Dafreak, was the water level too low to get the system 'up and running'? If so, do you only have skimmer (s) for suction? How much higher than the water level of the pool is the filter system (the pump intake)?
I'm not trying to make excuses for your pool dude, his failure to keep you informed as to what's going on is inexcusable! However, as a service tech, I can give you some insight as to the delay.
This is a very busy time of the year for us, the majority of our customers want their pools open for Mem Day (next big day is July 4). (Many folks don't want to waste the money running their pools when the weather isn't suitable for swimming, so they postpone the opening as long as possible) I don't know where you are, but the weather in Ct. has been horrible (for pool work) the last 2 weeks, we've gotten well over 1' of rain, it has cost us a lot of lost time. We have 6 to 9 openings schedualled/ day, if it rains and we can only do 5, there's a back-up, when this happens 9 days in a row (with 3 of them being total washouts), there are about 30 pools that didn't get opened on the day they were supposed to be. In addition to the backup, all that rain makes each opening take longer (solid covers need to be pumped off, mesh covered pools need to be drained...) Add to this the occasional major problem, (ie you go to start the pool and the system leaks everywhere, or the pump is frozen), you loose time having to fix whatever's wrong, but you can't just leave it that way. This is a short list of why service can't be done 'on time', but whenever we can't make it out to a schedualled pool, we call the customer and let them know we can't be there on that day, and if the delay continues, for whatever reason, we call them again and let them know.
Enough of that! When I prime a pool, I only try to draw from one suction source at first (I start with the low suction (MD when applicable)). Then I slightly crack other suction sources' valves (1 at a time), until the air has been fully bled out of each line, open it fully and then progress to the next.
If you still need tips on how to prime a hard to prime pool, give a whistle and I'll tell you how I've been able to do it (most take 2 people)