Truckers Code of Ethics

Last night I was parked at a Pilot in NC. Went to bed at 23:00. At midnight heard a loud, strong bang bang on my door.
I jumped out of my sleeping bag and totally disoriented rushed to the window thinking it was the police or someone to tell me to move the truck or the shipper to tell me my trailer was loaded and papers were ready...

But it was none of that... Instead, there was a lady outside my window and without appologizing for bothering me late at night, she said, "Do you have a charger to plug into this cell??" And pointed her cell phone to me.... (forgot to say I am a female driver)
WTF??? I thought to myself.... for a couple of seconds I couldn't make any sense of what was going on or what she was saying and asked her to repeat the question... and she did, with a smiling face...
I was in such a sleepy, confused, startled, cloudy state as my heart was still pounding heavly and fast, that I couldn't think.... but answered NO. And she walked away towards another truck....

I kept watching her and realizing she was probably a hooker and was going to knock at another truck's door... but instead, she opened the driver's door and got inside.

I set there for a few seconds, my mouth open in disbelief of what had just happened.... Was she a driver???

How is that??

Drivers don't bang on other driver's door late at night to ask silly stuff like that, right???


And if she wasn't a driver, how didn't she bang on the other driver's door but walked straight in.... How was that possible???

I'm still trying to figure this out.

I got so mad after a few minutes... went back to my sleeping bag but couldn't sleep. As I got madder and madder, I thought about banging on "her" door at 3 am to ask her if she likes someone doing that to her.... But I really needed to sleep, and that wouldn't help me much at all.
So I laid in there for almost one hr until a fell asleep again... but woke up in the morning still mad and rushed to the window to see if the truck was still there but it wasn't...

I guess next time I wake up startled like that by a loud bang on my door, I must first wait a little to see if they bang on it again and to realize where I am and get my thoughts straight before I rush to the window, right?? Any input is well appreciated.

 

Yeah, I always wait. I also creep to the window without making any sound or rocking the truck and peek through a crack in the curtain without moving it. If it's someone out there waiting to shoot me in the face I want to see them without them seeing me. I don't care if it is the cops either. It might just be someone claiming to be the cops. Trust no-one in the dark. And don't forget about side windows like the one in the passenger door. Don't turn on any lights that they might see, you'll just encourage them. For all they know, they're banging on an empty truck so let em believe it until you get yourself sorted.

I don't wake up groggy, though, so I'm usually glaring at them without them realizing it before they knock a second time.

 

The day you stop learning to be a trucker, do us all a favor and retire...You will never stop learning. If you do, pull your spring brakes on, turn the key off and step away from the rig because you are about to kill yourself and those around you.

(This has been a public service message brought to you by "Acid Head"....the truckstop prophet.)

 

I think we all do the same thing when we are woke up in a rush or our sleep in disrupted.

 

i was parked at a wal mart about a month ago, way in back noothing even nearby as far as vehicles and i got a bang at 6am. usually im up and gone by then but i had the rare occasion to sleep in. i figured they were just kicking me out but theres this guy, on a BIKE, and starts with this lame story about how his CAR is out of gas.
i say whoa buddy, i am not a gas station so what do you want at this hour??
just 20 bucks for some gas blah blah?
this aint an atm either, strike 2. better start pedaling because im about to beat your ### if you dont come up with a better reason for waking me up.

i cant get back to sleep after crap like that either...man i hate people. i ended up just doing my shopping as the only customer haha.
of course drivers usually have a better reason for waking eachother up, as far as the topic at hand just A: have a good reason, and B:dont bang the door so hard your gonna leave a dent. the only thing worse than having my ### woken up is being just startled awake like that. not all of us sleep like rocks.

 

Being woke up....

I had driven all night to get a late load through a snow storm to Astoria, OR. The store was backed up on loads and I had to wait until 2100 to unload (I hit the lot at 0500). No sooner did I lay down for a nap and someone knocks on the door to have me move and make room for another rig to get past (there weren't supposed to be any other loads coming in). Ok move to let him past, re-park, try to nap. Bang bang..... an old lady. "Can you help me put chains on my car?" (yes, I did it for her). 1 hr of sleep later... it was "Sir, do you know the road conditions to Portland?" Then : "I'm stuck, can you help?"

24 hrs of no sleep, playing good samaritan.. It was a great day, in retrospect. One of my fondest memories.

 

I showed the rookie that was following me how to put chains on in MO before we even hit snow. Three days later in CO with chain laws in effect I did not have to show him anything, instead I was helping other drivers with their chains while he was finishing his. I checked them for him to make sure they were good and off we went. Now he thinks everytime we go to CO we are going to have to put chains on.