Decision,Decisions

I figured I'd throw in a little update for those of you who were nice enough to throw opinions my way when I started this thread. Get comfortable because this is going to be a good one.

SO, on Saturday the TM called me out of the blue (I thought that was strange considering it was the weekend and the terminal was closed) anyway, he seemed very worried that I wouldn't be returning today, for my first day of driver training. Apparently one of the senior drivers let him know that they were all giving me the "hard truth" while they were sitting in the break room with me Friday morning waiting to get dispatched (all of which falls right into line with everything negative you read about Saia), which is the room where I was watching all of the corporate bs safety videos. Speaking of which, EVERY driver, and I mean EVERY.SINGLE.DRIVER that I saw that morning looked flat UNHAPPY. As I stated in another thread, they were all mid 40's to 50's and I'm sure a couple were in their 60's. I'm 30, so obviously I'd be the youngest guy there, and even with the bs policies, I'm sure most of those guys will be riding out their seniority there and with it being a smaller barn unless they just get pushed to the absolute extreme with said policies, so I'd probably be low man on the totem pole for who knows how long. (I'd be extra board for an extensive amount of time I'm assuming, and line haul is "out of the question" according to the TM because the 3 line haul drivers they have are not budging anytime soon, which is why I originally wanted to do LTL.)

Anyway, he seemed worried and I was just straight up with him. I told him I obviously needed the job, and the pay was good as well as the benefits, but I just flat couldn't deal with the bs. I can learn the job, but I don't think I'd ever "learn" to play by such over zealous rules. I can't go to work everyday worried about being coached for bs. It's just not conducive with a healthy work environment, and that's not why I got my CDL. For the life of me I hate that they've turned the company around in that fashion because I could of used that money, hell I would of enjoyed the hell out of that sign on bonus, IF I made it that far.

I told him I'd be by to drop off my padlock, and hazmat booklet as well as the green bible they gave me whenever I made it up that way this week. Funny thing is, my wife and I decided to load up our son and go have dinner in a neighboring city earlier, and guess who texts me? Sure enough, the TM. He was attempting to STILL get me to come to work tomorrow at 10am to start my driver training. What gives? I'm a good driver, and my record is clean, and I can interview well, but are you really trying to tell me, that Saia, who is offering a 3000k sign on bonus and 23.31 an hour to start, has literally no other options than to try and track me down, a day or so after I tell you I don't want to deal with the bs? Are there REALLY that many drivers in this area who have records that aren't "acceptable" by Saia, or have they just ran that many prospective employees off due to the cameras and micromanagement? I can tell you now, if any of the other applicants didn't turn the job down right when they were told about the cameras, they certainly would after doing a little research. I have yet to respond, but I found that extremely strange. Opinions?

To add insult to injury, I called the TM at Estes on Friday and left a voicemail, as well as sending him an email. He finally got back to me this afternoon and informed me they went with another candidate because they needed the position filled. I originally told him I would crunch some numbers and talk it over with my wife and be in touch. I guess I waited a bit too long. He did however tell me I'd be the first person he called whenever a new positions opens up. So that COULD workout at some point, but hell it could be 6 months from now.

So, here we are. Back to square one, with no prospective jobs on the table besides running out to West Tx to haul frac sand, YIPPIE (sarcasm). You know, sometimes you think you've got it all figured out, and that you're making the right decision after you sit and ponder, and ponder and talk it out, and rack your brain in an attempt to avoid making a bad decision, only to end up....right where you started. Ahhh the excitement.

Dave

 

I appreciate that GJ Penguin, I really do. I'm thinking something will pan out here soon.

I hear ya on that I appreciate it, as you've shed quite a bit of insight on the oilfield for me. I might just have to do like you said. Hop in a truck and make the best of it just to bring some money in for the time being. It's better than sitting on my ### hoping and wishing until that good ole income tax runs out.

Dave