Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

I'm just an old fart who worked for C.L. in 86 when he had 800 trucks and an experienced driver started # 18cpm.
I sat hours, weekends, holiday's away from family.

My first truck was a worn out, trashed out 359 Pete. I arrived in Omaha late on a Friday afternoon met my dispatcher. No load all weekend; Monday afternoon I got a load for 300 miles. When I lef the yard I had the besr lookin' truck in the fleet. Tuesday load delivered on time, no load til Wed. That year I lost money.

When I was forced to retire in 92 due M.S. I had neted $60,000 and owned 1500 shares.

You can company jump and be sittiin' or get to know your new wife and what makes her purr.
What's your l/c going to do? He's losiin' money too.

MAHTO49

 

You hit the nail on the head with your first post.

 

Today made a mistake in judgment. I took a trailer out that when I first started rolling had no problems, old trailer, I then got no more than a few hundred yards from the repair facility and the tandems locked up. They would lock, unlock, lock, unlock, get the picture. I was on a side road without a safety area and took it to a lot i knew was large enought to turn around in, half mile away. I headed back and the tandems totally locked up, I was a mere couple hundred yards away. Long short, blew the tires on the tandem. I then got a call from my dispatcher, hours later and he told me I would probably have to go to the terminal, but go ahead and swap tractors tomorrow. I know the way Werner operates, I did not do this intentionally, I was just trying to get to my load. So I'll either be reprimanded, suspended or fired. I can't worry about it, because i have some other things in the fire right now and working towards leaving Warner anyway. Oh for all my moving around today I garnered a whole 222 miles. sitting in Iowa now and I'll get a whole whopping 175 tomorrow to go swap tractors. After all, i have to totaly inspect and in all probability clean the tractor before I even head out on the road. Funny but the time I spent with my daughters and wife this weekend makes this seem easier. I can only handle this one day at a time. So for now i get ready to crash, its 2000 and get up at 0330 to go and hopefully get a trailer to take to the tractor swap from Iowa to Channon, IL. All be safe now.

 

Ok, I am sorry but I need to point out that you work for Werner not Warner.

I'm sorry. Its a pet peeve of mine. I promise to give myself 50 lashes with a wet noodle later.

 

After all that and NOW he's gettin' ready to crash?!
I hope that was just a poor choice of words and not a warning.

 

Yes it was a poor choice of words, Sleep was what i meant. Had the Royal paycheck today, you know the one that if multiplied still comes out to zero 0$. I took some time off to decide if I was going to drive anymore and this happens. Of course they took all the deductions and left me with nothing. One way to look at it, my daughter(s) and wife's healthcare was covered, but #### all at once. I am glad I have about a weeks worth of food on the truck, $15 in the pocket and a whole $20 for the remainder of the week. It is going to be a long week. Here is the good part, they say I still owe 125 more for nextr check. What a ball breaking situation. I just want to finish my time. Looking for Local in STL. Old comapny may hire me back so I can at least get a steady paycheck. Oh well, snow tomorrow on my drive, I'll be safe and slow as necessary.

 

I understand your pain, I remember I was sent to brroklyn in new york and then I ended up running in the north east just running 100 miles or less and for about 3 weekes I had a negative paycheck. The best thing they had for me where the benifits.

 

Well the shoe dropped today. I was fired . I was told that I messed up and it was a safety violation. I was also told that I had a couple over idle warnings and thusly I was fired. Now they told me this at 4pm today, Friday. I was too late to get a bus home today,too late to do anything except pack my bags. Here is the kicker, they ram me around Chicago the last three days, then they do this to me. I accept responsibility for my mistake, but to do this to me today, not good . Tomorrow in the am AM I get to catch a bus home. n the mean time my wife wants a divorce, I have no money, no place to live and well, you get the picture. It is time for me to find something, anything I can to make money. I now am looking at child support and not seeing the kids for long stretches at a time. So, my life is pretty much garbage at this point and I am to blame. Werner however could have suspended me or given me a reprimand, but to fire me, well I did make the mistake, too bad it is coming back to bite me so #### hard in all aspects of my life. To those working for Werner, I was told that they consider a driver on probation until they have a year in driving. So watch your backs with this company. They are looking to fire people and so i got canned. Once again, my mistake, but no one was injured, no one was hurt, just stupidity on my part. I guess they say it right, experience is the best teacher. Seems it bit me in the #####!

 

They fired you for their POS trailer? Great. How bad were the over idle violations?

I wonder if you're leaving something out here.

I hope your wife isnt just divorcing you because werner fired you. That'd really suck.

You dont live near chicago do you?

 

Sorry to hear about your situation, IronMace.

Werner does seem to be looking for excuses to fire people; anything that allows them to deny unemployment benefits is enough, I think. It's a lay off in all but name, except that they have to destroy your reputation in the process. It's not intentionally malicious, but I'm sure that's cold comfort.

I'm not entirely sure from reading your account what happened, though. You say the trailer tandems kept locking up, but then you say the dispatcher told you to switch tractors? Were you scheduled to get a new truck anyway, or did the incident with the trailer screw up your tractor somehow?

It doesn't really matter, though. I hope things get better for you.