Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

They still have me on the Chicago load, but changed the pickup appointment to this afternoon. This morning I asked if the holiday this weekend will cause a problem with a new delivery appointment since this was originally scheduled for 7 am tomorrow in Richmond (800 miles away). My A/M said he'll check into it, and reschedule my appointment sometime today...10 am eastern time and they haven't even thought about rescheduling yet? And people wonder why I get so P.O.'d about this professional disorganization.

 

I sincerely wish Mrs. O'leary had an entire herd of cows, and a semi load of lanterns so they could burn Chicago down again, completely, and they could start over. Took me almost 2 hours to get to within 1/4 mi of my customer, which is on the other side of a street level R/R crossing...and I have been sitting here watching the train sit for 5 min, then roll one way 5 or 6 car lengths, stop for 5 min, roll the other way 5 or 6 car lengths, stop ....maybe it's stuck and that's how they rock it loose...I, without a doubt, hate Chicago with the utmost passion possible.

*Update...after 40 min, I gave up waiting for the train. I looked, down the main road about a mile there was a road with an underpass, that was 13'8”, but narrow tight turns for a 53'...but I can handle tight turns so I got turned around and got to the shipper. Doors locked, and a phone number to call. I call, leave message with my number, and wait...20 min goes by and nothing...call an alternate number and no voicemail set up...finally, I see an employee stick his head out the door...flag him down and he grabs the check-in clipboard. And then calls me with a dock to back in to. Funny thing, 30 minutes after my appointment, I finally see that friggin train move, and the guy I was behind at the tracks drove by me. Over an hour of that and 3 other roads in this mini industrial park completely blocked for a stupid train.

 

Not sure if Crete does it too since I don't deal with their Operations daycare team members. When I was there years ago, they would call you and try to intimidate you into taking it just to see if you were really not able to take the load, or were just coming up with an excuse because you didn't want to go where it delivered, but if you held your ground, they didn't force you to go.

 

Won't know for sure about my weekend until they tell me I get to unload on Sat or Sun, otherwise the fireworks in the sky won't be the only things exploding on the 4th.

On top of the train and the customer delaying things, as I was leaving, they had the road coned down to one lane by Wrigley. Not sure if there was a game or some other festivities....then down the Dan Ryan at 16:30, and the usual fun across 80...that whole area could magically be vaporized and most of us wouldn't miss a minute of sleep over it. Then I-65 was down to 1 lane around Lafayette, with stop and go well into the single lane zone... I made it to Whiteland, fueled and parked...enough is enough.

 

Here is a hint of how my day went