Had an emergency last night at work. A driver no-call-no-showed.

[Tobin S.]

In many jobs that's a big deal but it is not potentially catastrophic. In trucking it can be potentially catastrophic in that you can lose a customer and a lot of revenue when something like that happens.

I was in bed when I got a call from my boss about a new driver who didn't show up for work and didn't even bother to call in. My boss didn't know it until he got a call from the customer saying the driver hadn't shown up when he was supposed to. We drivers out of the terminal I work from are pretty much captains of our own ships. There is no one there looking over our shoulders. That's largely due to the times we have to depart for our routes. It's either the early evening or the wee hours of the morning- not normal business hours.

So my boss rousted my ass out of bed at 11pm last night saying a route was going to be seven hours late and he desperately needed someone to cover it. I work nights and it was one of my normal nights off. Fortunately, I'd been asleep since about 5pm so I was good to go with a little coffee.

It's a run route that has two legs. One driver goes from Dayton, Ohio to Pittsburgh and back to pick up the load. Another takes it from Dayton to Des Moines, Iowa. I had to go to Pittsburgh and back. I turned it in 9 hours and that includes hitting the rush hour commute in Columbus, Ohio. I made up a lot of time for us and the next driver should be able to get it back on schedule on his leg of the route.

The only problem now is that I can't sleep. Usually when I get home it's still dark and I don't have much trouble getting to sleep. The sun was bright and shining by the time I got home today. Good thing I have tonight off.

I'm relatively new with this employer as well. I've been there four months. I made it aware to the boss and the lead driver out of that terminal that I wanted extra work when it was available when I started the job. This is the second time I've been able to cover for them in an emergency as well. That's how you make yourself a valuable employee, and that's one way to boost your income. It also makes it more likely that I'll hang onto my job if I make a mistake. We'll see if that no-call-no-show guy hangs onto his. In many jobs you get three of those in a year and you're gone. It could just be one in this case.

[hibbing]

1. Hey Tobin

My best bud is the transportation manager for a rather large food service company, he texted me the other night that one of his drivers abandoned his truck somewhere in Kansas full of food. Sounds like the job is going well.

Peace

[Tobin S.]

2. Yeah, the job is going good.

That thing about abandoning a truck is one of the worst sins you can commit as a trucker. Trucking companies report to a service that keeps track of things like that and other trucking companies check up on you when you go to get a job in trucking. An abandonment on that report almost insures that you won't be working as a trucker for at least seven years after the fact.

I've worked for some shitty trucking companies, and there are a lot of them out there, but I've always done exactly what they wanted me to do when I quit. I always left that truck where they wanted it.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Wait what? They have a reporting agency to intimidate drivers? Wow.

So basically they've unionized against employees.

I've always been suspicious about an industry that's "Now Always hiring"

Stuff I've read here and other places confirmed my suspicions. Now this.

So the employer treats you like shit and you have to take or else you'll "never work in this town again"

[Tobin S.]

10. Yes, it's called a DAC Report.

http://www.hireright.com/transportation/solutions/verifications/dac-report-employment-history-file

If an employer treats you like shit, you don't have to take it. You find another job. Unfortunately, trucking is filled with Trump supporter types so there is no way drivers are going to be unionized on the scale they were 40 or 50 years ago.

There are good jobs in trucking and there are bad jobs in trucking. One reason for the high turnover in trucking has to do with the fact that it's a tough gig. It's hard on your body and it's hard on your family life. On top of that is that companies have to be strict in most cases on who they can hire as far as physical health and driving records go. They'll lose their insurance if they employ drivers with a lot of citations and the federal government sets the standards on physical health.

And then you just have companies that treat their drivers like shit. There are web sites you can go to where you can anonymously report the activities of such companies and inform other drivers about them. The best thing to do if you find yourself in a shitty job is find a different one. There are good jobs in trucking, it just takes some experience and wisdom to be able to find them. That usually means having a crappy job for the first couple of years that you are a trucker.

If you were thinking about becoming a trucker, send me a PM and I can help steer you in the right direction.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. I used to think it would be a cool second career. Not any more.

Yeah, I suppose any entry level job in an industry like that is going to suck the big one.

My first job out of college was a leasing/fleet manager for a car dealership. It sucked bad but I eventually got in the finance department. That sucked too but the money was great.

Our meetings where unbelievably horrible. Our boss once told us "if you don't like your numbers and how much money you are earning, look at yourself in the mirror when you are shaving. Then cut your fucking throat"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. So did you grab a sandwich at Primanti's?

... When in Pittsburgh...

[Tobin S.]

4. I'd love too, hoss.

But I can't let no grass grow underneath that rig. If the wheels ain't turnin' you ain't earnin'.

I go out there, swap trailers, and get it back to Dayton.

[GreydeeThos]

5. Yeah Tobin!

Show them how it is done.

You work in a Union shop don't you?

[Tobin S.]

6. Not anymore.

Ironically, I got fired from the union job- the only job I've ever been fired from. It's a long story, but I'll just say that if you run afoul of workplace politics even a union won't do you much good as far as keeping your job goes. It didn't have anything to do with job performance.

[WinkyDink]

7. Ya done good, Tobin S.!

[Archae]

9. My sister encounters this scenario, often.

She works as a clerk in a gas station, and people have a habit of being hired, and never showing up to actually work.

So my sister ends up filling in, sometimes 14 or more hours in a day.

[Tobin S.]

11. She is an angel.

[Archae]

12. Only at work!

She has one wicked sense of humor.