Just spilled 10 gallons of crude and was fired, can I still find a job hauling crude?

Slip seating is definitely not good for maintenance. On the maintenance front today I caught a big rock off the back of an oncoming low boy hauling a dozer. Smashed the hell out of the driver side windshield in my Pete. It already was scheduled to go in for that glass on Friday as it had a crack from top to bottom, when the weather got cold here a few days ago a small crack at the bottom of the window extended all the way to the top while my slip was driving at night. I'm figuring out that a my slip is not writing up mechanical issues or talking to dispatch or the shop, just telling me about it. This is not helping at all. The laundry list of serious issues I've written up on my truck over the past month is staggering and much of it has yet to be addressed.

 

Today I ran 3 loads in a little under 9 hours for $300. That aint making it as the great Clint Eastwood would say. I called in for an extra load (I do this about twice a week and get one about half the time) but no such luck. I know there are going to be good days and bad days, but the past 5ish days have been pretty slow. Word is we had a rash of wells shut in and the slow period will pass, I've seen that before so it's entirely possible. Truck goes in for maintenance tomorrow night which is a good thing because a hydraulic line sprung a leak today. Needs a roof hatch seal, two fender mounts welded, hydraulic line, windshield and a bath. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Heading home for a week at the end of the month.

 

Exactly TLea, unfortunately today was exactly the same thing. 8.5 hours 3 loads $300. Back home this would be an awesome day, in -4 wind chills 1000+ miles from home it's not good enough. Truck is going to the shop tonight, I'm off tomorrow and then we'll see. I'm hauling loads fast, I can take on more loads but I they aren't giving them up. They said some flow back wells shut in but the load board should have leveled out by now. I'm calling the boss tomorrow to see what's going on.

 

Truck went in for maintenance on my off day which was Friday, the same day I lost power in my company housing unit. Got a call Friday night that there was a mandatory hazmat class Saturday morning at 6am. Saturday was going to be a complete loss anyhow because all my FR was in the wash when the power went out and as of Saturday morning they still had not gotten the power back on. Friday night tied the record cold temp (-10) so it was good and frigid in the housing unit when I got up to go to the hazmat class. When I got back home 5 hours later they were just finishing getting the power back on (14 hours no power in all).

Sunday pulled 4 loads in someone elses truck because mine was still in the shop. Got my truck back in time for work today, despite spending almost three days at the maintenance yard my trailer has yet to be washed. Finished loading my third load today and began pulling out to head to the offload and the truck started clunking and not really moving. At first I thought maybe I had a brake frozen so I locked the interaxle to break any frozen brakes/tires loose and it pulled right out. Turned off the interaxle and the clunking and not moving was back. At this point I know there is something wrong with my main drive axle. Called the shop they said we're sending a mechanic out, don't move the truck. 4+ hours later I called the shop to find out where the mechanic was, shop says we're going to have to send someone out to get you because the mechanic is busy. Okay, who's coming to get me and when will they be here? Shop: I don't know I'll have to get with dispatch. Seriously, what in the flying ####. I hung up and called dispatch because I have become acutely aware that if I'm not directly making it happen, it ain't gonna happen. Dispatch asks if the truck is movable to which I said yes I can probably make it back to the yard with the interaxle engaged (been snowy/icy road conditions for the past week, most guys are running interaxle all the time). Dispatch calls shop and calls me back to say go ahead just keep it under 30. No problem I can do that, in fact I could have done that 4 hours ago. I get to the yard and start hooking up to unload, apparently the shop replaced the cross pipe where the gravity feeds (the connections that go to a pump at the LACT) are connected, not sure why as it wasn't leaking. My guess is they probably broke it in the shop and had to replace it. Problem is they put the bolts in backwards and now the station pump connector can't connect so I have to push the whole load off with the truck pump. Not a big deal but it absolutely has to be fixed. Also got a fleetwide message that tomorrow morning we are having our third mandatory safety meeting of the month.

I have already begun searching for another job. This place may or may not work out, but at this point I feel it's in my best interests to look around and see what else is out there. I like the money here, and now I know I can handle the weather, but if I'm not moving I'm not earning and I've spent an inordinate amount of time stationary due to the completely inadequate maintenance. The drive axle I'm not blaming them for, #### like that can happen, but the other maintenance issues and the complete lack of consideration by the shop have me at the end of my patience. As usual I'll update as I go along. I'm heading home for a week or so at the end of the month, maybe some home time will recharge my patience but I'm still going to look around and see if there is anything out there that would be a step up.

 

This morning I was put in my roommates truck as he just left for his week of home time. Turns out his truck was supposed to go to the shop today. For those who have hauled crude this next bit will make sense, the Titan box barrel counter wouldn't turn on. Turns out you have to have the PTO engaged and the belly/fire valve open for it to power up (don't ask me....every single truck and trailer here are wired differently). It worked fine loading up, then at the offload it started flickering on and off and throwing error codes, never seen this before and after about thirty seconds it stopped flickering and just stayed powered down. Like most trailers the crude pump won't work if the Titan box is off and this offload location is a truck pump only location. Had to reroute to a different offload an hour away that had an actual LACT with a pump and suck the load off, then swapped into a different truck so this one could go to the shop like it was supposed to in the first place. That cost me almost 3 hours, so my four load dispatch turned into three. 12 hours, two trucks $300. All things considered this day could have turned out much worse but the week from hell continues. Hopefully next week goes smoothly, this has been a particularly rough few days. I'm headed home for a week or so next Friday, would be good to bang out a nice productive week before I leave. I've almost got my assigned truck in good working condition, once it's in order things should get a little better. I can make money here and turn loads, I just need a reliable truck. Fingers crossed...