what do you hate about your job?

[DesertRat]

Driving through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio... YAWN!

[driver62]

I'm retired now but the last driving job I had was a dedicated M-F and home every day. Sounds good but I rarely got home before 7:00PM and by the time I ate, went through the mail, showered, etc., it was at least 10:00PM.
To get to work on time, I had to get up at 4:00AM. It wasn't that bad in the summer but nothing like crawling out of a warm bed in the winter and finding it was snowing and 20 degrees.
When I was OTR, I hated driving one day in the daytime and the next at night. It seems I never got enough sleep.
Nothing like coming to work after time off and getting a load that goes 30 miles and takes 7 hours to get unloaded. That was Gordon Food Service in Springfield, Ohio.

[solo379]

Practically, everything!
Remember that bumper sticker-"I'd rather be sailing"? :wink:

[geeshock]

see what do I hate about my job, the only thing I can think of that I hate most it those stupid azz dumb f@#k,n truck drivers on the road and at the truck stops who should be flippin burgers instead of driving.... thats all I can think of, I look all around me and see nothin but stupid azz dumb f@#k,n truck drivers everywhere... everything else is peaches and cream.....

then educate them, lol. hey seriously, you talking about the ones that are new, or just the morons that will never understand how to back or shift the gears. Only things I hate is the ocational, 300 mile load with an apointment 3 days away and as hometime draws near, the loads slowwwwwwwww wayyyyyyyyyyyy downnnnnnnnnnn!

[shyykatt]

My job scares me- not the work itself, but the fact that it is solely my responsibility(self employed for the 1st time in my life), and so far it is going SLOW- spinnin' my wheels basically. My last option if this continues to nose-dive is sell everything and go OTR w/hubby; not too sure if I could handle it though.

[Meat Wagon]

Of my 19 yrs. exp., 4 1/2 yrs. were OTR. I quit mostly because I had trouble with my sleep patterns jumping around. Made good $$ pulling a chemical tanker, but they were keeping me out longer and longer so I pulled the plug & ran regional for awhile, now finally local again.

During my OTR years I have been hit 4X while parked at a T/S (another aggrevation). :x :x

[JBenson2]

Meatwagon said:

During my OTR years I have been hit 4X while parked at a T/S

If you are sitting in your parked truck and you think someone might hit you while they are backing up, do you blast your horn and wake everyone else up? I've heard that some truckers shut down their CB while backing up because of the distraction.

[geeshock]

Meatwagon said:

During my OTR years I have been hit 4X while parked at a T/S

If you are sitting in your parked truck and you think someone might hit you while they are backing up, do you blast your horn and wake everyone else up? I've heard that some truckers shut down their CB while backing up because of the distraction.

I guess I'm an exception to the rule, if things are tight, I keep it on just incase I might get to close to that truck on my blind side. Never had anyone use it but beter safe than sory, ya know

[Meat Wagon]

Twice I was in the sleeper when I got hit; the other 2 times I was away from the truck. Otherwise I would have given a long blast of the airhorn. When backing I usually left the CB on just loud enough to hear it except when there was a lot of evening trash talk. Then it went off. The hits I took were all small "incidents" but still left a mark of some kind on my truck.

I hate truck stops and would stay at the receiver's yard whenever I could. If I had to stop on the way I sought out the small dirt lot truck stops first. Usually not as crowded. I scheduled myself so I could be at a truck stop by 4 or 5 pm to at least have a choice of parking. If I was at the receivers with no other activity around I didn't leave marker lights on but if in a busy truck stop I left them on all night as a point of reference for the drivers backing in or pulling out beside me. 8)

[JBenson2]

Meat Wagon said:

1.) The hits I took were all small "incidents" but still left a mark of some kind on my truck.

2.) If I was at the receivers with no other activity around I didn't leave marker lights on but if in a busy truck stop I left them on all night as a point of reference for the drivers backing in or pulling out beside me

1.) Did you have to report it to your company and exchange paperwork with the driver who hit you? Do you have to notify the police?

2.) Great suggestion - I've added it to my checklist (once I finish CDL school).

[Meat Wagon]

JBenson2,

One of these incidents involved an O/O flatbedder pulling in next to me in one of those pull through parking spots. I'm remembering now I wasn't in the sleeper w/ this one but sitting in the seat doing the log. It was just after dusk & this guy had a long oversize load & misjudged his wide turn & caught my red side marker on the left rear of my tank. I glanced up & noticed right away he had stopped and his RT fender was way too close so I got out to check things out. I had one of those conical shaped marker lenses that stick out about 3 inches. He busted that into 3 pieces but amazingly didn't hit anything else including the bulb. He was an older guy, apologized profusely & offered me a $10 dollar bill to compensate. Since that was all he did I accepted. I was in a rest area in Valley Forge, PA that had a gas station but no replacement lenses, so I gathered up the 3 broken pieces & glued them together, let it dry overnight, then popped it back on til I could get a replacement.

However, (and this is just me) I called my terminal mgr anyway & explained what happened & he said no problem; just buy a lense and keep the rest of the ten spot and apply it to what little the company already owed me for incidental expenses out of pocket.

Two of my hits happened when I was away from my truck, so I didn't talk to a driver. Again, very minor. I know they weren't there before. Whenever I'm away from the truck I always do a walk around, including checking to see if my 5th wheel pin has been pulled. After awhile I got to know every ding, dent and scratch which were easy to spot because I had a nice truck (even though it WAS a Freightliner FLD 8) )

I could be here all night telling 3 other stories but to answer your question, no, these hits were very minor so there were no police involved. However, it is my practice to report everything, my fault or not and my bosses know this. They are blown away when I admit something I probably could have gotten away with, but the pay off has been a good working relationship and they have no doubt that I always tell them the truth. If I say I'm not responsible they believe it, and the matter is dropped. This is what I did with all 4 of these incidents, my explanations were accepted by mgmt, and they didn't want to bother with the paperwork. It helps that I've only been responsible for a handful of minor bumper dings or scratches, or a couple of torn off mud flaps in my career, but nothing costly or involving another vehicle. Sorry for the long post. :wink: