didn't have a purchase order for it. Dafuq? I said. There's been a PO approved for that for weeks. Plus, I told his ass about the lower quantity and the approval at the same time.
To top it all off, the paint company won't leave a quote for paint in their system until it's definitely going to be ordered. So during the space between the time we solicit a quote and get our ducks in a row, there's exactly one person in their company that has any idea what's on the quote. Congratulations! You've defeated the purpose of your computerized record-keeping system. Also, I probably ought to have a firm price before I get approval to order X quantity of item at Y price... but you won't guarantee a price until I get approval to order it. Sigh...
So screw verbal communication. Useless Supervisor gets everything emailed to him.
That supervisor then went on vacation. Today, he got back and the first thing he tells me is that he couldn't wait any longer and so he ordered all 20 gallons of each color paint even though he didn't have a purchase order for it. Dafuq? I said. There's been a PO approved for that for weeks. Plus, I told his ass about the lower quantity and the approval at the same time.
To top it all off, the paint company won't leave a quote for paint in their system until it's definitely going to be ordered. So during the space between the time we solicit a quote and get our ducks in a row, there's exactly one person in their company that has any idea what's on the quote. Congratulations! You've defeated the purpose of your computerized record-keeping system. Also, I probably ought to have a firm price before I get approval to order X quantity of item at Y price... but you won't guarantee a price until I get approval to order it. Sigh...
So screw verbal communication. Useless Supervisor gets everything emailed to him.