Cussed at by a receiver

You are very right about one thing. I would not be working for you after I seen how well you handle interaction with other people.

 

How many places do you actually get in and out of in 45 minutes or less?

 

I have been trucking for close to 30 years. In that time, most of it has been open-deck freight, so there were few problems like this one. Once I came back to dragging a reefer, I saw a different side of things and came to a conclusion: While it isn't an excuse for verbal abuse or bad behavior, some of these folks deal with the worst society has to offer in regards to behavior and self entitlement.
A couple of examples, if anyone is interested:
1 - I was headed to pick up a load of apples in the Yakima area and called the shed to get directions.I could tell the shipping clerk was a grouchy old fart with zero patience and no humor. He gave me directions with little fanfare and a crappy demeanor.
I get there, park in the staging area and checked in with Mr. Personality. He proceeded to tell me that my load wasn't going to be ready by my appointment time and I'd have to wait. My appointment was in the morning and the load wasn't going to be ready until early afternoon. I said, "Okay, I don't have anywhere else to be, so is it okay for me to hang out in the staging area?". He lowered the grouchy level a bit and said, "Sure".
When the time he stated that I would get loaded approached, a lift truck operator buggied on out to me and said there was a problem and I needed to go see the shipping clerk. I went in and the guy told me the load wasn't going to be ready until morning. I could tell by his tone that he was prepared for an onslaught of verbal abuse. I said, "Yer killin' me. Well, would it be okay if I camped out here tonight, then?" That caught him off guard and his disposition did a 180° turn. He said, We can't, as we lock the gate at night and our insurance prohibits it. I said it was no big deal and that I would just go to the Gear Jammer and hole up until they were ready for me. He said he appreciated my attitude and I told him that I had been in the business for a long time and learned that being a tool did no one any good. He said he had so many drivers these days that were just horrible in similar situations that it made him jaded. I told him I understood and that I saw those types of clowns regularly.
Long story short; I ended up with dinner, an offer for a motel room an offer for lunch a case of Fujis and a bag of Granny Smiths. Now, granted, although he wasn't the most pleasant individual in the beginning, not once did he treat me with any disrespect.
2 - I pulled into Creekstone Farms to pick up a load of meat and the gal at the guardshack was on fire. She was almost in tears she was so mad. I asked who tipped her over and she told me the driver a couple of trucks ahead of me was being a complete jerk. About that time, said jerk was heading back out after picking up his trailer and, as it turns out, he was a friend of mine and, knowing him, I knew exactly why she was tipped over. He could be a mean bastage at times. Well, I told her I knew the guy and that, yes, he was a jerk sometimes.
Anyhow, after I talked to her for a bit, she calmed down, I met up with my friend and told him to quit being a ####### to the guard. He told me she annoyed him and I told him he made it tougher for the rest of that came in behind him. He started toning things down after that.


I guess my point is, right or wrong, a lot of these people (not all but a good number of them) have to deal with complete bastages, idiots, morons, self centered and entitle-minded tools every single day. We don't see but a couple of those morons at any given time, but they have to deal with a parade of them all day, every day. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not making excuses for bad behavior, as they should display the same professionalism that they expect from the drivers, but, if you go into it armed with the information that you are maybe the one decent guy out of an ocean of iceholes, it might make your life a little easier.

Of course, some of them emerge from the womb complete pricks and there's really no hope for them.

That being said, calling the cops was a bit silly. If I felt threatened with bodily harm, the cops would certainly end up on scene. Most likely to put me in cuffs.

 

Let me see if I have all this right. As a company owner, you'd encourage your drivers to call the police if they got yelled at or, for whatever reason, felt threatened?
Does this pertain only to shippers and receivers or does it include lumpers, fuel desk clerks, coffee shop waitresses, school crossing guards, and that grumpy janitor that hollers at you about walking on the newly mopped floor?
Yeah, I know you're a company owner. What do you have...one truck? That you drive yourself? That might make you an OO but it's a long way from owning a company.
One thing about it, if you ever do rise in the ranks and actually own enough equipment to accurately describe yourself as a company it will be fun to watch you and see how your drivers react to the same situation that you handled so poorly.
Do you really expect to do live loads and unloads and have every one of go exactly right and be in and out the gate in an hour? You're either very new at this game or you're in total denial of the way things work, especially with van freight.
Granted, delays are aggravating and sometimes they happen for no apparent reason...but that's what detention is for.
Was the receiver unnecessarily harsh with you? I believe he was. But you mishandled the entire rest of the situation. The cops didn't get you unloaded and out of there, the company did.
Your first move should been to call your broker, not the cops.
You need to rethink your attitude and your methods. You need to do it soon.

And for what it's worth I'm part owner of a small regional trucking company that's been in business for over thiry years. I'm also the dispatcher, the load planner, the parts runner, the safety guy, the one who gets called when problems happen on the road and on days when the janitor doesn't show up I do that too. I also make coffee.
I also still drive occasionally..most OD stuff... whenever I can sneak out of the office.
I was a driver for many years and I've been involved in trucking for over fifty years. I've seen my share of total jerks...some of them were yard or office people and some were drivers...but I've never had to call the cops on any of them.

 

And they are probly all still jerks lol. I bet the next time this particular receiver wants to lash out at someone he will think twice about it.

 

Some of them might be.
Nah, actually most of them turned out to be not so bad after we got the initial dick-measuring contest resolved. We work with a lot of loggers and construction people. Sometimes their normal way of communication is louder and more abrupt than some people are used to. Some guys use cuss words like punctuation when they talk, you just have to catch on to the speech pattern and realize it's not personal. Unless they lay hands on you, then all bets are off.
Things like that used to get settled with fists sometimes, especially in the woods, but maybe most of us are wiser now. I know for sure we're older.

 

Time is money, so where's the money for all that wasted time? A dinner date doesn't make the payments.

 

Nope, it doesn't, but that wasn't my point. It was a good paying load and I had the time to wait, so it wasn't a huge deal. I was speaking more toward the whole relationship thing and how to deal with some people in this business, but it's okay if you didn't get it.

 

Some people will just be dicks. But I’ve learned a little empathy goes a long way. Even though you probably don’t care about their problems and even if they know you don’t.. there’s something instinctive about the way people respond to you when you acknowledge their situation.