6/21/16 Is the beginning of my Schneider career!!!

Any truck parking suggestions at Biloxi MS casino with poker?

 

Well, I guess it's been a little while since I've posted. I've gotten into the routine of driving my arse off and sleeping. I've never been able to sleep on demand. At first, when I started, I would sit and wait while being unloaded. Now I've grown accustom to going to sleep. I'm not sure if I can attribute that to being dead tired or just learning how to sleep whenever. But I've also been running different schedules here and there. I'll get up at 2am and run. Or sometimes I'll get up at 5am. Today I set the alarm clock for 630 am because my live load was scheduled for tomorrow and I had to wait for the office to open to try and schedule it for today. I called getting screwed on this deal. As soon as they gave me the assignment I called in and asked about scheduling earlier. I immediately thought even if they took it early if be waiting till they had time to work me in. Sure enough I was right. I got here at 9am. Want unloaded till 1pm and I still sit here now waiting for an assignment at 415pm. Trust me, I called in and rose hell. I went the extra mile to offer them to sit on the load for a reset till the original delivery time tomorrow if they would pay me for it rather than have me relay it 100 miles away and then have to pay for all that extra. They denied it lol. And I called it to my DBL. I said that they would rather pay me detention which would be less than a relay than pay me to reset. She assured me I would be worked in and on my way. After 5 hours of sitting and not being unloaded I lit the fireworks. Talked to some big wig in the office and told him I don't appreciate being treated as a pawn. I know for certain that yall purposely did it this way and that you were going to do it this way before I hit accept on the assignment. The proof is that I have no assignment yet. This was around noon time. My NAT had come and gone and I have no assignment. Yall knew I'd be stuck here and didn't care. The max you'd have to pay out is what $45? For detention? I told him I'm not happy with my pay rate. I'm almost 5 months in. Over 40k miles. Accident free. No complaints about my miles. Where they send me. I'm Midwest regional and just left Maine yesterday. I have no complaints there. I know yall are banking off of me. I just want to be treated right. I told him about the email I've been drafting. I thought briefly about referring him here lol. To read my real thoughts. But I think the clown thing wouldn't go over to well lol. But I finished the email. Sent it to the wife to proofread and I'm going to send it to the three of them. My DBL, my recruiter and this guy. I've heard his name but I don't know who he is. We'll see. He did tell me that there is an unreleased pay increase going into effect Jan 8th. He said I'd be at 38cpm then. When I started I was told if be there after 9 months. At the beginning of the year I'll be at 6 months. Not sure what the raise is but just a heads up if you haven't already heard yet to yall company drivers.

Ok done loose stuff now. Road signs. Are people from Pennsylvania that stupid that every turn lane requires a "must turn" sign? In Massachusetts and NJ I've been seeing "no turns" signs. Wtf does that mean? I guess they are on every entering the highway ramp. Do people really try to exit on them up here? NYC drivers are CRAZY AF. I was in some traffic and going about 15mph. These folks would take the enter the highway lane to the very end of the merge. Then cut me off. Constantly. One time, thsee 2 cars ran the lane out and continued on the shoulder to try to get in front of me. Traffic was coming to a stop. I'm 74k lbs. I've got about a car length of room ahead of me. I couldn't have allowed them to get in without slamming on the brakes. This dude straight up honks at me as if I'm the arsehole in this situation lol. He went behind me and then cut over to the other lane got beside me rolled back his sunroof and started blasting me with profanities that would be bleeped out on here. I tried to start explaining that cutting off a semi of my weight class isn't the brightest of ideas but he sped up to cut me off and then ride the next exit lane to the end and cut off the next person lol. Ok I understand that this may save 3 min in your life. But is your 3 min really that much more important than everyone else? But I could be wrong about him. He could have been a Dr on his way to perform a life saving heart transplant. I hope he made it.....

Assignment finally in. I'm off to NC. Out of NJ. What a hell hole. I hate Jersey. I dog it all the time. I'm from NY originally is why I guess. My wife is from here though. It ticks her off when I call it NY landfill. Hence, The garden state. Compost.....

 

I've been complaining in here a lot. I really thought that this is a Schneider thing. Maybe it's a me thing. On a larger scale, maybe it's a truck driver thing. I've had for a while thought that certain professions attract a certain type of people. Not all people fall into the category. Just a majority. For example, police officers are hot heads and control freaks, church leaders teach people about Jesus then cheat on their wives and sometimes with children, truck drivers think that they are more important than everyone and complain about constantly getting screwed all the time and have the wildest stories that no one in their right mind will believe. I'd also go out and say that a majority of truck drivers can be classified as socially awkward people. This isn't a knock if you're reading this thinking I'm talking specifically about you. This last week I didn't bring food on the road from home. So I've been eating all of my meals on the road. The other day I was at a Dennys or some other restaurant and I sat at the bar vs taking up a full table. I sat through 3 truck drivers going back and forth about their week, their dispatcher and company failures of the week, drivers from swift funny mistakes and every other funny blunder. It was somewhat nauseating. But where the socially awkward thing comes into play is I would notice that instead of them bantering back and forth or responding to each other it was more like a 1 up type of scenario. Most times not even allowing the other to finish. Like they had never talked to another person before. Or had no idea how. My son is high functioning autistic. He is very much this way. It's almost like he will patiently wait for you to finish so he can say what he wants to say. Which is never related in anyway shape or form to what you just said. He has gotten better over the years with classes and groups and maybe just getting older. But I see a lot of him in what he could be in some truck drivers. One story leads to a better story. The next trying to top the next. Until your wading to the the salad bar in the deepest BS ever.

