Sick and Tired
This week was not so good!
I have been having to fight the urges not to just simply abandon the truck in Massachusetts and catch a flight home. But that is not who I am...I just hate that I am seriously having to fight those urges.
My trip Northeast is not so bad.. I have another driver who makes the journey with me and I am responsible for the entertainment portion, as my personality naturally dictates this.
But lately I have been doing my fair share of whining.
Monday and Tuesday..... Just another day at the office as I am making multiple deliveries and gossipping with old friends. This week I intentionally sat around at a few customer sites a tad bit longer than normal chatting with the hired help because I just could not face getting back in the truck and puttering around at 61 freaking miles per hour.
By Tuesday evening, it is rapidly going downhill fast. I have enough tension in my neck to keep my shoulders drawn up to my earlobes. My nerve in my shoulder blade is screaming for relief as is customary when I get stressed out. So, not only has my mentality been altered (everything infuriates me) but my body is crying for relief of the physical torment this stress is causing me.
By Wednesday around noon, I can no longer take it. I am making more and more stops in rest areas trying to alleviate my brain from going ballistic. I have more and more drivers hollering at me on the radio for being in the way. And those that don't say a word just simply try to take my freaking hood off by passing too closely. I am not allowed to be courteous to traffic trying to merge on an interstate ramp because I am going to slow to move left. Therefore I have to slow down (or risk someone running into the side of my trailer) and hope that they will speed up.
My radio is OFF!!! My nerves are fried!! My attitude sucks!! and I can't take much more, yet there is more to withstand.
I just happened to see my boss typing up a proposal to have our governors removed.... WTF? I thought he said he did this weeks ago?!?!... He tells us everyweek that he should know something ' by in the morning' yet nothing has changed. I firmly believe he is now just stringing us along in hopes we don't quit. This has been going on for 5 weeks... We have been governed for six.
I hope they ( corporate) realizes what will happen when me and AA quit.... We ARE the NYC drivers... There are only two of us. And others have threatened to quit if they are forced to run the northeast. So, when (not if) we leave, they will have no one to provide customer service to our New England customers.. Which is exactly what me and AA do.. We go above and beyond our job description to make sure each and every New England customers is delivered in a timely and efficient manner.. The dock workers cannot load a stinking trailer to meet the demands of some customers, so it is up to us to have our freight reloaded for them to be able to unload. For example, two of our customers absolutely require their freight to be loaded on the tail end because they have to use a boom from a dock to unload. If the material is loaded on the nose, under another customers freight, they will simply refuse the load and send it 1000 miles back to be reloaded. But no!!, I eliminate this predicament EVERYWEEK before it becomes an issue.
Waaaahhhhhh! Dammit.. Enough Already..
I am just tired of complaining. I am tired of feeling this way. It is not me, and it feels like I am not in control anymore. What happened to the sweet little flirty Truck Driver who puts smile of everyone face and a laugh in their eyes.... I want to be her again.. NOW!!!!!
I give up.......*sigh*
7 comments:
Your week sounds terrible. I don't blame you for keeping your radio off. Don't those other drivers know that some trucks are being forced to go that slow now??
Hang in there!!!
Being a male, My first inclination is to fix the problem. At least that's what my wife tells me all the time. I understand the slow truck part although I'm governed at 64. And I'm paid by the hour so I really don't worry about it that much. But the loading problem. I wonder how much longer the loading problem would continue if you just brought the load back to be resituated according to the customers needs. I'm sure you're doing a great job and I hope your company realizes that. Do the folks who load your truck work for your company? Anyway, take care and I hope you can relax some. When I first started driving commercial vehicles (it was buses at that time) my safety director told me once, "You start late, you stay late." that stuck with me. Usually.
Thanks Sally.... I am trying...
John, the loading situation has been going on for over 7 years. Originally, I was labelled the most difficult driver to please because I did request the load be altered at the beginning of the trip. I have the most stops on one trailer, therefore the most customers to please. I decided a few years ago that asking some of the customers to move a few bundles was just easier. My real frustration here is just with the slow truck, but all the other tiny annoyances are eating at me now, where they used to just slide off my back. If I got paid by the hour, I would be making a killing.. But adding time AND losing pay... not so good!!
Ok, now i understand your problem. I think your speed is ok but if not everybody has that limit and if you don´t get paid by the hour like me, than I can see a big problem. That is not fair !
But I´m used to 50-56 mph and that is a nice cruisin speed... and I get paid by the hour as I said.
Ohh, I´m sorry I`m not anonymous, it was me, CyberPassenger that made that comment earlier.
Maybe you had a little emotional relief this weekend with the wee ones visiting. By the way, have you heard my news?
Mama Bear
Ummm.
How many more days 'til your vacation?
j/k
I hope things get better!
Post a Comment