7/24/10

145.58 ÷ 6.5 = 22.3969 ; 22.3969 > 20

Set an objective on Friday and achieve it on Saturday.  That's what I'm talking about!  Nevermind the fact that I have a ball-busting schedule for Sunday and I'm probably gonna crash and burn during one of my five stops.  As far as tonight goes, I'm getting a little more efficient and that ain't half bad.  Tonight's run paid $145.58, in case you weren't fully up to speed on the equation above.  I started my pre-trip inspection at 5:45pm and finished my post-trip inspection at 12:15am.  Three and a half hours of driving and three hours of Line 4 time.  There's still a lot of room for improvement, without question, but it's something of a relief to have gone to work and completed a shift in something resembling the amount of time that it would take the more experienced guys.  (And I do mean "guys."  No gals driving out of the Livonia terminal.  Sue us.  Err... on second thought, no, don't sue us.  It's an employee-owned company, after all.)

On a related note, I've seen a few new faces around the terminal over the past couple of days.  By 'new faces' I don't mean simply people that I hadn't met.  I mean people who have been newly hired.  Either business is still picking up or they've had to replace a couple of people.  As I've probably already told you folks once or twice, this milk man routine is pretty freaking hard.  It wouldn't surprise me if a couple of the other guys who started recently have washed out.  In any event, it would seem that one particular knucklehead is no longer at the bottom of the seniority list.  Is it time for me to demand higher wages or threaten to strike yet?  I wonder...

Tomorrow brings a two-stop run to Saginaw, followed by a three-stop run to the Toledo area.  My first pull is scheduled at noon so, depending on how everything goes, I may even manage to finish my day before midnight and start my off day (Monday).  That would be pretty groovy, but I won't count my chickens before they hatch.

I've been reminded lately that regular people have to deal with things like grocery shopping, buying gas for their cars, driving to work, and all of that other nonsense.  I never kept any food in my truck while I was on the road and I only bought gas whenever I was home, obviously.  My drive to work took about ten minutes, once every month or two.  This tedious little routine of fifteen minutes here and ten minutes there can add up after a while.  It's all starting to come back to me...

This reintegration into society is gonna be a long and steady struggle, it would appear.