Trucking can be like a bad marriage...

Now as far as 'trucking being like a bad marriage'....

it can be good or bad...just depends on where your at in life, mentally, spiritually ect ect....
I just walked away from a decent job, during hard times....cause I just got tired of the over the road lifestyle...being yanked away from home before your mind was even settled, being belittled by dispatchers, everyone wanting to pull rank on you, always being at the bottom of the pecking order....
And I just couldn't take no more...literaly...
So I left...determined to find other paths and doors...cause trucking, that enviornment, will make you real complacient after a while...you will literaly forget that there are other things to do...and your life will become freeways and warehouses and truck stops...

And for a time I didn't mind...I milked it for as long as I could, what started off as a joyious expagade...ended up as an emotional burden...so I left...rather than become a road zombie...

There is no happy or good ending yet...I'm still searching...and that hasnt been easy...and it can be humiliating...cause in your mind, whenever you apply somewhere...you think your more than qualified to do the job....but in the employers mind...well heck..they may not even look at your application for 3 weeks...

I do have a second interview tomorrow...with a passenger shuttle type of company...regular hours average pay...but at this stage of my life that's more my cup of tea...I like being around chirpy people and airplanes....do my job, go home, and then do other things...go to plays, theater, the beach..ball games, whatever...I just want to live a little and make up for all the time I was out on the road...

Making the transition is not easy...life passes you by when your out there...and you soon become irrelivant to the non driving world....
To be continued...

 

Well that shuttle opportunity seems to have crumbled all to hll.....I was told to come back today...and now can't get a hold of them...the economy is effecting everyone....
And the jobs that are still available are the over the road ones....

I wish I weren't so stubborn....it bugs me that the only way I can make a decent living is to basically sell my soul to companies that treat you like chattel....

That frustrates me to know end....yes, I can earn a check...but at what price to my soul....so much of life has already past me by....I'm a perfect example of what happens when you surrender a good portion of your life to the over the road existance....you become irrelavent to society....you loose value....there's a lot of competition out here these days....
And unless you have a young 'Metro' look...it's hard for people to see prospect in you....

Solution?
I don't know...start your own business....and that's what I may have to do...I'm tired of kissing ###...trying to convence people that I'm worthy of their employment...when half the people there don't do nothing, arent motivated and don't know crap about life....
So I may have to do that...simply start my own business...my own company...and live or die by my own sweat....
These companies today, which are ran by humans....think their gods....you leave them and they do everything to hamper your ability to move on....they act like they own you...like a jelious spouse....

They want you to 'marry' them...they promise you this and that....and it's all the same...(trucking companies) the honey moon lasts about 1 week....then their fangs show....
Every good dispatcher I've had that has earned me money has been fired....and replaced by a system clone robotic corporate type.....

Oh well....this is an on going adventure....I will share whatever happens...good or bad...

 

Today is the one day, at least for a few hours, that I get to leave all behind...and just do what I love...get up on stage...even though it's only rehearsals...it's still fun...a great escape...

It's moments like this I would never trade a weekend away from home for...it's moments like this that were robbed from me in the past...and it's moments like this evening I will create more of in the future...

It's all about quality of life and trying to improove your life at every juncter...sometimes it may not be possible, other times you just got to be brave and make it happen...literly create an opportunity for yourself by taking a chance...

Like I've said many times in the past...I have nothing against trucking as a trade...(although it's changed a lot in 10 years) Trucking is still trucking though...what has changed for the better or worse are the people running it and or policies, restrictions ect ect...

I still like to drive, just not over the road...I did my time...loved it for a while...been everywhere and back...but now it's time to move on...
A lot easier said than done...

 

I'm funny...and goofy...and very expressive...and verbally explosive...the combination of those 3 has me on a good fast track to success...

But I don't come on here...this forum...to be funny...I come on here to be 'candid, real and raw'....

 

Career truckers are somewhat at a disadvantage when trying to persue life after trucking....

