Surfacing...

Wow, have the last three days been wild ! We hung out at Linda's brother's house on Sunday which was only about 90 minutes from where we needed to be Monday at mid-day. We needed to go to West Berlin, NJ and be there at 11:30 when corporate would call the current managers, tell them they are fired and then we walk in the door. We got turned around a couple miles from the place so had to get back on track to get to the Mini U site. We had gone down on Sunday to scope out where to park, which was about a 2 minute walk down the street. We parked the rig, called corporate...they called the managers...corporate called us...and then we hoofed it up the street to the store to take over. My stomach was churning as we walked up the road to the entrance. Didn't go too badly at first....the two guys were really upset but realized that we weren't a part of it..just there to take over. They gave us their keys,left and went to their residence behind the store.

Then the fun began....The plan was that we were to park our rig next to the store, where there is a 50 amp connection, water and close access to the rest rooms so we can use our macerator. Not sure how soon after their termination the guys started drinking but by the time the end of day came, they were nasty and not agreeable to moving their car so we could put the rig there. So we spent the night in the parking lot down the street. (As Linda observed as we climbed into bed that night, we had a pet crematory on one side and a dirty book store on the other side....In good company, eh ?) Tuesday didn't go any better and we had an exchange of words after politely asking them upon closing if they could move their car so we could pull in and park. They were well on their way to getting intoxicated again so they got mouthy, we called corporate and corporate told us to drive to the next closest Mini U in Maple Shade and park there. Are we having fun yet ?

Tuesday was a long, long day...we went in early (at 7:30) and didn't get done with work stuff till 8:30 p.m. We were exhausted by the time we set up at the Mini U at Maple Shade. On top of all that, no electric hookup, no water and no close sewer access. I was not happy !! I made up my mind then that we were going to a campground until the guys move out and we can get into the space on site where we were supposed to be. We work too damn hard to not have hot showers (or any shower for that matter), to not have electric to be cool on hot days, etc. These guys are really pissing us off. Corporate wanted us to get unarmed security guards last night but by the time they made this decision it was too late to find anyone that could do it.

On top of all this, we walked in to fire them on the last day of the month when end of month reports are due (biggest paperwork time of whole month)....Penske truck reporting gets done on Wednesdays (did that today) and learn where everything is, do all the verification stuff you have to do when you terminate a manager, etc. Holy Cow !!! Our heads have been spinning the last three days and we've been working our butts off to get our heads above water. And try to remember how to do the Penske rentals that we last did for two days during our training in July. No sweat !! LOL..We haven't known whether to laugh or cry....For our first "termination" assignment, this one has been a humdinger !

We left work tonight, hooked up to the rig at the Maple Shade location and headed out to a campground I had located in Hammonton, NJ....about 15 miles away. We got here and set up about 9:30. We are pooped ! Seems good to be "home" and we have tomorrow off to regroup and relax. Supposed to have off Friday but have alot of Penske rentals going out and one of the assistant managers had asked off this week for both Thur and Friday so we will probably go in for a while. Looking forward to next Tuesday when the guys are supposed to be gone...we'll see. I haven't seen any sign of packing and it wouldn't surprise me if they stick around just to make more of a fuss. With corporate in California, not sure what will happen if they refuse to leave. We are closed on Monday so that will be nice. Linda and I are hoping that by the time we come to work Tuesday morning that they are gone. Keep your fingers crossed for us!