Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

I don't get many laughs in life, but when they do show up, I have to take full advantage of them.

The following rant is so surreal it might as well been pulled out of a comedy script. I can't make this up.

I've been laid off and stuck on occasional dock work when there is not enough extra board P&D work left over. With a union layoff they keep us working to prevent us from quitting. That's another story which I am willing to address to anyone curious enough about that.

Last Friday we were down to loading out the last linehaul trailer and had two larger crates left. After spending 20 minutes reworking the trailer we came down to having no alternative except to loading these crates side by side. Only problem was that if set side by side, the combined width would have been 8 inches wider than what the actual trailer could accommodate.

Usually with reasonable people, the freight didn't fit and we send out the excess on another linehaul trailer the next day. End of story. Except this is where the story begins.

It's 10 PM and everyone was moody and tired. We have Jerry riding the forklift and "Cowboy" running the floor directing freight. A group of laid off linehaul and P&D drivers doing dockwork and trying to coexist. We are down to the two last crates. There is no freaking way they will fit side by side. It is PHYSICALLY impossible. That didn't stop Jerry and Cowboy from trying. After 15 minutes, both crates became completely mangled with Cowboy screaming and cursing at Jerry on his 50th approach. .

"Sir, it's not gonna fit. Let's hang on to it and send it out Monday"

- I don't want to hear it, these crates are shipping out TONIGHT. (He snapped back before he went back to yelling and screaming at the lone forklift operator who is completely ignoring him out of frustration at this point.)

I should have done the right thing and walked away from the dock. But no, I did what I usually do and that is to make a bad situation much worse by openly mocking a deteriorating situation.

"Hey Gary (my buddy), look at this mess! We should be filming this. Then share the videos to our new hires and customers and show them how 'USF Holland makes tomorrow happen'. Hey Jerry, you are doing it all wrong, back up another ten feet and you will get a good running start to smash the crate in. We call that the Conway Crunch. I have no idea what account this is but they are experiencing the Holland Difference right now for sure. If it fits it ships! Hey cowboy, were you the kind of kid that tried to force a squared peg in a round hole? Cause here we are! By the way, the BoL said 2 handling units and not 37".

Finally after about half an hour of smashing his way through the freight, everything was wedged in enough to get the roll-up door closed. The freight was completely destroyed. Both cowboy and Jerry were yelling at each other still. There was absolutely no freaking way you could get either one of those crates off the back. I've never seen anything like it. But sure enough, they made it fit.

I briefly glanced at Cowboy who was grinning ear to ear with a sense of accomplishment. "I got it all wrong Cowboy, I should have never doubted you" as I walked off the dock.

 

I can actually prove what I just wrote. I snapped a quick image at the 10 minute mark. Look at the pallet on the left being moved in. The banding is all jacked up and there are boards coming through the tarping. Also, the base is completely jacked up. Both pallets were completely destroyed by the time they made them fit.

 

We also photograph our trailers. The image our supervisor took was before the last two crates were loaded. He only gets paid to be there till 10 and he didn't think anything bad would happen after the last two crates were loaded. We thought about stacking them but they were way too heavy