Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

It seems that we can take up to 30 days leave of absence. After that there is a 1 page rehire form, such as the one I had to fill out. If you go more than 30 days after you are terminated then you basically have to go through a more lengthy process including orientation, maybe a road test, etc. This is how I understand it.

I basically left on leave at the end of September. My 30 days leave had passed while I was out of the country. Around November 21 I was terminated since I hadn't returned yet. I was told, when I returned, that I had 30 days from the date of termination to get my 1 page document processed or I would have to do more paperwork plus orientation.

So in short, 30 days leave = nothing happens except you have to get a new truck.

 

Good ideas on reducing clutch leg. I don't think I can float gears at low speeds yet.

 

No, I didn't lost any seniority or pay. But my driver ranking was lowered (if it wasn't already bronze) when I returned. So I think it does affect your ranking - I think my last quarterly bonus when I returned was a little over $6.

 

I'm thankful that I can use Lowes free wifi while I type this. If you park close enough to the building you can grab a signal outside, as I'm doing right now. They actually have a pretty decent signal.

Today was a mess. I had my live unload this morning. It was just over 2 hours but no detention message. Instead of waiting around for it I just sent my ecall. I had a load that was put on my yesterday waiting for me when I finished this load this morning. When I went empty I asked them to dispatch me on this next load and they said it was taken off of me. Nice of anyone to let me know that kind of important fact. I had put in a home time request for Phoenix for about 5 days out - not really for actual time off but just to get off the east coast and run out west a little more. Due to that hometime request they apparently pulled the next load off of me and gave me a load heading out to Texas. However the Texas load wasn't picking up until 26 hours from that time. I couldn't get a clear answer on whether I would get layover pay for sitting for 26 hours to wait for this load taking me west so I asked them to just drop the home time request altogether and get me running today. They pulled the home time request and I immediately got a load picking up tonight and live unloading tomorrow in Georgia. Great. I started heading towards the load and since I was going to be about 4 hours early I stopped at the Loves on the way down, about 30 miles into my deadhead, to take a shower. Got back into my truck and was just sitting for a few minutes when I got a message that that load was cancelled by the shipper or someone. So I lost that load. Drove over to a nearby Walmart and Lowes and here I sit.

 

Johnny Dollar is awesome. One of the things I find funny about the old radio programs is when they have to do an accent. For some reason they just come out sounding funny. But it's entertaining. I also love when there is a fight on one of the programs and they make all the grunts and groans while describing to the listener what is happening..."here, take that scoundrel! Ummmhh.....grrrrr....now I'm going to hit you with my left hand while I grab that gun you dropped". Keeps me entertained. I probably listen to the radio classics channel, the comedy channels and the Car Talk brothers whenever I have the opportunity.

Ever hear the Car Talk program? It's pretty good although I think they are all old reruns.

Thanks Harley. Actually there is a second part to that whole Patrick story that I had written but in one quick swipe of a misplaced keystroke I erased it all. Haha....I almost lost my mind. It involved meeting up with Patrick and being witness to a very large drug transaction near the Guatemala border whereby due to a poorly timed use of a cellphone, Patrick could have gotten us killed. I'm going to try and retype it here again.

I've never driven an automatic. I love shifting but I'm curious if I would be won over by an automatic. I don't know if Swift has many.