Well, it is appropriate for post 1000 that I put on a big rant.  So, here goes....

A lot of people think that truck drivers just hold onto the steering wheel and drive down the road.  There is a lot more to it than that.  In addition to a load of paperwork, small towns that try to use us to generate revenue and shippers/recievers that are just plain jerks, we also must make sure the equipment is safe and legal.  Part of this includes controlling the weight distribution over the axles on the vehicle.  So, this leads into the rant.

Tuesday afternoon, knowing that new years eve and new years day are mandatory days off for me (will tell you why in a little), the boss asks me to go to Chattanooga and pick up a load for Roanoke, VA.  I am told that I will be coming back empty, so I don't have to worry about waiting for a back haul.  The shipper was paying round trip because it was an emergency load.  I do the math and figure I could be back by noon on Wed. so I accept.  (an extra $300+ on the pay check)  I get half way to Chattanooga (coming from Nashville) and she calls and tells me that I will have to pick up a backhaul.  That throws my schedule back by about 5 hours right there.  I was not happy about that, but it was already too late.  I make my pickup and delivery and am about 1/2 hour ahead of schedule.  But now, I have to wait around for the brick yard to open.  (the back haul was bricks)  They finally open, I go there and get loaded.  As soon as the guy is done, I tell him he has me loaded too nose heavy .  He tells me that he loads a shit load of trucks every day and does every one like that.  He then refuses to fix the obvious problem until I get a scale ticket showing it is loaded wrong.  So, I drive to a truck stop (about 3.5 miles) and weigh.  3000# too heavy on the drive axles.  I start to head back and suffer a serious load shift.  Taking off from a red light, the trailer does a nose dive and all the bricks slide to the right front corner almost turning the truck over.  I barely manage to keep the truck upright and pull over on the side of the road.  

Here is where the real fun begins....  I call the boss to tell her what is going on.  She calls brick yard and they tell her "Oh well, that is not our responsibility.  Even if we loaded it wrong, you have to get it back here for us to touch anything and we don't reload, just remove a bundle if too heavy overall"  They could have brought one of their flat bed trucks with the crane lift on it and fixed the problem in about a half hour.  A problem that they caused in the first place.  So, the boss calls all the wrecker companies in the area and none want to mess with it.  Several have said that they have dealt with that yards problems before and refuse to again.  So, I have to fix the problem.

Here is what I do.  I managed to stabilize the trailer so that I could unhook from it and go buy a come-a-long and several straps.  I commence winching 4000# at a time toward the rear of the trailer.  I can not, however snug them together by winching them.  So, I break the cubes down to straps (600+# per strap) and then have to move the straps by hand for several feet to get them into final position.  I spend about 9 hours manually dragging bricks around.  All because a sorry little POS wouldn't listen when told he loaded me wrong.  So, I finally get everything secured, go back to the truck stop, reweigh and adjust axles to make everything legal.  At this point, I am exhausted, scraped up, aching from head to toe and absolutely filthy.  (not to mention I hadn't had anything to eat all day)  I make it about 1/3 of the way home til I am too tired (sleepy) to feel safe to continue.  Go to sleep and drive the rest of the way back on thursday.  I don't get home until 3 P.M.   A full 27 hours after I should have been.  

Now for the real pisser.  I have 5 days per year that I basically mandate I have to be home.  They are Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, Christmas day, New Years eve, and new years day.  The first three are pretty much apparent as to why.  The last 2 are just as important though.  My wedding anniversary is 31 DEC.  This is the first time I have not been home with my wife celebrating our anniversary and beginning not only a new calendar year, but the beginning of a new year of marriage in as long as we have been married.  THE FIRST TIME PERIOD!!!

Now, the ironic part.  Or if you prefer, the superstitious part.  It was our 13th anniversary.

So, to General Shale in Blue Ridge, VA, I can say only one thing.  (before I do, I apologize for the language to follow to those of you at whom it is not directed)

FUCK YOU!!!!!!

You sooooo deserve a break.........

This is not the Bear Pit, little beaver.

What Bunnyman said!

Rough trip.

Who in their right mind thinks that truck drives just hold on to the steering wheel ... not around here!

I drove a 28" box truck though Los Angeles for a few months battling bumper to bumper traffic and cars that would cut in front of my safety zone. I was driving an old POS government truck that was way over due for the wrecking yard full of tons of crap ...

I'll always give room for the professionals whenever I get the chance.

why you didnt drive back to the brickyard and kick that guys ass is beyond me............

Tex, I was tempted to put 125 grains of copper coated lead hydrashock through the guys brain pan.  Fortunately I left my side arm at home because it was suposed to be a very short week.  This is also the only reason I took the run.  Had I gone back to the brick yard, (which I could only do after I unhooked the trailer or fixed the load) I would have gone off to the point that the cops would have been involved.  I haul bricks all the time.  Usually out of Bessemer or Montgomery AL or from NC.  I have never had a problem.  

As to your question Paul, I hear that crap all the time.  Mostly shippers and recievers.  They forget that no matter how much they produce or sell, it does them no good without us to deliver it.  Just take a look around you.  There is nothing you have that hasn't spent time in the back of a truck.  Nothing at all.  We are disrespected and abused all the time.  Many think of us as just a bunch of dumb rednecks (nothing personal tex, since I am somewhat a redneck myself, but not dumb) that can't get a real job.  While they sit on their asses, pushing a pencil, making $25000 a year, I (now the advantages) get to travel and see the country, meet some great people around the country, and I made $48000 this year.  I love the job.  It is just sometimes, as in every job, things just piss you off.  I had the chance to meet Hannah Reitsch and Kar98 because of this job.  I have met a lot of wonderful people with common interests because of this job.  Unfortunately, I have also met a lot of pricks and worse.

Happy Anniversary, and a New Year's hug to you and your wife, PsyWarrior!

Hopefully, that last run will be the only clusterfsck of the year for you.

Glad you are safe and well.

Hey Hanna...  Sorry I couldn't swing by when I went to Marshall Sunday.  I had to put a new tire on the truck before I headed out and that held me up a little and I didn't hit town until around 9:30.  I also found out that that would be the last run we make to Home and Garden.  The people we carried that load for lost the contract and were just clearing the warehouse.  Hopefully, I can get something in that area and manage to swing by for a quick hello again.  That is what makes it all worth while.  

hey psywarrior,

i am in birmingham. if you get get an overnighter here let me know i'll buy you dinner.

mike

The only difference between a truck driver and an infant is..................

AN INFANT WILL STOP CRYING AND GO TO SLEEP AFTER AWHILE!!![ROFL2]



All joking aside sorry to hear about your trucking mishap!!!

I do a fare amount of trucking and I am amazed daily by peoples lack of common sense kindness or compassion for the guys that haul in the freight!!!

Painted on the back of one of my buddys trucks is a picture of a stork carrying a baby and underneath it is the caption "EVERYTHING ELSE CAME BY TRUCK"!!!

Happy anniversary
BIG

Kinda reminds me of a John Anderson tune!!!!

28 inch truck? You can't even haul yardsticks in that thing............[;D]

I think he just called you a pussy, PsyWarrior.  Are you gonna take that?

PIT! PIT! PIT!

Always sign for your load "Shippers Load and Count".  Then they cant say its not our responibility.  All of our drivers are required to sign the paperwork that way.


Bobwrench