Frenchy:

Many years ago when I worked at a Borden's Dairy & Services Division as an Inventory Control Clerk for the maintenance department, I had a really tough situation occur.

One of our specialized high-lift fork trucks used in the -20 degree fairenhiet ice cream warehouse burned out its main motor. We didn't have a spare because the supplier was in town. I called them up to arrange to pick up a spare and was told they had just sold their last one and would not have another one until the next day. Since no motors of that type were available from wholesalers anywhere else in town and we could not get the burned out motor rewound the same day, I asked our supplier if anyone else in Milwaukee used that type of fork lift. They gave me the name of GE Medical Systems which at that time was located in Milwaukee. I called them up, asked for the M.O.M. (Manager of Maintenance.) and told him my situation and asked if they had a spare motor they could borrow me and I would give them the new one that was coming to the supplier who was putting it aside for me. He said sure, I went across town in a Borden's van, signed a receipt, got the motor, took it back where it was quicklly installed and we were good to go saving lost production time that is measured in thousands of dollars per hour.

What happened next shows some of the idiocies of management. The next day I took the old motor, put it in the company truck, picked up the new motor at the supplier, dropped the old motor at the rebuild shop and went back to the plant. I went to the ice cream departments top supervisor and told him I was going to GE Medical Systems to repay our motor loan and I told him I wanted (4) half gallon containers of various flavors of our premium ice cream to give the guy at GE as a treat for being so understanding. The supervisor told me to take a couple of pints of product as that should be enough for one guy. Now if you haven't noticed through some of my posts, all right!, all of my posts, humility does not become me and I went off on him in front of witnesses. I started raving about all the money the guy from GE Medical Systems had saved us when he owed me and Borden's nothing and now I should go back and insult him with a couple of penney-anney pints of ice cream. I told the supervisor, in front of witnesses, I was going to the warehouse, take (4) half-gallons of premium product and he could fire me, or take the costs out of my pay in which case I would apply for a job at GE Medical Systems where they would more likely appreciate my inginueity and respect for others help. I took the new motor, still in the shipping container, to GE Medical Systems, gave it to the man who borrowed me theirs, got my receipt back, sat around in their break room with the boss and some of the other maintenanc people, shared some of their ice cream, and told them to call if they ever needed something I could help them with.

Frenchy, when you are in such a situation, try to find someone in the locale you go to that may be able to help you out even if you don't know them personally or they are a competitor. If they want cash for helping you, determine if their price is worth it. If they want nothing but the return of their parts, try to give them something of personal value to show you appreciate their trust. At Borden's we used to help out other dairies by sharing parts we had and they did the same for us. The reason I did not call them for this part is because GE Medical Systems was closer than any of them and I knew GE had the motor.

By the way, I kept my job and second hand conversation came back to me that the supervisor thought I was a real pompus jerk who was really good at what I did. He and I got along great even with all the argueing we did while I worked there.

Good luck on your next trips!

Bountyhunter