Stop arguing about whose job it is and JUST FUCKING DO IT!

The BBQ Pit
1

Normally, I love riding the ferry, and most of the people who work on the ferries and on the docks are friendly and efficient. Not today, though, as I was trying to go home.

I arrived at the ferry terminal a few minutes early, and pulled up my bike next to the usual gang of riders as the boat was unloading its previous load of cars and passengers. The woman who directs traffic was standing next to us at the entrance, as usual. As the last of the cars left the boat, the little garbage go-cart scooted on, and the ferry worker next to us got on her walkie-talkie and spoke to someone: “Don’t forget the blood.”

This may sound like an odd thing to say, but I knew what she was referring to – the shipments of blood samples that are often carried back and forth across the Sound via the ferry system. They are kept in closed plastic tubs, about the same size as a smallish suitcase.

Someone responded on her walkie-talkie. I couldn’t make out what it was, but it didn’t make her happy. She got back on it and shot back, “That ain’t MY job!”

A few seconds later, someone got back and said something about taking it to the top of the slip (the ramp that connects the ferry car deck with the rest of the dock). The end of the slip is maybe fifty or sixty feet away from where we’re standing, mind. She sharply responds once again, that’s not HER job. Someone else (obviously not there) should have done it.

Two or three others come onto the walkie-talkie and also ask her to take it, while we’re waiting to be cleared to get on. No-go; she flat refuses.

Finally, a young man picks up the box and carries it down the ramp, onto the boat. Apparently, it wasn’t his job either and she starts yelling at him, “Sean, don’t you take that down there! Just put it down! You don’ need to be takin’ that down there!” He, being a decent sort and seeing that he’s the only one trying to do anything, ignores her and takes it all the way down the ramp and gives it to one of the ferry workers on the boat. Good man, thinks I. At least someone is willing to carry a box fifty feet.

As “Sean” walks back up the ramp, though, our girl isn’t done yet. She turns back to a nearby co-worker and continues to rant about whose job it is to do that, and that she don’t get paid enough for that, and they shouldn’t even be asking her to do that. Those of us on bikes and motorcycles, standing right next to her, hear every word. Most likely, the folks in Pioneer Square, a couple miles away, heard it loud and clear as well. She wasn’t exactly trying to disguise her words.

She continues to yell about it as the garbage go-cart returns from the boat with its load, and continues to rant even as her walkie-talkie crackles with a word that means the ferry is ready for loading.

And still we wait. Bikes are the first to board the ferry, and so everyone else is waiting for us. We are waiting for her signal to go.

Lady, it might not be your job to carry a sealed box of blood samples fifty feet onto the ferry. It IS your fucking job, however, to get people onto the ferry in a timely manner, so they can get home after a long day’s work. I know for a fact that one of the other riders just finished a 13-hour work day, and I suspect she’d like to get on the boat and get home. I myself just came off of 10 hours at work, and at least another 90 minutes until I can get home and rest. You’re so busy yelling about what isn’t your job, that you’re not doing your job!

My fellow riders and I look at each other. We all know that we’re clear to board, but this lady is supposed to give us the final word to ride on. Our feet are poised on pedals, feet shifting restlessly. I can feel a readiness in the air to take the ferry by storm, bitchy woman be damned.

Just as the breaking point is reached, she finally turns and tells us to go on. No apologies, no recognition that she made everyone wait for her little tantrum, just waved us on.

I’m a generally patient guy, but incompetence sometimes ticks me off. This was worse than incompetence, this was willful incompetence. This lady came off as petty, and she was definitely completely devoid of professionalism, ranting about what isn’t her job in front of all of us. What’s even worse, she let her tantrum about what isn’t her job impinge on actually DOING what most definitely IS her job, namely keeping the ferry loading going smoothly.

Stupid fucking bitch… not words I use lightly.

2

Add her name, a properly addressed envelope and a stamp for $0.37 and if there is justice in the world, it really won’t be her job to get people on the ferry any more.

(Is this the Bainbridge Island ferry, btw? I’ve made exactly one round-trip on it. Was nice.)

3

I wonder if in her previous job, she painted highway lines?

4

I’ve worked with people like this, and it drove me up the wall. I’m seconding AmbushBug’s advice to write a letter. And I’d be sure not to leave out a compliment for the gentleman who did the job, whether it was his or not.

5

No shit!
Lazy-ass people suck.
Just get it (whatever IT is) over with so we can all get on with our damn lives. Why is it such a huge pain in the ass to just do something you see needs to be done?

6

That’s really an excellent idea… I may just do so. I’ll have to get her name when I see her again tonight.

It’s the Bremerton run… twice as long and four times as ugly, since we get the older boats for some reason. Actually, though, it’s a good run, too. Very relaxing after a long day at work. Not many people can say that about their commute.

Thanks for the link Knowed Out. My co-workers and I got a good laugh out of it.

7

It really amazes me how much time and energy people will expend trying NOT to do something. Fine, it’s not your job. How about just doing it, then afterward you can have a word with the person who was supposed to have done it? Now there’s a thought.

8

Clearly you should find the person whose job it is to write a letter of complaint and have then write it.

