Drivers don't look like drivers anymore

I love advancement in technology ( except DEF/DPF and eLogs they can keep that). I love a powerful comfortable truck and wish we had 2000 hp electric trucks with instant stopping brakes that never broke down . I love the history of trucking and actually American history in general and just took offense at the poster calling our fore fathers "pukes"who couldn't drive as much as some drivers do today. What they had to endure back in the
Early days of trucking was truly manly work with primitive equipment under some harsh conditions .I don't call all current drivers "pussys" I've met some very good hard working younger guys who have earned my respect for their ability ,work ethic and inner toughness that made this country what it is . The ease of the job today (some trucking jobs ,not all) has lowered the bar to what we have driving trucks today,and many don't have pride in themselves or the work they do,they It treat like a dead end factory job,like it has become for many. The trucking companies today are largely to blame by suppressing wages and thinking
They can always find an ### to put in a seat. Well they are finding that out now with the driver shortage ,but still want to just "creep" wages up inch by inch hopefully they can fill the seats
Without spending too much. I was listening to a podcast the other day that quoted a driver making roughly $38k to $40k in the early 1980's would have to make $115k today to keep up with inflation and similar trades . This is a big part of why you see what you see today. Driving trucks. They rather sift through the low hanging fruit at these wages than spend the money to create a real professional wage that would draw a higher quality person to the industry.

 

The attire doesn't make a professional driver, attitude and skills do.

I'd rather drive with a bunch of fat guys in speedos that can drive really well to a bunch of tuxedo wearing killers behind the wheel of 80K pound missiles.

 

The truck drivers of the “good ole days” weren’t any more manly than anyone else,
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Back then they left their unair conditioned house that was 100 plus degrees with a sweaty grouchy wife and obnoxious kids and drove an unair conditioned truck that at least had a breeze in it.
Plus they could grab a cold beer or suck on a toothpick while going down the road.
Oh the horror....
I guess driving beat the sweltering factory or the rendering plant that were both freezing cold in the winter.
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Plus they were constantly stopped along the road helping a broke down motorist. Usually there were a dozen or more trucks parked helping and talking and grilling out.
Most days they only drove about 50 miles.

 

This is where I am.

I may be a new(-ish) trucker, but I'm an old fart. I've made 50 laps around the sun.

I have had jobs where all I did all day was listen to the merry clack of my fingers across the keyboard. I have had jobs where I threw around 50 lb bags of feed all day. I have had jobs where I walked 10-12 miles a day. And several other jobs besides.

I've paid my dues.

The guy who signs my paycheck doesn't have a problem with the clothes I wear, and the guy who is (in theory) my direct supervisor doesn't have a problem with the clothes I wear, and if you ain't one of those two people, then I got zero reason to care about what you think about the clothes I wear.

 

Well that's your choice.

If you judge a driver by his clothes than I'll judge you by your transmission.

You automatic fart brain.

 

Professionalism, to me, is doing your job with pride. Part of that is taking pride in your appearance as well.

 

Lol... No shorts for this guy... And you must have missed the part where I said I wear long sleeve button down shirts... I do have a few short sleeve button down shirts but don't wear them very often. So I have a really tan face and hands... The rest of me would blind a man from 50 feet on a sunny day.

 

Sounds a lot more manly than a guy in shorts and flip flops or pajama pants getting out of his air conditioned fleet truck texting on his iPhone on his way to the buffet.
I can remember one such guy who was on his phone with his dispatcher at a TA repair shop telling him he wasn't going to drive the truck until the cruise control was fixed because " if you think I'm pressing that pedal all day your crazy" ( true story happened at the TA in Binghamton NY)I guess we have different versions of manly. Remember your talking about the people who built this country won 2 world wars and gave you the ability to do what you do.
A big part of being "manly" is giving respect and gratitude to where it is due. If your not discouraged by some of the clowns you see getting out of trucks today maybe that's all that you know ,and we have a different version of normal and respect.

 

It sounds like you landed in trucking as a last resort because nothing else worked out,and doing a bunch of other jobs does not mean you paid yourdues in this profession . I could care less about what you wear unless your a sloppy embarrassment to a profession I devoted 31 years to. You don't say who you work for ,maybe there just happy to have an ### in a seat or they have some level of respectable appearance for who they hire. Which ever the case its not about style it's about being a goofball slob or not. The current state of desperation many companies have to put ##### in seats I can assure has lowered the bar to a once respected profession,and recruiters ,dispatchers supervisors are just churning through the low hanging fruit to move freight and could care less who they hire and what they wear. It's nice that they approve of you . What color pajama pants do you wear ?Lol!