Monday, May 7, 2012
Purposeless...Is that a word?
So on Monday of last week, I received a visitor to my place of business. Since we are supervised by the USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service, we will have guys come out on what is called a "supervision" trip. We don't need much supervision. We have a small amount of business compared to other agencies. My boss, Dan and I, are the only licensed inspectors in Az. Some offices have 10 to 15 inspectors. Our market is small, we don't inspect a huge variety of grain. Basically Durum wheat, Barley, Corn, and Sorghum. And there typically isn't much of the last three. Our customers never complain about their grades when their grain gets to the ports. The buyers that they are selling to know that our grades are correct. The one time there was an issue, it was a machine's software glitch that was the problem, not our ability to grade grain. I said all of that to say this, I know what I'm doing. I know that we have to be accountable. If my customers don't complain about my grades, why does a government guy need to be out here trying to catch me doing something wrong? Why do they think that we are trying to pull the wool over their eyes. What benefit is it to us to try to get away with something, when in the end our customers are getting the correct grades? We know that the travel budgets are tight. We know that there are agencies with way bigger problems than our agency has. Why do I have to sit in my office staring at a guy trying to catch me doing something wrong? We talked about everything we needed to talk about on Monday in the first hour and half he was here. So why did he stay until Thursday? I'll tell you why. The government doesn't trust us. No part of our government trusts us to take care of ourselves. We have given over our rights. This is a small case of government overrunning us. It's not a big deal. This guy showed up unannounced. They don't have the courtesy to give us a call and let us know they'll be out here. If I wanted to go visit their office, I would have to call. They wouldn't just let me in. But because they're with the government, we have to just do what they say. It sucks. There's nothing we can do about it. I'll just complain on my blog. I am hoping somehow they read it. I think it sucks the way you guys do business. Stop fighting me, help me give better customer service. Without our customers, we don't make money, without our customers you don't get user's fees, without user's fees, you don't have jobs.
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