When you are a victim of extortion....

I don't disagree. The only thing I'm struggling with is where the extortion was.

 

Oh, for the days when there were no credit cards or fuel cards. Paid cash for fuel and Western Union was everywhere. Boss wired cash to the nearest location. Mechanic followed you to get the money.

 

Hand full of signed company checks for $100, go to certain truckstops and they would search through the big file filled with metal plates for that company.

 

Metal plates?

 

So here's the thing.

I'm willing to bet you have a piss poor attitude and it made the situation worse. A little courtesy and respect goes a long way.

I've slept while my truck was fixed, but not when there was an issue with payment. You should have been awake trying to come up with an alternative not sleeping. You just gonna stay on the side of the highway all #### night?


Now the mechanic sounds like a real dirt bag. I get wanting to be paid, but there was a better way.

 

Especially if he spooned with the dog.. lol...besides your right - 20° is cold ...+ 20° is just good sleeping weather

 

I couldn't resist!

 

You were spot on

 

This sounds like a very bad situation. Freezing weather is a big deal, contrary to what's being said on here, especially if it's the middle of nowhere like you said. That's just a bad spot to be in, broke down in the middle of night, in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nowhere.

It's also EXACTLY why I will never drive for a company that doesn't have an APU. Because in this type of situation an APU Thermoking should be able to run and keep the truck at least somewhat warm if the temps can stay in the double digits, but it 100% can if the temps are in the 20's. You would have had heat and power to the truck for all of your essentials, even if the truck itself wouldn't start. An APU, above all else, is an extra layer of security that is much needed as an OTR driver that can very well keep you alive during bad situations.

As for this situation, I never asked any of the companies that I worked for how many methods of payments they had at their disposal in case other payment methods did not work for whatever reason. But I would have found it hard to believe if when the EFS check didn't go through, that they didn't have a company credit card to swipe for emergencies like this (and yes this would have been considered an emergency, given the situation). I would have been on the company's ### about paying this mechanic whatever the mechanic wanted. What the mechanic charged would have been no concern to me, I don't care, my company would've needed to pay whatever the man was asking for so that I could have HEAT and POWER to survive.

In that situation I honestly might have done what you did, and just swiped my own credit card to get the man his money. But believe you me, the very instant my company reimbursed me for it I would be returning the truck to the terminal. Because that's absolutely insane that in the year 2022, with all the technology and financial tools at our disposal today, that this company had no other alternative methods to pay this mechanic with.

I disagree with the other posters on here saying being in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the desert in below freezing temps is no big deal. Simply put the company put your life at risk for not having the proper protocols to handle financial emergencies like the one you were in. That's a terrible company and they were the big ones at fault here, not you or the mechanic.

That's my $0.02 anyways. I'm glad that everything worked out alright though and that everyone walked away safely from the incident.