Home time and drinking.

Use a recorder; "FFE, I'm sleeping, please leave a message as to what the call is about."
I used to have a voice changer on my phone; this way, if I didn't want to talk to someone, I would say, "He's not here right now, may I take a message and I'll give it to him when he returns home?"
The voice changer I had made me sound like a sexy woman. "Hey, who is the sexy woman that answered your phone?" Woman in the office said, "What you doing; fooling around with those young gal's, you ought to be ashamed."
Several companies sell voice changers; check Google.
Voice Changers - for the telephone and cell phone ...

 

LMFAO!!!

 

And depending on where you are. Sometimes I have to park for the night in the back of a strip mall, for a pick up the next day. I go out to look for bathrooms and see everything is closed. In the back where I am parked is always cameras. So if an empty jug isn't available i slide in between my tractor and trailer and let it RIP. Im hoping it just looks like on camera I am inspecting the equipment.

Fortunately in those cases I haven't had a line 6 emergency. But sometimes you gotta risk it if you want the biscuit.

First thing I do when I park is survey the area for pee spots, out of sight. Dumpsters with a fence around it are the best. The South is great for truckers because the foliage is so dense it doesn't matter. One time I went to a fenced dumpster got behind it and started. Then a garbage truck comes roaring up to it literally as soon as I started. Had to zip up and run out of there. Unlucky.

 

I had a codriver once that didnt care. He would walk out and let it RIP right next to the truck under a lighted area with a street off to the side and overhead cameras. Lol. Im not that obvious. I have to be behind something at least. If in view of a street its not acceptable. I dont need some old lady to be driving by, see me doing what nature requires me to do, then scream at the top of her lungs.

 

Your information is INCORRECT! A driver that is OFF DUTY totally released from responsibility of company property and is NOT preforming a safety sensitive job IS NOT subject to be alcohol tested. Alcohol is a LEGAL substance and is treated accordingly by the FMCSA. Once notified by your company that you are to be tested you should inform them you are off duty! You are still required to do the 5 panel test for the prohibited substances BUT NOT the alcohol test. Now in the case of the OP and if i read the question right the test was required by the dispatcher on Wednesday. If this was before driving the test was legal. In fact I know a guy that used to take a portable tester and have his drivers blow into it. These are legal.

All you drivers that drink alcohol off duty need to pay close attention to §382.305 (m). Your career might depend on it someday!

(m) A driver shall only be tested for alcohol while the driver is performing safety-sensitive functions, just before the driver is to perform safety-sensitive functions, or just after the driver has ceased performing such functions.


This is a sore spot with me and has been for years. Most of the carrier safety depts know this now. However some overlook it because if you op out they still have to do a test on somebody. If you are off duty and have had alcohol and then go test once that test comes back you may be in heap deep doodoo! DONT DO IT!

I highly recommend EVERYBODY download and read this handout. I suspect a lot of questions are answered in this.

 

you are going on an assumption that dispatch KNEW about his truck being in the shop...re-read this part..

this (from as i read it) he never informed dispatch of his truck in the shop.

so the questions arise, was he on his off duty time that WAS CLEARED BY dispatch? or on his off time, by his own doings..??? thinking he needed NOT inform dispatch and maybe the shop would do it for him..???

what are those letters we so often use RIGHT HERE ON THIS FORUM...??

CYA at any and ALL times..????

 

No. Remember in almost every situation it is the carrier safety dept that does the testing. They don't know where you are or your status. All you do is notify them you are off duty go on and submit to the drug test but refuse to blow. This is not a refusal to test.

 

My work cancelled my dispatch a month ago, I said no problem I have errands to do anyways.

Hour later work called and said they had a another dispatch for me.
I replied Too Late . " I just sat down to a sandwich and a cold beer"

Work acted like it was no problem

Nope.

I captained my parasail boat for over 20 years and believe Me I can drink like a Sailor.

But once that first beer is cracked. I don't get behind the Professional wheel until I get my good nights sleep.

 

You are spreading a MYTH. I said your comment that you are subject to being alcohol tested at anytime is NOT correct. I don't give 2 hoots in hell what dispatch knew or not. It is simply not germaine. Jeez I sometimes wonder where in the hell you people come from with this crap and trash!

 

This has happened to me several times over my driving career. I think some people get all worked up over someone drinking that they equate it to the prohibited substances. Alcohol is legal. All a carrier is going to do is get angry and assign the load to another driver. For medical reasons I can no longer enjoy a beer. However when I did drink, once that bottle got cracked I was home.