Saturday, March 8, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
3/7/08
To quote the guy pumping fuel next to me at the Pilot this afternoon - "This sucks." Yep, that about sums it up.
I got rolling nice and early today, making two pickups in Buffalo. When I got to the second stop, it started to snow. Both shippers loaded me quickly, so I was in good shape to head for Seymour, Indiana. I had a drop/hook at the Wal-Mart DC on the back end of the run, so the day was set up nicely for me. A little over five hundred miles, a few more bucks in northeast pay, and thirty-five bucks in stop pay, all for one day's work. Then I actually started driving...
New York, for the little while I was in it, wasn't bad. The snowstorm had just reached that area. As the day went on, things got worse... and worse... and worse. You may have heard on the news that our nation's economy lost 63,000 jobs in February. What you probably didn't hear is that those 63,000 lost jobs apparently included every single snow plow driver in Ohio and Indiana. What a debacle. It was pretty damn bad the whole way, and it really did get worse as I went along. The number (and variety) of accidents on I-71 in Ohio was absolutely staggering. On US-50 in Indiana, I was literally following a set of tire tracks and praying that they didn't lead me off the road. The pinnacle was the Wal-Mart lot, where I had to get lined up with my slot, pull forward, shift into reverse, and get a running start in order to back in through a snow drift.
I headed over to the T/A to park for the night. Nope. All full. Every spot, every non-spot, every G-spot, every dog named Spot. Nothin' doin'. I checked my atlas and saw that there is a state scale just north of Seymour. Assuming my next load would come from somewhere north, I headed for the scales. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Just then I got my next assignment which, of course, would be picking up in Kentucky. So I took the next exit and flipped back onto I-65 southbound. I tried the southbound scales, as I really needed to get off the road for the night. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Fifteen miles down the road I found a truck stop. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost impossible to navigate. Ten miles further down was a rest area. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost imposible to navigate. Another seven miles down I tried the Love's and finally caught a break. This place also has a bunch of assholes parked anywhere and everywhere, but someone left at least one space for me.
And that, my friends, is what we call a long ass day. My log book says I drove eleven hours, so I guess I drove eleven hours. Anyone have a problem with that? Good. I have to drop and hook in Shepherdsville, Kentucky tomorrow by noon and then head for Texas. I have two drops in the Dallas area, I think for Wednesday. That will make this week a really good one. Over 3,000 miles, a bunch of northeast pay, and three extra stops.
To balance it out though, the 800-whatever miles by Wednesday morning is a pretty shitty weekend dispatch. They should have set the load up to drop in Lancaster on Monday and wait for a local guy to deliver it. I'll be three and a half days into next week with zero miles, as it stands right now. If they leave the load with me, I'll qualify for a day of layover pay and take a couple days off in Texas. Of course, I'll probably have to twist some arms to get that paid. Today's paycheck was the sixth one without my pay for unloading the trailer at UPS in January. I sent another message and got another reply saying it was being re-submitted. I fail to see how this is so complicated. Next I'll get to explain that a four day dispatch for 800 miles means 48 hours of down time. We'll have to see how that one goes.
March 7th was a very important date in this nation's history. On that day, in 1957, a saint was born. Without her the world would be a far worse place, if for no other reason than that I wouldn't be here. Happy birthday Mom.
I got rolling nice and early today, making two pickups in Buffalo. When I got to the second stop, it started to snow. Both shippers loaded me quickly, so I was in good shape to head for Seymour, Indiana. I had a drop/hook at the Wal-Mart DC on the back end of the run, so the day was set up nicely for me. A little over five hundred miles, a few more bucks in northeast pay, and thirty-five bucks in stop pay, all for one day's work. Then I actually started driving...
