dispatcher horror stories...let's hear 'em!

Dropped in Chino, CA around 0700. Got load message to pick up drywall in Long Beach at 0800 so I call dispatch, who's in Omaha, to tell them I'll be late. Dispatch tells me it's only 40 miles and I have an hour to do it in so I shouldn't be late. He just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of going 40 miles from one end of LA to the other in the middle of morning rush would take more than an hour.

 

Was about to deliver a load one day in Port Hadlock. WA when the dispatcher calls and say they got a load going to Kings Bay, GA out of Keyport, WA. We tell him that we can load it but will be out of hours before we can deliver it. Dude says When I was at CFI I had trucks running 7k miles per week. I said yes, you probably did, but hauling A&E freight we have to log every minute as being on duty and we were shut down in WY. for 26 hours......The guy still couldn't grasp it and called us lazy, which led to a heated exchange between us and him and the boss, who put the dispatcher in his place.

 

This sort of thing has always been and always will be.
Shoddy driver treatment by dispatchers and ops managers
is one thing that has remained a constant in the industry.
The equipment may change and improve over the years
but the people in trucking never will.

 

Ran a load from cranbury nj to temple GA (almost 900 miles in one day). The whole transit they are telling me they are looking for a repower but I finally get that call "we can't find anyone else can you look out for us on this?" Me being about 9 months into my driving career, my ego is huge and im like sure can! So im backing up logs like a SOB, get to my delivery , Soon as I send my empty call in, My driver manager calls about this hot load going from atlanta to somewhere in SC. I told him what exactly I did for him on that load and i was tired, not to mention I sent the update PTA macro and a free form message advising of my ability about a hour before. He proceeds to scold me about poor time management and etc...

I put in my 2 week notice and left.

 

Same thing happened to me once. I just got loaded in Rome, GA at 1500 and my delivery appt in Pendergrass, GA was for 1730. I told my dispatcher that I was going to be late and at least I could get there around 1900 and to please reschedule.

He said "It's only 115 miles and you have 2.5 hours. You should get that NO PROBLEM!"

I said "Have you ever driven the north side of I-285? Do you know how bad ATL traffic can be on a good day?!?! And have you ever done during RUSH HOUR on a SCHOOL DAY?"

I was actually there at 1830, had to get worked in and spent my night at the Walgreen's DC in Pendergrass, GA. At least I was able to take my break

 

Trucking...the thankless profession.

 

Back around 5 years ago I was running a hopper bottom for a interesting man. I picked up a load of dried coal(I think they called it barley) going to Charleston, SC out of PA. Around the Fredericksburg I someone called me over the CB stating my none of signal lights weren't working on the trailer. I pulled over at the TA just North of Richmond and had the mechanic look at it. He couldn't figure it out(no surprise there). Called the owner/dispatcher and he started to yell at me stating I was wasting his money and I should just get off the main roads to avoid attention. I proceeded to tell him that the trailer wasn't going to move no farther until we could figure it out. It went back and forth until I decided to leave the trailer there. I talked to the manager at the TA and he didn't have a problem dropping the trailer there as long as it was in the back of the lot. So I bob tailed to Fayetteville(where the owner lived) and left the tractor setting in front of his million dollar house. I got my wife to pick me up and carry me home. I got a phone call from him begging me to go back up there and pick up the trailer. Apparently the trailer I was pulling had a recall on it(trailer was less than a year old). They must have instructed the TA shop how to fix it. So knowing the closest driver out of a five truck fleet was in Texas, I knew the tide was in my favor. I told him the only way I would go back up there was if I got 50%(up front) instead of my usual 26%. He agreed, so I went back and picked it up and delivered to the International Paper plant in Charleston SC. He burnt my phone up leaving messages for other loads. I continued back to NC and dropped it at the yard. I then started my career as a tanker yanker the following week.

Also, if anyone has ever stopped at the truck stop at the 58mm on I95 in NC, he owns it. What a horrible excuse for a truck stop. Last time I stopped there the sewage system was backed up. The whole place was rotten smelling. He had a BP in Dunn,NC but last I heard it was in such bad shape BP made him pull the BP name off of it.

 

What was the name of the trucking company in Fayetteville? Been in Fayetteville for a few years now.

 

Dissatisfied drivers at each company need to start talking quietly to one another at truck stops, shippers, receivers, on boards etc.., organize and then in unison offer suggestions to management as to how the operation could be improved. At the end of the day, if a significant number of drivers shut down for 24 hours, the impact will ripple through the company and to customers, particularly those who need the freight just in time. Unity in action is the only way to bring about change, as I have learned that simply complaining doesn't result in the desired change. Just like drivers, trucking companies individually are disposable.