For one...now all companies seem to want a 10 year work or job history....
Well as we all know...many in the trucking industry do the switch arwoo a lot....the turn over rate is higher than in other trades or careers due to the demands of the job and time away from home...
Most don't know what it's like to be months behind on family time or personal issue times....until finally you reach a breaking point and resign...or to be lied to about home time, to miss the birth of your child or wifes anniversary, or even a funeral...

So it's easy to see why truckers job hop a lot...but other non trucking employers don't understand that...they can't even begin to relate....yet ask them to leave their home and family for just 3 days a year and they break down....

2. Personal references....many truckers just don't have that...truckers work alone for the most part...unless they're teaming....

3. What was the name of your supervisor?
Again over the road truckers really don't have 'supervisors'...they have 'dispatchers' or what some like to call it now 'driver managers'....
And sometimes I find that question insulting and annoying....as if you need a 'supervisor' to look over your back and coach you when your in your 30's 40' 50' and even 60's.....truckers arent use to having 'supervisors'...truckers work alone, drive alone into all kinds of exotic challenging situations...you supervise yourself....

Whether scary border towns in Texas or Los Angelos...your doing all that yourself...and should get all the credit...not some dispatcher sitting in a chair in Iowa...
What truckers do is so so under appreciated...the hostile enviornments they constantly in ect ect...

But all this doesnt translate well when applying for a non trucking job...they've all been brainwashed by the corporations to target in on a certain compliant loyal model employee who puts company needs before their own family....

Any ways....here's my suggestion...you get to a point in your life where you can really only work for yourself....to do otherwise becomes humiliating...disclosing all your personal information and still not being considered for the job...no telling who steals your identity by doing that....

It's an humiliating process...to have some McDonalds hamburger eating, person deciding your fate based on whatever...and denying you the opportunity to make a living...

Life after marriage can be challenging...

 

The struggle continues...the future is bleek...(sounds like the opening line from a broadway play).

My ex is calling me back (over the road driving)

This is what my ex is telling me..

'Come back to me...it'll be different this time...I won't neglect you...I'll make you feel special and valued, I'll pay attention to your emotional needs...oh honey...just come back....but if you don't come back to me...I'll make your life hard, I'll continue to place sanctions on you...and I will destroy your future...it's your choice...forget about your stupid dreams and come back to me or else...'

That's what my ex is telling me...come back or else...
(I know..a bit dramatic and theatrical...but what else do you expect from me)

It's as if when you leave some of these companies, they place sanctions on you...the way our government did to Iraq....

Their like yes...go ahead and leave....'BUT WE'LL MAKE DARN WELL AND SURE YOU NEVER WORK FOR ANYONE ELSE'...followed by the evil laugh and grin...

And then they countdown the moment until you come crawling back...barefoot and ragid...'Oh please...please...I was ungrateful, I was wrong...you took care of me...Oh please give me my job back'
And they respond...'We'll think about it...'

Here's the thing...do you crawl back...or do you crawl forward?

 

In all fairness...trucking did not put me here...I choose to put myself where I'm at now...and the economy being the way it is, complicates things...jobs are very limited right now...not even wal mart is hiring where I'm at...now how bad is that when not even walmart is hiring?

And that's because people are hanging on to what they got...no one is quiting right now...even at mcdonalds...people are hanging on to their jobs rather than face a future without a paycheck...

For the record...trucking is a good career to get into...it can be very rewarding....please don't let my rants discourage anyone...

We're all different...and sometimes our needs change as we get older...just like in a marriage...2 people often just drift apart as they age....one may change...while the other stays the same...

Believe me...my life would be much simpler if I could contain it all within the over the road lifestyle like I use too...but that lifestyle now robs me of other things I want to do...
And if you keep doing something you don't like to do, than you become a zombie...a road zombie...(that's true for any proffesion or trade)...

About my photos, it's funny how people will say how 'open minded' they are...how 'objective' they are and accepting....until they see you...then all that goes out the window....

In their minds when they say 'oh I'm open minded'...the person they think their being open minded too pretty much lookes just like they do....like a duck say their open minded...as long as it's another duck...but is a duck open minded to a swan?

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open minded trucking lifestyle road zombie