New York, for the little while I was in it, wasn't bad. The snowstorm had just reached that area. As the day went on, things got worse... and worse... and worse. You may have heard on the news that our nation's economy lost 63,000 jobs in February. What you probably didn't hear is that those 63,000 lost jobs apparently included every single snow plow driver in Ohio and Indiana. What a debacle. It was pretty damn bad the whole way, and it really did get worse as I went along. The number (and variety) of accidents on I-71 in Ohio was absolutely staggering. On US-50 in Indiana, I was literally following a set of tire tracks and praying that they didn't lead me off the road. The pinnacle was the Wal-Mart lot, where I had to get lined up with my slot, pull forward, shift into reverse, and get a running start in order to back in through a snow drift.
I headed over to the T/A to park for the night. Nope. All full. Every spot, every non-spot, every G-spot, every dog named Spot. Nothin' doin'. I checked my atlas and saw that there is a state scale just north of Seymour. Assuming my next load would come from somewhere north, I headed for the scales. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Just then I got my next assignment which, of course, would be picking up in Kentucky. So I took the next exit and flipped back onto I-65 southbound. I tried the southbound scales, as I really needed to get off the road for the night. Overflowing with trucks. No dice. Fifteen miles down the road I found a truck stop. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost impossible to navigate. Ten miles further down was a rest area. Overflowing with trucks, including the assholes who block the driveway, park where they shouldn't, and make it almost imposible to navigate. Another seven miles down I tried the Love's and finally caught a break. This place also has a bunch of assholes parked anywhere and everywhere, but someone left at least one space for me.
And that, my friends, is what we call a long ass day. My log book says I drove eleven hours, so I guess I drove eleven hours. Anyone have a problem with that? Good. I have to drop and hook in Shepherdsville, Kentucky tomorrow by noon and then head for Texas. I have two drops in the Dallas area, I think for Wednesday. That will make this week a really good one. Over 3,000 miles, a bunch of northeast pay, and three extra stops.
To balance it out though, the 800-whatever miles by Wednesday morning is a pretty shitty weekend dispatch. They should have set the load up to drop in Lancaster on Monday and wait for a local guy to deliver it. I'll be three and a half days into next week with zero miles, as it stands right now. If they leave the load with me, I'll qualify for a day of layover pay and take a couple days off in Texas. Of course, I'll probably have to twist some arms to get that paid. Today's paycheck was the sixth one without my pay for unloading the trailer at UPS in January. I sent another message and got another reply saying it was being re-submitted. I fail to see how this is so complicated. Next I'll get to explain that a four day dispatch for 800 miles means 48 hours of down time. We'll have to see how that one goes.
March 7th was a very important date in this nation's history. On that day, in 1957, a saint was born. Without her the world would be a far worse place, if for no other reason than that I wouldn't be here. Happy birthday Mom.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
3/6/08
It turns out that I can get lost even on a day when I don't pick up or deliver anything. So I have that going for me... which is nice. I called the Kenworth dealer first thing this morning and asked for directions. I-90 to so and so, take a right, take this exit, blah blah blah. I got to the last street and I was supposed to take a left at the second blinking yellow light. Maybe it's just me, but I assumed that this would mean I should proceed past the first blinking yellow. Yeah, there was no second blinking yellow. So I wound up in some residential ghetto, under construction, on a non-truck route, with no idea where I was going. I found my way back to the highway and circled back. As I got off, I called the dealer and asked for directions again. "Turn left at the second blinking yellow." What the hell? I pressed for more info and the guy said that there was a restaurant called Rooster's on the corner. That helped. It was, of course, the first (and only) blinking yellow; the one that I had passed through the first time.
About an hour after I checked in with the service department, they pulled my truck inside. Beauty. Maybe I could still get in a decent day's work after they finished. Ten minutes later, someone must have called and told them who I was. After all, I'm not allowed to have things go smoothly at a Kenworth dealer. They had two windshields in stock - one with a crack and one that was scratched up. So I had to wait all day for their afternoon parts shipment to arrive. On the bright side though, this new windshield is awesome. I hadn't realized just how much the surface of a window gets etched over time. When this one is clean, it looks like there's not even a windshield in front of me.
