8/7/10

It's time for a frank discussion here.  At the point when I made the move from Con-way Truckload to Quickway, I wasn't quite sure about the future of this blog.  I made an effort to retrace the history of the whole thing and see if it still made sense.  The summary is as follows. 

I became a truck driver in 2006 for various personal reasons.  I wasn't desperate for a job and I wasn't in a difficult spot, as most of you have probably figured out.  I just needed a change of scenery.  Before I signed on the dotted line with CFI back then, I made an effort to learn something about the industry in general and various companies in particular.

What I learned was, with all due respect to some of you out there, that people involved with the trucking business are full of horseshit.  I heard from some people that everything was awesome and, by the way, here was some guy's truck number.  (These people wanted credit for recruiting me, along with the bonus pay that they would receive.)  I heard from other people that trucking companies were nothing more than glorified sweatshops and, by the way, I was an asshole for even thinking about doing the job.  (These people wanted some form of emotional validation for having failed as truck drivers themselves.)

As I tried to track down honest answers to my questions, I found that I didn't believe anyone.  The recruiters were full of shit and the disgruntled former employees were full of shit.  Nobody could seem to tell the truth without an agenda.  Since I participated in a few online discussion forums at the time, I found the opportunity to express my thoughts about my employer and the industry in general.  This was a form of entertainment for me.  Various people. for one reason or another, took an interest in what I had to say.

So we get to this blog.  I was asked one question on a regular basis - What's it really like out there?  I really couldn't provide a quick but honest answer.  One day would be like this and the next day would be like that.  Some good, some bad, and a whole lot in-between.  This blog was initially my contribution to people who wanted an answer to that single question.  It was my way of saying, "Here's what it's like out on the road."

As time went on and quite a few people started reading for more than informational purposes, the blog became a little more fun for me to write.  I get a kick out of the feedback and the conversations with people from around the world, and my day-to-day travels always seemed to provide new topics for discussion.  Whether I was whining about dispatchers or talking trash about sports teams or spouting stereotypes about the inhabitants of a particular region, something always popped into my head when I sat at my keyboard.  Every day for more than three years, there was at least something to say, even if that something was ridiculous.

Which brings us to now.  I'm running a bit low on subject material these days.  I said to myself a long time ago that I wouldn't waste my time writing a boring narrative of my daily routine.  If all I could say was that I went from here to there, doing this and that along the way, it would be time to hang it up.  I'm simply not that interesting as an individual.  The observations and "tales from the road" were the point of the whole thing.  The recent transition to my new job has provided a few ups and downs that seemed worth sharing, so the posts have kept coming every day so far.  It's a little interesting to try going back to a "normal" life after having spent four years merely "vacationing" at home whenever I felt like it.  There's just not a lot of inspiration, for lack of a better word.  The daily and weekly routines, while not yet comfortable and settled for me, are indeed becoming routine.

The standard things that people suggest are to take a break or write less often and so forth, but I really see no point in that, at least in the context of what this blog has been for a few years.  This has been an ongoing narrative that wouldn't really be well-served by a sporadic posting whenever I felt the need to say something.  I have no desire to start spouting off about current events every day or anything like that either.  There are plenty of actual writers who have more rational thoughts about things than I have.  I'd much rather read what they have to say than write something myself. 

I plan to do my best to find something to write at the end of the day here, but it's getting tougher. That's all I'm trying to say.  I probably used a few more words than I needed to make that point.

Today on the milk front was as quick and easy as advertised.  No calls from the dispatcher and no changes to my schedule.  After my first stop in Howell, I scooted over to Lansing and then dropped down to Jackson for my second stop.  The dairy guy there said that he wanted to pull the milk out of the trailer himself.  Knock yourself out there, sport.  Some of the dairy guys like to do this because it allows them to use an electric pallet jack to put the milk into the cooler.  If I'm pulling the milk off with the electric jack, then they have to use a manual jack to put away the milk. 

So anyhow, why are we talking about this?  Oh yeah - After I had set the first pallet on the dock and left the pallet jack waiting for the fella, he came back around to grab the next pallet.  And then he proceeded to tip it over by going across the dock plate at an angle.  If you hit that plate at any kind of angle, then the wheel under one side of the pallet starts to ride up the ramp while the wheel on the other side stays below.  Once you get 2,200 pounds of milk leaning sideways, you're at the mercy of gravity.  Sometimes the pallet will rock back into place when the second wheel hits the ramp and sometimes... boom.  After the guy spent a few seconds blaming me for not having stopped the thing from tipping (Put myself in the way of 2,200 pounds as it tips? Blow me.), we got the pleasure of cleaning up the mess and restacking the pallet of milk.  This added some time onto what would have been an extremely quick shift for me.

All in all though, not bad.  I had a total of 3.25 hours driving and 2.5 hours on Line 4.  Since our union contract guarantees at least $138.08 for any shift that we work, that's what I earned for the day.  Not Oprah money or anything, but it'll do.  Tomorrow's dispatch will bring a lot more money and a lot more work, so I don't mind these quick and easy days when I can get them.

One of the disadvantages to communicating through blog comments is that you don't always catch people when you would like.  I wrapped up my shift at 6:30pm tonight, so I was leaning toward heading out to Warren to visit with the best and brightest beermakers that Michigan has to offer.  I only had one phone number for our man Brent though.  I called it while I was heading back to the dairy.  I'm assuming that the lady's voice on the voicemail belongs to his wife, but I don't know her and she doesn't know me.  Ergo I didn't really feel inclined to leave a message.  We'll just have to catch up another time, I reckon.  Probably just as well, since the brakes on my car are grinding and I shouldn't do any more driving than is necessary.  One more thing on the to-do list for my next day off.  There's just always something, isn't there?