Four days a week, I volunteer as a Meals on Wheels driver. Last week and this week the regular coordinator is on holiday, and has been replaced by another woman from the office.
Today I get to the kitchen about 5 minutes before the meals are meant to be ready, along with one of the other two drivers picking up from this location.
Maybe 20 minutes later (ie 15 minutes after the meals were meant to be ready), the door slides open and we're given the meals. Only thing is, I can see that not all the meals I am meant to be picking up are there; and the 3rd driver has yet to arrive.
I call the office, and the coordinator is not there. I manage to get through to someone who is familiar with the way it works, and manage to get the list of meals for the missing driver. Reviewing the combined lists I see we're short 3 diabetic meals, 2 soft means, and have 2 extra regular meals.
The other driver who was there, gets all his meals properly and is able to leave.
Luckily the extra regular meals are suitable for a soft diet, so they quickly get converted to soft. Of course, the kitchen is out of vegetables at this point, so need to wait 15 minutes for those to cook.
During this time the missing driver arrives, and is certain all her meals are there. I let her know that no, she does not have 8 meals as she thought but 10. Of course, she hasn't bothered to print her list and has it on her cell phone. Where is her cell phone? Outside in her car!
She heads back to get her list and gets back just at the vegetables and the diabetic meals are ready. Looking at her list I understand her confusion; while there are 10 meals listed in it, they did not bother to up the summary count from 8 to 10!
We both manage to leave (about 45 minutes behind schedule).
I get to my first stop and discover that the lids on some of the desserts (chocolate pudding) have come loose, and that my bag with the desserts in is now swimming in chocolate pudding
I proceed to the deliveries and the upset seniors who are getting their meals quite late.
Just as I've made the penultimate stop and am on route to the final stop my cell phone rings. I pull over and answer it; it's the coordinator for another program I volunteer for, one that drives patients home from hospital visits. Could I do a 2:30 pm pickup? (It's 1:45pm right now). I agree, then check to make sure a wheel chair accessible vehicle is ready (which luckily, it is).
Head off; do the final drop-off, pick up the paper work; pickup the wheel chair van; pick up my co-worker and head off to the hospital. Leave there by about 3:20 pm and drive the patient to her retirement home. I then sit and wait in the vehicle for about an hour and a quarter for the retirement home to send a nurse to complete the check-in process!
Finally make it home around 5:30 pm.
Sigh...
Now just have to remember to clean the food bags of chocolate pudding before tomorrows run!