So I got back on the board around 5pm today and I was #2. By the time I got to the palatial (aka piece of shit) truck stop in Buffalo, I was up to #1. And that's as far as I got today. At least this day gave my log book a break. I wasn't going to have much of a weekend if I kept burning hours the way I have been lately. I pick up good hours tomorrow but then only three and a half hours Saturday. Carrying some hours over from today should help me out.
I got an answer to a question that I never thought to ask earlier today. My dispatch to Buffalo was followed by the little mesage saying I got a few bucks in northeast pay. We always get paid to drive to the shop, but I guess this was the first time I've done so in the northeast. It never occurred to me that I would get my extra nickel. I suppose it makes sense, since I was still driving their truck even if I wasn't picking up or delivering a load. You learn something every day.
About an hour after I checked in with the service department, they pulled my truck inside. Beauty. Maybe I could still get in a decent day's work after they finished. Ten minutes later, someone must have called and told them who I was. After all, I'm not allowed to have things go smoothly at a Kenworth dealer. They had two windshields in stock - one with a crack and one that was scratched up. So I had to wait all day for their afternoon parts shipment to arrive. On the bright side though, this new windshield is awesome. I hadn't realized just how much the surface of a window gets etched over time. When this one is clean, it looks like there's not even a windshield in front of me.
So I got back on the board around 5pm today and I was #2. By the time I got to the palatial (aka piece of shit) truck stop in Buffalo, I was up to #1. And that's as far as I got today. At least this day gave my log book a break. I wasn't going to have much of a weekend if I kept burning hours the way I have been lately. I pick up good hours tomorrow but then only three and a half hours Saturday. Carrying some hours over from today should help me out.
I got an answer to a question that I never thought to ask earlier today. My dispatch to Buffalo was followed by the little mesage saying I got a few bucks in northeast pay. We always get paid to drive to the shop, but I guess this was the first time I've done so in the northeast. It never occurred to me that I would get my extra nickel. I suppose it makes sense, since I was still driving their truck even if I wasn't picking up or delivering a load. You learn something every day.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
3/5/08
To quote Kid Rock - "I ain't seen the sun shine in three damn days." I can't tell if I'm tired or just in a winter malaise. Only the first half of today was rainy, but it was still pretty dreary all day.
I woke up to a load assignment early this morning. Pickups in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York followed by a delivery in Illinois... tomorrow morning. Yeah, right. Anyhow, the first pickup was scheduled for 7am so I figured I had better get moving and then sort out the details later. A parking lot with space to set up and a dock with room on each side? Oh my! That was nice. Then just across the state line into New Jersey, what did we find at stop 2? Well, that one was a blindside from the street, but it wasn't terribly tight and the street wasn't terribly busy. So we're still good. Stop 3 was a standard kind of dock arrangement, so I was three for three today in terms of avoiding the crazy shipping locations I've seen lately. Beauty.
While I was at stop 2, I got some clarification on the plan for this load. It was originally booked as a team load, but they had to set up a pair of relays in order to get it to Illinois by tomorrow morning. I passed it off a little while ago. We'll just say, in light of the hours I had available this morning, that I am in an undisclosed location and that the miles will somehow fit within my log book.
Compared to yesterday, today's driving was a lot better. I actually got to use my cruise control for a while, believe it or not. The roads were clean, even where all the ice and snow came down yesterday. I guess there's something to be said for timing.
I'm racking up some miles (plus northeast pay and stop pay) this week, so that's pretty cool, but I'm going to have to get that (formerly little) crack in my windshield fixed tomorrow. It has started to snake its way across into my field of vision. I'll call road service in a little while and see what they have to say.
I woke up to a load assignment early this morning. Pickups in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York followed by a delivery in Illinois... tomorrow morning. Yeah, right. Anyhow, the first pickup was scheduled for 7am so I figured I had better get moving and then sort out the details later. A parking lot with space to set up and a dock with room on each side? Oh my! That was nice. Then just across the state line into New Jersey, what did we find at stop 2? Well, that one was a blindside from the street, but it wasn't terribly tight and the street wasn't terribly busy. So we're still good. Stop 3 was a standard kind of dock arrangement, so I was three for three today in terms of avoiding the crazy shipping locations I've seen lately. Beauty.
