Before You Choose Truck Driving as Your Profession ...READ THIS

Actualy it belongs here, I deleted the thread you made...

 

Interesting post...

But ya know, I can tell horror stories about the IT business too. 20 years in the business. Hours and hours spent in "server jail", constantly "upgrading" Micro$oft-based servers to keep the kiddie scripters and crackers out of the system. Filing M$ bug reports and having Management breath down your neck and saying "Is it fixed yet?!". man, it's not even my code.

Watching beautiful summer days go by while your stuck in a room at set at 65 degrees babysitting security upgrades...

Management that doesn't know it's ### from a hole in the ground and expects you, at a moments notice and without forewarning to implement THEIR grand plan for a network makeover... or whatever new technology the President has heard about that week...

The office closet queens and others of "alternate sexual orientation" that you have to put up with because the HR department is too chicken-#### and legal is too liberal to fix it for the other 99% of use that are hetero.

Idiot users who whine, snivel and wouldn't know technology if it came up and bit them on the ###... FIx, fix fix fix FIX ME NOW! Geez...

Stress. Oh yes, the STRESS. The website is down, the corporate database is funky and needs normalizing, the President of the Company can't get to his favorite porn site... The CAD guys can't figure out why it takes more than 30 seconds to download a 200Meg file off our already slow file server... even after you've explained it to them for the umpteenth time...

Truck driving, IT/MIS Admin, whatever... It's all what you make of it.

As for me, I'll take my chances on trucking 'cause I've already visited another part of Hell...

 

IdahoGhost, I know where you're coming from. I did the IT thing during my college days, both in class and in an internship. I delved into C++ programming pretty hard and hated every second of it. That crap was mind-numbingly boring. I abandoned that pretty quick, and now I'm especially glad I did. All the cherry C++ programming jobs are now going to those in Bangalore, meaning I didn't miss out after all. Well, I missed out on doing C++ homework and projects three to eight hours a day seven days a week....

 

Here is the basics of it in my opinion, yeah there is a whole lot of crap out here. From companies, dispatchers, truckstops, lott lizards and homo's, just a world of stress and constant aggrevation. That is why in my opinion there is such a turnover in our industry. Truck driving sounds like a wonderful job, tour the country be free of the over the shoulder boss sleep in the middle of the day make #### good money. Have ya heard the phrase if it sounds to good to be true it probably is, thats the case here. I have never understood the glorification of trucking. Ask any joe blow on the street about trucking and this typical response " I would love to be a truck driver, you know see the country" It is like people forget the fact this isnt happy fun time it is a job. Your job is to move frieght, not sit in truckstops playing cherry master, or stopping in every other xxx store. This is a job period with real work. Some of us have a passion for like myself, I am a 3rd generation trucker and love what I do. It takes a passion to do this, it is so easy to burn out. There is an amazing amount of stress out here, dont believe me look at turnover rates. I will bet my paycheck that people quit really good jobs not b/c of the company but b/c of stress. I dont discourage anyone, I only wish you luck. I just advise you to take in the whole picture to make sure you are cut out for this.

 

For the most part I never go far in a truck. But now and again I go a place that is a little far. If I mention it to friends who are not in the industry, they ask me things like "Did you stop to see The Great Lakes?" or "Did you visit the Aquarium?". When I tell them no, they look at me funny. Seems to me John Q Public thinks we are just out for a big joy ride.

 

That's exactly what my wife thought until she went with me for 3 weeks

 

I have never driven a big truck myself but am hoping to soon. My reasoning isn't because I think it is some easy glory job but it is different from what I have been doing for the past 22 years. I'm 49 and will committ sicide if I have to do another 22 years here.
I got on here at the age of 28 after having spent 10 years working as a framer. I just wanted a steady paycheck for my family.
Try working in the retail glass industry for multiple years. The shop I work at does residential glass replacements, mirror/shower door work, commercial glass work, walk in table work, and new commercial installations. We, thank god, got out of the auto glass end about 17 years ago.
I have moved up from a commercial glazier to the main shop manager. Big deal. I get a decent check, two weeks vacation, and half ********* health inssurance. No retirement of course.
But I have been going to the same freaking building for almost 1/2 of my life. I get to put up with nasty #####ing customers, housewives that think they know better than you but because they are paying you, they can tell ya how to do your job, cry baby glaziers, contractors that are only concerned about their particular projects, and a boss that thinks because he pays you a decent wage, you should worship the ground he walks on.
On top of it did anyone know that glass is extremely heavy? And it will cut the crap out of ya in less than a hearbeat? I have the bad back, shoulders, and scars/stitches to prove it.
My point is that every job has its bad sides. When I was framing houses I used to envy anyone that had an inside job. I got so tired of being outside all day long in the hot sun, in the freezing cold winters, and in the rain. So a job at a glass company looked good. They pay ya to drive from the shop to the job. I never got paid to drive. And after 10 years or so we even got paid vacations. And then we got health insurance. Whoopie...........
A job is what you make out of it. No more, no less.
My 2 cents.........

 

Did you ever see people working in an office having little chats? Or showing off pictures of the new baby, or their niece's wedding. or having a birthday cake for someone. Or making doctors appointments and being able to make them. Or going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water when they need it.

Forget all that if you are going to start driving a truck. You won't even be able to make a doctor's appointment, because you are never able to say for certain when you will be home. You'll be lucky if you are able to go to the bathroom in a place that doesn't make your skin crawl.

 

My cousins wife asked why I'd need to go to a school since it was just driving. I set her straight pretty quick.