Chapter 17 - Page 239 - Trouble In Chicago

  He drove them all to his company and they spent two hours in the office building. Jim introduced Rhasha and Shanha to all his employees. When he talked to Mary, he found out they had a problem in shipping and receiving. Rhasha and Shanha accompanied him when he went to investigate. As they entered the warehouse, Jim looked around for the shipping manager, Bill. They found him sitting at his desk in his office.

  Bill rose and shook Jim's hand. "Hi Jim, long time, no see. It's nice to meet you," he said when Jim introduced Rhasha and Shanha. He shook their hands.

  "Thank you," Rhasha said, "it's nice to meet you, too." Shanha, holding onto Rhasha's arm, just smiled.

  Jim wanted to get right down to business. "Bill, I understand there's a problem with the truck drivers."

  "Yes. The drivers that are available all refuse to deliver to a hostile company."

  "Who is the hostile company?" Jim asked.

  "It's Randell Tool Distributors, out of Chicago."

  "Okay," Jim said, "we've had complaints about them before. I told Jim Randell that if we had any more problems, we would discontinue further shipments."

  "But Jim," Bill protested, "they're one of our biggest accounts."

  "If we chop that tree down, other trees will take its place," Jim said.

  "I'm sure you're right," Bill said, "but we've delivered to Randell for several years."

  Jim wanted to know more before he made a decision. "What are the drivers complaining about?" he asked. "Are they being reasonable?"

  Bill reached into a filing cabinet and pulled out a folder labeled Randell Tool Distributors. "We've had many complaints about Randell Tools," Bill said. "Enough to create a complaint folder. They're the only company that gets any complaints." Bill slipped the complaint forms out of the folder and silently read one after the other. After he'd read through five complaints, he pushed them all together and placed them back in the folder. "They all complain about the same three problems: They have to wait in their trucks for ten to twelve hours before they get unloaded."