While I was at stop 2, I got some clarification on the plan for this load. It was originally booked as a team load, but they had to set up a pair of relays in order to get it to Illinois by tomorrow morning. I passed it off a little while ago. We'll just say, in light of the hours I had available this morning, that I am in an undisclosed location and that the miles will somehow fit within my log book.
Compared to yesterday, today's driving was a lot better. I actually got to use my cruise control for a while, believe it or not. The roads were clean, even where all the ice and snow came down yesterday. I guess there's something to be said for timing.
I'm racking up some miles (plus northeast pay and stop pay) this week, so that's pretty cool, but I'm going to have to get that (formerly little) crack in my windshield fixed tomorrow. It has started to snake its way across into my field of vision. I'll call road service in a little while and see what they have to say.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
3/4/08
Did you know you can wake up early in the morning, drive all day, drive all evening, and park at night without ever leaving a rainstorm? Yep. You can.
We have a set of ConWay runs that originate in the midwest and go to the terminal outside Springfield, Massachusetts. The last leg is the longest one, leaving from the Petro in Girard, Ohio. That's the one I got today.
The paid miles for the run are 524. It's a drop/hook at both ends. There is usually time to deliver a couple of hours early. The run pays another $25 in northeast pay. There is a truck stop right around the corner from the delivery point. Sounds pretty good, right? Well I hate it. There isn't a flat mile at all on the whole trip. The New England portion of the drive is a slow and frustrating pain in the ass. The people at the terminal are typically bitter Massachusetts residents. Today, you could add in the nonstop downpour. If it wasn't bad enough dragging that heavy load up the hills, people were passing me and then going 50mph on the way down. The aforementioned truck stop had exactly zero parking spaces open at 8pm. After I circled around a few times, someone left. So I got a spot.
When I dropped my loaded trailer, it looked pretty straight in my mirrors. I guess the rain was screwing with my perspective though, as it was actually a little crooked. Both ConWay guys that I talked to before dropping it were complete assholes, so I left it as-is. Screw 'em. Then I faced the same rainy visibility issue backing into the tight spot at the local truck stop. That took a little while. I've been doing way too much of that 'get out and look' shit lately. Maybe I've mentioned previously that I'm pretty lazy.
Anyhow, on balance it was a pretty profitable day. I managed to stay ahead of the cold front, so the rain never turned to freezing rain or snow. Despite the fact that I saw at least three other CTL trucks when I pulled in here, I was #1 on the board when I sent in my empty call. Decent enough day I guess. I can work 6.5 hours tomorrow, and a total of 16 hours over the next two days, so I won't get anything huge. There's a chance I can keep a pretty good week going though. 1,210 miles through Tuesday is a solid start, so we'll see where it goes from here.
We have a set of ConWay runs that originate in the midwest and go to the terminal outside Springfield, Massachusetts. The last leg is the longest one, leaving from the Petro in Girard, Ohio. That's the one I got today.
The paid miles for the run are 524. It's a drop/hook at both ends. There is usually time to deliver a couple of hours early. The run pays another $25 in northeast pay. There is a truck stop right around the corner from the delivery point. Sounds pretty good, right? Well I hate it. There isn't a flat mile at all on the whole trip. The New England portion of the drive is a slow and frustrating pain in the ass. The people at the terminal are typically bitter Massachusetts residents. Today, you could add in the nonstop downpour. If it wasn't bad enough dragging that heavy load up the hills, people were passing me and then going 50mph on the way down. The aforementioned truck stop had exactly zero parking spaces open at 8pm. After I circled around a few times, someone left. So I got a spot.
