Gee, why am I upset????

Seems like every single day, someone posts about getting fired for preventables, and they're stuck on the roadside trying to get home. My heart bleeds for them not one bit.

A Hole, if you reaaally wanted to truck, if the job was reeeeeaaaallly important to you, you would have been more careful. Now go suffer at a second chance company or return to your burger flipping ways.

Doesn't matter who owns the truck. If you are the driver, take care of the truck. Or get out.

 

My dad and grandparents came to the United States in 1957 and man did I learn how to work. I can even cut hay by hand with a scythe. I was the only one out of 5 kids and 14 grandkids that could use that thing without sticking the tip in the ground. I can't tell you how many acres I have cut with that thing.

Although I drive for a small company right now, I crawl under the truck with an air operated grease gun every two weeks. Air operated was cheaper, I just hook it to the gladhand.

@wore out I am with you on your thinking. I worked for a company right out of high school screening topsoil. The boss asked me one day how come I never have a problem with my loader, as the other one was constantly breaking down. I told him that if I cannot stay in the seat without a seatbelt then I am going too fast for the loader on that particular terrain. I may have moved slower but I got more done because things did not need to get fixed. Even when I was in the other loader it never broke.

If the equipment is down I can't work, if I can't work then I make no money. Simple as that.

Another thing that I work by, and it has worked, is that if I make the company more money than they expected then they can afford to pay me more. In my past life installing and upgrading phone systems, I was the highest paid tech in the office because I took the initiative to learn all that I could and get the advanced certifications on my own time. Others would not do it unless they were on the clock.

Because of this I was put in charge of a million dollar upgrade at the Opryland Hotel. I was the one that was responsible for making things happen. I am not talking about being a supervisor, I was the lead tech on that one. It took me 6 months to complete the project and we worked a but load of overtime on that project. When all the dust had settled there was $67,000 in budgeted labor that was not used. I got to go to several Titans games, including the Christmas day game against Dallas. I also got an all expense paid trip for my wife and I to Vegas. They put us up at the Mirage, gave us tickets to the aquarium and zoo there. We also got to see the Siegfried and Roy show while we were there along with $500 to gamble with.

Even many people in our generation have no drive or desire to be the best. You do get some young'uns that do have this drive. @Dye Guardian and @skootertrashr6 are both good examples of these kinds of people. Sorry if I left some out but those were the 2 that came to mind immediately. They are going to go as far as they want in this career. Skooter has a couple of years on Dye though... LOL

 

The punks attitude is just lack of a proper upbringing.

" Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Golden Rule.

The punks that proliferate at the mega mills have never even heard that saying let alone grasp the concept of what it means to live by it.

I used to watch a couple guys at Schneider just slam that tractor into kingpins. One or two of the drivers in our group backed into God only knows how many dumpster & bollards, more and more dents and marks were appearing on the trailers.



I'd take my weekend off, and whoever drove my tractor couldn't even put their garbage in the bag I'd leave for them.

The DM made my skin crawl. He'd slice his own mothers throat to save his own hide.

Stories like this are why I have my " Just say NO to mega's " thread. And if everyone said NO, there would be no mega's and everyone would profit and be better off.

 

Was the Opryland renovation about 5-10 years ago? Seems like I delivered some huge electric signs there during a major project on the SE end of the hotel.

 

For what its worth, I've gone through this a couple times.
Sorry for the long post.

I had a driver who got into an accident with two trucks trying to see who was a better driver. That day I was near by at a customer's location finalizing a contract so I was on site within 20 minutes of getting the call. this was a pumpkin driver and a Knight driver and they both had no clue why both of us were upset, it totalled out my new trailer and did a lot of damage to the truck.

SO the pumpkin kid had an attitude about how I felt, he kept trying to justify the accident and tell me how he felt, which wasn't bad. I told him I didn't want to talk to him nor even see him, he got all puffed up and started to complain that it isn't a big deal we've got insurance and all of that crap. I finally told him he should be scared because his company will let him hang for this now I have to get my lawyer involved and he will most likely go after his company, the other driver's company and him personally because he hit my truck AND my lawyer is already paid so what ever it takes he will do it. He blew this off as if it was bs, but when he got his reckless driving, speeding and failure to yield tickets, the cop mentioned that he is personally responsible for this which means he could be sued for all of this, and he mentioned that he should be looking for work at mcdonalds because he won't be working as a truck driver.

What my lawyer did was sent him a letter to tell him we are suing him and when he went to fight the tickets, my lawyer and driver went to court to make sure the judge understood the situation and he had the tickets on his record. The cop was there too, which made it all the better.

I would not have gone through this but when someone treats any serious accident as something trivial, I get pissed off and angry that they may get away with costing me tens of thousands of dollars and act like it is no big deal. What I hope for and got is one less reckless truck driver on the road so someone may not get killed.

One reason why I stress our need to toughen up the CDL exams is because of this accident, it was totally stupid and was between two newbies (I left out the other driver because that's a long story in itself - he just started driving a week before) trying to see who was a 'better driver' <<<- that was admitted to the cop of all things.

 

Oh I agree, no one should be uncaring that they damaged someone else's property. That's rude.

 

Second career guy here too... no, it's just like any other career.... some care and some dont... some young drivers don't care but some old drivers care even less...

Folks around here like to paint with broad brushes.

 

not to mention down time.....every day that truck don't move is $500 out of my pocket. When Old Dominion backed into me, I told his insurance company I'd need $500 a day for every day the truck was in the shop (3). They paid it too.......be sure to get your money for your down time......they'll pay it.

 

I was a company driver 32 yrs ago and acted as u do took care of my truck always clean the difference I find now is when my truck needs to be fixed I fix it back then it was like well get to it now if they don't fix it the ticket will typically go to the driver for negligence and the way the point system works I'd rather be in charge of repairs and not someone else .