Made an Oops today

When we fueled in my time we took care of everything in it's time. No one was in a rush back then. Not too often. The paper logs took care of themselves.

When I got to where i am doing two oil changes every 5 weeks at one company they finally took notice. When you consider how far one must drive to do it back then, it's pretty outrageous.

The worst sin I ever did was leave the battery cover behind in a ice storm once. The truck was not well on the batteries until I cleared them out and got the cover back on it. And another incident a mechanic failed to reopen the one of two fuel tanks. He was overworked for it all anyway, easy for him to forget.

If the birds were on your radiator (Feasting on the bugs) in Texas and you still had no one waiting on you in fueling, it's a chance to take some more time and go around the rig one more time to make sure everything was in order. I always tried to give the birds a chance to do the work I did not have to.

 

X2 on the habit comments when fueling.

I’ve left one off a few times before, usually from being out of sync with my routine.

 

I did the same thing my first year and drove a few hundred miles through a heavy rain storm before catching it. Never had a problem.

 

And there it is. The attitude of the new "driver". Ask a question and get the feathers ruffled when constructive criticism (and good advice, too) is tossed their way. Instead of taking heed, run the mouth and ignore the advice. That's the way to learn, these days. This is why the old hands don't care to interact with them. Figure it out yourself.

 

I was put off by the super trucker dig vs Ridgeline. I don't mind a little nip or biting and horseplay here and there, but here I think I feel that there is not adequate respect for the knowledge Ridgeline has brought to the table, as messy as it is when the children wanna make a fuss and mess as happened here. Im not going to pick on the person who took the cheap shot because I suspect again a generational failure in teaching by the elders to mind and respect the lessons imparted (Taught) from time to time.

Once in a while I get corrected and sometimes I learn. Those are the good days. If it's really bad there is always that list. But not everyone stays on it too long. Forgive and forget.

Ridgeline does not agree with me some of the time as others. That's ok. But it is a good day if we can learn something here without degrading to stupid cheap shots that are unnecessary. And frankly a sign of a frustrated little child who has not yet learned to evolve into what is best for the industry. No particular person intended to be sure. Sometimes I am that child. ha...

Its all over and water under bridge. But again bottom line, I get sad when I see little ones biting on the elders unnecessarily.

 

I miss the days when they did it for you. Lol. The TA in Breezewood Pa used to be a Union 76. Those guys would come walking out to your truck with a pen and paper. They’d take all your info down, fuel the truck, check the fluids and wash the windows. All while the driver was inside paying and getting a free coffee. They had great meat loaf too. Oh well, times are a changing.

 

A huge part of the problem is that many (if not most) of these "drivers" with this type of attitude aren't being taught by the elders. They are being "taught" by another "driver" with little more experience than the student, so they aren't learning the respect, courtesy and other important lessons, (Such as how to change a light) that we were taught when we got into this biz. I was taught by old hands that were driving as far back as the 50's and there were hard lessons and, yes, I made my share of stupid mistakes, but I learned from them and learned fast. The elders didn't get the opportunity to teach them and if any did get in there to teach, they weren't the elders that needed to be teaching. Many were the blowhard loudmouths. You know the ones: 125MPH truck did West Coast Turnarounds, all the big stories we've heard for decades.

Another problem is the fact that many of these aren't in it for the trucking itself. It's just a job to them and they got into it thinking it would be easy and they'd make money. Some got into it because their job got outsourced and they needed something quick to put food on the table and were sold a bill of goods by whatever mega-carrier or fly-by-night company that sucked them in. Some got into the job because they showed up on a boat and needed a job and there it was; a ready-made job perfect for someone with no ties and no real reason to learn because they just don't care about anything but raking in as much money as they can. When the shine is off the apple, the attitudes really come forth because they are essentially trapped in a job they don't want to do. When I got into this I wanted to be a truck driver. I still love what I do, but these clowns have sullied the environment for me, so I typically keep to myself. I'll help someone asks or if I see someone struggling, but, aside from that, I just don't have a lot in common with a lot of these folks, aside from the job description.

Sorry. I'll stop with the ranting and raving.... for now.

 

I agree with joetro.
The guys I learned from cared about what they did and how they treated others and their equipment. Not so much today.
Some new drivers know everything 3 weeks after they start and then wonder what happened when something goes wrong. But try to tell them what they were doing wrong- you are offending them before you even get a chance to explain the reasons and try to help them!
Habits and routine have saved me a lot of problems more times than I can remember!