When I dropped my loaded trailer, it looked pretty straight in my mirrors. I guess the rain was screwing with my perspective though, as it was actually a little crooked. Both ConWay guys that I talked to before dropping it were complete assholes, so I left it as-is. Screw 'em. Then I faced the same rainy visibility issue backing into the tight spot at the local truck stop. That took a little while. I've been doing way too much of that 'get out and look' shit lately. Maybe I've mentioned previously that I'm pretty lazy.
Anyhow, on balance it was a pretty profitable day. I managed to stay ahead of the cold front, so the rain never turned to freezing rain or snow. Despite the fact that I saw at least three other CTL trucks when I pulled in here, I was #1 on the board when I sent in my empty call. Decent enough day I guess. I can work 6.5 hours tomorrow, and a total of 16 hours over the next two days, so I won't get anything huge. There's a chance I can keep a pretty good week going though. 1,210 miles through Tuesday is a solid start, so we'll see where it goes from here.
Monday, March 3, 2008
3/3/08
Pre-dawn drives eastbound on I-94 used to be the aftermath of a fun night in Ann Arbor. Those nights would occasionally involve a questionable young lady, but they always involved plenty of alcohol. Today's bleary-eyed version of that drive was far less fun. I rolled into Taylor at 4am and dropped off my loaded trailer. When I checked in with the dispatcher to get on the board, I asked if I should hang around or if it would be worth my while to go home for a few hours. She said that there was plenty of freight to assign, but no trailers. I guess business must be okay around there. So I headed over to Denny's for the traditional 5am Lumberjack Slam and then went to bed for a while.
My load assignment came through around 11am, so I hung around long enough to get an 8 hour break (extending my 14 hour clock) and then headed up to Walled Lake for my pickup. Another freaking obstacle course of a customer. I swear to God, I have had an insane number of those lately. The place was a FIFO shipper, so I was sent to the end of the line. And I waited... for quite a while. Three and a half hours later, they had a door for me.
There were three doors being used. One door allowed some room to the left, but would leave the driver contending with a truck on his right. Another door allowed some room on the right, but would leave the driver contending with a truck on his left. The door in the middle would force the driver to get around a truck on his left, with no wiggle room on the right, and navigate around a fire hydrant right where he would typically set up. Guess which door I got. I really enjoyed watching the guy in fron of me taking ten minutes to get out of the spot, forward. That left me with no doubt that I would have a blast backing into the same spot. So, I got to lug my ass in and out of the truck about ten times, but at least I didn't hit anything. How do you say it again? Oh yeah, I love my job.
It took those guys an hour and a half to load my trailer, then I was on my way. I sent in my request for detention pay, so we'll see what kind of excuse comes up for that one not being on my paycheck. Supposedly it's an automatic $12 an hour after three hours now, but it seems to me that the ConWay version of this company isn't as prompt in paying things as the CFI version was.
I drove down to Warren, Ohio for my drop/hook. It was a pretty rainy and dreary drive, but otherwise pretty easy. I was almost expecting a pre-plan to come through on the way down here. Quite often, when I get a short run out of the Taylor area, they stack something longer behind it. Not today though. I'm sure you can imagine how much I enjoyed working with an actual drop yard, designed for trucks with trailers. On the ironic side, I couldn't back in worth a shit tonight, even with all the extra room. It almost didn't look right to my eyes, in the context of the crazy backing that I've had to do lately.
The truck stop in Warren looked pretty full when I passed on the way to the customer. I didn't know of anywhere else nearby, so I gave it a shot anyway. There were a few open spots when I got here. I got a nice easy pull-through spot and kicked back for a while. I'm #1 on the board so I'm sure I'll be rolling early in the morning. For the day, it was a big 250 miles. In reality though, this wasn't a bad result. My hours will be an issue within the next few days, so this load at least got me out of Taylor and set up for something good tomorrow. I will be able to work either one long day followed by two really short days, or three moderately short days in a row.