9

I concur–write the letter. If nothing else you will feel better and maybe something might come out of it. We had a similar situation last year when the asshole at the dock was trying to make a point to the King County Bus driver and stranded a bunch of Southworth commuters in Fauntleroy by dropping the gate as we were there on the dock—so a bunch of us wrote letters and he no longer is there–not sure what happend to him actually. I tell you there is nothing like a bunch of 20-something Mom’s trying to get back to daycare to pick up their kid, and who have to now wait for 45 minutes til the next ferry–I dont’ think I have heard sailors say some of the words coming out of these ladies!

I take the Southworth run–and agree that it is a nice way to commute. Plus you can grab a beer on board–how many commuters can claim that.

Along the same note–man you Bremerton folks got really screwed on this new schedule! I was looking at it, first you lost the passenger only boat–and then it looks like they shifted all the other boats to make for a long day.

Luckily the Southworth/Vashon/Fauntleroy run got a pretty good deal this go around. Hopefully Kitsap will pass that passenger only increase and we get those direct boats to downtown–then life will be very nice!

10

You say that you’ll be seeing her tonight. Do you see her working there often? Is she usually that rude and unhelpful? Is so, write the letter. If not, perhaps she was having a bad day. Perhaps her husband just left her. Who knows? Yes, she was rude and unprofessional but if this is the only time it’s happened then perhaps there are mitigating circumstances.

11

My thoughts exactly… it’s what the rest of the world does when they run into such similar situations.

In general, I agree… the Bremerton run got hit pretty hard. Speaking for myself, though, I don’t mind too much. I rarely used the PO boats unless I missed the car boats, and the new times actually work a little better for my work schedule. The old schedule was timed a little too close for my tastes, but the new one gives me more breathing room. I’ve heard many others complaining about the changes, though, and the big boats are definitely fuller these days!

She’s there most every night, and I’ve never seen her have a tantrum like that, but she’s also fairly short and impatient in general. She’s always struck me as someone who’s burnt out on her job, but never moreso than last night.

I do hear what you’re saying, though, and I’ll probably let her future behavior dictate what I do. I’ll be watching her more closely, though… but who knows, maybe she’ll apologize to all of us tonight.

12

One thought that might mitigate her behavior somewhat …

Could transporting blood be one of those “biohazard” jobs that can only be done by someone specifically trained to do it?

Yeah, yeah, I know, we’re talking about picking up a box. But it could be possible that there are certain protocols that must be followed for transportation of something like blood. Or that only specifically licensed and/or bonded people can handle biohazardous materials in transport. Or something like that.

I used to work for the Red Cross, setting up blood drives. I would frequently offer to transport units of blood back to the testing facility if I was going that way from a blood drive, but I was always refused, because I didn’t have the necessary training.

If nothing else, the woman in question needs a good dose of PR training. But maybe she had a point regarding the blood transport.

13

I actually gave that one some thought, as well. However, what occurred to me is that I see many other ferry workers more than willing to pick up and carry the boxes on both sides of the route, and while it’s usually the same person who does it most days, sometimes other people fill in.

And, it seems to me, that the most likely person to receive the necessary training would be the person right in fron of the slip, who would have to go the shortest distance to actually move the box where it needs to go. That person, in this case, would be My Lady Disdain, of the wagging tongue.

And finally, at no point during her tantrum did she say anything about not being trained for the task. She did say something about not being paid for it, but nothing about training or anything.

At best, my guess is she didn’t want to do it because the idea of carrying a box full of blood samples squicked her out. But I agree, you may have a point. Just doesn’t seem very consistent with what I’ve seen otherwise.

14

Oh, I freely admit I’m grasping at straws, here. I doubt the woman in question has any rationale for her behavior other than “I don’t get paid enough.”

15

I’m not in the medical profession, but when we have samples that have to be transferred from a site to the lab there is accompanying paperwork called a “chain of custody” it’s supposed to be unbroken and prove that the samples were under either the collector’s or an authorized transporters care at all times.

Now, that’s just for hazmat samples. With blood? That’s presumably going to be used to save people’s lives and stuff? I would think there would be similar, but tougher procedures in place to protect the blood from contamination, etc.

So, even though she went about it badly, she very well could have been correct. Perhaps she wasn’t articulate enough to state, I’m not allowed to touch it, it’s supposed to have the paperwork signed over to prove transporter sequence etc".

The young man who DID pick it up could very well have been “breaking the chain” and perhaps was NOT authorized to touch it, hence her “it’s not YOUR job either” comments. Again, since she IS “just” the traffic controller, she might not have had the conversational wherewithal to state all that appropriately etc.

Her “pettiness” might have been real concern that the blood wasn’t being handled by the authorized person.

16

Again, I agree that it’s a possibility, but based on what I’ve seen on other days, on other routes of the ferry, not very consistent with how it’s done at those times.

And just to be clear, this wasn’t life-saving blood. The boxes are marked with the logo of a local blood lab company, which performs blood tests and the like. Certainly, they would want to have procedures which prevent contamination, but I doubt that it isn’t anything they could teach all the ferry employees, how to carry the box fifty feet to the end of the slip.

I’m not out to get her or anything, but her behavior last night just didn’t make sense, in any procedural way. (Not that this rules anything out… I can think of a number of procedures that don’t make sense from an outside perspective.)

I guess the end result is that it was clear that whoever was supposed to be moving the box of blood (I kind of like that phrase) wasn’t there, and it had to be moved. I’m glad that someone finally decided to mave it, so everyone else could get on with their trip home.

17

… and by “mave” of course I meant “move,” but said in a sexy Irish accent.

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