Swift (disagreement with company)

i agree
sounds like whine and cheese

 

your signature says a lot...good luck

 

You always use the qualcomm.If you had used the qualcomm none of this would have probably happened they would have found someone to repower your load. sorry man i drive for swift and i can pretty much see it there way. Your at fault on this one. not trying to be a jerk etc.. but it was your own fault.

 

You did the correct thing by not driving. When it comes to safety, when in doubt, dont do it. As for the rest, you hopefully learned what you need to do for the future if it happens again, and I am sure that would be the last time.

Good luck

Wes

 

I agree wth vickw. You were right in not driving just wrong in the approach of how to handle the situation. Hindsight is 20-20 and we can all point out ways you could have done it better. I have seen situations where people tried to push driving while sick and they don't always leave pretty results.

Learn from this and move ahead. One thing I would say to you and the other 6 month driver, the attitude of "I will drive here until something better comes along" can have a negative impact on your attitude, how your days go and your job performance. In the military we called it a "short-timers" attitude. Work for Swift (or any company for that matter) as though you will stay there until you retire (something our parents did often but few today do). You may have goals of doing something else that would lead you away from that company you are currently with but you never know what could happen in the future. You know there may have been people out there doing their year to go to work at one of the over 2700 companies that have closed their doors this year. Now what are they going to do?

There are things I would like to do in the future but I am going to give my all and be the best driver I can be just in case those plans fall through. I want to be known as a driver who can be counted on and that means having a loyalty to the company like I will retire there.

 

I have to agree with pawpaw. I remember my last months in the military and a short period I was somewhere I didn't want to be. If you take the attitude of just looking forward to what else you will be doing in the future, your present will be miserable. I don't plan on being at this job I'm at for all too much longer but I'm taking this job just as serious as if I'm staying forever. Makes the days go by much smoother.

 

Not everyone has the same tolerance/metabolism on thwarting off illnesses. If he stated he was sick, then perhaps he knew as a responsible professional driver that he could not complete the load. I may have delivered a 100 loads in the last 6 mos but takes just 1 for them to remember you as a bad driver is not right for any company, basing this on 1 load and not a serious infraction like a roll over, falling asleep at the wheel or causing a collision. I believe that he did the right thing and did not risk anyones life on the road whether or not he had medicine. Many times I have been sick, I do not take any medicine, I let it run its course, that I have felt sleepy/drowsy and did not want to drive any type of heavy machinery or even go to work. I further believe that he did the right thing and not attempt to deliver the load, it may cause a little heat with the customer, but human welfare should be more important to all over the all might dollar.


Originally posted by jlkklj777
As a driver with over 2 million miles under my belt and MANY sick days on the road during that time I have NEVER blown off a load because I "didn't feel good."

You should have held off on taking the medicine that made you so sleepy or better yet requested a "non drowsy" alternative from the doctor and then made the delivery.

I would have sent messages on the computer letting dispatch know I was ill and would need to go home for bed rest (doctors orders) after I was empty and before any other loads were assigned to me.

Had you done the above, dispatch would have recognized and applauded you for stepping up and "doing your job." They would feel more comfortable about sending you through the house under a load in the future, knowing you were reliable and you would make the delivery on time. Chances are, now you will have difficulty getting anything close to your house until you are scheduled for time off.

In big companies it is important to make a name for yourself. Being a "go to guy" will translate into more respect, better loads, more money , and more home time as needed.

Of course you are new so you did not realize this. Now you do.





PS Trucking is all about customer service. If you cannot satisfy the customer then the customer will find someone else to pull their freight who will. Customers really do not want to hear excuses. Forget the alibi and do the job.

 

I also agree with that CHHALL3. If he was truly in a state where he felt it to be unsafe to drive he did the right thing by not getting in that truck. As I'm not experienced I cannot say anything further he could have done to get someone else to possibly get the load there for him. Sounds like the computer message might have helped but that falls into the woulda coulda file. Even then who knows if it would have mattered.