P&D and Customers(rants and funny stories).

Had a bit of the white stuff today in our neck of the woods.

 

Last year I was doing a night linehaul run headed north up I-15 from Idaho into one of our terminals in Butte, MT.
It's a pretty uneventful trip at night, weather aside, not much traffic and not much to see except the road ahead...
This particular night was just a normal night until I passed through the small town of Dillon, MT around midnight, when I noticed a car approaching from behind. Montana has split speed limits, 65 for trucks and 75 for the motoring public. I expected the car to pass me, but instead it slowed and stayed behind me at a safe distance....Although it seemed a little unusual, I didn't give it too much thought at first. I kinda figured it was one of those people that just follow trucks because they feel safer letting it lead the way. About 20 miles up the road, there are some decent hills to pull, and I figured once I slowed going up the hill, the car would get impatient and go around me. Much to my dismay, it backed off and stayed behind me a few car lengths... Stranger still, this went on while I pulled several more hills and my speed dropped to about 35 mph on the steepest of them. Still the car stayed behind me. After about 50 miles of this going on, I was starting to get a little alarmed, wondering if there was a problem...
I approached the I-15 to I-90 jct just outside of Butte in another 20 miles, and this car kept right on following me as I headed through toward the east side of town. I took my exit, and headed down one of the main roads for about 3 miles. The car still followed, as I turned down a side street to an industrial area, nearing the terminal. I turned into the terminal gate at about 1 A.M. and was watching as the car followed me into the fenced compound. At this point I didn't know what to think, but I parked the truck in the staging area and was getting ready to go check in. Still watching the car in my mirrors, it parked directly behind my trailers and sat there for a minute, then pulled around toward my cab. It stopped alongside me, and the window came down. It was an old lady, probably in her 60's I guessed. She waited for me to roll down my window and then she said;
"Are you, uh?" "Nevermind, I must have the wrong place." She then promptly drove away before I could say a word.... I was completely speechless. If she hadn't left so quickly, I probably would have asked her if she was OK, being concerned about her welfare.
It's definitely one of the most bizarre experiences I've had in trucking.

 

There is a particular manufacturer in my area that many of us LTL guys frequent for deliveries and pickups. For years and years they had a receiving guy who always acted like a real a-hole whenever trucks would show up. He had about as much personality as a rock, and never showed any kind of politeness toward any of the local drivers...
One day after work, I was at a local pub, washing the dust down, when this same guy happened to walk in. I payed him no mind, but then he recognized me and approached me, just as friendly as could be. He acted like he wanted to sit and drink with me, but I blew him off and went to a table. It seems kind of rude on my part, but you reap what you sow by the way you treat people, on, or off the job....
Sadly, I found out a few years later that he took his own life due to mental illness. I still don't regret what I did though...

 

We used to have a large account with a national media distributor, delivering kids books and such to local elementary schools in our area. The schools would hold a book fair each year, and try to sell as many of these books as possible to students. Once a week or so had passed, they would ship the books that didn't sell back through my carrier...
I gotta say it was a real pain dealing with it. It usually involved showing up at a school during regular hours, finding out where they wanted the books, then doing an inside delivery of a couple pallets with boxes full of books. Of course, the staff would always want them broken down, and brought in, usually down several corridors into a library, or whatever. Rarely did anyone offer to help, so it would sometimes take 30 to 45 minutes to finish the delivery, then a week or so later, we would be dispatched to return and pick most of them back up...
I discovered by accident, one day, a good way to speed up the whole process.
I showed up at a school just about 15 minutes before the busses all arrived to pick up the kids. I parked my truck right smack in the middle of the bus loading zone in front of the school. When I went to check in with the secretary, it was the usual "just bring them into the library down that hallway", then she asked where I was parked. I said "right out front".... A look of panic spread over her face, "we have busses coming in about 15 minutes, and you can't be parked there when they show up!" I smiled, and said "well, hopefully it won't take me that long then!" I started walking out to unload, and within a few minutes, dozens of students, the secretary, the custodian, and even the principal started grabbing boxes and carrying them in...
Took about ten minutes to unload everything and I was on my way before any busses arrived...
From then on, every time I had a delivery to a school, I tried to time it the same way... It worked out great most of the time! I just figured out a way to make them help me, by putting a little pressure on them.