Thirteen-fifteen. What does that mean to you? (Military folks are asked not to respond here, for obvious reasons.) It means 1:15pm for those of us who don't usually think in those terms.
There is a lengthy history on this blog concerning my views on people who wake before 10am. In a nutshell, I think they're a bunch of degenerates. What in the hell could possibly possess someone to get up so early? I don't know. I think it must be witchcraft.
So yeah, I was asleep well into this morning. That's the way life oughtta be. At whatever point I managed to drag myself out of bed, I found that I had two voicemail messages waiting. One was telling me that my car would be available at 2pm on Friday. The other was telling me that my pull time for Saturday was thirteen-fifteen. At least one more day with a reasonable sleep schedule - excellent.
I got up at some time in the afternoon. My unemployed lodger and I rode across town to the body shop where my car was being prepared. Right at 2pm, as scheduled, the auto repair guys handed over my keys. I then drove my mother's car to her office. My friend, as planned, followed behind me with my car. The work on my car had been done well enough for the most part, but for $1,400 I truly expected more. There were a couple of imperfections in the paint work and the bumper was off the mark by a few millimeters. This was consistent with what one might expect from a fly-by-night local outfit, rather than a highly decorated establishment that charged my insurance company a lot of money.
In any event, I had my car back, so I was looking forward to the chance to kick back and unwind for a while. After watching a truly terrible movie (Grown Ups), I decided that I might as well head over to the local pub and catch the second half of the Tigers game. They lost, of course. It's what they do. Then back home for more relaxation, armed with the knowledge that I don't have to get up early in the morning. Thirteen-fifteen will work quite nicely.
As of right now (before the guys start calling in sick), I'm scheduled for one run tomorrow. It has a stop in Howell and another in Jackson and that's it. It only pays $129.04 so, unless something changes, I'll end up collecting the daily minimum of $138.08 for my five or six hours of work. Good enough for me. I'd be content to wrap up my shift nice and early and then find that brewmeister buddy of ours over in Warren, although I won't hold my breath. It seems that I never end up with the work to which I was originally assigned. Something always changes.
thirteen-fifteen means roll over and go back to sleep! I'm worse than you, anything before noon is too early for me! Sounds like you're doing ok there at QW, at least those sick call drivers allow you some extra work but I agree, sometimes enough is enough, the money dont matter I WANT SOME TIME OFF!!! My grandparents lived southwest of Southfield & Joy when it was a decent hood. Granddad was a Tiger fan from the time he came to America in the 20's, til he passed in the 80's, so much disappointment(lol), but he was always behind them. Were you around when they finally won the series in the 60 or early 70's? We thought grandad was going to have a stoke. lol
ReplyDeleteI was born in '76, so the '68 series was before my time.
ReplyDeleteI did live in Texas during the pennant run in '84 though. Despite the fact that my parents were broke and struggling, we never missed a series in Arlington when the Tigers came to town. They always managed to save a few bucks to buy tickets to the games. We sat in the far reaches of the upper deck, along with the rest of the displaced families of Michigan construction workers. Ahh the memories...
Hey bro. I followed your blog through two tours in Iraq. I don't know why but it always from interesting hearing about you traveling throughout the country. Do you miss traveling through the country or are you happy to be in your bed every night? Do you think you'll ever go back out OTR or do you think you'll be content with your local work? Take care bro.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. Since you said "followed" (past tense), I'm assuming that you've made it back home safely at this point. If so, that's great to hear.
ReplyDeleteThere are aspects of the job that I miss already, to be sure. I think the randomness of it all was the best thing from my perspective. One trip might take me to Maine and the next to California. I never lost that brief moment of anticipation when the satellite unit would beep and tell me what was coming next. Sometimes I didn't like the result, but I always looked forward to finding out what tomorrow would bring.
Being in my bed every night is fine, but I think it's a little overrated. Getting up and driving 13 miles to work seems awfully tedious compared with being "at work" already whenever I rolled out of bed. Plus I don't get to pull over and take a nap whenever I feel like it anymore.
As far as going back out on the road, I guess you can never say never. I don't intend to do so, but I didn't really intend to be a truck driver in the first place. I just woke with a hangover one day and figured that I might as well go in a new direction. For now, I'm content to stick with what I'm doing and try to get better at it.