not a question, just learn from my mistake.

I lost a pretty good gig this week due to several factors. Mainly, my ability to be a complete idiot. I'm throwing this out there for others, esp ya'll starting out, i hope ya'll can learn from my mistake and not have to go through this.

First here was the gig. i followed the NASCAR circuit. Once we made it to the race, all I had to do was set up a display and then talk to fans/consumers about Ford trucks. Stayed in hotels every night, never slept in the truck and for every 5 days i was out I earned 2 days PTO. (Caveat here, the pay wasn't that good, but after being out 3 weeks, getting a full week at home was really nice.)

I said "we" because I even had an "assistant" there on every trip to help with the display,and other things that would come up. Now this assistant and I didn't get along, and i had even gone to management asking to either take me off the tour or replace him with someone else.

The truck I was driving was basically a Argosy straight truck and i was required to pull a dolly with a Ford Escape attached. (The kind of set up that you would see behind an RV.) Towing the dolly was a management decision to save $$ to keep from having to rent a car once we arrived at the race. On paper, it was a logical choice, in practice though they never could grasp the fact that you could not back the unit up. (the dolly had hydraulic breaks that would lock when attempting to back.)

In a nutshell what happened was when pulling out of a hotel, instead of taking the time to unhook the Escape, then unhook the dolly, i attempted to pull a u-turn. I went up over a curb and taking out the bottom of the radiator. While doing this, I stopped the truck several times and asked my assistant, did i have clearance? am I going to hit anything? Each time he replied, "no you got this." or "just keep the wheels turned and your fine." The mistake here was not getting out and checking myself. All i can say in my defense there was, this guy worked for the same company I did, there's no way he'll let me hit anything.

We got the radiator fixed, made it to the next race and back to the yard where the following day I had to pretty much humiliate myself to keep my job. Now jump forward a week and it's time to leave for the next race in Richmond., VA. I checked the Co.'s website and it showed that I was scheduled to go, with the same assistant. I met with the office manager and asked if that was correct, I was told yes so I went to discuss this with upper-management. After a brief discussion in which i mentioned that I couldn't work with the same assistant due to the fact I felt I could not trust him. (I'm talking way past any help parking or backing, my feelings were and are, if he was willing to let me have the accident, what else would he be capable of?) I was told that I could either go with that guy or go home. So I turned in my fuel card and left.

So, maybe I didn't lose the job, I guess I gave it up. BUT it boils down to this. I have been told and I know each and everyone of you that are reading this have been told, when in doubt Get Out And Look. And I didn't. Had I done what I should have, I'd be at that race this week having a lot of fun. Instead I'm packing for orientation at a reefer company that starts on Monday.

Learn from me. Trust me, practical experience in your own life isn't the way to go.

(btw, i'm not throwing my responsibility in this out the window. i understand it was MY fault not my assistant's.)