Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

Ya know I forgot I wrote that. I think when I pulled that word up I was trying to think of "jargon". Sometime I don't know where I get this stuff from.


How do they use "phraseology" in air traffic control?

To digress for a minute, if you were an air traffic controller, was the job as stressful as they say? I heard those guys make the big bucks in exchange for high stress.

I'm kind of weird. I started reading the NYTimes pretty young and it was (still is) chuck full of vocab that I had/have to look up. So as I got older and got my own place, I would read the paper everyday and I would jot words down from there that I didn't know. I would then take the words that I had noted and type them up (yes this was pre-computer electric typewriter days) and post them up on my refrigerator. I called them "refrigerator words". The idea was that my memory isn't fantastic. I don't have an eidetic memory by any means. So every time I would go to the fridge I would glance at these words and try to remember them. Over the years that lead to me coming up with some crazy words I would pull out of my arse.

Hey Santiago! I know it. That's pretty cool that you were there although under unfortunate circumstances. That must have been some experience though being there and doing that kind of work. Talk about a surreal experience.

 

This was a trying day.

I'm at the terminal in Laredo.

I grabbed that load out of N. Carolina. The trip was pretty uneventful and I made it to the consignee here in Laredo last night in just enough time to shut down and take my 10. Load was due to be dropped (no window) at 0900. I shut down just a minute or two before 2300. I figured it would be safest to park at the consignee and not have to contend with traffic or other unforeseeable events in the morning. There was a nice big spot along the curb in front of the consignee so I shut down there. At the time I was the only truck parked there waiting for the gates to open in the morning.

Upon waking up I heard some noise outside and peeked out my curtains. Trucks everywhere. Behind me. In front and across the street, they were everywhere.

I got myself ready and walked up to a couple of guys standing outside the locked gate. They were near a couple of Swift trucks so I figured I would find out what's up from some Swifties. They were cool. They asked me if I had my trailer inspected at the terminal. What?!?!

This load doesn't say anything about going to Mexico. The BOL's final address is here in Laredo. No comments on the load. Nothing on the Mac 23. Nothing indicating that it was going to Mexico. I figured this load was just a Laredo load. Nope. Consignee stated I had to go back to the terminal for a trailer inspection.

Lost my place in line and drove to the terminal to get the inspection. Some time later I was back at the consignee dropping my trailer. No empties there though and that made the rest of the day a mess.


I got to say though, I have a great driver leader right now. She is the best one I've had yet out of the three. Not knocking the other ones but this one is awesome! I really feel like she cares and she is sooo smooth in everything she does. It's almost like she preemptively knows what to do based on the situation and my mood. My first DM was a developmental DM. Her and I butted heads quite a bit but I learned a lot from her. A lot of the head butting was due to me being new and not learning to roll with the punches. I'm sure I gave her a few gray hairs back then. But she wasn't particularly warm other than her asking how my mom was doing. That, actually, went a pretty long way in my book. But she was still kind of cold. My last DM, my second, was a great guy. I enjoyed working with him but I think he was kind of shy, for lack of a better word. Not really a huge advocate of mine and I think I probably wore him out a little. He changed careers while I was on vacation. Then I got my current DM when I returned about 2 months ago. Awesome! I heard she has been doing this for eyars and it sounds like her husband is a driver or was a driver. She knows the deal.

I called and whined to a DM about the situation with the trailer inspection. If us drivers are held to such a standard and we are held accountable, why aren't the CSR's? Why should I lose my place in line and have to drive back to the terminal, wait in line for inspection, wait for the actual inspection and then fight traffic to get back to the consignee? I did what I was supposed to do. I got the load here safely and on time. Now I feel like I'm working for free. I was cranky. Not my worst but I was a little edgy. My DM was on the phone or busy so I complained to another DM. He was cool about it. So I call my DM a little while later and before I even have to rehash the situation she is already telling me how bad it sucks and that she will take care of me. I got some $24 pay, not sure what that was under. She asked me if that will make it a little better and I said it absolutely would. It's not so much how much she got me, although I think the $24 is actually above and beyond, but it's that she cared enough to already be advocating for me. She is an advocate and on my side. She has a calming personality and does some witchy woman stuff that I know she must have honed over years with a husband truck driver. Not sure how she does it but it works well. She is like that Snickers bar in the commercial when the guy is being a diva then handing him that Snickers changes it all. My DM knows when to hand me that Snickers.

With no empty trailers there I asked for a trailer solution. I called the Laredo terminal and I was told that I am number 7 in line waiting on an empty. I asked to be put on the list. I swung by Walmart to drop off a movie, get some ice for the broken Coleman and then headed back to the terminal. I checked in at the window here in Laredo and was told that I would get a QC message when a trailer became available. Took a shower while I waited and after went outside to check my QC. No message. Back inside to the window to double check on things and same response. Call to my terminal as now it has been a couple of hours and still no empty. This may be my first time not either being routed to get an empty or being told to wait until basically one shows up magically. My terminal messaged the planners and I'm back inside doing laundry. 30 minutes in the wash and 60 minutes in the dryer and more calls to my terminal. Still nothing. Finally I get a call from a Dollar General Swift planner or someone like that (the destination is a Dollar General DC). He asks about whether I should just pick up the load tomorrow morning instead. I relay the story about the empty and he tells me that a message or messages were sent to my QC about a half hour ago to pick up an empty somewhere. I never received these messages at that point. More calls to my DM to get the info on this mystery trailer, I get the address, start heading there and then my QC starts sending me the messages. Unreal QC. When I was told about the messages that hadn't shown up on my QC of course I did the hard reset a couple of times and got nothing. It wasn't until I was near the place with the empty that the messages came through.

During the day I sent multiple mac 22's to push out the pickup/live load time. Originally the appointment was for 1500, pushed out to 1600, then 1730. I tried calling the shipper and got a voicemail each time. I let my terminal know as well as I really didn't get another appointment time. I still don't have one.

I know, from the recording, that the shipper opens at 0900. I'm guessing it's going to be a dreadful Laredo mess tomorrow morning when I show up. I plan on getting there about 0800 or a little before but I'm sure I won't be the first there. If it was anything like the place this morning, they will have a bunch of trucks waiting to get loaded. I hope I am wrong.

As a side note, Laredo is a crazy place. Beautiful weather. Beautiful women. But the truck traffic here is kind of crazy with the mix and heavy concentration of American and Mexican drivers.

I should add, on a positive note, that the temp here today was about 74 degrees and the sun was shining. That fact actually made the day much more bearable despite it being a tough day. I could actually wear shorts.

 

I enjoyed it while I had it. Back to freezing temps and ice up here.