Long hours........

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

truckerjon:
I’ve been away from it for about a month, and although i miss climbing in the truck, and cruising along a quite motorway listening to my Ipod, the banter with other drivers, even the MMTM stories in the RDC’s, the last couple of days when i’ve been out in my car listening to Sally traffic, floods, accidents, queues, boy am i glad to be out of it!

i 've been off work for about 2 months and im not missing it at all , im pretty sure the job is making me ill i dont sleep nor do i eat the right kind of food . im done with chasing my arse with unrealistic targets , in short im out of it for atleast the time being and im not sure i want to go back .
i was having doubts anyway as to doing the dcpc thing so it looks like thats out the window , im not putting my health at risk for this crap im out … the job finished a long time ago its gone .

22

bowser:
im done with chasing my arse with unrealistic targets .

Agree with that, never again, will i be forced to speed, abused, shouted at, expected to go over if “only 20mins away”, run overweight or drive a truck thats illegal. I do the job because i want to, not because its all i can do.

23

there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

24

Don’t make it someone else’s problem, you only get one life, and the only person who is going to watch out for it is you.

You can complain about it, and wait for the rule changes to arrive (they won’t, by the way, not in any significant way). Or you can eat good food, take proper exercise regularly, and quit a job that has unrealistic demands on your time or your health.

Whilst it may be easy to say that few companies value their employees, it’s equally true that few employees particularly value their company. Most will jump for better money, so companies can’t be bothered investing in employees future, round and round it goes, until basically, you get the industry you deserve.

Stress is bad news for sure, but as a driver, the only stress involved is that which you make for yourself. I truly believe that. Learn to change your way of thinking about things, and just let it roll. There has never been less decision making for the driver to do, so why let anything worry you, it’s usually someone else’s problem. They will certainly be getting paid more than you to worry about it.

Positive change comes mostly from within.

Hippyish rant over. :grimacing:

25

commonrail:
there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

I may be mad but after i find a class 1 job i plan to bang in all the hours so i can save and enjoy my days off, summer hols and enjoy life insted of living month to month…

26

good post…wildgoose

27

Dan_1986:

commonrail:
there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

I may be mad but after i find a class 1 job i plan to bang in all the hours so i can save and enjoy my days off, summer hols and enjoy life insted of living month to month…

there wont be any days off ,if youre banging the hours in.sure,youll get your 4 weeks hol,but dont count on them being in summer.
if you`re a big hours man,put as much as poss in a pension scheme,and retire before your too ■■■■■■ :stuck_out_tongue:

28

commonrail:
there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

So when you’re young enough to live your life and enjoy it, you need to live at work to be able retire a couple of years early when you’re too knackered to enjoy it ■■

I always said there’s no point in being the richest man in the cemetery, so I do what I want now with what little I have, and I ride a motorbike so getting old isn’t an issue :grimacing:

29

Darb:
[
So when you’re young enough to live your life and enjoy it, you need to live at work to be able retire a couple of years early when you’re too knackered to enjoy it ■■

I always said there’s no point in being the richest man in the cemetery, so I do what I want now with what little I have, and I ride a motorbike so getting old isn’t an issue :grimacing:

this is my philosophy on life.also i actually enjoy driving trucks…but i also enjoy other things :bulb:

30

commonrail:

Dan_1986:

commonrail:
there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

I may be mad but after i find a class 1 job i plan to bang in all the hours so i can save and enjoy my days off, summer hols and enjoy life insted of living month to month…

there wont be any days off ,if youre banging the hours in.sure,youll get your 4 weeks hol,but dont count on them being in summer.
if you`re a big hours man,put as much as poss in a pension scheme,and retire before your too [zb] :stuck_out_tongue:

I dont mind the summer hols being in the winter as long as its hot where we go ha. I have a family to look after so working all the hours to look after them and enjoy our time together on days out and hols will be worth it.

31

What do you mean SHYTOT hard work. Sitting on your arse for fifteen hours! There’s your problem very little exersise, you need to work your body to be healthy.

SHYTOT:
Smoking shortens your life but thousands of lorry driver smoke
getting ■■■■■■ regular shortens your life thousands of lorry drivers
get ■■■■■■ regular.
Hard work never killed anyone

32

Those poor little lambs in the offices had a “go home on time” day today, bless them.

33

Dogmatix:
Those poor little lambs in the offices had a “go home on time” day today, bless them.

LOL!!! I herd about that on the radio today, how queer.

34

Dan_1986:

commonrail:

Dan_1986:

commonrail:
there are 2 ways to go about a career in truck driving…

bang all the hours god sends and retire at a relatively early age,or just plod along untill you can no longer go on.

