Hardest thing about being an OTR driver

Thanks....he is a handful but would'nt trade him for the world.

don't get me wrong, there is ALOT of hard things to deal with being otr...but in my head family is the biggest. dispatchers, truckstops, traffic...all that stuff is an inconvienence but leaving home is hard...

the crazy thing is....after all this...I still love my career

 

1) working dozens of hours for free every month (15 to 30 every week)...especially when you haul to unionized places that take 10 hours to do 1 hour worth of work. I wish I could just get them out of the way and push their crap off my flatbed myself.

2) Dispatchers that plan 2000 mile runs without even working 15 minutes worth of a cushion into the schedule and even planning runs almost expecting you to doctor up the books. They expect you to drive slow to save fuel yet they cut your fuel bonus "due to the recession". ummmm.....sorry pals, I'm doing the full speed limit everywhere I go now. Last week I ate 7 times in 6 days. yippie!!!

3) Being away from home for long periods and the strain it puts on a persons relationship. Never home and if it wasn't for filling out the logbook I wouldn't even know what day it is.

4) All the idiot drivers (4 wheelers and sleezebag truckers that seem to be infesting the truck stops these days).

5) The lack of respect people have for one another these days.

6) My underpowered truck equipped with super singles and non-interlocking diffs running mountains in Canada. I love poorly spec'd trucks.

I'm so close to just quitting and getting out of this crap even though I don't have another job setup yet. I love weeks being away from home and when you factor in all the free hours you work it really isn't that much further ahead than working 2 low paying jobs in the city.

 

ROTFLMAO

 

I hear its not for everyone. I personally couldn't do a job I didn't enjoy. I've heard it said that if you want a job you love, find something you would do even if you didn't get paid. I guess with trucking you either love it or hate it.

 

OMG......you couldn't do a job you don't enjoy? Sure you can, if it means to put food on the table and a roof over your head. I would shovel ####, if that's what it took to make a living. It's not about "personal fulfillement", or being happy if you have obligations other than yourself. It's about taken care of your responsibilities.

Sorry I got off track, I couldn't resist.

 

Its good to know I'm not the only one with that problem...

 

Of course I would do what I have to do. But, I wouldn't do it any longer than necessary. I would be working towards a goal that would make me happy.

 

Sabine, I should probably clarify that I was referring to making a career choice rather than just trying to survive. I have shoveled #### to put a roof over my head and I have had jobs I hated, but at the same time, I was making plans for something better. I guess I have always been fortunate to have the ability to take control of my life.

 

I wouldn't argue with most of your points here... but if the Olympics would have been awarded to Chicago, it would have created tons of jobs. These would have included many trucking jobs... all types of equipment and products would have had to have been trucked into Chicago for the readying phase and also for the tourism boost that the Olympics would have created.

Sometimes you have to look beneath the surface of something to see the effects... just like Truckers... Truckers always work behind the scenes and beneath the surface... and are rarely (if ever) appreciated.

Just saying...

 

I drove a little over 8 years. Left trucking when I got divorced. Got into management (a busy bowling center). Good job....got remarried (different woman) while employed in that capacity.

Didn't take her long to figure out I hated the baby-sitting aspect of management. After long discussions, she suggested I go back on the road, which I did two years ago.

I'm staying out 3 weeks at a time now, trying to make a little extra $ for us, but I think first of the year I'll go back to every other weekend. We'll both deal with that more favorably. So the time away from home is really my only peeve. I like to drive, see different places, all the standard schtick you hear.

Idiots? Incompetence? People who are lazy?

They're everywhere! Welcome to the new millenium!