The 9-5 Problem

Here's a problem I bet a lot of you can relate to. Or maybe I'm one of the only people that have this issue. Here goes:

My job requires that I work 9:00am to 5:30pm Monday-Friday. Fairly frequently I work a little longer (or even a little shorter) because of work loads, meetings, etc. 9-5:30 to me doesn't necessarily mean 9-5:30. It means I work until my customers' problems are solved.

I left work a little early tonght to stop by and pick up my rock sliders from the body shop (more on that later). The body shop's hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm. Getting to the body shop before work is a difficult task. I have to get up much earlier, and then I usually end up getting in to work late. Likewise, getting to the body shop before they close requires me to leave work early - which is possible, but not not smiled upon if done frequently. But I really needed to pick up my parts tonight, so I asked to leave at 5.

Traffic on 95 and 64 completely sucked and I ended up pulling into the body shop's parking lot right at 5:30, maybe a minute before. I rushed up to the office door only to find it locked. I double-checked the time on my phone. 5:29. I knocked on the door. No response. I knocked again, louder this time. There was no way that my early work exit and crazy driving were going to be wasted.

A lady finally emerged from the office, obviously in a rush to leave. I looked at her is disbelief, pointed at my (non-existant) watch and blurted out, "It isn't 5:30 yet!" She replied with, "Oh yes it is! And I'm late to go pick up my son at the far end of Goochland!"

Ok, so the lady has personal matters that requires her to leave work at 5:30. But don't you think it would be helpful to their customers if (at least) SOMEONE in their office worked a little past 5:30?

My story above is just one example of my frusteration with this. I'm dealing with the exact same problem right now with the sign shop that I order my CustomTacos vinyl through. Their hours are 9am-5:30..even worse! And..they're CLOSED on Saturday and Sunday.

Sure, being open 9-5 is convenient for the employees working those shop hours. But what aboout other people that work? When is it convenient for us to do business with these businesses?

Moving on. Now, enjoy some photos of my sliders. Iron Pig Offroad will be welding them on for me on Monday. And guess what - I'm taking the day off so I can get this done. :)

Posted by Jeff at May 5, 2005 11:53 PM