I was driving yesterday on two eighty five here in atlanta and got off the highway to get on moreland avenue and when i made the turn my drivers side spot mirror fell off. i did not notice at first til about a minute later that it was gone. i went to the shop and told them and they said they could not fix it til tomorrow morning which was today. and this is where all the fun began. i was dispatched under a load to go to austell but knew i could not drive the truck now because of the missing spot mirror. i did not want to get pulled over by dot and get a ticket. yes the spot mirror not being there will not get me a ticket but a broken bracket will definitly show and make me more supsecptable to getting pulled over for improper maintance or the such. i got in to it with my dispatcher about this and basically told him if he is so worried about this load then he can drive the truck and deliver it to austell and take the chance on getting a ticket. he moaned and groaned a few minutes and i just hung up on him. he then proceeded to call the terminal manager and said i was begin dificult so i had to go see the terminal manager and explain things and then requested a diferent manager. i was told that my manager at the time wanted to fire me for being insubordinate to him. i said fine whatever i am not playing his little games anymore and i want another dispatcher now. he informed him and the dispatcher did a three sixty and said no he wanted me to stay on his board. i told the terminal manager see what i am talking about he is retarded and plays stupid games and i wanted no part of it. it took five hours of talking to the terminal manager off and on to finally get a new dispatcher. i hope i got this all down to where it is all understandable to read and comprehende.

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That's a lot of unneeded BS to go through for a five minute job to replace the spot mirror, sometimes it's the smallest of things that can make this job a pain in the rear.

SHOOT! Well, that "manager" needs his ### fired! I could run without a spot mirror, but I wouldn't! It is DEFINITELY unsafe! For him asking you to do that you COULD turn them into the DOT and FORCE him to get fired...because the company would DEFINITELY drop him to save themselves. Problem is proving it. At least you were smart and refused to do so. I remember I crossed this bridge from IL into MO and I saw it was one tight bridge...tight enough for two cars to pass let alone two trucks...I started onto the bridge (was snowing/icy, and our mirrors were full of ice making them stick out even more)...came up on a STUPID TMC driver and I saw him get scared, start swerving, etc...knew we were going to hit then...we did, but THANKFULLY it was just our mirrors and it ripped my spot(convex) mirror off with a HELL of a noise, LOL. It killed me without it until I got to the nearest truckstop to get ripped off for one and put the damn thing on. What a pain. Anyway, don't let ANYONE force ANY of you to run unsafe as it will be YOUR ###, if you knowingly do! Good job, man.

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I just love how companies try to get you to run illegal, but when you get causght, they say "no one told you to do that".

thank you. i refuse to be told to run illegal and if something is wrong with the truck then it will not move till it is fixed.

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Or they put a new driver in your truck.And some will do it too.

I see where you're coming from, JF, but me being the way I am, I would have just replaced the thing myself. I guess that's the old O/O in me.

I would have to agree with you there. If you want something done or done right then do it yourself. Ask the shop for the mirror and put it on yourself.

Of course the whiners are going to say: I am not paid to fix things!

To which I reply: Are you getting paid to sit there and wait for it to get fixed? Just sitting there for over a day you have lost a couple of hundred dollars in pay over something that you could have fixed yourself in half an hour.

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The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-- J R R Tolkien

What Im wondering is how many real truck drivers are there that can not drive without the drivers side spot mirror?? But like you said fix it yourself and go make some money.Lot of company shops make you wait for small stuff while they rebuild an engine tranny or a brake job.

Or they make you wait while they go have a cigarette and a cup of coffee, cutting into your 10 hour.

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"When the road looks rough ahead, remember the Man Upstairs and the word Hope. Hang onto both and tough it out." - John Wayne