I may be mad but after i find a class 1 job i plan to bang in all the hours so i can save and enjoy my days off, summer hols and enjoy life insted of living month to month…

there wont be any days off ,if youre banging the hours in.sure,youll get your 4 weeks hol,but dont count on them being in summer.
if you`re a big hours man,put as much as poss in a pension scheme,and retire before your too [zb] :stuck_out_tongue:

I dont mind the summer hols being in the winter as long as its hot where we go ha. I have a family to look after so working all the hours to look after them and enjoy our time together on days out and hols will be worth it.

I hate the this saying but, “work live balance” is really important in this job.

35

Best leave a photo of yourself on the fridge door so your kids don’t forget who their dad is.
:smiley: :confused: :wink:

36

Darb:
So when you’re young enough to live your life and enjoy it, you need to live at work to be able retire a couple of years early when you’re too knackered to enjoy it ■■

This is so right. So very right.

Waste the best years of your life, when your body is at its peak, and you can actually enjoy everything that is offered, so you can save up on the off chance you might live long enough and be healthy enough to finally relax for a bit in your twilight years? Assuming someone doesn’t gamble away your hard earned pension in the mean time. No thanks.

Pensions are the biggest financial rip off in the modern Western world. But nobody knows any better, or is willing to take the risk.

Live now. Every day.

37

WildGoose:
Pensions are the biggest financial rip off in the modern Western world.

I wouldnt say that was quite right personally. If you do live past 65 but can no longer work, how will you pay to live?

But i do agree with everything else you’ve said.

38

I’m not against saving, or investing, i’m simply against pensions. Just to clarify.

I think they are a con, just like every other pyramid scheme, I have seen several relatives have the value of theirs obliterated through no fault of their own. I don’t like the lack of transparency, the complexity, or the way that once you put that money in, you will never see it again. You just get an imaginary pot to bargain with at the end, in the hope someone will offer you an annuity that is considered fair. Then you might die anyway.

It’s gambling at it’s worst, on both sides, and I don’t like that.

The problem is, everyone is too ■■■■ scared to say no to them, because we cannot process the thought of something so large in scale with such detrimental consequences (real or imagined), but it’s a well designed system that has been carefully designed over years and years to induce this in people, and it is very good at doing so. It’s going to get harder to ignore them because the government is about to force you to have one (starting with forcing companies to provide one).

If you do live past 65 but can no longer work, how will you pay to live?

One thing is certain, I won’t be expecting anyone else to cover for me, if that is what you are getting at? I’m not in favour of the welfare state at all.

I’ll let you know when I arrive there, i’m reasonably confident i’ll have something sorted out, my tastes are simple, and getting simpler. I can live very cheaply and still be happy.

But i’m also fairly convinced retirement will be a thing of the past by the time it comes along. At the rate they are already advancing retirement age.

Only the infirm will not be expected to work, and the definition of infirm will be incredibly strict by then.

Our whole culture is based around the idea of retirement, and I think this needs to be binned, and some sort of paradigm shift occur, because life is about being happy, and nobody is. Something is wrong, and it isn’t getting better. We exist to be slaves, so a very small and select group can be made super rich.

But that’s beginning to go off track.

Retirement = carrot dangling in front of face (the carrot being the promise of happiness).

39

WildGoose:
I’m not against saving, or investing, i’m simply against pensions. Just to clarify.

I think they are a con, just like every other pyramid scheme, I have seen several relatives have the value of theirs obliterated through no fault of their own. I don’t like the lack of transparency, the complexity, or the way that once you put that money in, you will never see it again. You just get an imaginary pot to bargain with at the end, in the hope someone will offer you an annuity that is considered fair. Then you might die anyway.

It’s gambling at it’s worst, on both sides, and I don’t like that.

The problem is, everyone is too ■■■■ scared to say no to them, because we cannot process the thought of something so large in scale with such detrimental consequences (real or imagined), but it’s a well designed system that has been carefully designed over years and years to induce this in people, and it is very good at doing so. It’s going to get harder to ignore them because the government is about to force you to have one (starting with forcing companies to provide one).

If you do live past 65 but can no longer work, how will you pay to live?

One thing is certain, I won’t be expecting anyone else to cover for me, if that is what you are getting at? I’m not in favour of the welfare state at all.

I’ll let you know when I arrive there, i’m reasonably confident i’ll have something sorted out, my tastes are simple, and getting simpler. I can live very cheaply and still be happy.

But i’m also fairly convinced retirement will be a thing of the past by the time it comes along. At the rate they are already advancing retirement age.

Only the infirm will not be expected to work, and the definition of infirm will be incredibly strict by then.

Our whole culture is based around the idea of retirement, and I think this needs to be binned, and some sort of paradigm shift occur, because life is about being happy, and nobody is. Something is wrong, and it isn’t getting better. We exist to be slaves, so a very small and select group can be made super rich.

But that’s beginning to go off track.

Retirement = carrot dangling in front of face (the carrot being the promise of happiness).

:sunglasses: Amen.