Changing shifts so to speak

Those night dispatchers are trying to make their quotas and keep you and the truck rolling.

 

BINGO.

I called it.

Overnights on short hauls are going to burn you out in a few months if you keep banging against it. Then you will probably be fired or dismissed with a no win choice designed to remove you from employment.

You have to have longer hauls. If your employer does not stop it with the constant overnights then quit for cause and move on to another. Document who says, what, when and why etc.

Hanging the qualcomm out the window was something I did a time or two I thought I was the only one knew about that little trick so Mr Beep does not bother me (And Im deaf. I'll hear that beep faster than the trumpet of God on Judgement day... /satire...)

Some of the worst one way bawling outs Ive recieved in my lifetime on the road occasionally is when I slept in a few hours and caught up on my sleep bill to be safe. oh 15 hours maybe or even as much as 20. I hung up on dispatch a few times because it is a waste all around. They have 500 drivers and no time to treat me like a 6 year old stealing cookies. Its not fitting. (A symptom of 2000 miles straight through. They can wait a few more hours...)

 

Night time driving kicks ###. Less traffic, less stupid on the road = gravy.

 

It sure does. I run at night. Not everyone does though. I had a pretty good night last night considering.

I was run into the ground by EckMiller in Indiana at Rockport for constant wait half the day to pick up a coil or three then drive 400 miles somewhere by morning. small stuff. every night. Finally 4 months later I recognized I was burned out. Called operations manager. Told him to get me another dispatcher or find another driver that week. He got me a better dispatcher who put me on Logan to Williamsburg to start and then dedicated to I-10 between houston and Jaxville fla pipe east chains west for almost 6 months on my own schedule which is usually night running.

The original dispatcher probably felt strong enough about the situation as not to be a friend for life. With a emphasis on not. I could care less. Its a business and they should know better on newbies like me then.

Thats the other side of it too. They always kept small number of very long hauls which is my expertise to give to their chosen golden haired gods from Mt Olympus who can do no wrong. San Diego Chassis times three chained to Baltimore Seagirt, about 2800ish miles. With a occasional monday morning 7 am after you got there the previous friday which gets a oppertunity to visit relatives and friends. (And some that includes Chinatown's Babes... /tease... in those days)

In short I am absolutely convinced the mileage pay combined with careful abuse of newbies who don't know better until they burnout has to stop somehow. There are all sorts of hauls in this industry. Shorts, overnights, local, long haul and there is the jackpot loads only a few get out of favoritism etc. Essentially a vacation with 18 wheels.

The problem is I do not possess any ideas on how to make that stop other than to either change dispatchers or change companies. If necessary completely change the kind of freight and trailer. I am a good loyal driver. But if the dispatcher is really bad? You will be replacing many of me and don't even know it.

 

well i worked night shift for so many decades now i cannot recall when it all started.

it is tough getting sleep at varying hours of the day or night.

nyquil has a liquid of thier sleep potient(sp??) called ZZZ i believe, that is not cough medicine, that'll knock you out, try that.

you are in a new industry from what you were doing before. so it is not easy to adapt to, but you may also be fighting sleep as well..dark, quiet is what you need. not even a slither of light, or the rumbling of an idling engine.

short regional work is always tougher than OTR or dedicated or route deliveries...

many of us went thru this at one time or another.

 

How much should a person take? What milligram levels do they give you? Will it show up on a DOT drug screen?

 

i had that measuring cap that comes with the bottle.

read the directions,

as i recall there isn't anything in it to set off a drug screen.

 

All my drug test were negative. Millions of people take ephedrine every day for head & chest congestion.
Check the list of prohibited medications.

 

That is a dangerous question.

What I take sometimes will hurt someone else. So I cannot say specifically what I will take this much or that much. If you go take it and end up in the ER because you cannot come out of it properly, TTR and I might be personally liable for your bills. I don't know.

What I do know is this. Medicines for sleeping is temporary only. The only cure is quality sleep to REM and back for several complete cycles in a human. REM sleep is key. IF you can complete 4 or 5 cycles you will wake up feeling like you are 14 again. Assuming that age in which everything is working perfect in a mind and body.

One time a doctor prescribed unisom in prescription strength. I lasted three days before I ended up in the ER under IV valium and observation under sedation for two. It affected my trucking for two weeks. So I stayed home that.

The act of IV valium in the dose I got that night in the hospital was damaging further. To this day I felt it was not the right medicine. This would be back in the 80's when I was working the horsefarm under difficult conditions. However the body was strong in those days it was the sleep problem that became a problem. I solved that by taking lunch in the hayloft above one of the mares that liked to spend time nearby cropping grass and 10 cats that purred all over the place That was nap inducing so a hour and half of it and cleared it right out back to work the rest of the day without anymore problems of that nature.

To this day I treasure a proper day nap. Its not much but you get strong and keep going with one of those properly administered.