Luke hadn’t had the information readily available. He’d said he’d circle back.
Then there had been a substitution issue — a carrier change on a lane Alder used for time-sensitive merchandise — that Luke had handled without checking one of the specific notification protocols Alder required. The protocol was in the handover document. It was, Diane told me, the kind of thing where knowing the document and having it in your working memory are different things.
Alder had received a late notice on two shipments. Not catastrophic, but enough to affect their planning.
Diane had asked, in the meeting, whether Grace Morgan was still the operations contact for her account.
Luke had explained that there had been a team transition.
Diane had said she appreciated knowing, and then had sent a formal service exception notice after the meeting, which went to Victor.
“I’m not calling to report on your brother,” she said. “I’m calling because I want to understand if your situation has any flexibility. What you’re doing next.”
I said I was actively looking.
She asked what I was looking for.
I described, as accurately as I could, what I did and what I was qualified for. Operations management in logistics or adjacent industries. Account relationship oversight. The kind of role where you’re responsible for both the systems and the people managing them.
She said she didn’t have a role for me at Alder’s internal team — she was a client, not a freight company — but that she knew people who did.