By-Line Explained!!!!!

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM):

The Title of My Blog was set up by my son Andrew, who is so much the wiser with Information Technology. So I gave him the latitude to develop that opening drawing-card!!! And while that By Line is 'loaded' with double-entendre and suggestion, it actually is part of a quotation that a woman made about myself, when picking up an item she arranged to have 'held' at the Counter of Airborne Express. This would have been in the summer of the late 1990's; around 1998. And I would have been working the 'counter area' only because of summer vacation replacement. I otherwise would have been on the dock/floor area loading our outbound 'C'(Cochrane) containers with freight for our DC-9 to take later at night to our huge HUB-SORT in Wilmington, Ohio. On this particular night a Woman comes in, identifies herself, and provides the tracking number for HER parcel. In short order, I find it and place it on the counter along with the MANIFEST---for Her to sign. Since she is, in-effect claiming that this high-value LAPTOP COMPUTER is her's---she must sign the MANIFEST validating same. She DECLINES signing the Manifest; she wants to INSPECT the laptop, first!!!!! I politely instruct her that she can test the laptop all she wants---there even is an outlet on the inside of the entrance wall to allow her to do so---but she just can't arbitrarily walk in, ask for a laptop and start 'cutting' through it. She must first take 'ownership' by signing the MANIFEST. She quickly develops a defensive attitude and objects to my position. "What if there is something wrong; what if this needs to go back." "I don't want to be responsible if it still isn't working." Ma'am, I counter, if there is something wrong---we send it back through the same channels it got here!!! We are going back-and-forth for what must have been a good 5 minutes. She wants her 'property' but she won't take 'ownership'. A co-worker, who is covering the International Desk is within earshot of the entire volley of 'exchanges' and decides to intercede. Because I am doing this on a replacement basis---I am playing this by the BOOK. I mean---if something goes wrong, I'll have a supervisor to answer to, and I also know this employee's personality. And that is to say---if something did go askew, he'd remind me constantly of the 'proper' procedures. To calm the client down, the Intrernational Desk agent decided it was OK to let her 'go' through the laptop even though the ownership hadn't been technically determined. Gratefully, as fate would have it---the laptop is in working order. The client now feels comfortable enough to take 'ownership' and signs the manifest. She now begins to express her 'appreciation' to the Agent who intereceded on my behalf; he in effect bent the rules making me look like an employee with no customer service skills. And from where I'm now seated doing other paperwork and answering the occasional phone call, I can hear the gist of where this conversation is going. Then came those fateful words that would recur in conversations right up to the ending days of Airborne/D H L!!! And I would wear those remarks as My Red Badge of Courage. After lauding this individual for his customer service 'skills', I was assailed as..."that other guy, he's as Asshole!!!"

I never regretted my actions; my position. To this day---I would have handled that matter the same way. People just will NOT take ownership for actions. I see that every day. And at 58, I find that lack of responsibility; that unwillingness to take ownership---more troubling than ever.

I'm not the fastest typer. I am working on that. While I won't be corresponding on here every day, my objective is to try and add an item or two throughout the week. I trust the viewer will find the readings an interesting interlude to the rest of their daily activity. Lou Marconi