My company shipped the other driver that was at our store back to the main branch. That leaves me as the only CDL driver at our branch.
Today - I ended up driving both trucks - the semi and the 10-wheeler.
What I like about the arrangement is that I stay BUSY whereas before - because of the collapse of the economy - 2 drivers was overkill for a small outpost type of store.
I'm not above sweeping floors and doing other mundane work - but every day gets old.
An interesting occurence today at work.
THere is a particular contractor that we are "forced" to deliver to - the guy that runs the show at the site is not a pleasant man. Not at all. I have been delivering to this company, that site and this man for almost the 3 years I have worked at my current company. The man has yelled at me, insulted me, hurled all kinds of nastiness my way - for no good reason and has done the same with other drivers.

He also gets into frequent arguments over the phone with the salesman whose account it belongs to.

Anyway. I'm making a rush delivery - whatever it is they're doing out there, they want this stuff today. The salesman brings the material from downtown to our branch that we don't have, the truck is already loaded, I take off.

This is at an Intel plant where they make microprocessors, so you have to go through the gated entry, turn the truck off, open the hood, give them your driver's license number, on and on. It takes 5 minutes just to get through THAT process alone. A pain, yes, but part of the job, I just smile and give the same information every single time.

I get through there and drive by their yard where they store their material. No-one there. I go by one of the jobsites they are working on out there, no-one there. I go to the third and final place that I have delivered to at that plant in the past - no-one there, either. I don't just wait around and hope something happens. I start making phone calls. The phone number for this foreman isn't on the paperwork, so I call the inside salesman. He puts me on hold and comes back on and tells me HE doesn't have this guy's phone number, either. Wonderful. He says to me: "I don't know what the (bleep) to do in a situation like this". Well, I do.

Standard operating procedure - call the company's main office to get a phone number for the foreman. I tell the salesman that's what I'm doing, he says fine and that's that. I call the company, a rather sweet-sounding lady gets on the phone, I tell her I need the foreman's phone number cause' I can't find him out there. She replies that she can get me his number, but that if I need directions, there is a man sitting right next to her that can tell you.

Great. This man gets on the phone, I introduce myself and tell him where I'm at. He says no, that's not where I'm supposed to be. Okay, where do I need to go? We finally get it straight that I am AT the place I'm supposed to be at. "Well, there's no one out here, not even any equipment. I didn't know who this man was, but he got pissed in a fast hurry, said he didn't know where the f*** those guys were at but that he would find them and send them over in a hurry.

Umm, okay, thanks. That didn't sound good, but - I do what needs to be done to get someone notified that a truck is sitting there, waiting.

Now, not 2 minutes later, this man drives up with a look on his face. He's glaring at me. I get out of the truck and say my cordialities - regardless of how sour this guy is going to be, I'm always professional in demeanor with him. He asks me if I was the one who just called the main office. Yes sir, I didn't see you guys out here and I didn't know where to take this material to. "Well, what's the problem, you don't have my number?". No sir, it's not on the ticket, and I called the inside salesman who didn't have your number, either.

I KNEW something was going on. He takes the ticket from me, tells me he'll meet me at the yard, and then immediately gets on the phone.

I have had run-ins with this guy before, the best thing to do is simply be totally respectful and keep myself out of trouble as best as possible. The problem is, this guy IS a trouble-maker, owns his own universe, and we're just a part of it for his entertainment.

Delivery made, I get back to the yard, get in the semi which is already loaded, drive downtown and deliver that pipe, back to my yard, and then I hear from my co-worker that he had heard the boss talking to the outside salesman about what had happened.

NOTHING happened, really. But sure enough, that foreman had called the outside salesman, harped on him. The outside salesman called my boss and asked him why I'm calling the main office? Fortunately for me, the boss stood up for me. The salesman said I should be reprimanded for it.

Lol. This particular salesman also owns HIS own universe and EVERYONE should do things HIS way. My boss is asking him what I was supposed to do in a situation like that? He basically told this salesman that if we can't get a hold of either salesman on the account, and the salesman didn't put a phone number on the ticket, then we ARE going to call the main office.

Now, let me tell you, the man I talked to at the main office? I was totally respectful, congenial, nice, cordial, all that stuff with him on the phone as well. Didn't have a clue what title the man held, but it was obvious from the way he was talking he was definitely higher up the ladder than this guy at the job site. And so it was - turned out the guy is the vice-president of the entire company!!

So, basically, surmising that the foreman got into trouble for not having his crew over there working. They were NOT working, but who knows what - maybe they were on lunch break. Apparently, whatever they were doing, they should not have been doing it, though, cause that vice-president got hotter than the sun's surface in a fraction of a second when he realized I was where I was supposed to be and NONE of them were over there doing anything.

Well, at least I didn't get into trouble - and rightly so, common sense. I make claims that I still have some of it, regardless of whether half the rest of this world doesn't.