I work in the "office"

I work in the office.

I'm the one that puts your logs on the computer so the safety department can analyze your trips and chew you out if you go over your hours or falsify your logs.

I charge a flat rate for a month of logs for each driver. Some of you really make me earn my keep and I'm thinking of adjusting my rate. I hope the increase gets passed on to you

I'm going to quadruple my rate for logs that your do on your computer and print out. Computers aren't magic. You still have to enter the name of the city where you made the duty status change - I don't care if you took a shower or had a cheese sandwich - I need to know what "CITY and STATE" you were at. You might think your handwriting is terrible, but trust me, it's easier to read than some of those printouts. Use your computer for more interesting things like surfing for porn.

I'm going to double the rate for anyone who has a stapler in his truck, triple if it's an industrial stapler. Why do you staple the fuel receipts right over the date? If you're only handing in one piece of paper, it doesn't need a staple. Those 3/4 inch industrial staples are for nailing placards to lumber, not for stapling 2 sheets of paper together.

Some of you carefully draw your lines exactly on top of the lines that are printed on the log forms - can you read them? I sure can't.

You might really be p/o'd with that trooper, but it's not a good idea to write out your frustration on your log for the day. I find these journal entries amusing and if your logs have caused me to get behind because of your artful use of staples or other time wasting devices, I'll be sure to flag your irritation and bring it to the attention of the safety department.

Think of me like the pizza delivery guy - you want to give him a good tip and be nice to him. If you make his life miserable, you might find more than nourishment in your next order. Same with me.

Take care, Margaret

 

Hmmm. Are you guilty of what I'm talking about? If you are, why do you try to make the life of the office people harder? It's no more difficult to staple the fuel receipt so it doesn't cover the date or other important information?

I seem to have pissed you off. If your logs are well done and easy to read, why are you mad at me? If your logs are a mess, maybe think about cleaning up your act.

Logs are part of the job. I agree that they don't really reflect what goes on while the rubber is on the highway, but until a better way is found, we're stuck with it.

I'm not the evil person here. I'm doing a job that someone has to do, if you want to make it harder for me, who really has the problem.

I spend most of my day trying to make your logs look better than they are, instead of hurling abuse, you should be thanking me.

Margaret

 

No, I didn't suggest that you tip me, what I did say was that there is a human at the end of the logs. You write them, somebody in the office has to feed the information into a computer - there person for a bunch of companies is me.

Why would you try to make my life harder than it needs to be?

I'm saying that a lot of drivers seem to take great pains to make their logs filthy, crumpled, stapled badly, unreadable and worse. I'm asking that you take some care and give a thought to the person who has to deal with them.

The reference to the pizza boy was a suggestion that you know you'd better treat him well or he just might spit in your next order.

If you'll do that for a pizza boy whom you might never see again, why not extend the same courtesy to the person who deals with your logs.

"If you've got it a truck brought it" - that's very true. But without the people in the office, your life would be twice the hell it already is.

Give us a thought. Don't make it harder for us.

It's funny, I do logs for a livestock hauler. The guys who haul pigs turn in the neatest logs. The guys who pull reefers for the same company - their logs look like they've wiped their boots on them.

And TruckerJo, I know you spend time making your logs look better - but don't hand in pages for the same day from all your books LOL

I do enjoy what I do, that's why I do it.

I spent about 25 years washing the windshield and handing wrenches to my late husband while he worked on - built in fact - our own trucks, later, I computerized all his operation - several trucks and dozens of trailers. He's gone and I miss him, I enjoy traveling with the drivers I do logs for.

Notarps4me - I guess you're having a bad day - no load?

Margaret

 

IF I ever get a chance to meet face to face with any of these drivers, I will take your approach - sadly, I contract out and don't ever see the drivers, nor does my contract allow me to to anything other than enter the log data into the computer. I can't comment on what I see and the safety officers are not interested in how easy or difficult handling the paper is - they hire me so they don't have to handle the paper and their attitude is "you're getting paid what do you care"

What this has made clear to me is that you drivers resent anyone who mentions "log books" to you.

I don't blame you. In my opinion a log book, as they are currently laid out and handled is probably the least efficient way to keep a trucker "safe"

It's aggravation for you, aggravation for the troopers, aggravation for your terminal, and sometimes aggravation for me.

Isn't there a better way? why has it remained the same for so many years.

If log books were not such a hot button topic, you would have read my post as a humourous look at the subject from someone on the other side of the desk. You took it as an attack. It wasn't meant to be, if anything, I was poking fun at you. Sorry if your sense of humor is turned off today.

Margaret