Trans Am Still

The King just called me back and very loudly said HOWDY when I answered the phone. One of two things is happening......The man has been running around Texas for so long that he has gone native......or the fumes from all of that aging Wisconsin cheddar have warped his brain.

 

My morning was as good as it could be, considering my current crisis. Dropped my load in Ardmore and as I was heading back to the J to hang out for a bit I got a deadhead order to go there to wait for a swap. Because of this one pain in the butt individual, I will no longer be providing scale weights to company drivers. I will give them to contractors as I've always done, but company drivers will just have to get a PO number and let TransAm pay for it. This guy comes in and says "oh its only 40k it's fine". Bull. It's 42.5k and he didn't even have the tandems in the meat hole. Plus it's a MEAT load and different products weigh differently and this is a mixed load going to Lakeland. I explained briefly what was going on and that I don't have a dollar to my name and asked him to please scale it and he refused. So now all the company drivers can have the crap end of my swaps unless something clicks and I decide I like that person. Anyways, I grabbed the loaded, got DM2 to put money on my card and scaled it. As I came off the scale I needed fuel and the fuel island was complete chaos. Well the lane closest to the scale was empty and there was a flatbedder who had been waiting behind whoever was fueling. Well that guy left his truck to go get fuel. Instead of spending the next 20 minutes waiting to get to a fuel lane I backed right into the lane closest to the scale. That's what you get when you go inside instead of waiting in your truck.

I only got as far as Denton. I didn't have enough time left on my 14 to get all the way to Terrell because I had to go through Dallas during rush hour. So I roll out tomorrow and will be pushing to do more miles tomorrow than I have ever done in a day. If I pull this off, TransAm is going to realize I'm not governed at 65 but I don't care right now. I have to get home before the bank closes tomorrow! Hopefully the fact that ops staff is impressed with how I run makes them just turn a blind eye. Coupled with the fact I go out of my way to avoid terminals the last few months. Gotta get to Olathe soon though. I have several permits expired or about to expire. I know one is Jersey but what do I care? Badger doesn't do Jersey.

 

Two things, honeybadger, .....not all company drivers are rude jerks, just like not all lease drivers are rude jerks. The King ran into plenty of really nice people and plenty of real jerks on both sides. You know that .... The other thing ....you would have been held up in Dallas there is a wreck that has everything shut down for the last hour, so you made a good call.

 

I know. I'm just absolutely sick of this overwhelming number of company drivers who complain the lease drivers never scale their loads then swap them when I scale 95% of what I pull and always make sure the swap driver knows the weights and fuel level when scaled. And on the rare occasion I don't scale it, I explain why whether it was ridiculously light or a multi pick that is fairly light and I know how much went on at each stop and know the distribution. I will likely make exceptions, but I don't anticipate it anytime soon.

Glad to hear about the backup in Dallas that makes me feel better about shutting down in Denton. Otherwise my 14 would have run out on 635 and any hope of getting home when the bank closes would be lost. I'm hoping I can fly through Dallas with the hammer down at 0330 tomorrow. If I can do that I will be home free, just have to stay on the throttle all day. I will fill the truck with fuel in the morning and only stop the truck once for a 30 minute break until I run out of time or get home, whichever comes first. On the bright side, the load doesn't deliver until 0500 Monday in Lakeland at Colorado Boxed Beef. I will spend tomorrow night at home, stay long enough Saturday to get sushi as soon as my favorite place opens and then aim to deliver on Sunday. :3

 

I know you do, you've always been a great help to all of the drivers. In this case the guy was a real jerk .....he should have scaled the load to begin with and given you a copy, but since he didn't and it was no money out of his pocket he should have done the right thing and scaled it for you. You are right ....he is a jerk. Did you get his name and truck number? We can make his life miserable, you know .....We are women with connections.

The King had a really bad swap one night. The other driver was such a jerk and so rude that some pretty rough language was exchanged. The other driver called and whined to night dispatch, even though he gave as good as he got and actually started it. Our FAVORITE dispatcher was on duty, she called the King and asked him "Did you say this? And Did you say that?" The King said "Yes, mam, I sure did!" And she said ...."Thank you! I'm not allowed to say anything like that to him, but that guy has been a royal pain in my butt from day one!"

 

Since the last few posts have dealt with "rude" drivers from the two general TransAm groups, company and contractor (and since a TransAm lease is something I've been considering myself), here's a twist on an often-asked question, understanding that there are myriad differences in what they do.

Which group do you think is 'happier' with their TransAm employment? Define it any way you want.

 

After spending nearly two full days at Olathe yard getting his truck serviced at the KW deakership,, George got a load from the yard for a 7 am drop at Little Rock, AK in the morning. Then 24 hours later a drop in Birmingham, AL. Problem is he had no sleep during the day, so he very possibly may need to stop for a 2-3 hour nap. Needless to say, he is happy to have a good load (They had given him a short, local kind of run.) and be on the road again.

 

It's official, I'm evidently a vampire.

 

Not getting home today. I will get home tomorrow but it does me no good because the bank is closed. So I have to be back home Monday. Currently sitting on the side of the road with two blown trailer tires.