Truck stop scams....

Discussion in 'Truck Stops' started by EdwardTheTrucker, Mar 14, 2011.

  1. ronin

    ronin Road Train Member

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    Not a truckstop.... but my son and I were driving back to PA from South Carolina, where I'd just bought my friend's motorcycle. We stopped for gas at a store in NC, and this guy next to me (on the othe side of my pump)... started in on this hard luck story about how he just needed money for gas to get home to see his sick mom, yada, yada, yada.... I looked at my son, never thinking about actual money, and since my tank was full, I just walked my fuel nozzle to his car and started pumping - I opened his fuel door and cap - he looked shocked... and I thought it because I was being so charitable. I admit I did it kinda quickly.

    His car's tank took less than $4 in fuel to fill it... he had told me about only needing to get 200 miles down the road...

    I told him he'd better leave before I sprayed the gas on his car and lit a match.
     
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  3. I_HATE_MINIVANS

    I_HATE_MINIVANS Heavy Load Member

    I learned quickly not to sit in the driver's seat at a truck stop. Like if I'm reading, doing paperwork, goofing off on the laptop on some trucking forum, etc. You become a prime target for the sob stories and lot lizards. I've lost track of how many sob stories I've heard.

    I was parked in a Big Lots in Philly one night, waiting to deliver to some hell hole in the AM. This guy was pounding on the side of the sleeper. I ignored it but it wouldn't stop. I sneaked a look through the curtains to confirm it wasn't a cop. It was just some bum. But he wouldn't go away and my girlfriend was scared, so I grabbed my (un-named object) out of it's case and sat in the seat to get the sob story over with so I could go back to sleep. Before getting up I had whispered to her to stay in the bunk behind the curtain and keep her mouth shut. I didn't need the bum knowing there's a blonde size 6 white girl in the truck.

    He pointed at another truck parked nearby with it's running lights on, said he'd locked his wallet and keys & cell phone in the truck and needed money to take a cab across town to his company's terminal to get the spare key. I immediately knew he was lying because the truck he pointed at was a Volvo. You can't lock the keys in a Volvo. If the door is open you can't even move the lock lever over. A spring pushes it back. The only way to lock it up unattended is to lock it from the outside with a key. (My KW is like that too, actually) But I didn't say anything yet. I wanted to see how many f***-ups he would make cuz by this point I KNEW for a FACT his sob story was bull**** and I found it entertaining.

    He pulled out a drivers license to "prove" he was a truck driver. It was a Pennsylvania CDL license with an address in Philly. And the picture looked NOTHING like him. Even the head was shaped differently. This guy was scrawny with a narrow head and the guy in the picture had a wider head like normal.

    I asked who he drives for and he turned and looked at the truck he'd just pointed at before he said "ROE ELL". I almost lost it right there, it was hard not to laugh. It was a Roehl truck. Any Roehl driver knows it's pronounced "RAIL".

    I asked why he doesn't just call somebody from the terminal to bring out the key. He said there's nobody there. So I said "how you gonna get in then?" He said "it's not locked". I'm thinking "a trucking company has a terminal in Philadelphia and it's not locked at night and there's keys to all the trucks in there??"

    Finally I told him he's full of #### and told him to get lost. He kept up his story and kept insisting that he was the driver of that "ROE ELL" truck. I said "for one, it's RAIL, it's a German word, pronounced "RAIL" and any of their drivers would know that. 2, you don't look nothing like the guy on that license, and 3, on that particular type of truck it's impossible to lock the keys in it because you can't lock it unless the door is closed. You would have had to lock it from the outside". Then he said "I meant I dropped the keys somewhere in the parking lot and I can't find them". I said "I bet you don't even know what brand of truck that is". He looked at the truck and said "it's a Fright-liner". I said "you mean FRATE LINER?" He said "yeah". I said "it's a Volvo, you dumb ###!" He said "oh you mean MINE? I thought you was talking about this one" (pointing at my Kenworth)

    At this point I'm laughing but I'm also pissed that he won't admit defeat and go away. So I said "get the f*** out of here before I call the cops" and I got up and went into the sleeper. A minute later I looked out the curtain and he was still standing there, and he saw me and said "man I'm just hungry, I ain't eaten nothing in 3 days and I'm starving". I picked up my cell phone, hit "end call" three times like I was dialing 911 and held it to my ear and he left.

    That was by far the most annoying "sob story" I've had to deal with. Usually they go away after I tell them they're full of ****.
     
  4. G/MAN

    G/MAN Road Train Member

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    Ninety nine percent of the time when someone is selling something at a truck stop it belongs to someone else. I have challenged a couple of drivers who were selling their company's fuel on the CB. No one in their right mind would fill their truck at retail and then sell it for $1/gallon unless they are not the one who is paying for it. If you buy a gun from someone at a truck stop you take the chance that it was stolen or used in a crime. If it was used in a murder and you are found to be in possession of the gun then you are the one who could be held accountable. It isn't worth the risk. Besides, I have had a couple of drivers sell my fuel. I don't like to be on that end of the deal, either.
     
  5. I_HATE_MINIVANS

    I_HATE_MINIVANS Heavy Load Member

    Selling (my) company's fuel is one thing I wouldn't hesitate to report. I'd have a photo of the guy in the CEO's e-mail within 10 minutes.
     
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  6. ronin

    ronin Road Train Member

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    Absolutely, yet we've had drivers bragging about buying fuel from company drivers... in another thread.

    They told me to mind my own business. I said it WAS my business.. it's a crime, and I don't think I should let you get away with it.
     
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  7. G/MAN

    G/MAN Road Train Member

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    These drivers who steal will only continue until they are stopped. And the ones who buy their stolen property are just as guilty. Had I been able to find out who those drivers were that I spoke with on the CB, you can rest assured that I would have made a call to their company.
     
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  8. lostNfound

    lostNfound Road Train Member

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    I was just having that conversation with my son last night. Not that he was buying anything stolen, but he wants to buy an Xbox so I was telling him about the "too good" deals.

    It is a shame so many people put so little value on their own character and are willing to sell it out for the sake of a "deal".



    And can't we get rid of this piece of ####.
     
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  9. I_HATE_MINIVANS

    I_HATE_MINIVANS Heavy Load Member

    Well I wouldn't bother if it's some driver from a megafleet selling his company's fuel. Especially Schneider or CR England and the other bottom feeders whose CEOs are chairmen at the ATA and work non-stop to find new ways to screw their drivers out of their pay or replace them with foreigners.

    I'm just talking about MY small, 200 truck operation. If I were to observe one of OUR drivers doing that, I'd rat him out immediately.
     
  10. inkeper

    inkeper Road Train Member

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    A thief is a thief regardless who they work for. They make all of us look bad in the public eye.
     
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  11. Green Machine

    Green Machine Medium Load Member

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    Anyone that comes up to me and tells me they have no money and need some or anything like that I usually just say... Glad to hear it... you have $50k+ more then I do and then walk away.
     
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