"purdy darn good Ey!"

It is 7:10 pm and I am writing from my jobsite trailer here at Hill Air Force Base. Though still at work, I am taking a sanity break from the stresses of the day that started at 4:00 am this morning. As such I jumped onto the family email and was pleased to find the always entertaining travel log adventures of Williams family. Ironically, my day presented a fair amount of common ground with people that talk a little bit different, but have an abundance of hospitality. Allow me to elaborate...
 
Since late December my company has been  waiting for a substantial change order (work not originally planned on) to move a major fire service line so we can proceed with the construction of our building. The negotiating and planning processes have been painfully arduous. Numerous set backs have been encountered and literally hundreds of hours spent along the way. The final result of these two processes was a 60 hour shutdown of 11 mission critical buildings and a fixed deadline to restore fire water to these buildings by 7:00 pm on Sunday. So at 5:00 am this morning the clock started ticking. By 11:00 am the pipe was cut. By noon our plan was thwarted as the water line we had been told, confirmed, and planned on being a specific type of material turned out to be something different. Within an hour of finding this out, we had company vice presidents, Army Corp project managers, key personnel from the base fire department and the affected facilities all in a meeting to discuss options. So what does any of this have to do with people that "tawk" funny Ey?
 
After our power pow wow, wherein parts availability and options were pointing to Wednesday, my boss and I jumped on the internet and started searching for manufacturers of the pipe we are dealing with. We came across an outfit based in Quebec. So I dialed the number and though it was 5:00 pm in Canada, a man answered the phone. After explaining our situation, the gentle Canadian on the other end of the conversation politely asked "Do you know we are based in Canada? Would you like to speak with someone in the United States?" I chuckled and replied "We had to start somewhere." As it was 5:00 o'clock, it took him a minute to find the state side number, but he did and wished me well. After hanging up, I immediately dialed the number and a young women in Texas answered the phone. Again, I introduced myself, said where I was calling from, explained the situation and asked if she could connect me to someone that could help. She replied "yes" and transferred me. I am not sure were I ended up, but after a minute I hung up and called back. She answered again, I explained again, she transferred me to Danny White. Danny White was not in so I opted to go back to the operator. She then put me through to "Bob." He too was not in, so again I went back to this young lady. Each time I spoke to her I sensed her anxiety rising...she was running out of options. This last time I paused, then asked if there were a cell number for Danny or Bob as it was important that I speak to someone that might be able to help. She asked for a minute, put me on hold, then Cathryn got on the phone. I will spare you the balance of the play by play and suffice to say that Cathryn led to Jerry, Jerry to Billie, then Billie, Jerry, and Dennis stayed until 6:30 to put all the parts we needed on an overnight Fedex flight to SLC.
 
I have learned alot today, but one of the coolest things I relearned or was reminded of today was that there are great people throughout our country and world. None of these people needed to pick up the phone, go and find a Cathryn, or stay late to ensure parts made it to Fedex by 6:30. But they did and I believe that despite the fact that they probably made some good margins on the parts and shipping, they did it because they are just good people. Good enough that at 8:30 on a Friday night Dennis called me back with a confirmation/tracking number. Now thats "purdy darn good Ey!"
 
p.s.  Matt just left for work this morning (it's 5:30 a.m. on Saturday).  Apparently the parts are in route from Tennessee (the Fedex Hub).  As we spoke last night, Matt said yesterday was one of the best days of work he has ever had.  I guess stress and success make a good combination for him.
 
p.p.s.  Billie is a woman :) I guess that's the south.

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Wendy W. Bentley