Where is everyone #5

Story time...

I had a 41ft coil on a 43ft trailer. ....Marshalls had ever scale shut down....there were three black suvs and two Blackhawks. ...

Oops wrong channel

Friday I helped a fella unload... Yeah sometimes I help ..

In the process I learned his truck was in the body shop and the one he was driving dynoed 800 to the ground .....He'd not had any trouble unloading and this wasn't his regular trailer but had been pulling it all week..

So up the trailer I go cause we been rattling the front for fifteen. Came back down and grasped a hog scraper. Wasn't one shiney place in the dang thing. Odly he didn't understand where the big chunk of bean meal came from that I knocked down...he hadn't hauled any.....

Back wasn't no better. He did manage to grab three gears before he left the dump....same area I run dr1 till I'm clear around the facility thru the landmines and clear of the docks.

He was driving a large car...made him clean out the other half of the back cause my legs was giving out. Stumbled back across the lot to my old junk...chatted with a friend that was waiting... Went in and my load...same as his....fell out the bottom.

 

ZOMG! You grabbed another log book?!?!?!!!?!?!!!!!!!

It's amazing millions didn't die. MILLIONS.

 

Stopped one night at a truck stop around Springfield Mo. Cold as hell and I'm getting fuel. This older feller comes up looking at the truck. White and red Pete all shinny with chrome and lights. Darn good looking 30 ton wrecker for mostly long hauls. I was empty, had dropped of around Spring Dale? Reefer outfit trying to recall name and can't. I can see there trucks in my mind. Wise, or WSE idk. Anyhow get to talking with the old timer and he walks over and goes "Fremont! Ohio! Son what in the world you doing out here?" Said well we go anyplace someone pays us. Shot the stuff for a bit and I reached in got my log book and dropped it in the trash can. He said "boy what you up to?" I told him Friday night is my best friends wedding rehearsal and I'm best man. Told him I will be there and I have a stack of new ones. I started a new one and rolled out. Great guy. Rolled into shop 730pm Thursday. Parked in the shop unload gear and went home. Bout 945pm I get a call from second shift forman. "Hey Im sorry but I need to warn you about a butt chewing you are gonna get. The owner called and told my to tell third shift they should expect you in here hot at 5 or 6am. Instruct me to go home they will take care of truck". I said and? "Well Mack I told him you pulled in the shop at 730pm and he blew a gasket". I got a pee pee spanking, but the overtime was worth it. They just seemed to think because I was the manager I should set a better example to the crew. I thought I had!

 

Yeah, towards the end for me they started wanting fuel tickets to match the log book so it got harder to do it the freestyle way.

Not that I'm going to but I can't imagine trucking nowadays with e-logs and camera's, DEF issues, under horse powered automatic trucks drag racing down the interstate at 62 and 63 mph backing up traffic forever, putting up with the sweat pants, flip flop wearing, blocking the fuel island, having to worry about getting the nose of your truck ripped off while your sleeping, and in general non-caring for your fellow truck drivers much less anyone else truck drivers of today.

I find humor in "some" of today's drivers that think drivers from just 15-20 years ago were such outlaws. Putting peoples lives in danger because they had the gall to use their own judgement as to when they were tired and it was time to pull over instead of a computer/government dictating to you that it's time to do so, and heaven forbid you talk about the days further back when drivers were doing whatever was necessary to make it to their destination and make as much money as they could in those spring ride 300 HP 180" wheel base, no A/C COE's. These new guys say, screw that!, why would you kill yourself driving a truck like that all those hours and miles? Because they LOVED it, they breathed it, their whole family did......you morons! But, you can never make em understand that no matter how much you try to explain it or how many pictures you show em.

Everybody want's a brand new ride, with inverter, GPS, auto, want to be home every night and make $100,000 a year with all medical paid for, 6 months vacation starting out and they refuse to go to wherever. Refuse to drive in the rain, the snow, the fog, night, weekends, blah, blah, blah. Nobody wants to pay their dues.....at any job. Everybody has demands but nobody wants to sacrifice anything and companies give in to em, I just don't get it.....really, I don't. You come to me as a new hire and tell me you won't do this or that or go here or there, get the ****out of my office!!! Your not going to take care of this $150-200,000 worth of equipment that I've supplied you with? Keep it clean? Next time your at the yard I'll be collecting the keys. I wouldn't put up with it and if it was inevitable that I had to, I'd get out of the business. I'd never be in that position anyway, having trucks, because I know what the result would be.

I just don't like being told what to do when I know what I'm doing with anything and I've been nothing but responsible and safe my whole life when it comes to driving anything. When I give you a reason to tell me what to do then "maybe" I'll listen, otherwise, leave me alone!

Didn't mean for that to turn into a rant.

 

Rants allowed.

 

Especially when they are right on!!

 

Oh where oh where did the mooseknuckle go...

Oh where oh where can he be.....

 

I accepted an offer to run LTL reefer down to Cali and back to Washington. Will be picking up a preloaded trailer in the yard every week, do multiple stops down around Stockton, then reload a few stops and drop it in the yard and come home and be off for 2 days. Trucks are governed at 62 but the highest speed limit I’ll hit will be 60 mph. Pays 75k a year and full benefits for family. 579 Peterbilt’s and a few 386’s still around. Not sure what I’ll get just yet.

 

I missed a few pages...did you give up on the chem. Gig?

Edited to add: not that that's a bad thing! I couldn't do it!

 

One of the things that influenced me to decide to "move inside" where I'm at has to do with some of the modern irritations of trucking. Even though I've had my CDL for only just under 10 years, I was on paper when I drove OTR. Still had to deal with log audits that had to match up with information from the qualcomm, but there was still some leeway to be a little creative with the coloring book.

I think I've mentioned before but the truck(s) (semi and pickup) both have GPS trackers in them, and the bossman can do the eye of Sauron thing and just watch your every move on his computer screen. Just KNOWING he was doing it, even after establishing that I'm not an S-bag and all that, irritated me to no end. I see that kind of @%#@$% as a sign of distrust and I don't take that lightly when I'm a very trustworthy person. The "where you at" phone calls. The "why did you take that route" questions when I'd get back to the yard. Even more ludicrous when he flat out said one day "I couldn't be a driver these days with all of the electronic tracking crap".

Like the crew in this thread, I have a deep respect and love for trucking. I just don't have the same feelings towards micromanagement and nannying that I don't need. At the point where if I'm going to do it, I'd rather just go all in (despite the risks) so at least I'm as in charge of my ship as I can be.

Moved in to move up and make more money to help get finances better settled, so I can get into the best position I can be to take the next step. Will still have to deal with E-logs, but those I can manage. It's the overlord overwatch that I want gone.....