Short Panic Mode Post

Not much time to write today. I'm trying to to throw together an event for work, and it's not going well.

It's amazing the reactions you get when you tell people you want 20 folding chairs and a PA system delivered to a parking lot in downtown Dallas for three hours. "We don't have any available." "We're going to to charge you $300 to deliver $200 worth of equipment." "We don't do business in Dallas. Yes, I know this is a local number. Ooh, you're breaking up. Bye!" It's as if they don't realize I know it's an insane request.

One guy suggested I could pick up the equipment myself to avoid the early-morning extra delivery fee. I told him I could maybe get a mixing board and three chairs in my Bug but strapping the podium to the roof was going to be tough. He was still laughing when I hung up.


If only I had one of these.

Apparently nobody holds a public event in a parking lot at 9:00 a.m. One rental place offered to drop the stuff off the night before for no additional charge. Drop it where? It's a parking lot. I'm not going to roll out my sleeping bag to babysit your folding chairs overnight, but if I don't, there will be 20 comfortably seated homeless people in the neighborhood by morning.


Who can blame them?

The same goes for the folks who said they couldn't pick the stuff up until the day after the event. Are the "Please Steal Me" signs included in the rental charge, because I don't think I should have to pay extra for something so obvious.

When I suggested I could rent a truck at Home Depot and transport everything myself, I was told I could pick up the chairs but the sound equipment had to be delivered for insurance reasons. I said it didn't make much sense to pick up half my order and still be charged the same to deliver the other half. The answer was: Nope, it don't. I think we got disconnected when I started hitting my forehead with the phone.

Anyway, I've got more phone calls to make. If you know anyone who can bring 20 folding chairs, a podium, and a small PA system to a parking lot in downtown Dallas on Thursday morning, and pick it up a few hours later, and not charge an arm and a leg, let me know. Have them call me once they stop laughing.