Stupid incident to my truck hoping I want get fired

Yup, been there and got the t-shirt.

I had a 8AM drop and this hobby shop in Riverside, CA on a work day. Was a real stinker to get the dock. After circling the block and watching rush hour traffic get worse by the minute, I called the manager and he told me how the other trucks do it. I ended up crossing 4 lanes of traffic, a center concrete median, and nosing into the entrance to a parking garage in order to set up for it. After 10-15 milliseconds the cali morning drivers were standing on their horns and screaming, flipping me off, lol... I cleared the 3 lanes and was nose in on the last because the dock was too short. It was a live unload and any more time blocking traffic and I'd get shot, or a ticket, so I was rushing to unhook and bobtail out of the way. Totally spaced the air lines because my pattern got wonky after getting out of the cab (usually I follow the same ol' procedure). Whew! unhooked, lets get outta dodge! Funny, those coiled airlines stretched for like 25 feet before snapping off. ha!

Hobby store 1
Vision 0

 

Truckerlife did you tell your company if so what did they say? or did you get glad hands and fixed it yourself?

 

In the future, carry a spare set and the tools to re and re.

 

Sorry to hear this happened to you man, hope all is well.


"hard life for 300 a week"

Is the pay really that low?

 

Biggest myth among rookies is that others are perfect. Should have said had a leaking glad hand,cut them off, tried to replace yourself and failed. Dumb to lose employment because of two small plastic tubes.

 

i would rather a driver be HONEST with me, and admit a mistake, than lie about it.....if they fire a driver over that, (the orig post) i wouldnt wanna work for them anyway...unless of course the driver does the same thing every few wks.....i cant STAND being lied to.....i would rather be upset about something than be lied to...and I DONT lie myself...no not even lil white lies....

 

Highballing the trailer a pain hahah Done that to many times, Other trucks taller or last time the trailer was dropped with flat tires and was loaded heavy. Took an hour to get out and had to call road service to fix the tires. By the time I got out of there it was 6PM in PA and I had to make it to Wal Mart in Ohio before midnight for my drop.

 

Your sequence is the same as mine. I don't EVER deviate from it. Some drivers have told me I'm wrong and that I should drop the landing gear first so I don't forget, but for me, doing the air lines, pin, and then the gear makes sense as you just do things in succession from the cab to the landing gear.

 

I did it once. Went to fuel, and saw I had a completely shredded drive tire (never felt or heard it blow in the hot southwest summer). Went to the shop, and told them I needed a tire. Told me to go drop my trailer, and bobtail up to whatever door. So, I'm in a hurry, and I hop out, and I forget why, but I went out of my normal sequence of dropping a trailer. Sure enough, I pull away and start to swing to the left, and bam-bam-bam, three almost simultaneous hits to the back of my sleeper. I have no clue what just happened. I get out, and see my hoses stretch out much further than I think they ever were, and my spring holding them had broken. So, it was my truck. But, I felt stupid having to get a new a spring (hoses, gladhands, and pigtail were fine, they slowly recoiled back to normal). Luckily, the trailer glad hands are at 45 degrees, so when they started to stretch, they pulled themselves off. Which probably saved the houses. The pigtail just came undone from the trailer by itself when it was stretched too far.

To sum it up. You're not the first. You're not the last. And even the best can make this mistake and feel like a complete idiot.

 

You're all not as professional as I am. Ripping the hoses off. What a rookie thing to do. I mean seriously. Do you call yourselves professionals? Because once, I hooked to a trailer, and forgot to raise the landing gear. And drug them over train tracks. That was the 10th trailer I picked up that day, and it was the last and I was in a rush to get home. And that's not only professional. That goes beyond. That's a special kind of stupid, ha ha ha. I wish I only ripped the hoses off!