Fired over not picking up my phone

True that.

But even when I ran two years with Swift, getting back into this industry, I answered the phone on my home time. It helps the dispatchers and planners clear a load from the board and gives me a solid time to get back to the yard.

 

Boss: Hi, this is your boss, calling to tell you we just had a fire here and all the trucks burned.

Guy who got fired: gee boss thats horrible, I'm out with my lady right now. Let me give you a call back later.


..... how hard is that???

 

No, he did right. You answer the phone, and they try to shame you into coming in to cover "an emergency", or similar. Threaten to fire you, etc.

 

Me hmmmm?
A missed call from Lincoln, NE.
Press 1, no new voice mail.
Me if it was important, they'd of left a message,
Me I'm sure they know how to leave a message.
Or
Or call the missed number and get the switchboard and play phone tag while they're trying to escape the burning,,,
Every job is different

 

I'm not sure I agree with this sentiment.

Trucking is a very competitive industry. Covering "an emergency" whether created by a customer calling the shipper with a hot order, or from your overworked office staff dropping the ball, is part of deal.

There is no "shame" in providing service. You have to keep in mind that as a professional driver you are the face of your company with your customers. As such you can have a tremendous impact on whether your company retains, increases, or gains new business.

When is the last time you told a shipper or receiver, "I really appreciate your business"? That is routine for me.

Let me give an example from a couple of months ago. I'm taking a 34 with only 8 hours left on my 70, but get a call from dispatch asking if I can cover a local load. I accept, and drive 90 minutes to the shipper.

Turns out it is a complicated load of Frack valves going from a customer's yard to relocate to another yard an hour away. A guy meets me and watches me like a hawk at the shipping location, then meets me and watches me like a hawk at the receiving location. He's asking a LOT of questions about how I'm securing the load and checks carefully to make sure there isn't any damage at the receiving end. I tell him I really appreciate the business because it's a complicated load that makes me really think.

Next week in our weekly driver's meeting it was announced we just picked up ALL their business. Turns out that company representative was the owner, and he had 10 years experience as a flatbed driver.

Had I blown off that opportunity do you think our terminal would have added $250K in annual revenue that benefits all our drivers? There weren't any other drivers available when I was called.

It's a team effort. The best salesman on the planet can't be successful if he can't get a driver to show up.

 

I thank customers all the time, many of the receivers I deal with will get gifts like lottery tickets, or McDonalds gift certificates around Christmas. Paid for by me.
Not every load is an "emergency", but many people in management do not realize this. Some customers will take a foot, when you give them an inch. We have one that way. Will constantly call around 11AM, with a drop in order that they "need before they close at 1:30", the same day. Our company will bend over backwards for them, and get the product to them. The thing is, they won't use the item, until later the next day. But they demand it now.

 

Nuts! I do my job, and keep customers happy AT WORK! Hometime is hometime, and that's sacred. Dispatch is home for the weekend, and so am I.

Plus, I rarely answer the phone when I'm at work. I flat refuse to get one of those blasted blutooth thingies that make you look like you are REALLY looking forward to the "singularity", and my phone stays in the truck when I'm working. And when I go home, the cell phone gets turned off until it is time to go to work again. The company has this fancy-schmancy satellite communications device installed in the truck if they need to get a hold of me.

 

So the company you work for is in a jam and they call your phone, rather than answer it and explain your availability, You take a left hook to the chin.....So now you have to jump through hoops only to find out the next company has a forced dispatch and calls you at home to dispatch you......What will you do?

 

Does OP have social anxiety? Could he arrange to get notification by text or email instead with the understanding that he is obligated to reply asap? Having written requests prevents misunderstanding.

 

My carrier knows that the best (and mostly only) way to contact me at home is to call the landline and leave a message. Which they have done exactly ONCE in the last two years. I do not have the addiction of carrying my cell phone everywhere I go, I do not have Bluetooth, and on weekends my cellphone is generally turned completely off.

Not all of us feel the need to be connected to the world 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.