From the other side of the sales desk. This is all over the phone.
Me : I need a price for cement and aggregate to make a metre of concrete, delivered.
Sales : You want a tonne of aggregate?
Me : No, enough cement and aggregate to make a cubic metre. A METRE.
Sales : We sell it in tonnes
Me : I need enough tonnes to make a metre.
Sales : We sell in tonnes.
Me : How much do I need for a metre?
Sales : (goes away from phone. Comes back). That'll be one and a half tonnes.
Me : Fine. How much, delivered?
Sales : One and a half tonnes of aggregate, delivered...
Me : And the cement, too. The cement is with that.
Sales : No, no cement. You asked for aggregate.
Me : Cement AND aggregate.
Sales : How much cement do you want?
Me : Enough to make a metre.
Sales : You'll have to talk to a builder or concreter for that. We can't give you specifications.
Me : I'm not ASKING for specifications. I'm asking for enough cement to make up a metre of concrete.
Sales : We don't do that sort of thing...
Me : This was all extremely simple the last time I made the same order
Sales : Ohh... (Goes away for a while)
Sales : That'll be 100 bags
Me : Pardon?
Sales : 100 bags to make a metre.
Me : You sure you're not talking pre-mix? Because I want cement and aggregate, seperate.
Sales : No, that's cement. You need 100 bags.
Me : Look, I'm trying very hard to remain calm here and not start swearing.
Sales : I don't know why you would want to start swearing. I'll transfer you over to someone else.
Me : Good. You do that.
("Someone Else" on line)
Me : I want enough cement and aggregate to make a metre of concrete
Someone Else : That'll be one and a half tonnes of aggregate...
Me : And how many bags of cement?
Someone Else : Let me check... 100.
Me : What? That's way too many. It's more like 20.
Someone Else : No. 100.
Me : OK... And how much is a bag? (You're full of shit, but I'll play along for a moment)
Someone Else : $6 each.
Me : I can get it delivered ready to be poured for about $200 a metre.
Someone Else : Yes, it's not really economical in large amounts.
Me : It's around 20 bags to a metre
Someone Else : I could ring someone and check. I'll call you right back.
Me : Yes. You do that
(Phone Rings)
Someone Else : You were right. It's 15 to 20 bags a metre. We were looking at the pre-mix bags.