Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Urghhhh........time to go to work. Really though, what a great time of the day to have a cup of coffee with my wife, even though for the life of her she doesn't quite understand just how important these coolers are that I need to be up at this hour.

 

Ok, here's a first in my 33 years of holding this steering wheel. I left the house at 4:30 yesterday morning, I put in the address that was on my bills in my GPS, 174 miles to my delivery, 3 hours worth of driving would put me there at 7:30 a half hour early. I get there at 7:30 and guess what, an empty lot. I then call the phone number on my dispatch screen, it's a fax. I then look up the phone number online for the Publix store, it's disconnected. I then look up the store number on the Publix website and see that the store is under construction in Nokomis, 15 miles south, not Sarasota. Me like a dumb steering wheel holder went to the address on my bills, that happen to be the same address in both towns. Jesus, what was I thinking, right? Before I left I took a picture of the empty lot I was at that matched the address on my bills. As I'm driving down to my correct delivery location I get a message over the Qualcomm asking me why I'm late. I'm now stuck in traffic and am fuming out both sides of my head. I stop on the side of the road and type a detailed message to whoever wrote me that very insulting question. I wrote whoever sent me that message exactly what I wrote here, then ended it asking for an email address so I can send the picture I took showing the address on the empty lot that matched the address on my bills. I finally got to the delivery an hour late. I explained to the general contractor what happened, and he told me that I was the third driver to experience the same problem. He told me that for what ever reason, the shipper is putting the wrong address on the bills. I told him my company wants to charge me with a service failure, he said he would call them yet again and try and straighten out the mix up.

Here's my take on this, me, the truck driver is expected to do this job 100% correct all the time, I do, as shown by my safety record and on time delivery/pickup percentage, 99% over 33 years. I strive on a daily basis to do everything right and safe. I cannot, nor will not be blamed for something that was out of my control, such as another persons mistake inputting an address in a computer program to print out bills. I did my job, someone else didn't. I will not be blamed for someone else's mistake. In fact, I don't care who it is, if it comes down to you or me, I won't have issue one about throwing you under a bus. Blame me for something I do wrong, not for doing my job with the information that is given to me. Done.

Anyway, I was empty at noon and was reloaded in Valdosta Ga last night at 6pm. I'm now sitting in Ruther Glen Va at the Flying J. I was originally suppose to deliver at 2pm tomorrow in Reading Pa but called and asked if they could take it in any earlier. They said they could, at 8am. So I will be up and rolling at 4am to drive the last 225 miles. I put in 695 miles today and was done at 5:45 today, I'm going to bed. Ciao'

 

Not really looking for any kind of feedback, the good thing about the Qualcomm is that there's a trail that can be seen by all those involved. All they need to do is read exactly what I wrote to understand my position. They are a good company, I enjoy working here. I'm quite sure I was being questioned by the account rep for that customer. I understand his/her position and job,now I'm quite sure they understand mine and that we all are on the same page.