Shaffer makes the hit list

Well, I would also had gotten a rental car in an attempt to fend for myself but unfortunately, this is how things went down:

As of 3:30 pm (that’s 15:30 for those who still think that they’re in the military), I was informed that I will be getting my truck fixed and could get back on the road by the following Monday. It was Friday evening when all this was happening (Friday is the day that falls just before a weekend). About 4:45 pm (again, this would be 16:45for those still wearing your insignias), I got a phone call which lasted about 20 minutes. The phone call was regarding my getting suspended without pay until whenever.

OK… by now here I am sitting in a small Pennsylvania town where the nearest car rental agency is 10 minutes away. The next one after that is about 20 minutes away all the way up to an hour and a half. The nearest ones are all closed by 5m (17:00 hours) and will be closed for the entire weekend because I am guessing that there’s not a whole lot of tourists standing in line to see what Bedford, PA has to offer.

Further car rentals do not offer anything from state to state while others stated that in order to get something that rents from state to state, I would have better luck going to an International Airport. I know, several people may be able to find an airport a lot closer to Bedford but then again, these are county airports, not international.

Now, due to the fact that I might have to go to an airport to get a rental car for several hundred dollars which will take me two days to get back home or, I could get a one way ticket for a little over $100 and be home that same day.

Yes, the company tried throwing me under a bus but unfortunately, in order for me to land under a bus I would have had to be thrown about 75 miles to even get near one of these bus routes. As great as Crete/Shaffer seems to be for those who fair well with these companies, perhaps it is just a matter of time before blowing your own horn runs out of air!

I wasn’t offered a rental car… I was offered a com-check number to find a place somewhere along my ventures to cash this check on the weekend and then offered the suggestion of taking a bus along with a “Good Luck” and “let us know how you make out in the long run” as to say... "keep in touch."

 

OK… so I get a call from Deland telling me that safety has cleared me of any wrong doing and I am to go ahead and pick up a rental car at the Orlando airport. The car is scheduled to be picked up at 9:am on the 14th and I would arrive in New Kingstown on the 15th to drop the rental car off that afternoon at the Harrisburg airport. I decided to go ahead and pick up my belongings in Oxford, PA along the way. With about 6 hours of sleep I manage to get my stuff packed in the car (trunk, back and passenger’s seats full) and make it to New Kingstown by 10:am on the 15th. I go inside to pick up the permit book for a brand new truck (07) w/477 miles on it. Dispatch tells me that I am late - I was supposed to be in New Kingstown the afternoon of the 14th. I try to explain things to them but instead I get this ‘glassy over eye’ look as if they have more important things to do which is why communication is so bad… no one cares to listen.

I get my stuff into the new truck, drop off the rental car by 2m on the 15th. I get a cab back to the terminal - all paid for by the company. On the 16th I finally get situated into the truck and contact dispatch letting them know that I am ready for a load.

Dispatch says that they are not allowed to dispatch me because I haven’t been cleared by safety. Again, I explain the facts to dispatch and they finally get me a load… from New Kingstown to Fredericksburg, VA - a whole whopping 160 miles. I waited from the 15th to the 17th to get a 160 mile load. Before my other truck broke down I got 900 miles for that week. I will be calling Deland first thing Monday morning with two alternatives, they can either give me decent miles as in 2800 plus miles per week consistently or give me my last load going back into the Deland terminal where I will drop off their brand new crappy Freightliner once and for all!