Contract Freighters, Inc. - Joplin, Mo.

No more trucking for me. I have come to the conclusion that most (not all)trucking companies are cut throat...
I'll avoid any possibility of a law suit by concealing the name of a certain company... I recently worked for a company I'll call "IFC". I instantly became aware of their "BACKWARDS" way of thinking. I was immediately given the racial discrimination treatment. I'm white and my trainer (IFC calls them finishers) is black. I had been out of trucking for approximately 2 years, so they required me to go thru 2 weeks of hell with their local racist. My OTR journey consisted of racial discrimination/ My trainer purposely trying to pick a fight ( I know this because half way thru the training he told me that was what he was trying to do)/ A complete DOT inspection because my trainer did not put a Hazmat placard on the back of the trailer. We were driving teams and I was sleeping when he picked up a hazmat load. When we switched drivers just a few miles before the weigh station, my trainer would not let me do walk around of the truck and trailer. So, naturally all the responsibility fell into my lap.
My trainer constantly tried to start a fight with me. I would not argue with him for numerous reasons.. I was the new guy and wanted to avoid any future political problems that might arise from arguing with the Racist.. I also figured that "IFC" might take sides with the Racist (trainer) because I'm the new guy and they just think they have hired a trouble maker that will cry about everything.
One week into the training(we were OTR mostly in the northeast) my trainer told me that he had been trying to piss me off from the moment I got into his truck. He told me that I was to laid back and to calm. He said that the trucking industry(shippers/receivers/truckers) would walk all over me and that I should not be in trucking.. I ignored his attempts to start a fight thinking it would not matter once I was out of his truck("his truck" was a company truck). I was completely wrong !!!! He esculated the situation. He got alot worse. He on several occasions got so angry he was starting fights with other truckers. He chased after one truck on foot..I avoided any conversation with him because he was so full of hate and argumentative. He seemed to hate life. He told me when he retired he was going to make it his full time hobby to be mean and hateful to people...He would go and on for hours about how stupid every race was except for blacks...He had a strange symbol branded (not tatoo-ed, but branded) on one of his arms. I told me this was an all black club. He talked on and on about it.....
If he wasn't making racist remarks or trying to pick a fight he was talking about perverted sex and trying to get me to enter into the conversation...He would talk about the women at "IFC" and all the cheating or sexual activity that was going on. And how your connections at "IFC" dictated your future their. He made it very clear that there was an "underground of politics and control" at " IFC...

He also quickly proved his influence at "IFC" by making phone calls while we we driving and getting good long runs where he wanted to go. He could over ride any and all of the company policies because I witnessed it first hand......

He would constantly complain about me going the speed limit. He said if your going to keep your job with "IFC" you have to speed because they do not give you enough time to make it..He would get extremely hateful and make me pull over so he could drive and speed. Its funny because one time when he did this he got a speeding ticket !!! (HA HA HA HA)
I could handle his hate and discrimination but not his wreckless driving. He would drive/talk on his cell phone/eat/write/refer to the map and other things. This would cause him to go off the edge of the road and swurve...I came to the conclusion that there was a good chance he was going to get us killed. I finally called "IFC" and requested another trainer. They did not give me another trainer. I told "IFC" very briefly about the racial discrimination/his hate/his wanting to fight other drivers/and most of all I was worried he was going to get us killed.. I survived another week of his hate and got my own company truck.
Not to long after going solo I received a message to call such and such(A big wig in the safety dept. at "IFC") I called him. He stated that my x-trainer had been receiving phone calls from florida on his cell phone. And that the area code was the exact area code of where my wife had been staying. He stated that I needed to have the calling stop. I told him my wife was in the truck with me. It could not be her. Not only that but she would not have any reason to call him.....A few days later I received a call on my cell phone(I have caller ID) and it was my x-trainer disguising his voice asking if this was such and such towing service. I said no and hung up...
Several months later I was in the northeast. I arrived at the receiver with a load of office equipment. This was not a normal receiver. It was a huge office building on top of a big hill. It was impossible to get the delivery to the building. Not only that but the receiver (A man in charge of about 3 people) was not even there to take the load. His workers were not there either....I told "IFC" on the mobil max that the receiver was not at work and I could not safely deliver the load. They said call the receiver on his cell and tell him.( I had Already waited 2 to 4 hours for him to arrive.) So I called him and told him I can not deliver to this location. He called me a ####### idiot. He went on to call me and my mother any name he could think of and hung before I could reply. I informed my company by phone and by mobile max about the situation. They finally said hang tight will bring in another driver... This never happened and "IFC" forced me to go back to the general area of the building.(I had to leave the area earlier because there was no place to park except to jump curbs and take up a very small parking lot across the street. I was asked to leave by a local merchant..I don't blame him because I was blocking traffic)
I informed "IFC" that putting me in this situation was unsafe and against common sense. I told them the situation will probably only get worse and I'll have to be the on that pays the price. I practically begged them on the phone and the mobil max. They forced me anyway..
When the receiver finally got to work not surprisingly he began to call me and my family/company every name he could think of.. Which to me was uncalled for but no big deal.. He then started to threaten to stick a pipe located near by up my ##*. And he was then going to pull it out my mouth. He was screaming and there was numerous witnesses around, but nobody wanted to get involved because of his authority. I walked away while he was right on my heels threating me. I went outside and called the police. They took statements, but I don't know if they arrested him. I had to leave because I wa blocking traffic. "IFC" had me go to another location and swap trailers with another driver. They immediately routed me to the corporate terminal and fired me. I had a digital recorder in my pocket and recored the whole beyond belief meeting.
The first thing that was said to me was "We see MR. such and such that you have a proble with being on time, you have been late 4 or 5 times.. This acourse made me mad because I had not and nothing had ever been brought to my attention or I had never been written up for anything(but I kept my cool)...They (the supervisors in the meeting) made it very clear to me that this was a one side meeting..I noticed that Iwas to speak only when spoken to, and my response would never be good enough for them..I came to the conclusion that they had played this game over and over again. I would guess most drivers probably did one of several things or all.
1. Cuss at them (they fire you for cussing)
2. Argue ( they fire you )
3. Driver quits ( exactly what they want ,now they dont have to worry about unemployment and decreases their likelyhood of loosing a law suit)

Also their favorite tactic or method was to ask me the same question anywhere from 12 to 20 times. And when I brought this to their attention they said they could do what ever they wanted it was perfectly in their rights....I think most drivers probably get mad and quite or cuss/ or both...I did not do any of the above.
They gave me a choice of being terminated or to resign. I told them Ill' keep working...
They finally fired me...Then several minutes later gave a me the same choices again..Again I chose to keep working and again they fired me. This went on several more times..I get the feeling this company has used this method on lots of drivers and usually the driver screws up and cusses or quites or both...
My wife and got on a bus heading for home.. She informed me that while I was in the meeting that she was talking with one of the office workers with "IFC" .. 2 more "IFC" employees approached and said "Leave the ######## alone so than can work!!!" My wife turned around and said I'm not a ####### I'm in the country legal.......
My wife is from Colombia. She appears hispanic.. "IFC" can't even discrimate properly..If I would have known that they had called my wife a "#######" while I was at the terminal ----MY CALM NICE DAYS WOULD HAVE BEEN OVER--------"IFC" went to far !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If your curious who "IFC" is ,remember they think BACKWARDS !!!
Not all trucking companies are bad... I think there needs to be major changes in trucking.. It is way out of control and very unfair..