My load assignment came through around 11am, so I hung around long enough to get an 8 hour break (extending my 14 hour clock) and then headed up to Walled Lake for my pickup. Another freaking obstacle course of a customer. I swear to God, I have had an insane number of those lately. The place was a FIFO shipper, so I was sent to the end of the line. And I waited... for quite a while. Three and a half hours later, they had a door for me.
There were three doors being used. One door allowed some room to the left, but would leave the driver contending with a truck on his right. Another door allowed some room on the right, but would leave the driver contending with a truck on his left. The door in the middle would force the driver to get around a truck on his left, with no wiggle room on the right, and navigate around a fire hydrant right where he would typically set up. Guess which door I got. I really enjoyed watching the guy in fron of me taking ten minutes to get out of the spot, forward. That left me with no doubt that I would have a blast backing into the same spot. So, I got to lug my ass in and out of the truck about ten times, but at least I didn't hit anything. How do you say it again? Oh yeah, I love my job.
It took those guys an hour and a half to load my trailer, then I was on my way. I sent in my request for detention pay, so we'll see what kind of excuse comes up for that one not being on my paycheck. Supposedly it's an automatic $12 an hour after three hours now, but it seems to me that the ConWay version of this company isn't as prompt in paying things as the CFI version was.
I drove down to Warren, Ohio for my drop/hook. It was a pretty rainy and dreary drive, but otherwise pretty easy. I was almost expecting a pre-plan to come through on the way down here. Quite often, when I get a short run out of the Taylor area, they stack something longer behind it. Not today though. I'm sure you can imagine how much I enjoyed working with an actual drop yard, designed for trucks with trailers. On the ironic side, I couldn't back in worth a shit tonight, even with all the extra room. It almost didn't look right to my eyes, in the context of the crazy backing that I've had to do lately.
The truck stop in Warren looked pretty full when I passed on the way to the customer. I didn't know of anywhere else nearby, so I gave it a shot anyway. There were a few open spots when I got here. I got a nice easy pull-through spot and kicked back for a while. I'm #1 on the board so I'm sure I'll be rolling early in the morning. For the day, it was a big 250 miles. In reality though, this wasn't a bad result. My hours will be an issue within the next few days, so this load at least got me out of Taylor and set up for something good tomorrow. I will be able to work either one long day followed by two really short days, or three moderately short days in a row.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
3/2/08
Up before the roosters this morning, it was off to Iowa. I hit some congestion around Chicago, which is unusual for a pre-dawn Sunday morning. Then, adding in the 55mph speed limit in Illinois and a brief stop for breakfast, I rolled in a little ahead of my 9am appointment, instead of getting there at 7am as I had planned. I sent in my arrival call (more on that later) and started looking for a door marked 'CRST.' One set of instructions said that my trailer went in that door. There was no such door, so I went with the other instructions that said I needed to drop it in a door marked 'R.' It was another pain in the ass blindside dock, but what else is new?
After I finally got my trailer dropped, I hooked to an empty and swept it out. The drive over to the next shipper was a quick one, then I had another drop/hook on that end. This time the drop lot had room for me to maneuver, so that was nice. I didn't have enough hours on my 11 today for me to get to Taylor, so I'll have to finish off the run in the wee hours of the morning.
Back on the arrival call topic, we had a little drama this morning. As I was sweeping out my new trailer, I got a call from my fleet manager informing me that I was considered late. Of course this would make sense if I had showed up late, but I hadn't. I got there ahead of my appointment. It also would make sense if I had failed to send in my arrival call, but I hadn't. I sent it ahead of my appointment. So why was I late? I entered a '1' in the stop number field on the arrival form, when I was actually at stop 2. So, according to the computers, I was in New Jersey. I'm not sure what I was supposed to say at that point. Apparently, "Sorry, I must have hit the wrong button," was the wrong answer. I was told that I'll be given a service failure, unless he can convince the higher-ups to see things otherwise tomorrow morning. I asked what I could do to fix it, but I was told nothing could be done. Since I had entered the wrong stop, and the correct stop wasn't entered until after 9am, the load was late.
