The adventures of 'Team Klingon'

I am so sorry, that really sucks.
OK, I hope you take this the right way, but you are so going to fit in at truck stops now!

 

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I admire your courage. And patience.

 

You beat me to that remark. Hahahah

 

As you say when we plan God laughs! i am so sorry! That is really a bummer! At least it diden't spread and be more of a pain! If your daughter is anything like you, she will be fine. most likely miss you both like crazy, but still be fine. hey sometimes these speed bumps are only there to remind us to remember to take care of ourselfs. I know sometimes i will be so concern with others and making sure they are all set, I forget me sometimes. I am just glad you're ok. tooth pain is the wrost and i am glad you got it checked out and your leaving still when you planned! Good luck!

 

Klingon, actually the planners are the DM's bosses. Hopefully your trainer refused that load and not you. His days are numbered if he refused a load from a planner. I wouldn't be surprised if they canned him when he got back to SLC! Don't ever, ever, ever refuse a load! This is lesson 1! Actually as a company driver you aren't allowed. If you do it as an owner operator your days will be numbered. They actually keep track of your load refusals just like your delivery times. If they end up not firing him he will definitely get sidelined for it! They are so big on refusals its not funny. Whatever you do never ever refuse and never show your DM or planner that you are upset about your load. Take it, thank them and go do it! ON TIME! If you do this you will get all the good loads and all the good miles. This is not philosophy it is fact!

 

hi klingon

i have read through this entire thread and i must say i am really impressed on what you and your wife are doing. congrats to both of you.
does your company use the force dispatch on company drivers?
i have had company driver teams such as you in your situation where they were scheduled off and all of a sudden the planner says sorry you have to take the load because you are the closest truck and we have to save the load. and while as fleet mgr's we are not over the planners we can go to the operations mgr and get the situation resolved. in this situation the DM should have at least went to the operations mgr and said this team was scheduled off and had plans and they need their hometime. sometimes dm's have to fight for their drivers, the planners are not always right.

 

As least the DM saved the day with 'creative" scheduling.

 

very well said indeed. while the planners dont tell us what to do, fleet mgr's and planners are supposed to work together and work out a solution. now granted that doesnt always happen, like the times when i feel that the planner made a mistake in trying to say send one of my drivers on a solo trip for 720 miles to deliver in one day with 100 empty miles to the pickup. planners do make mistakes like all of us. so if the planner wont take the load off of the driver i tell the ops mgr and the load is taken off the driver. as far as where i am, we are force dispatch for company drivers, so if a company driver is assigned a load and has the hours to legally do the load, then the driver has to do the load. i do value all my drivers opinions and i do get plenty of those as to them telling me they dont want to do a load. i simply listen to the reasons why. as for owner ops they do have a choice to refuse a load and if they refuse i do tell them up front if you refuse this load you will go to the bottom of the list for loads. im sure you have heard this over and over, but building a good relationship with your DM is really important, in times of need you want your DM to fight for you if needed. just try not to make your DM mad, by that i mean every DM in the world isnt the same. there is very good DM'S out there and unfortunately there is the bad ones.
i wish you the best on the great journey