I got going at the crack of dawn today. I guess out here it was actually before the crack of dawn, as I made it to El Paso just as the sun was breaking the horizon. About two miles from our drop yard, I received a message asking me to take the load to the broker. You've got to be kidding me. I pulled off the side of the road to see if I could get some clarification. If I got to the yard, I would have to check in with the security guard, give him the bills, have him sign the receipt, and check back with him on my way out. No point going through all of that if I was delivering to the customer.
I sent a request for directions to the customer. No response. I sent a text message asking where they wanted me to take the load. Nuttin'. I was on a call with a friend of mine, so I sat and waited for a response. That response never came, so I ended my call and phoned CFI. On hold for twenty minutes. So, I got pissed, hung up the phone, looked up the address in Streets & Trips, and started heading in the general direction of the customer. Ah, here's my response from CFI... directions to the fucking drop yard! Don't even get me started on night/weekend dispatch.
After calling for a clarification and waiting on hold for another ten minutes with no answer, I just took the load to the broker. I was told that I could put the trailer in any spot from 17 to 20, then wait for the people to arrive at 8am. The only open spot was #17 and it was awfully tight. As I started to swing the trailer in, another CFI driver came over and watched the back of my trailer for me. I wasn't really having any trouble, but he saved me a couple of trips to the back of the trailer. Good lookin' out my brutha.
I dropped the trailer and pulled off to the side to wait for 8am. A few phone calls later (today begins the season for the greatest college football program in history, so the phone has been busy), it was 8am so I went inside. The guy told me that he wasn't sure if the person I needed to see would be in today. You're kidding right? He said that, if the guy was coming in on the holiday weekend, he would be there in a couple of hours. I was welcome to wait. Yeah, no. I don't think so. I told him I would just leave the bills and he could see that the other dude got them. He had no problem with that, but he wouldn't sign anything. You're kidding right? Fuck it, I documented that nobody would sign the bills and went on my way. It's not my fault they told me to take the load to the broker when I was going to leave it on the yard. If I took it to the yard, the local guys could have delivered it whenever this fella finished his Labor Day weekend.
I called CFI again to advise them that I was heading to Petro for service on the truck and then taking the rest of the day off. I had a little over an hour left on my 70, but what's the point? At best I could go pick something up and then have to shut it down. I told the dispatcher that I would board tomorrow morning and she said, "Okay."
On to Petro... I checked in with the shop manager and he asked what service I needed. I told him probably just the preventative maintenance, but the CFI shop would let him know if they wanted anything else done. The Petro manager was on hold for road service for about twenty minutes when he told me I could go out and get in line behind bay #1. Ten minutes later he came out to tell me that CFI told him I needed to call them before they could talk to him. What the hell are they talking about? So I call, wait on hold, get through to road service... "Yeah, this is Joe on truck so-and-so."
"Yeah Joe, you're scheduled for a PM."
"Yeah, well I'm at the Petro in El Paso right now."
"Good, just have them give us a call."
I swear they feed paint chips to their kids in Missouri. Anyhow, these guys at Petro did a nice PM. They were much more thorough than any other T/A or Petro that I've visited so far. After that it was time to make arrangements for the rest of my day. Beverages, check. Snacks, check. Ice, check. Now to find some lodging. The Econo-Lodge had a trucker's rate of $47 plus tax. Sign me up. And a little bonus, the room was ready already. I thought I would have to wait until this afternoon, but nope, I got settled in right away. A shower, a shave, and it was time to put my feet up and soak it all in.
Oh yeah, I don't care if Michigan eventually pulls it off or not man, that's a 1-AA team they're losing to.
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