This has been a good week, I was originally supposed to deliver Ben & Jerry’s on Sunday night but got a call to tell me not to deliver until Monday morning, result there then. It meant me running down to load next morning to go back up again, then I got a call from our newish young dispatcher, "Pat, change of plan, that load has been cancelled, now you can load at 10.00 am for Laurel MD, the switch trucks and leave it for a dry service, then … "
“Hold it right there, ‘Leave it for a service’, no f**king chance”
“But it’s due a service and it can be done in Delaware terminal, then you can go to Fearless hills PA and collect a load for … "
“No way ! firstly It only takes 2 to 3 hours for the service, it takes me almost 3 hours to take everything out of this truck, which by the way I will probably never see again, secondly all my services are done at Albany”
“Albany can’t fit you in”
I hang up, call the manager at Albany and tell him the situation. " Just give me 24 hours notice Pat” I call the dispatcher again “Ok I have spoken to Albany and can get it serviced, you have to understand that this truck is home from Monday to Friday and if I leave it at that terminal it will be given to another driver within 24 hours”
“But I will be sending you right back after delivering to Connecticut”
“If you send me to that place it will mean spending 2 nights in a strange and dirty truck, then you will be sending me to Ben & Jerry so I will never see my truck again, in other words NO WAY”
The young man caved in and told me to forget the service.
I got held up in Laurel MD and didn’t do the Fearless hills to CT load, left MD weds morning, back to NYC, hooked to a loaded tank and came home for the night for 14 hours, delivered Ben & Jerry’s Thursday, got my service done at Albany first thing this morning, then down to NYC for another B&J load that delivers Sunday night, then my next load is Tuesday 
We’ve got Brain Dead Wallys like that, one of them expected me to take someone else’s ‘Pit of Filth’ because mine wasn’t back from the Trunk, they expect us to night out with some one else’s gear !!!
What planet are they from ?
The kid is new at this, he was trained by the dispatcher who was there when I started working for them and got promoted to supervisor, he had told me that the kid had been trained to understand the way I work. This is the third replacement since he got promoted, he doesn’t understand how much is involved in switching trucks, my truck was brand new last July, I am the only one to drive it from new, inside are a wide screen TV, fridge, about 50 DVD’s a wardrobe full of clothes, food supplies, coffee maker, under the bunk are insulated clothing, fall protection equipment, tool boxes and fittings, then there’s the CB, aerial mounts and coax, all have to be removed and transferred to the other truck. I usually live in this truck Monday or Sunday to Friday, it’s my home away from home.
Pretty lucky at my place. The driver books it in when needs service and are the only ones to drive our truck.
Not as easy as that on my company Taffy, it’s all in the computer system, the dispatcher gets a flag against my truck or any trailer to let them know it’s due.