This morning I forgot one of the things taught to me earlier in life, that it is often easier to do something that you believe is right and apologize if necessary instead of waiting meekly for permission.
I arrived at 6 AM local time at the Good Humor plant (owned by Breyers, apparently) and found the front guard shack uninhabited. There was a single quasi-legal place to park out on the street and dire warning signs about not parking inside the gate or going past the guard shack until permitted. I parked outside and walked in with the paperwork, only to confirm that the guard shack was indeed empty.
Now, what I should have done was to nose around and looked for a Shipping and Receiving door... just about every place with big rig docks has one. Most often labeled, too. Instead, I meekly turned around and went back to my truck and waited for 90 minutes until I got fed up and went back inside. I saw a worker on a smoke break and asked politely where the Shipping and Receiving was and he gave me vague directions.
After traipsing around the building for a few minutes I found a likely door and went inside and found another worker on a forklift. I showed him the paperwork and he waived me over to an empty dock and told me to back in and he would take care of it. Ten minutes later I was in the dock, and twenty minutes after that I was unloaded, just as my original appointment time rolled by, in fact.
So now I sit a few miles away at a service plaza on the Massachusetts Toll Pike idling in the 85-90 degree humid morning air, taking in the No Idling (more than 5 minutes) signs and the other dozen or so drivers doing the same thing. I think I will try to apologize instead of asking permission this time.
