I feel I silent scream begin inside...

At first I wanted to be home every weekend. Regional. Was a go, no-go criterion. That directed me to a certain trucking segment. That took me to the ones who think they're God's gift, then to the ones who haul drywall. Both regional, home every weekend. Then, after that didn't work out, I decided that seeing the 48 wouldn't be so bad, so I applied to the ones with a really nice terminal in the land where they eat fried steer nuts seasonally.

But then a buddy who has been on a dedicated super-cheap pseudo-grocery store chain dedicated account turns me onto making $1100-$1400/week and being home every weekend, Not recommended for new drivers, but my brain is wired to do things backwards. I can look into a mirror while looking in another mirror and give myself the most perfect back-of-the-neck tapered high-n-tight haircut. I've been backing a trailer for 25 years in the day to day operation of my former business. Heck, if I back my truck without a trailer, I wind up going off the darn driveway.

 

When I finally consolidate my odyssey and misadventures into a single thread, you will be entertained. I will title it “Oh Trucker, Where Art Thou?” It will be a great story, wonderful to tell.

Should be on my way in a week or two, though. Wuhan virus has screwed some things up. Even Schneider isn’t hiring new drivers now out of my area now.

 

It just keeps getting better! Still using code talking, however. Trying to make the search function useless for corporate lurkers.

March 23d/24th. The calcium sulfate dihydrate guys let me go the morning of day 2. Told me they fought for me, but the bean counters/corporate-types overruled them. They told me they wouldn't say anything negative about me. I didn't even think one day of orientation constituted being employed, and the recruiter confirmed it (not necessarily correctly though). Reason for being sent home was medical, and I can testify that it was complete BS in reality. Guy just like me said he kept his crap to himself, and no one was the wiser. He's hauling calcium sulfate dihydrate right now, probably.

That was a good lesson. Keep that crap to yourself. Got it, because no good deed goes unpunished.

The company that likes nut-fries offered me a spot in orientation for about a month ago. I bought a plane ticket, new boots, and a George Foreman grill,too. But then the pandemic cause the corporate cowboys to get cold hooves, and they delayed orientation for a good six weeks.

I swung a sledgehammer like they do on HGTV for a few weeks, tearing up this and that for cash. Did a years worth of honey-do's in a couple of weeks, waited, and waited, and waited for confirmation of new start date.

Finally, corporate cowboys make a decision. Just need to update everything because it was over 30 days old. Nothing's changed. No sweat.

But crap, the calcium sulfate dihydrate thing pops up on my DAC! I'm not good at tap dancing, but I built a fragile edifice as quickly as I could off the top of my head over the phone. It was a sight to behold. It had a lot of moving parts, with this twig supporting that timber, supporting that beam. Lots of murky parts, too, with a few "I have no ideas" thrown in for decoration.

I knew it was going to come crashing down....and it did. I actually laughed, because I was concerned that if my other deal went through, I'd have to reject them at the last minute. But the voicemail rejection was welcomed because I really didn't want OTR.

It was against my nature and training to do what I did. But I figured I had nothing to lose because the outcomes would have been the same, regardless, whether I played it like an Eagle Scout with the fried steer nut eaters, or like Tony Flanagan. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket!

The preface to this adventure is my lack of appreciation for the absolute accuracy required in one's application. I blew it right out of the gate with God's gift by guessing on the month of my discharge date and volunteering way more information than they asked for. I did the written equivalent of covering a semi with chicken lights, and not making sure they all worked. Un-personed and sent down the memory hole. Doubleplusbadful.

You'll be happy to know that I got a certain trucking segment out of my system, for good. Dry van or reefer are looking okay to me. Regional dedicated, home every weekend is looking real good right now, provided that what I volunteered to the drywallers doesn't also disqualified from picking up heavy boxes of potato chips with this new company, with whom I'm being my old honest self, a veritable open book with nothing to hide.

I feel like I'm channeling @x1Heavy with this long, meandering, cryptic tale.