Ok, so in this new age of technology, we are left with many new problems we never had before we had all this technology to solve our problems for us. As time makes our stuff become obsolete faster and faster, we find ourselves surrounded by obsolete crap that we can't give away. Not that that stops people from trying to give away their crap like they're giving away a hidden treasure. It used to be when people found out I was into computers, they'd be like "I've got some old computers in the basement you can have for FREE!" And next thing you know, I find myself at the local dump asking the question "whad'ya mean $25 for each monitor?" And we weren't negotiating the price I'd sell them for.
I don't take free computers anymore.
So, after dropping off $75 worth of "free" monitors in my dad's garbage on a visit home, I figured I was done dealing with this for a while. But, then comes the job. A place of business accumulates crap much faster than any individual does. And as the lowest member of the totem pole of the IT department, that leaves me responsible for the "shit" jobs that IT has, such as dealing with what to do with used toner, used batteries, and broken down or obsolete computers, monitors, printers......
Great...
So, a month or so ago, I went through our "storage" area, and stacked up 2 pallets worth of Pentium I workstations, CRT monitors, and all kinds of crap you can't give away, and thought that was the end of it. But, no....when I said "take 'em away", to the person driving the fork lift, that meant put them somewhere to be forgotten about until clearing stuff out. Which means every now and then someone that I barely understand asks me "what should I do with those pallets of computers"
My answer is usually something to the effect of "I really don't fucking care" But, since I can't say that out loud, I usually say "they need to go to e-waste"
Somehow, everyone gets the idea that I have so much free time that it should fall to me to call around and find someone that wants 2 pallets worth of stuff you can't give away. Isn't this what we have a maintenance department for? So basically me and maintenance have been playing this game of both seeing who can ignore the pallets the longest. Since I rarely set foot in the area the pallets are, I was up to the challenge.
Anyways, last week my supervisor gets a call from an e-waste place asking if we have any crap for them, because they will be in the area next week. Since she doesn't want to bother dealing with it, she forwards the voicemail to me and asks me to deal with it. I dealt with it by filing it with things I don't care about. But then she asked me "did you call about that e-waste?" I gave some line about getting to it once I dealt with all the non-obsolete computers that need to be maintained and the important stuff that actually effects our day to day operations, only I thought most of that stuff to myself. So then yesterday she's like, "they're going to be in the area tomorrow, did you call them?" So, I'm like, fine, I'll arrange the pickup, since you have made it clear you want me to call and arrange for them to stop by here and haul our crap away.
So, I make the call, and say come on by, and they call back and say "we'll be there at 10:30"
Now, to be honest, by this point in time I had long forgotten about the 2 pallets. I figured maintenance got rid of it long ago. So, I was only concerned with stuff that had accumulated since then. So, around 10 I go to start bringing a small amount of workstations and monitors over to the pick up spot, and as I get up I get a call that someone is here to see me. FUCK! They're here early. So, I go meet the guy with a cart load of stuff and comments "Sorry I don't have the stuff ready for you here, I wasn't expecting you to be here until 10:30, that being the time I was told you would be here and all" So he grabs a dolly, which is the last thing one should use to haul crt monitors, and decides to help me to cut down on the trips. At least I got some joy today, watching this guy insist on trying several times to stack 3 CRT monitors on his dolly, and fail miserably. I kept telling him "nah, stick to 2", but he had no intentions of listening to me, and kept right on dropping them every time he thought he had them stacked and tried to move.
So, we're moving stuff, and pass by someone from maintenance. "Is he going to take those pallets?" "You still have those?"
Great.....more work.....
"Yeah, go bring them over"
So, some time later, we've got his truck packed, and the pallets are done with. Job well done. Mission accomplished. And then he hands me a bill for $1,300.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one said anything about a bill. Not to mention, that is the most overpriced e-waste ever! The last guy we had pick up stuff only charged us for printers, and it wasn't that much. But....what can I do at this point? I'm ready to pass out, I'm not going to tell him, "No, we need to unload the truck", so I sign the damn thing and send him on his way. After all, I was just doing what my supervisor asked me to do.
So now my supervisor is all pissed at me, because apparently she didn't ask me to do that. I'm like "you kept asking me to call to arrange a pick up, I assumed you checked these things before asking me to call" "No, I did not say that."
Whatever, at least the head of the department isn't pissed at me. I went to him, and he's like "we'll just have to pay it and not call them again"
But...seriously, what the fuck is up with this ewasting business? This place is running a scam, clearly. And I have a feeling they aren't the only ones doing this, otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay in business charging these prices. But, I know for a fact that I could have had this stuff picked up for next to nothing if I called around. Which leads me to believe, although I didn't ask questions since I assumed my supervisor had, that they mean to lead people into thinking they're a cheap or free business. I mean, they called us, and we're like "we're gonna be in the area, can we have your stuff?", and then I call them back and they don't even mention prices, and then after loading a truck
BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$1,300.00
Am I right to feel a little misled and scammed? Or am I just an idiot?
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