Treated like a leper

I started my first job as a company driver about 3 weeks ago. The first sign of driver disrespect was my first day when I was introduced to the shop personnel and the only thing the foreman had to say was "don't ever call me with your problems". The second was when I was assigned a tractor. It was filthy inside and out. I spent 3 hours on the interior alone and when I washed it, it looked like a different tractor. Number 3 was leaving out my third week. My tractor was in the shop so I went in the driver's room to get all my paper work ready as my dispatcher told me my load wouldn't be ready uptown for a few hours. Apparently the mechanics use the driver's room as a lunch room. 2 mechanics came in and then walked right back out, followed by the business owner coming in and telling me to take a different tractor to pick up my load. So I did and then sat there for an hour and a half in that tractor waiting for my load to be ready. Come to find out, the mechanics asked to have me removed so they could eat there lunch. I am young and physically fit with excellent hygiene. I'm a decent guy, what did I ever do that they couldn't eat in a huge room just because a driver was in there?
There are sheets that we fill out when returning that describe any issues with equipment so they can be repaired before we leave out again. I had several issues since day one with my million plus mile tractor including a retread that was ready to separate. The only thing repaired was the failed alternator. Before leaving this week I asked about that tire and was told I didn't know anything and just to drive the thing. In Chicago, IL of all places, the tire blew. This costed me 4 hours of my time to drive slowly to a tire place miles away so it could be fixed cheap.
Shortly before the tire incident I had spent the night at the shipper in North Chicago so I could get loaded and get the heck out of there. I checked in with my PU# and they said that load was cancelled 3 days ago. So after playing the call me back every 15 minutes for 2 hours with my dispatcher, I got a load out of Aurora on my way to which I blew the tire. When I got back to the terminal I found and opened my pay stub to find that I was being paid .30 a mile and got no stop pay for the week before. 3 days of that week had 4 stops a day.
Long story short, I'm done. I have never had such a terrible experience with anything in my entire life. I thought the career change would be good having grown up with trucks in the family but I got my old job back as an ag equipment mechanic and I don't care if I ever crawl in to a truck again. I thought going to work at a small company in my little town of Medford, WI would be a lot better than that, boy was I wrong. So just a warning to anyone looking to apply at one of Medford's 2 OTR companies, GO ELSEWHERE!!!!!!!!!! P.S. don't be fooled by the nice looking Pete on the front page of the website, they only have 3 of them and you have to be extra special to drive one. Most drivers get a cheap VOLVO or a worn out Kenworth neither of which are taken care of very well and you get to pull dented up trailers that haven't seen a wash or a grease gun in months.

 

yes it does

 

I didn't know we could do that. It's Prochnow Transport of Medford, WI. Loose the attitude, I haven't done anything to you!

 

I'm far from a veteran driver so there's a lot I don't know but I can't believe how drivers are treated even outside the company. Why do people treat truck drivers so poorly? I noticed it at shippers and receivers as well.
I like that old Pete photo, what year?