My name is Michelle and I play Tetris for a living!
Well, it feels that way sometimes. As the scheduler for our soft-surface division I play with colorful electronic blocks that represent all of our carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and carpet repair jobs. Here’s how the game goes: I get a call for carpet cleaning in Piedmont- I make an orange block for Carlos’s route on Tuesday morning. Next someone needs a carpet repair in Diablo- Lue (repairman extraordinaire) gets a big block for Tuesday afternoon. Lue’s blocks are a nice school bus yellow. “Alright,” I think, “come on- someone in Danville must need a silk sofa cleaned!” This would nicely fill Lue’s empty morning, and he’s awesome with silk! Whoo hoo! Just got a call for an all-day commercial carpet cleaning job, just perfect for Yee and a helper, there goes the plum block! (Yee’s blocks are the nicest color, I think- and Wilma agrees!) Uh, oh Les just gave me a message from Mrs. Smith and she wants her area rugs cleaned on Tuesday, in Fremont. Fremont?! That doesn’t work with the orange Piedmont-Carpet-Cleaning block, or the yellow Carpet-Repair block, OR the nice plum Commercial-Carpet-Cleaning block! Okay- quick, what do I do? I’ll have to go with the next row over- Octavio, who is olive green, and hope for some nice cleaning jobs in Hayward, Newark and/or Castro Valley to fill his route. Finally, thru skill, experience and a little luck, I have managed to build a successful schedule! Tomorrow, it’s on to level 2!