Now, first things first, I'm not whining here. Nobody else needed to send the arrival call. I was at stop 2, so I should have hit button 2. I fucked up. I get it.
Seriously though, the idea that this is going to be a problem for CTL with respect to the customer is retarded. The load was there before 9am. An arrival call was sent before 9am. I was hooked to an empty (which I got from the customer's yard) a short time later, after having cleaned it out. My truck has a GPS tracking system. If nobody can put two and two together here and figure out that I was on time, well that's just asinine. What if I had hit the right side of the '2' button, rather than the left? Would CTL be getting paid for a nonexistent third stop? What if I had hit the zero button? Would I be exiled into a perpetual state of nonexistence? What if I had sent in the correct stop number on time, but actually arrived five hours later? There was nobody at the consignee to know the difference, so am I to understand that this would not have led to a service failure?
I know... what, if, what if, what if... I know. I get it. I really do. I'm the one who hit the wrong button, so whatever has to happen will happen. It's just pretty stupid that someone can't look at the computer and change a 1 to a 2. Obviously I sent the arrival call from Davenport. Obviously I wasn't in Jersey City. Whatever man.
I have to deliver in Taylor by 6am, so that will get me on the board pretty early. As long as I'm not too far down the list, I should have a shot to get rolling again before my 14 hour clock becomes an issue. I really have no reason to be home tomorrow, so I'm hoping I get in and out quickly.
After I finally got my trailer dropped, I hooked to an empty and swept it out. The drive over to the next shipper was a quick one, then I had another drop/hook on that end. This time the drop lot had room for me to maneuver, so that was nice. I didn't have enough hours on my 11 today for me to get to Taylor, so I'll have to finish off the run in the wee hours of the morning.
Back on the arrival call topic, we had a little drama this morning. As I was sweeping out my new trailer, I got a call from my fleet manager informing me that I was considered late. Of course this would make sense if I had showed up late, but I hadn't. I got there ahead of my appointment. It also would make sense if I had failed to send in my arrival call, but I hadn't. I sent it ahead of my appointment. So why was I late? I entered a '1' in the stop number field on the arrival form, when I was actually at stop 2. So, according to the computers, I was in New Jersey. I'm not sure what I was supposed to say at that point. Apparently, "Sorry, I must have hit the wrong button," was the wrong answer. I was told that I'll be given a service failure, unless he can convince the higher-ups to see things otherwise tomorrow morning. I asked what I could do to fix it, but I was told nothing could be done. Since I had entered the wrong stop, and the correct stop wasn't entered until after 9am, the load was late.
Now, first things first, I'm not whining here. Nobody else needed to send the arrival call. I was at stop 2, so I should have hit button 2. I fucked up. I get it.
Seriously though, the idea that this is going to be a problem for CTL with respect to the customer is retarded. The load was there before 9am. An arrival call was sent before 9am. I was hooked to an empty (which I got from the customer's yard) a short time later, after having cleaned it out. My truck has a GPS tracking system. If nobody can put two and two together here and figure out that I was on time, well that's just asinine. What if I had hit the right side of the '2' button, rather than the left? Would CTL be getting paid for a nonexistent third stop? What if I had hit the zero button? Would I be exiled into a perpetual state of nonexistence? What if I had sent in the correct stop number on time, but actually arrived five hours later? There was nobody at the consignee to know the difference, so am I to understand that this would not have led to a service failure?
I know... what, if, what if, what if... I know. I get it. I really do. I'm the one who hit the wrong button, so whatever has to happen will happen. It's just pretty stupid that someone can't look at the computer and change a 1 to a 2. Obviously I sent the arrival call from Davenport. Obviously I wasn't in Jersey City. Whatever man.
I have to deliver in Taylor by 6am, so that will get me on the board pretty early. As long as I'm not too far down the list, I should have a shot to get rolling again before my 14 hour clock becomes an issue. I really have no reason to be home tomorrow, so I'm hoping I get in and out quickly.
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