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Control Box: what's the dispatch room like?

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    Hello All, pardon the extremely newbie question, but I'm considering doing a stint as a courier for a year to earn some dosh before b*ggering off travelling afterwards (22, just outta Uni, avoiding life for a couple of years before the corporate rot).

    Anyways, I've being doing my research, but one question I'm curious about and haven't seen any comments about is about life in the dispatch room and what that's like?

    Does one ever get back to this place or is riding a solitary adventure most of the day with all company communication done via walkie-talkie?

    And if/when you are back, is it a bunch of lads sitting around playing cards waiting for another docket (is it called that?)? Talking sh*te? Watching telly?

    Not to imply that a description of the dispatch room (good or bad) is gonna have a huge influence on my decision (I've pretty much decided to go ahead), but just knowing a bit about "behind the scenes" might help to keep the nerves down a bit ... (have an interview with XXXXXXXXX on Wednesday? Gulp!).

    Thanks in advance !
    • CommentAuthorFesterban
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008
     
    Depends on the company really, I'm left to roam the streets of London all day long, some companies have rider rooms with tea/coffee/microwave from what I've read on here. I'm sure you could name the company and someone here should know and be able to tell you. Turn up early for your interview, possibly wet from the rain for extra points :wink:
    • CommentAuthorselimski
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008
     
    Life in the dispatch room??
    hehehehe
    Find a bookshop where your radio works.....And don't forget that extra layer.
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    Ever wondered abut purgatory? Go to cyclone's riders room.
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    Today i played chess with Dave 9 in the riders room, after which, Overdrive spanked me. This Forum is the cyperspace version of a riders room, to a T.
    • CommentAuthorFesterban
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008
     
    Shoulda got some Hungry Hungry Hippos in for real fun imo
    • CommentAuthorredrum
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008 edited
     
    i didnt realise there were dispatch rooms???? where i was working, i was busy
    doing jobs. Dispatch rooms are for rookies and old farts from metro.:fierce:
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      CommentAuthorwill
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008
     
    Ever wondered what language they speak in purgatory? Brazilian Portuguese.
    • CommentAuthorifbm
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008
     
    The old cyclone dispatch room above Goodge st was alright, except when it rained, then all the blokes (except Will) would dry their socks on the radiator and you'd have to eat your lunch next to hairy, smelly man feet. I often opted for a bench.
    • CommentAuthorJP
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2008 edited
     
    ..
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      CommentAuthoroverdrive
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2008
     
    What happens in the metro riders room stays in the metro riders room.
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      CommentAuthorwill
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2008
     
    Ah, Goodge st, good times. Who are you IBFM? Do I know you? Bearing in mind I can't remember many people I have worked with.
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    All rider rooms feel like purgatory, I reckon, unless your in the posh one at metro. I prefer the wall, I used to hang out on the steps but I got sick of other riders yelling sexist crap at women walking by. :confused:
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      CommentAuthorGertie
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2008
     
    They're a mean lot Davey, but underneath it all they're teddy bears really.
    Most companies don't have rooms in their buildings for the people who actually work and bring the money in to hang out in between jobs, sometimes this is because the office isn't 'on circuit' i.e. the area of town which you're expected to work- rents are cheaper further out, and sometimes it's just because they don't. Most couriers end up hanging around on street corners/ fire-escape steps that sort of thing, where exactly this is will depend on who you're working for- it tends to be near where your major clients are. These spots also change with time, sometimes for obvious reasons( redevelopment, new security take into their heads to chase people off etc) and sometimes for no apparent reason. These spots are called Plot-up points, as in " I was plotted up in the Hole once when blah blah blah..."
    :rolling:I've just read that back to myself and realised it sounds sexual euphemisim :crazy:
    Have to say I agree with Nhatt about behaviour at the steps
    Anyway, welcome to the wonderful world of couriering young lad just remember to keep the rubber side down.
    Don't stress it the first week or so we all got lost loads when we started and spent more looking at the A-Z than actually riding.
    • CommentAuthoreggpie
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2008
     
    >I used to hang out on the steps but I got sick of other riders yelling sexist crap at women walking by

    I see you caught them on a good day. Were they trying to impress you?
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    Isn't everyone, eggpie?
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      CommentAuthorj.dot
    • CommentTimeMar 12th 2009
     
    i know im late to the game but...my .2 cents...the dispatch room is boring. it's not a bunch of paper flying all over the place. it's not all hectic. it's boring as f*ck! im usually just reading the internet all day long...sometimes i wish i was still out there but then i remember how lazy i am. no one hangs out at the base...by no one i mean the crew. they all have random hang out spots...pizza trucks, bars, libraries, book stores, 7-11's, random corners, lower wacker, upper wacker, millennium park, and so on...the city is the base...peace.
    • CommentAuthorsleepy
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2009
     
    in the dying days of MY couriers (what anderson young became in it's final throes of death rattle) we had a whole warehouse to ride around, play football and more importantly- loot.
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      CommentAuthorThe.Pike
    • CommentTimeMar 19th 2009
     
    mate.........dontbother!
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    The dispatch room is where the less adventurous go to become old, ugly, fat and stupid.
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      CommentAuthoroverdrive
    • CommentTimeMar 20th 2009
     
    Speak for yourself there,mate.
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    Ah, MY despatch (see what they did there?). From where I'm sitting I can see one of the anglepoise lamps, the Premier A-Z map, the postcode map and the 100 miles round London map I liberated in the dying days. The other lamp and the Britain map are slightly out of view. I think I've still got the red bill from the taxman to the tune of a quarter of a mill that we found somewhere. Great days. I wonder what Bernie's doing now? Apart from a gram or two of chas a day and shouting til he's purple. Cunt.
    • CommentAuthorsleepy
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2009
     
    bernie was at galaxy with the sad sack guy (can't for the life of me remember his name, not dave from pinky and perky). a gram or two a day?!? that's optimistic, i believe it was rather alot more than that. :shocked:

    do you remember how he got the heave ho?
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    Time has sadly erased the how and why. I will, however, take the sheepish "I've just been sacked and I know you're all dancing a conga just behind your faces" look on his fat fucking face to my grave. Live fast, die young, leave a smirking corpse.
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      CommentAuthorj.dot
    • CommentTimeApr 6th 2009
     
    "The dispatch room is where the less adventurous go to become old, ugly, fat and stupid."

    less adventourous...umm, yes but i live vicariously through the crew. old and ugly...im definitely getting old but God does it feel good to look at myself in the mirror...ha! fat and stupid...i definitely feel dumber but no matter how much we f*cking eat inside the dispatch room i can't gain any damn weight...peace.

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