Trucking can be like a bad marriage...

From my previous post...the new guy, with the Sammy the Bull swagger...well...he's already been dumped...

I guess my boss felt the guy was a shyster...my boss called me this morning, and first asked what I thought about him and his 'vision'...

And then proceeded to tell me, he changed his mind...and won't let this guy conquer the world with his one truck and all sorts of 'mysterious' business partners...

This guy was like a sales man, and pulled out all sorts of papers and graphs and charts and licences and this and that...but still didn't have a job...hmm...

Anyways...yes...sammy the bull is gone...so now it's me and him again...

 

Today, as I was lost and confused in a gigantic, back wood hood area...(hoods in the south are like backwood)....(never mind)...

Anyways...as I was lost, confused, dazed and frustrated, a dispatcher called...'Are you there yet'....

And I responded...'We're, meaning drivers' are on the job long before you get up, and we're still on the job long after you leave and go home'...

And then I said..

'I can't talk right now...trying to find this place...I'll call back'

They don't understand or appreciate the time and prep that goes into prreparing one load...paper work, hooking up to and finding trailer...(if you work in a rail yard or port it's even worse)...fueling...ect ect...and then finding the place while not getting in an accident....

Thank goodness for me google map...with clear precise birds eye views of roads, I just remainded calm until I could get myself turned around without knocking over a building...

The day is new, and I'm already drowsy cause I got up at 5am...fell out at 1am...

I'm not the type who just drives and sleeps...when I stop at night, I have personal stuff I like to do...excercise, internet ect ect...that way I feel I have a life, and am not just a mindless droid.

Anyhow, that's all for now...

Oh, one more thing, yesterday I was in one of those dazed half sleep modes in the sleeper...I was already backed into a door...and when the shipper started loading truck, and I felt the movement...I thought the truck was rolling down a hill or something...

I was like 'what the blah'...

That's what trucking will do to you if you don't get proper rest...you'll always feel like your trying to get somewhere or that your late, even when your off....

 

The guy I work for...the owner operator I'm married to...(relax, that's just in keeping in terms with the thread {trucking can be like a bad marriage})

Anyways...he installed satilite radio in the truck today...all I did was mention it once...the next think I know, he came down and installed it...wow...

This guys incredible...when owner operators find a good driver...they don't ever like to let go...cause good, responsible drivers are hard to find...

So if you find one who's succesful, they will take care of you...
Like I said on another thread on here...if you place yourself around successful people, and form relationships with them, they won't allow you to fail...

If your keen and smart...that will make sense to you...

Kinda like a Fther or Mther, not wanting their own kid to fail...

In other words, they subconsciously will measure their own success by how well or bad you do...

Also...that Sammy the Bull character I mentioned earlier...well...their back...supposedly they have all sorts or broker, agent connections and can make a ton of money...

So my boss has given them another chance...to do their thing...

We'll see...I've spoken with this Sammy the Bull Gravano character...and they told me they would teach me the ropes...again, we'll see...

I'll keep you informed...

 

Well, I'll be hitting the road sometime today...with the new satelite radio installed...that the owner put in and purchased yesterday...Now I won't be forced to listen to hours of NPR anymore...thank goodness...

In the short time that I'm off on the weekends, I do more interacting with people of all stripes than i do all week long while working...

That's the wonders of being home...for even when you really do nothing, it seems you do more than when your just cooped up in the truck all week only able to interact with gritty shippers and recievers...

And what's worse is when they force you, at some places, to put on safety gear, further burying your 'induvisuality' behind a industrial veil...

I like being induvisualistically unique and seperate from the enviornment in which I dwell...

It makes me feel alive...

I remember I use to stay out for weeks at a time...I don't know how now...cause when you do, you tend to get smoothered in 'greyness'...you loose your color...and take on a greyish work tone...

You can always tell when a driver just left home, cause they look so 'fresh'


And clean and crisp...their faces glow, suddenly all wrinkles are gone...and their actually smiling, clean, and happy...

And then after a day or two of being harraced by DOT, and rude drivers, and indifferent shippers and recievers...that glow is gone...and replaced instead by a 'greyness'...a grey tone...

Also, when your at home, you move around a lot more...so your blood circulates, and that's why your skin looks and feels better...

Being cooped up inside of the truck, sitting for 14 hours a day, pools your blood in your butt....

That's why you feel so 'stiff' all the time...stiff and heavy...due to the lack of movement...it's not natural to sit for such long periods of time in one position...like rigamortis starts to set in...your body thinks your dead...

Anyways...gotta make the best of it until things change for the better...

And slowly but surely hopefully they will...

 

yes, very very true, cause after like your 4th or 5th company, you start to realize that they all pretty much have the same personality, business tone or model...

So afer a while you learn to get what 'you' want out of the marriage, rather than becoming a servant to your spouse...

 

Trucking is about moving freight...

But it's also about getting paid for you time and labour

It's also about safety...being able to do your job in safe equiptment that will allow you to return home alive...

It's also about regulations, fines, and penalties, often levied against drivers and companies who don't apply...

The idea is to move freight, in the safest most comfortable manner possible while earning a decent fair wage...

To say driving is just about moving freight only, is to say marriage is just about sex only.....ok, there's more to it than that...

 

yes, I see your point...so (follow me on this now on keeping with the marriage scenerio...)

So what we drivers do is 'apply make-up'....the make-up being satelite radio, cb radio, gps, cell phones....custom this, custom that...all of that is 'make-up'...to camoflauge what trucking really is...

The aim of some, or many drivers, is to soround themselves with enough gadgets and gidgets, as to forget that their actually hauling freight...

In other words 'pretty up the enviornment'...shave off the rough edges...

Cause this job in it's raw-est form, not many would want to do...

Even companies understand this, by giving you the 'prettiest' trucks, as means to attracting brides (drivers)...

'Oh come drive for us, baby, we'll take care of you, nice new truck, lot's of miles,.... come work for us and we'll make you smile...oh that's right baby, we will make you smile, oh ye, and on top of that we'll give you lot's of miles....'