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March 11, 2002 - 8:27 p.m. �These things� are the mirrored glasses I received in a shipment at work last Friday. I finally got around to checking them out and filling out a receiving report on them today. They were shipped from some fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants company out of a small town in Texas, and their story makes for another one of those reoccurring entries I like to call�. You Taxpayer�s Dollars NOT Hard At Work! I haven�t written one of these in a while, but it�s not because the State has finally come to their collective senses and become wise about the way the money is spent. No, it�s just that stooopid things happen so often I tend to forget to remind them to you. It might be that I am slightly immune to the craziness that goes on around me every day. But these glasses�. These glasses are a fine example of how out-of-whack things can get. I placed an order in December for personal safety products Safety glasses are one of the many commodities that are put up for bids, then awarded as contracts to individual companies that want to put up with the slow payments and low prices it takes to win said contracts. We can save the taxpayers a load of money this way, but there are hidden problems with this system. This story is a fine example of one of the ways this system can backfire on the State.... Last year, I was able to by all my safety glasses from the same supplier. This supplier is a large company that is located here in my home state, and they have great service. I use them for a lot of non-contract purchases, and know that we get our money�s worth when we buy from them. This year, they won the contract for clear safety glasses (about $2 a pair) and smoke safety glasses (the same), but didn�t win the contract for mirrored safety glasses. They won the bid last year at a very reasonable price of less than $2 a pair. The list price for these glasses (in their own catalog) was over $7 a pair! See why I like dealing with this company? This year, they must have decided to get out of the mirrored shades department. The contract for them went to the above-mentioned company in Texas, and for a higher price, too. Because of this fact, I cut back by about one-half what I usually order (80 pair, instead of 150 last year). These glasses are made to by worn by people running mowers or chainsaws, and only last for a short while until they are so scratched they have to be replaced. Anyway���. I didn�t have time to mess with the package last Friday because it came in so late in the day. I opened the box this morning and��. The glasses were mirror coated all right. But they also had clear lenses!
I re-read the contract, and the description for this item states �these glasses should be for outdoor use. They should protect the eyes from impact at a full 180� of vision. Blah blah, and more blah�.� So, being that these glasses didn�t fit the description in the bid, I decided to call the vendor to see if they were sent to us by mistake. The �vendor�s� phone was answered by a answering machine. A home answering machine, that is. �Hello You have reached the Somebody�s! Please leave your message at the beep!��. Ok, sometimes the vendors use their home phone for business. No need to freak. I just left them a friendly message, asking them to call me back because I had a question about the glasses. About an hour later, Billy Joe Bob Somebody calls me back (no, I am not making a disparaging remark about people from Texas. I have friends who live there. It�s a great state. Believe it or not, that really was his name, minus the �Somebody� part�) The first words out of his mouth (after I identified myself) were �Your purchasing agent in the capitol gave me written approval to substitute those glasses for the ones on the contract! You can�t return them to me!� �Hang on, B.J.B. I just wanted to make sure that the right item was sent to us. Obviously you have had other complaints on the clear glasses, right?� �Um, ����.no. I just wanted to make sure you know that I won�t take them back.� was his response. Yeah, right B.J.B. You didn�t have anybody else complain. That is why you brought up the whole �written approval� story. So, to sum this long story up�.. 1. I needed about 80 pairs of tinted safety glasses with mirrored lenses 2. I received 80 pairs of operating room, clear, mirrored safety glasses that nobody will want in my 5 counties. 3. I will run out of the proper glasses around the time we start mowing this spring. I will have to offer them smoke lens glasses (which are quite dark, btw) or the operating room glasses. 4. I will have many people upset with me, and I have nothing I can do about it until the next contract comes up. 5. I have to pay for 80 pairs of glasses that will sit on my storeroom shelves until I reach retirement age. I love dealing with this kind of crap on a regular basis, I must tell you��.. So�. does anyone know a surgeon out there who might like to trade the State some of the glasses we need for these that we don�t need? I didn�t think so���
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These glasses (with added mirror film) were designed to be used in hospitals (by medical personnel) to cut out any glare from the overhead lights in the operating theatre. They are NOT for wearing outside on anything but a overcast day.
