Banned from shipper

We've all come across the grumpy security guard gate keeper, the inattentive yard dog driver, the girl holding our BOL for god knows what reason, or the facility that won't even let you use the restroom. We're there either helping them ship out their products for their paycheck, or bringing them their products for their paycheck. Treat me like a professional and I will do the same in return. I conduct myself as a professional but if I'm disrespected or talked down too I'm either going to button my lip and just do what I gotta do to get the job done, or play their game, it all depends on the severity of the situation.

 

I've been banned and helped get an employee fired.

Back when I first got into trucking, company sent me to a place in Wheatland, Wyo. to pick up a load of bagged gravel. Went there 2 or 3 times, each load was a clusterf***, Anyhow, they sent me up there one Friday, told to be there at 8 am, I check-in, told the load isn't ready, it'll be a few hours, define a few hours, not sure. Call the office, wait in the truck, every 90 minutes I go and check-in, finally at 3.5 hours, they tell me the load will be ready at 1 pm. 1 pm comes around, not only is the load not ready , but they have no time frame. Chick at the front desk and I start arguing, start shouting, her boss comes running out. He looks into it, apparently they forgot to order the specific stuff from the main pit, it's going to be another 5 hours, they can have it bagged and ready by 9 pm. I'm not sitting around till 9 pm, admittedly, I've already had a full 8+ hrs off (this was back in the late 90's on the old HOS). Finally they tell me to back the trailer into the dock, drop it, they'll load it over the weekend and we can pick it up Monday morning. Awesome. I come back Monday morning at 8 am, trailer hasn't been touched, apparently the plant manager didn't bother to communicate with the loading guys that this trailer needed loaded over the weekend, and they didn't communicate with him that OSHA regs won't allow them to load it without a truck attached. Took them 2 hours to load it. I left with a few choice words. By the time I was back in Denver, I had a lifetime ban from the place. They went out of business a few years later.

Pennington seed/PennPak in Sidney, Ne., arrived to get loaded, it's supposed to be first come, first served. I was there at 8 am, scaled in, head to the dock, me and several other drivers are told to park to the side and wait, we aren't scheduled till 2 pm. BS. Argument ensues, on the phone with my dispatcher, he has me talk to the broker, woman at the shipping office is being a real c-bomb, then she starts lying to her boss, won't give us her bosses number to call, threatens us if we leave our trucks. Finally I dredge up a phone number on the web, call it, woman in the office answers, I explain the situation, two drivers parked near me, I wave them over to my truck, let her talk to them. 20 minutes later, 4 people come down from the office, poke around, we see two of them walking back to the office with the chick from shipping between them. One of the forklift drivers comes and tells two of us to back in, and the third to be prepared. As I was leaving she was in her car crying, found out next day they fired her.

 

That is so true I have fired people and a year later I can't even remember their face or name so many things happen every day I think we chose to forget the crap that happens

 

I wish i hadn’t read this to be honest LOL

 

What was that all about? If the load was ready why wouldn't she have you all back in?

 

The people we pick up from and deliver to are also supposed to be professionals.

I made a comment and you went haywire over it.
Someones load to get them home? There is another one around the corner, and get real.


Some of the places I have delivered to, I really wish one single action of mine (or another drivers') would end the account for the company. Because we all hate those places.
I have never done that.
But, I have thought about it.

The problems I have had with customers have never been caused by my actions.
They have been because of the irritating ways the customer like to run things that disrespect every driver.

I have sucked it up, mainly for the reasons you sited. I don't want to present a bad image of my company.
But some of these places need to be shut down until they can get a bit more organized and respectful.

 

modern technology makes it easy to record your interactions with the people you are dealing with and prove they are not treating you fairly

 

Dash and body cams are sometimes a wonderful thing for the person recording.