Being new to the industry, some things are happening at work that I am taking with a pinch of salt/tolerating and just wonder if it is ‘normal’.
Office being as organised as a small child let loose in a sweetie shop.
Case today, got to Wigan at 7am for a 7.30 tip (so 4.30 start time). Tipped, and called the office for instruction. This was ‘drive back towards the yard, and call us when you are nearer and we’ll have something for you’.
So I called them, and was told to ‘go to Killingholme, get a container for someone else for a trailer swap at Whitwood Truck Stop’. No problem.
As the container was being loaded, the phone rang and the gaffer asked how i was getting on cus the other guy was already ‘at the end of the M180’. after he hung up it computed that ‘end of M180’ and ‘Whitwood Truckstop’ are not one and the same…so I called his back and he said ‘h yeah I forgot to mention, you’re swapping at Doncaster North now’. Argh!
Also I have to keep ringing and ringing them for information, where to go next etc and I get the feeling it is all done on the fly.
Being spoken to as if you are a child, not a co-worker by one of the gaffers (same guy as above).
On Saturday, after agreeing to work cus they ‘really need the help’,
he said ‘you’ve had it easy so far, now you have to start earning us some money, so you’ll be getting more work’. Now I aint being funny, but I already do 50-60 hours a week and drive 8 - 10 hours; so how am I supposed to work harder? I am never late to work and always do all the paperwork correctly. Ok, I know I am driving better each week, but even so I feel he is taking the mickey.
Send you conflicting signals. On Saturday (see above) I felt like crap at the end of the day, almost like I was expecting to be told to either drive faster (ie over the speed limits) or sling me hook. Today I was told that I was getting my own truck again (‘my’ truck a Renault Premium has been given to the new new bloke), and its been freshly painted and is the only truck to have the company name on it. Ok, its quite old, an R reg (I think) Scania (dont ask me the model number!).
Just bloomin waffle rubbish when u ask them a question instead of saying ‘i dont know but i’ll find out and get back to you’?
Dont get me wrong, i am loving the driving, but I just want to find out if this kind of firm is the norm or whether I should be getting peeed off with them!
To answer the tread question no some are worse than others & yours sounds about average.
The lot I worked for untill friday sent 4 drivers from Norwich to Manchester to collect 4 trucks that did not need collecting, yet complained if we stopped at a transport cafe.
Doing some work for the local council a few years ago I got so fed up with being used as part of some office polititical game whilst attempting to get something from the stores, that I went outside & sat in the truck whilst they sorted it out. ( It took 2 hours.)
Welcome to haulage & truck driving.
90% of my working life in the game this was pretty much how it was. I worked for mainly small hauliers (under 15 trucks) & they know best all the time. Don’t be tempted to use your brain to save them money, it’s usually met with “i run the firm - you just drive”. I had some good times working for most of them but learnt very quickly that if they make a stupid move, it’s costing them & if you do as yer told, no come backs My last couple of years were spent on a big company (50+) & it was no different, just the added bonus of a tpt manager that would beg for help (do the near impossible) today, then stab you in the ■■■■ the next day
They’re not all like it, just most of them & even those will be ok 90% of the time, just learn to accept it but don’t put up with crap (i did for a long time), if you are doing your share (you know that), when they tell you they want more, ask how - direct to their face - eye to eye If you are doing what can be done, they will engage reverse pretty smartish
As for “keep ringing for instructions” … this is a power game played by tpt managers. They give you only the info you NEED, which keeps them in control & stops you making plans, or getting the ump because plans change. Last firm i worked at would NEVER tell yuo what you were doing after tipped, even if we asked, it would usually be “not sure”. Bosses are probably better at giving info than tpt managers, dunno why, maybe not got as much to prove.
Not much help am i … sorry, facts of (transport) life
Your post outlines quite well why there is a driver shortage The smart ones spew this muppet industry and get a job where the get treated properly and are RESPECTED.
dont ever feel your to blame…office staff are more to be pitied than scolded…its not their fault if they can only give out one instruction at a time…because the driver being a super hero will get them out of the (zb)
language editword censor yes grumpy admin no mrs mix
I prefer working for little firms. Theres only half a dozen of us at my place and weve all known each other for years and are essentially mates. It`s the same at most firms of that size.
I have worked for a large fleet in the past though, and what you describe is pretty typical of my own experience.
CBR_SI:
thanks, it answers my questions anyway - I think the best angle of attack is just to keep my nose clean and just get on with it day by day
yes keep your nose clean,but because you are new at this game it does not mean that you let them walk over the top of you.you already work 50-60 hours a week, you say how many hours o/t you want to do not them.
It sounds like most jobs not just haulage. My experience of working in a transport office is plans changing on a minute by minute bases, but I think it sounds as they are trying to push you becuase you are new, don’t let them put your foot down when they cross a line otherwise they will think they can use you as a buffer when their plans all go wrong in the office.
muckles:
It sounds like most jobs not just haulage. My experience of working in a transport office is plans changing on a minute by minute bases, but I think it sounds as they are trying to push you becuase you are new, don’t let them put your foot down when they cross a line otherwise they will think they can use you as a buffer when their plans all go wrong in the office.
Agreed Muckles, sometimes it seems “personal” but in my experience it aint, they’ll just flog a willing horse to death just to get their job done, and if youre that willing horse, expect to be flogged!
In every job, from my experience there is a lack of communication, or the communicators attach different meanings to the same statement. 25 years in the computer industry taught me that. Number of times I’ve written programs to a spec, then the customer sees the finished system and realises that it is not what he wanted. Normally the management & consultants design the system before involving the poor people who have to use it.
Only on Friday did I have an experience of this. I loaded a large fibreglass water tank in Atherstone to deliver to London. It was 3x2x2 metres and weighed about a ton. I got to the drop ( an apartment conversion just off the A13 by the city) and was immediately struck by the lack of forklift truck… The biggest item of mechanical handling I could see was a shovel and wheelbarrow Found the site office and the plumber came to see the tank…
“That isn’t going to fit in the basement, It’ll never go through the doors”
The plumber was expecting a sectional tank that they could assemble on site in the basement, so I had to take it back, after he had refused it on the notes.
When I got back I was unloaded by the person who had made the tank who said he had queried why it was being made in such large sections. The sales guy said “that’s what they ordered” If only somebody had checked then a lot of time could have been saved. If only…
Anybody want a large water tank with 250 miles on the clock?
My last couple of years were spent on a big company (50+) & it was no different, just the added bonus of a tpt manager that would beg for help (do the near impossible) today, then stab you in the ■■■■ the next day 
If you are doing what can be done, they will engage reverse pretty smartish 
The smart ones spew this muppet industry and get a job where the get treated properly and are RESPECTED. 
Found the site office and the plumber came to see the tank…