Proper attire

I wear shorts and tennis shoes and T-shirt often while driving. I don’t wear flip flops unless in the shower. Some people’s culture = flip flops, they wear them at anything from weddings to battle. I don’t care what they wear at truck stop.

I Would never go near a shipper or receiver with anything but long pants, long shirt sleeve (if req.) etc ready to do business.

I’ll probably never understand why some think you need to be decked out at a truck stop. I mean if you want to wear your starched jeans and polished boots at the truck stop by all means do it. I consider that a stop/rest break and I’ll wear whatever I am comfortable in. I don’t wear flip flops even to the shower. But really why Dress up at truck stop. Some of the nastiest people in the world seem to hang out there. Really, I’ve been to third world countries where families showered in the streets when it rained and it would not be unusual to see children pooping in the streets. Yet there are restrooms a short walk away and filthy animals think it is perfectly normal to throw #### bags out of window. Piss bottles everywhere and ‘sweep trash out and leave it like it is nothing. Pure lazyness. People in third world countries often don’t have access to amenities. We have people that have them and refuse to use them because they are nasty, lazy humans.

 

This is how I view track suits. For some cultures, that's what they wear. To them, that IS jeans and a t-shirt. No harm.

 

Is that the kind of "freight" you haul, Six?

 

You're right about that side of the industry. I was comparing apples to oranges in being too general in my reply.

I've never seen a flat-bed hauler wearing flip flops or anyone that frequents places wear PPE is required. Of course you get the load-board vultures that will take any load and send their flip-floppers there with not so much as a head's up for what to wear and given the language barrier [which shouldn't exist viz-a-vis DOT regs], they have no idea they're in serious violation of plant policies and what is common sense for their own safety.

But the typical load-board, dry van fair- flip flops don't matter much. I would not wear them outside the truck, except on the way to the shower and back, sometimes, but what others have said here is true- in some societies, that are represented in truck driving in the US, flip flops are worn in everything from weddings to battle.

To feel a certain way about that is simply missing the ocean for the waves...

 

Nothing nowhere that big. That literally was the BIGGEST load I’ve seen moved. 70ft tall. But I have hauled quite a few big loads. The motorcycle cop on the pic, I had him on speed dial. Just posting pics for people to see what @kylefitzy sees from his office view.

 

I'm sitting at a cement plant right now watching someone get worked over for not having PPE on. No hardhat or hi-viz, wearing shorts (in February?) and he's giving the loader an attitude. Wonder how this plays out?

 

Not trying to be funny. But despite having more progressive political stances, I'm told I dress more like a "paramilitary wannabe" than anything else. Tactical pants, combat boots, turtleneck or Long John shirt with either a hoodie or an M65 field jacket zipped half way.

Drive the milk tanker in this. Ride my bicycle home with it as well. At least the boots keep my pant leg from getting chain sucked.

 

You make an excellent point. CDL holders ought to have to speak, read and write english.

I'm not sure how you safely commandeer an 80k pound truck down the road unable to read any of the signs. As a driver I spend my days reading various signs and interpreting the information and reacting to the information.

Thought experiment: So you move to china and a member of the politburo can get you a CDL without you knowing Mandarin. Do you feel like you could safely navigate Chinese highways and cities unable to read any signs?

Excellent point.

 

I was hauling crane mats to a laydown yard with sketchy directions. I parked nearby, and here comes a trucker with the same load. He wanted to follow me in the morning. He tried to talk to me, but he knew such little English, I couldn't even get the basic idea of "follow me" across. Finally he called his dispatcher, and used them as a translator. Even things like "6:45am" didn't compute. How the hell he had a CDL is beyond me.