I've been going back and forth with management with Schneider for the last couple days. I'm tempted to post the nonsense I've been going through back and forth. I may be the crazy one but I just can't see it. I'd love to have a 2nd opinion or 9 lol. Still about the mess I've been going through since day one here at Schneider. One more commitment to excellence quote and I'm going to lose it. Yeah, excellence in losing paperwork. Or excellence in giving you the wrong pick up number because it was picked up 3 weeks ago. Or excellence in (my favorite) sending you and 3 others to the same empty. Maybe they think we'll fight to the death for it. They're in business to start their own fight club!!! And we're the fighting puppets.... I don't know what to think anymore. I just don't really think I can stay now. Too much has been exposed as BS to me. I'm getting miles. I'm accident free. I'm 106% in my bonus criteria. So I'm doing good. And frankly I honestly don't think that there is anymore they can F up from now on. I mean the small stuff I can take. I don't know though. Have to do some thinking.

I was at a place last week and the guy asked for my pick up number. He said it was wrong and he didn't have it. So I tell him that I'll call in and see. Before I get to call he realizes that it was the right number so I hang up. He apologizes to me and I told him that even Schneider messes up and got the number right this time. He was dying laughing because he said he was so used to the number already being delivered that it was so true. But the even more funny part is I have a friend that works for a company that does business with Schneider. She said that the Green Bay office sends in paperwork mismatched all the time. Wrong load numbers by sending in paperwork for loads that they didn't even ship lol. She said that they have one person that deals directly with Schneider and everyday she wants to pull her hair out. Could you imagine that? And I think I have it bad. I'm almost bald anyway. Maybe this is where the hair must go for good?

 

Nope.... and I won't let it go. I do think that I have it solved though. I believe that it may be coming only due to the cause of charity. I said that it is less about the money and more about the principle. And that I'd be willing to to donate it to whatever cause of charity they suggest. I read over with the wife the 8 back and forth emails for today. She thinks that they are purposely messing with me because no one can be this stupid.....

 

I figured that sharing the email's wouldn't be the best option nor really fair to them. Why I'm even considering fair to them I don't know. There is very little that they haven't messed up for me. I also finally resolved the window. At least I think I have. They have agreed to fix it again. We'll see if they actually do so this time as they have promised. I ended up telling them that it's unacceptable to me to be ignored on this. It's not clear cut in the FMCSA that it is legal or not. I wrote,

The window issue is simple to solve. I'll need a guarantee from you or another Schneider manager in writing that the crack in my window is safe, legal and refused to be replaced. No more tip toeing. If I do not hear anything back my only other option is to pull into the next open weigh station tomorrow and ask for a DOT officer to inspect the window. Also, if any fines are issued to me Schneider will pay them. Maybe I should have been this firm from the beginning and listened to my respected fellow drivers.

You live. You learn. It was responded to me that they would fix it because they can't guarantee anything that DOT would consider legal or illegal. They were always really, to use their own term, "safe and legal" to not call it a crack in their response to me and refer to it as a chip instead or give me the rules in such they devised on policy to replace windows. But never going on a limb (in writing) to say that it was legal. Even after repeated attempts in asking them directly. It really was wild on how they are trained to protect their arse, rather than protect their driver from fines. It's clear that I've outworn my welcome here at this point. This lady said I never offered a resolution after each one clearly saying I want to be given what I was promised or earned. Nothing more. Nothing less. It seriously feels like I'm part of the old Abbott and Costello routine of who's on first. And I'm completely clueless of what's going on with each question asked. But who is more clueless? The one asking? Or the one answering?

 

Well, if you've been keeping up you'd see that I've done a pretty good job of keeping it real. So in full disclosure I regretfully tell this next story. If I can be an arse about others I've got to do so about my own mistakes. So here we go.

