Dispatch favoritism, line cutting, etc.

I can't blame anyone for stopping by the house whenever they have the opportunity to do so....I always did, even if it was just to take a quick 8 (old rules) or 10 (new rules) break in my own bed.

I think I've noticed what your problem is, though...you worry too much about what everyone else is doing. I see it all of the time...drivers who seem to know what everyone else is doing, where they are going, and how much they are making....and I've always had the mindset that I'm working for me. What I make and where I go is my own business, and as long as the carrier is living up to their end of the agreement by paying me the amount I agreed to work for, I have no complaints. I do the loads I am dispatched to do (as a company driver, anyway. Now that I'm an O/O, I've been known to turn down dispatches that weren't worth starting my truck over because I wasn't going to make any money running them), and I don't worry about what anyone else is doing. Occasionally, I will comment on how ridiculous it is for me to pass an empty truck running the other way while I am heading to get loaded....and then pass the same empty truck again on the way home. I don't see why they would take a truck parked near one job A and send it to run job B all day, meanwhile taking the truck parked up near job B and sending him to run job A all day. Other than that, though, the loads all have to be run by someone...so either you are making enough money or you aren't. If you are making enough money, who cares what anyone else is doing? If you AREN'T making enough money, you need to start talking with dispatch and higher ups about what needs to happen in regards to your paycheck...better loads, more miles, whatever. If that doesn't happen, seek employment elsewhere. If you were a good employee that they'd like to see stick around for a while, sometimes their attitude will change for the better once they start receiving employment verifications from potential future employers. I've had companies place me in nicer trucks and make promises of better loads in order to keep me around...and I gave 'em a little time to see if it would work out as they promised. In my case, it didn't and I moved on. The HR guy apologized for the runs he had promised falling through, and we parted on good terms....he said "I can't blame anyone for bettering their situation".

Whatever you do, though, don't burn any bridges....never know when you'll have to cross 'em again. That being the case, most of the places I have applied to over the years will hold that employment verification to your current employer while they do the rest of their checking....and will only contact your current employer when you are ready to make the switch and if everything else checks out. Of course, I haven't applied for a new job in quite a few years, so that may have changed.

 

you have less than a year of driving..and you're complaining about a benign problem as this...??

best way to deal with this sheet...??

DON'T...

just do YOUR JOB, make your calls when you need to, always be early or ON TIME, take whatever load you are given, and get on your way..

don't make any fuss or muss about ANYTHING, WHATSOEVER...

every company you will ever work at, has brown-nose's, that's a given. i have worked union shop and non-union shop places, makes NO DIFFERENCE, brown-nose's are EVERYWHERE....

let them be....you do your thing, stay clean, and git-r-done....you'll be surprised, you'll be noticed just for keeping OUT of all that sheet....drama...and comedy....and later on, tragedy....

 

Easy for you to say that as a "wanna be"

 

Paying your dues is apart of it. Once you prove that they can depend on you, you will get the good money loads....with those loads, you will have crappy ones too. Do it and don't complain about them.

I don't even call mine up. He sends me loads, I do them. That simple. Don't be a butt kisser. Just do the loads.

 

as the post directly above yours states. "there are brown noses everywhere".

In the past 9 years that I have been driving, I have run into this problem. OTR is not the only place that drivers call into get runs dispatched. We did it all the time in the dock trucks and limos that I drove.

Given the tenor of the OP, I made it out to be whining. I stand by that statement. The OP is conplaining about other driver calling to get a head start on their next load assignments. I fail to see the issue here.

 

we actually had a guy like that (call in early for loads) back in the mid 1990's....we nicknamed him "Griswald" after the Chevy Chase character, Clark Griswald...

now the ORDER of seniority..?? ME, Lou, Griswald, Lou's brother......

back in those days, we had an 8 hour break..well when we were in our motel rooms taking our 8 hours, and it never mattered who Griswald ran with, by about the 6th hour, he would call dispatch saying he was almost ready to go......WTF...??

well they would give him a load, and he'd start driving back up to MASS...but, he would have to stop at a place on Rte 301 in MD called "The Dutch Inn Deli"....there he would nap over the steering wheel as we all had day cabs....

he had to stop, to make his log book catch up, but how stupid was that..?? he had to wait the extra hour (or two) from his 8 hour break, THEN he had to wait for the driving time from Richmond, VA to that Deli, about what, another 2 hours or so...??

here anyone of us would be.....entering the deli, getting our food, NOT waking up Griswald, and leaving him there, and we ALWAYS beat him back to MASS...

what a friggin dolt.........

we never really liked him, but when the runs all left out the same time...?? we ran together....but we would get even at other times as well.......but i cannot tell you those, as it involves things i cannot mention...

and when he cut me from my load...?? IT WAS HIS FIRST AND LAST TIME........he never messed with me ever again...

 

Unfortunately in this world, cheaters do prosper. Only a few will be caught, and those that don't, won't be losing any sleep worrying about it. They are all over. From those parking in fire lanes while running into a store, to those speeding through construction zones where workers (with families) are trying to fix the roads we drive on.

Choosing to drive legal often seems to have no reward, but congrats to those that choose it anyway.

Mikeeee

(ps. this is mostly based on my life experiences, since I really don't have much trucking experience yet)