Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

Well, so much for my 34 this weekend. Got out of the shop this morning. Took a nap, then updated my PTA for Monday morning so I could get a 34 in anyway and thwart the Peoplenet's attempt at not letting me get a 34 in. But, the weekend AM suggested that I locate and secure a trailer so they could plan me on a morning load. I found one, and was checking with the shop to make sure someone hadn't just brought it in for a repair and they hadn't put the glad-hand lock on it yet. By the time I got back to my truck, a preplan for a pickup today, then they cancelled it, a 2nd preplan that picked up today, and a message from a planner virtually begging me to pick this load up...an 850 mile run that delivers any time before 20:00 tomorrow. After all the short next day crap I have had the last 6 months, how can I turn down miles like that, so I aborted another 34 and took it. I need to quit this agreeable crap or else they're gonna think I like it here...

 

I'm still here...and nothing has changed in regards to problems. On the way up to Kalamazoo, the Peoplenet went nuts. Just before stopping in Benton Harbor to top off the reefer, I lost GPS and the PN network. When I pulled in to fuel, the app wouldn't let me change my status from Drive to On(fueling). Ended up rebooting twice before it started working (trying to rip the wires out of the dash helped, so MI's rough roads might have exposed a loose connection). But, because it wasn't connected to the truck's ECM when it started going nuts, it was missing miles, and saying I had driven 0.0 miles for the day. Finally got that corrected before leaving the consignee. Plus, I've had the small red triangle on the status line since I signed back in on Sunday, and I don't have any 'unassigned' movements to accept or reject. It's saying I have 0.5 miles where the PN was powered down and the truck moved. The only time I power down is when I reboot the POS when it is having issues, and it was on all of Sunday.

Picked up my load yesterday morning in Paw Paw and got another trailer with the auto locking landing gear handle problem. This one is missing the Batman shaped locking tab completely...and the last yutz dropped the trailer so high I could almost high pin. A real PITA to lower 42k of iced tea and OJ when the landing gear handle won't lock into the gear shaft of the landing gear box. I ended up taking a broken hammer handle and driving it in the gap and breaking it off so I could lower the trailer onto my 5th wheel. Then the last 2 struts for the drivers side side skirts were broken, so I dug out my industrial size zip ties and a bungee cord. Then, yesterday afternoon, Butthead warned us that he would be working the late shift on Wed, and that 2 of his trainees would be covering his board until noon. I am getting the feeling either he is moving up, or moving on and this recent training session was him training his replacement(s)...and if I get a wet behind the ears rookie as an A/M, there's gonna be trouble. The last rookie dispatcher I had was when I was at Raven, and she went to the Op's manager in tears because of me being too abrasive and temperamental about her inabilities.

 

Got a good laugh the other day. Deland's #2 sent out a message about A services always have to be done at a company shop...yada yada yada. The part that made me laugh was the last sentence. It was "you take care of your equipment, and the equipment will take care of you" ...that statement coming from a member of management for a company that pushes out their service intervals to the absolute maximum they can and still keep a warranty in effect is ludicrous. Having been an O/O I know, 37,500 and 75,000 service intervals isn't taking care of your equipment, it's neglecting your equipment. No matter what the manufacturer says (who'll be the one's selling replacement parts that wear out prematurely after the warranty is up)