Bad parts, bad traffic, and bad people

I had to cover a call started by a co-worker the day before, since the co-worker started a training class, and I discovered another problem with the tape drive other than the original problem that was described to me. I rescheduled service for the next day since it’s late and I don’t have soldering iron that I need to repair the new (original?) problem. Who carries a soldering iron anymore? I haven’t used one in years. On the way to lunch, at 3:15PM, I received another call and had to respond, missing lunch. After troubleshooting the problem, on yet another tape drive, I isolated the problem to a particular part, no problem since there is a spare at the warehouse, which is just a short drive away. I went to the warehouse to pick up the spare part and I then returned to the customer site and installed the spare only to discover that part was DOA (bad parts). I called the after-hours logistics person who was stuck in traffic due to an accident and he couldn’t get home to connect his laptop and locate another replacement part (bad traffic). The after-hours logistics person finally gets home and he located the spare at a storage facility near the airport and made arrangements for me to pick up the part. On the way to the warehouse the dispatcher called my cell to tell me the part would be at the office and not the warehouse due to a manpower shortage and assured me the part would be at the office by the time I arrive because “the driver is there now picking up the part.” I arrive at the office to find out the courier hasn’t arrived and is running “late” even though the distance between the depot and the office is less than ten miles and I drove almost 50 miles. I had to wait on the driver for 18-20 minutes (bad people). Finally I get the part and drive back to the site only to discover the operator has manually loaded a tape and is running a backup job that will run for another 25-30 minutes and he started the job knowing full well I had to power the tape drive off to replace the part I went to retrieve. So, once again I have to sit and wait (bad people). Finally I get the drive replace the part, which takes a mere ten minutes, give the drive back to the customer, watch two jobs run and I leave to head home. Two miles north on 141 I hit bad traffic because of a lane closure due to road construction, bad traffic at 9:30PM no less, so I turn around and take a different route home and finally get home just after 10PM tired and very hungry. What a day, it’s as though it were Friday the 13^th instead of Thursday the 12^th.