Most embarrassing moment as a trucker.

I once met a driver who picked up a load out of California going to NC. He got to the receiver in NC. And the receiving clerk pointed out the load had Kansas as the destination. He had to turn around and go back to Kansas. Our company didn't charge him. But of course he didn't get paid for all those unnecessary miles. And then the guy complained to me that his paycheck was gonna suck that week. He didn't check his bill of lading at the shipper. They gave him the wrong load. His responsibility to check. That's company policy.

 

My first year trucking (1992) I delivered a load in New Orleans at a grocery warehouse. I got out of the warehouse and saw a McDonalds. It was about 6 am. I thought "what luck"!!!. I got a breakfast burrito and proceeded to head north to Shreveport for my reload. I started having abdominal cramps unlike anything I had ever experienced. If I had seen a hospital I would have stopped. So, about half way up through Louisiana I realized I needed a restroom bad. But no restroom. I parked on an on ramp and headed up the hill into the tall grass with a roll of paper towels. I was crouching down. I was eye level with trucks rolling down the highway hoping no driver looked right. I got lucky. And felt so much better.

 

So, one night I picked up a load of paper at a big paper mill in southwestern Louisiana, I think. Anyway, on the way out of town I saw a little truck stop. I pulled in to get something to eat. They were just putting out the breakfast buffet. I thought "what luck. Perfect timing".After eating, I got back in the truck and went north on a 2 lane US highway. Well, I started to feel some abdominal cramps. Well, thanks to experience, I new what the deal was, and realized I needed to stop. But there is nowhere to pull over. And from prior experience, I knew if I parked on the grassy shoulder, I might have to call a wrecker because I might get stuck ( this had happened once to me). Pretty soon I realized I HAD to pull over. So I stopped on the shoulder, right next to the asphalt and went around to the passenger side of the truck knowing that I might have to get a wrecker. But I figured I'd just deal with one thing at a time. But see, there was a little complication. I had recently started taking a blood pressure medication that was causing me to be constipated. I would consume food but would go days without passing anyghing. And when I could finally use a toilet, it was like passing concrete. So as I went around the truck , I knew there was gonna be some resistance to getting rid of this more recent problem. So , I dropped my pants and positioned myself on top of the side fairing, legs hanging over the passenger side. As I'm sitting there, trucks are rolling by about 2or 3 feet from my truck. And the truck was rocking and I'm hoping nobody hits my truck, 'cause even if I get killed it's still gonna be embarrassing . So, I passed the concrete and then therest. I cleaned myself up and got back in the truck and started to take off. And then realized my truck had sunk 1 foot into the mud.......OK. Just kidding!!!!!! The truck wasn't stuck. I pulled outta there and got back on the hih highway.

 

On I-8 or 10 in the desert with my trainer. Had to stop twice in about 15 minutes to run into the drainage culverts that run under the road to take care of business. Wonder how many other students heard that story.

 

Got lost in Vermont once......only time I've been there...don't EVER PLAN ON GOING BACK! Made a quick wrong turn onto a teenie little bridge.....stopped....backed up and heard a loud BOOM sound! Yeah bridge collapsed COMPLETELY! Still freaks me out that I was able to get off just in time, and I was empty, but there was a little family of four that passed me looking at me like WTF is he doing here(and they just came across the bridge)......guess they didn't get to go back home that night!

 

and then what happened, did you call the police or just take off ?

 

I was doing the duckwalk into a rest stop restroom in Oregon. It was tiered parking, but the snow had piled up so high I didn't know it. I dropped down about three feet into a snowbank. I keep a stick on the rig now to check snow depth.

 

I took the hell off! It was late and freaked me the F out!

 

I pulled into a Target DC in Oconomowoc, WI and handed the lady my paperwork. She looks at me and says, "this is for Walmart."

Oops... "can i turn around?"

The Walmart is in Beaver Dam, WI, about an hour away. No loss in miles, just a loss of about 15-20 minutes.

 

A driver at my first job took a load of beer from a brewery in Saint John, NB down to Jersey City. They received until 4 and he showed up at pretty much the last minute.

They had been waiting on the beer load all day, so when he arrived the receiver came out into the parking lot to assign him a door and speed things up.

The driver met the receiver at the back of the trailer and swung open the doors to find an empty trailer.... Apparently the driver asked the receiver "Isn't there supposed to be beer in it?"

X-Ray has been closed the night before at the border and might have saved that poor guy his job, but he dragged an empty trailer that he thought had 42,000lbs of beer in it for 600 miles and didn't notice... Also makes for a bit of a headache when you've cleared a load in 1 trailer and crossed with another.