Drivers...doing the 'Same Route?'

Not 'friendships' per se. I see a few of the same guys everyday and we'll say hi, shake hands and chat for a few minutes if time permits. But to be honest, I am far busier as a local driver than I ever was OTR. Every minute I waste on my local run, is a minute I could be at home, which is the reason I came off the road.

It is nice to see the same people everyday though. I pick up milk at a farm twice a day. So I see the same farmhands and play with the same farm dog 5 days a week.

 

Once in a while we develop a acquaintance. I recall a pair I kept running into around the NE. Completely random. So it was good to pass the time a while.

Occasionally dispatch will have two or three trucks together a while. Particularly if the shippers and receivers have the tonnage to fill em.

I would not go so far as to say there were friendships that would last a lifetime. Those are relatively rare. There have been a few good people over the years and they are always more than welcome.

 

where i deliver to, there is no one there, we have the keys and alarm codes, do our job and leave.

even when i did stop and refuel, many times there would be different people behind the fuel desk. i nary carry on any conversations with others, as my time is better spent getting back to my warehouse, then home.

truckers are so "full of bull", i'd rather NOT converse with them or be friends with them.

 

Use to run mt pass daily same drivers would pass each other both ways. Eastbound & westbound would pass on info. over cb.

 

See the same 3-5 drivers at my turn every night, from different terminals. Will sit and chat to pass the time with a couple of them, the others I just avoid with minimal contact

 

I’m a new driver and was saying hi to everyone.

3 weeks later I’ve stopped.

I’ve learned saying hi to random truckers is like opening a flood gate on why the trailer they’re pulling sucks, how the company they work for is ####ing them, why the company you work for sucks, how their #####ie ex wife is causing them problems, and what they ate that made them sick etc...

All the above happens in a stream of words that’s causing me a concussion of apathy towards them.

Now I just stare at them from my truck as they park or walk by.

Zero to jaded in like three weeks