Originally Posted by Kittyfoot

Not hate, just disgust.

Straight up, over the years I've seen too many incompetent people get behind the wheel. They wind up getting in accidents, damaging people's property and all too often killing some innocent folks. They are a big part of the excessive insurance rates and the bad reputation the industry has. They are a big part of the reason my once respectable trade has become a catch-all for the droolers and mouth-breathers that cycle in and out today; the misfits that other people have rejected/let go. People who have no dam idea what work ethic means and expect to be babied like their mommy did by those who actually do the job to the best of our ability.

I'm tired of people who come here and yap about IQ's and degrees and stuff as if that makes them better than the rest of us. Let me tell you about the BEST trucker I've ever known. He was a bear of a man; big, tough and scary as hell when you crossed him.... but with a heart as big as he was. His parents died in a fire when he was 16 and he left school to support his younger brothers and sister. He started trucking at 20, hauling pulpwood that he cut himself with an old beatup 2 ton he rescued out of a junkyard. By the time he was 30 he had 10 trucks and a cutting crew working for him. When I knew him he was in his 50's; one brother a lawyer and the other a doctor. His oldest son had 2 long-haul rigs running under dad's authority.

When I was building my own little company he always encouraged me and 8 yrs later when I lost everything he was the only one who didn't treat me like a pariah. Sadly, he was pretty ill by then and died not long after. He got a Trucker's Funeral..... a hundred trucks escorted him to his grave. ####, I still miss him.

Nope, by today's outlook he had no education and wasn't worth much in today's eyes. But what he was was a MAN.

So lower the standards? HELL NO !! Make em higher and let all the mooks fribble off someplace else.

I feel for your loss. Sounds like a good man....however

Many of todays recruits are professional people from other lines of work, forced into trucking through downsizing and other "stressed economy" related reasons.

One of my classmates was a police officer for 30 years.

Another has 20 years in the IT field.

Another is from Morocco....a legal immagrant who came to America with $100 in his pocket, trying to make a life for himself here.

Another is retired from the Army starting a second career.

Not a single one of the people I've met since I started this journey are like what you described.....probably over 50 people, and they have all been good decent folks.

Originally Posted by Kittyfoot

Not hate, just disgust.

Straight up, over the years I've seen too many incompetent people get behind the wheel. They wind up getting in accidents, damaging people's property and all too often killing some innocent folks. They are a big part of the excessive insurance rates and the bad reputation the industry has. They are a big part of the reason my once respectable trade has become a catch-all for the droolers and mouth-breathers that cycle in and out today; the misfits that other people have rejected/let go. People who have no dam idea what work ethic means and expect to be babied like their mommy did by those who actually do the job to the best of our ability.

I'm tired of people who come here and yap about IQ's and degrees and stuff as if that makes them better than the rest of us. Let me tell you about the BEST trucker I've ever known. He was a bear of a man; big, tough and scary as hell when you crossed him.... but with a heart as big as he was. His parents died in a fire when he was 16 and he left school to support his younger brothers and sister. He started trucking at 20, hauling pulpwood that he cut himself with an old beatup 2 ton he rescued out of a junkyard. By the time he was 30 he had 10 trucks and a cutting crew working for him. When I knew him he was in his 50's; one brother a lawyer and the other a doctor. His oldest son had 2 long-haul rigs running under dad's authority.

When I was building my own little company he always encouraged me and 8 yrs later when I lost everything he was the only one who didn't treat me like a pariah. Sadly, he was pretty ill by then and died not long after. He got a Trucker's Funeral..... a hundred trucks escorted him to his grave. ####, I still miss him.

Nope, by today's outlook he had no education and wasn't worth much in today's eyes. But what he was was a MAN.

So lower the standards? HELL NO !! Make em higher and let all the mooks fribble off someplace else.

I feel for your loss. Sounds like a good man....however

I don't share you opinion.

Most of todays recruits are professional people from other lines of work, forced into trucking through downsizing and other "stressed economy" related reasons.

One of my classmates was a police officer for 30 years.

Another has 20 years in the IT field.

Another is from Morocco....a legal immagrant who came to America with only $100 to his name, trying to make a life for himself here.

Another is retired from the Army starting a second career.

More than half the rookies I have met are over the age of 40.

Not a single one of the people I've met since I started this journey are like what you described.

Perhaps you have become a bit...jaded, over the years?
Happens to the best of em...

There are plenty of nice and decent people on here, goes to show you that they must also exist on the highways. "I'm tired of people who come here and yap about IQ's and degrees and stuff as if that makes them better than the rest of us" I am not sure about all the IQ stuff as I dont know who is still administering such tests; however I can say we are all on here trying to work towards the same thing under the same circumstances out there. All my college degrees show me and others who care is that I am willing to work hard to achieve a goal. Maybe I picked up a few minor details along the way, but I learned a lot more about myself as I pushed myself to finish work at 3am after a full day of work and classes.

Kittyfoot...your friend you mention...from what you say he was pretty smart...not everybody with a high IQ gets the chance to take the test. That doesn't make them dumb, only uneducated (to a degree).

I'm sorta the same...MENSA and school teachers used to aggravate the hell out of me...Got tired of their crap and quit school in the 10th grade, got my GED and never looked back.

Took the IQ test 3 different times...first time was in the 5th grade...the only thing Stephen Hawking has on me is an education. I chose to be "simple" because that is the life I love (hunting, fishing, etc.)...a decision I do not regret one bit. I darn sure didn't want any part of sharing ideas in a group (MENSA)....that sounded stupid then, still does now, LOL. I didn't mean for my previous post to sound like I thought I was better than everybody else...only that I find myself trying to see why many people feel (especially people in suits) the need to do things the way they do...it can be painfully obvious that they are simply on a power trip and really have no insight into the next few moves. Its hard to explain...really it is...I've been trying to explain it my wife for 10 years now...she is not like me, her genius is good ole common sense...something I often lack.

I'm just trying to say...your brush was a bit broad too. I'm a truck driver and #### proud of it...maybe a bit of a perfectionist, but still just a truck driver.