Yesterday was kind of horrible. The night before I got an assignment to go from Carlisle PA to Shepardsville KY if I remember the city correct. Any I'll get to that in a moment. Just shy of 600 miles. I knock out 170 that night. Delivery is scheduled for 2200 the following night and unload time is 180 min. Normally I'm sawing logs way before this time. I send a message asking for an earlier appt but it goes unanswered. Oh well. I just do it. It says long term parking. I'll be good. I start at 1000 the next morning. It also happens to be my 3rd day in a row driving in the rain. Which in my first 6 months I've somehow been able to avoid. My only experience was driving a couple hours through some small storm. No biggie. I'm guessing now that I figure I'm seasoned pretty good after 2 days I got a little confident or ####y. I'm not sure which. Quite possibly both. I travel 68 through MD and WV. I really enjoy this route actually. Maybe it's the challenge of the up and down? Also I may need to add I'm hauling a little under 20k lbs. That could make those mountains a little more enjoyable. 45mph vs 35mph uphill is considerably better. I'm passing trucks for once. Really learning my truck because it's raining and I'm not very comfortable yet. I don't listen to anything when it's raining or dark. I put my full concentration into driving. I get away from 68 and get to 64. This is the part I've been delaying to type and filing in all that nonsense. Charleston WV it slows down to 45mph if I remember correctly. After you get out of the town it speeds back up to 60mph. But there is one last bridge. Right before Nitro WV. It is relatively flat compared to the other bridges there. Less of a curve as well. All the cars slow down. I remember wondering why in the moment. I'm about to find out. Thankfully they did slow down though. Because I hit that bridge and my drive tires go to the left. I feel them slipping. OHHHH SHAT. It's on. Now I can't tell you exactly what happened. Only what it felt like. Because my eyes never left that road. My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard I'm surprised I didn't leave marks on the steering wheel. I was hydroplaning. It felt like I was in a 90 degree angle. Somehow, someway I let off the accelerator countersteer lightly brake till I feel the tires catch then work it back around. Had I not gone to the bathroom that morning I would have had to change my pants. My heart beat like never before. And didn't stop for about 30 min. An IC Schneider driver was behind me. I'm sure he saw it all. I got off to the side of the road to a crawl and he passes me. He looked at me as he passed. No idea if he was thinking I was a dumb ### or bad ### for saving it. Or both. Or neither of those and worse lol. Either way I found an all new respect for water. Especially on bridges. While in a truck. A couple miles down I get stopped after driving much more conservatively. About 45mph to the next truck stop. I called my DBL cause of course I got the beep. Took a shower to calm my nerves. And back on the road. Luckily the rain let up and it was dry 30 some miles away from my incident. All day rain. 3 days actually. That happens at the very end of it lol. Almost made it through unscathed. I'm kind of glad it happened though. If that sounds morbid. Learning experience.

Moving on. I get to my delivery a little less than 2 hours early. Hoping they can get me in early. Knowing that they won't. Understanding that I'll be here all night. Even if they were to get me done say by midnight there won't be any parking at any truck stop. So I'm comfortable just staying. The place is called Gordon Food Service. Just south of Louisville. During my wait to dock I fell asleep. They call me 30 min early. 2130 I dock in. I hope the time is wrong for unload. 2 hours in I fall asleep again. I get about an hour and a half asleep in and I get the call they're done. 0130 I leave. -1:30 min on my clock lol. I limp to the parking lot out the gate. I park and fall asleep for the 3rd time. Only to wake to banging on my door. I open it up and the guy asks if I'm loaded or empty. I said empty. He insists I have to leave. I say I'm not leaving and he'll have to tow me. I slam my door and he leaves. I call the office. 30 min on hold. Then another 30 min for them to figure it out. They didn't even have a phone number to the place. Crazy. They tell me the lady in the office said I could stay till my clock was up. So back to sleep I go for the 4th time. And I've only got about 3 and a half hours sleep. Then no BS another hour later I get another pound on the door. Another guy asking if I was loaded. I tell him no. He said I have to go. I told him that Schneider talked to the office and they said I could stay. He said he didn't know who they would have talked to. I tell him her name was Nicki. He said well she's just a receptionist and I'm a manager. And he tells me I have to go. I said I'm not leaving again and told him to tow me. I slam the door again. Right as he was trying to say something to me. I didn't care anymore. He knocked on the door and I ignored him. He took off. I turn the truck on to look at the Qualcomm. I'm a guy that needs solid sleep. This don't work for me. I'm disoriented. I have no idea what my clock is at this point. I checked and I had 5 more min till 10 hours was up. I get dressed and leave. F him. F Gordon Food Service. Now to be completely fair to them. They had signs that stated "no sleeping on lot after unloaded". They have 2 parts to the property though. Inside the gate and outside the gate. The signs were inside the gated part. I just assumed that they meant you couldn't sleep in there. I even thought to myself why would someone sleep there when they could go out to the lot and sleep. Up to this point I only slept on a property of a customers once before. I never trusted that Schneider's info was right. Always sleep at an OC or a rest area or truck stop. Once I slept on a backstreet behind a waffle house. And 2 other times at 2 different Walmart locations. I'm pretty responsible with where I park. Never violated my hours yet. Knock on wood. So that was my last 24 hours. Almost killed myself and haven't slept. I'm going to bed now!!!!