I was conned and pushed this week by the kid in dispatch, unlucky for him I am no push over and he lost out.
Last Friday he called me “Pat, can you do a delivery to Milwaulkee on Monday for me ?”
“No”
“I promise I will get you straight home afterwards”
“Well ok then but have it preloaded for me” he agreed, so Monday I shot down to Yonkers and hooked up to a dry bulk trailer, which I had no way of unloading as my truck is a liquid equipped one, I call dispatch and inform them and am assured that a driver called ‘Ray’ who is out of Albany NY will meet me there and unload it. That day I got as far as Hubbard OH, sitting in the cab and on my lap top there’s a knock on my door and a familiar face, “Hi Pat, what y doin’ here ?” askes a guy who I know is from Albany.
“Going to ADM in Milwaulkee, if your name is Ray I think you are too and you have to unload this trailer”
“I am Ray, I am going there but I had no idea I had to unload your trailer” he said. Now what a coincidence that he chose to stop at exactly the same place as me when you think of all the truck stops along that road, early next morning we both set off, got well stuck in rush hour traffic in Chicago, had to stop on the shoulder for our 30 minute break because the elog was about to give us violations, got to the drop, he started blowing the load to the hoppers and the system blocked so we sat there 3 hours waiting, then another load arrived, I get the expected ‘Your next load is Chicago to Chattanooga’ call to which I give the ‘no f**kin chance mate’ answer and call the dispatchers manager who then changes things, next morning I leave there, drop and hook in Kenoshia WI and head for place south of Bowling green KY and wait again for another guy to offload that one whilst I sleep, I insisted on returning empty to NYC much to the dislike of the kid in dispatch, insist the final load up to Albany NY is loaded for me, deliver that and have 1 hour 20 minutes to get home.
He won’t ask me to do that again. I had 2 hours total duty available for my 70 hours when I got home.
Got a strange one tomorrow Charles, all I did today was run from home to Albany, get a touch screen put in my truck which took 45 minutes, come down to NYC and preload a trailer. Tomorrow I have to bob tail to Kerney, hook to a freshly washed trailer, empty to Middleboro MA, load cranberry juice and deliver Brinigsville PA by noon on Thursday.
Look after your dispatcher , sort out their mistakes , give them little stress and they will look after you .We have it relatively easy on the road but there’s no chance in hell of me sitting in some snotty office doing their job all day . My best lad left last xmas to fly fighters in the RCAF and his replacements are inadequate but I still try not to give them grief .$2700 in the bank for my last four and a half days work means I can cut them some slack now and again .
Pat Hasler:
Got a strange one tomorrow Charles, all I did today was run from home to Albany, get a touch screen put in my truck which took 45 minutes, come down to NYC and preload a trailer. Tomorrow I have to bob tail to Kerney, hood to a freshly washed trailer, empty to Middleboro MA, load cranberry juice and deliver Brinigsville PA by noon on Thursday.
That looks like a lot of work to me now that i’m a part-timer Pat. I just work Fri, Sat and part of Sunday as most drivers are off then and they need loads delivered. I’m in MA almost every weekend and still look for that Union Jack on your grill Pat but i think your at home then.
flat to the mat:
Look after your dispatcher , sort out their mistakes , give them little stress and they will look after you .We have it relatively easy on the road but there’s no chance in hell of me sitting in some snotty office doing their job all day . My best lad left last xmas to fly fighters in the RCAF and his replacements are inadequate but I still try not to give them grief .$2700 in the bank for my last four and a half days work means I can cut them some slack now and again .
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