I've got a beef with "morons" in truck stops!

[Skywalker]

Folks, here of late it seems that the moron brigade has expanded.... It would seem that nearly every time I go into a truck stop to fuel.... there is some inconsiderate jackass parking his or her truck on the fuel island ....like its their personal parking place. Get your fuel....then get off the fuel island. You are not the only person on the planet. Be a little considerate and park the truck in a parking spot. If you are using transflo scanning and have a bundle of stuff to be scanned....park it in a parking spot, then go do it. Also, don't park on the fuel island and go take a shower, eat lunch, wander off chasing bees or smelling the daisies. Have a little consideration for your fellow drivers!

Also...truck stop parking lots are not NASCAR ovals....move through them slowly. It seems that alot of drivers think they are needing to race in parking lots. Its not "cool", its stupid and dangerous. It would be a real bummer to have to fill out all the paperwork and tell safety your little "story" how you tore up your truck or someone else's while "truckin" through the parking lot. Oh, yeah....if its a dirt or gravel lot....the objective is to see just how little dust you can create....NOT how much.

Act like a "grownup"...not some adolescent "puss-brain".

Remember...."Stupid is as Stupid does"!!

[Windwalker]

Folks, here of late it seems that the moron brigade has expanded.... It would seem that nearly every time I go into a truck stop to fuel.... there is some inconsiderate jackass parking his or her truck on the fuel island ....like its their personal parking place. Get your fuel....then get off the fuel island. You are not the only person on the planet. Be a little considerate and park the truck in a parking spot. If you are using transflo scanning and have a bundle of stuff to be scanned....park it in a parking spot, then go do it. Also, don't park on the fuel island and go take a shower, eat lunch, wander off chasing bees or smelling the daisies. Have a little consideration for your fellow drivers!

Also...truck stop parking lots are not NASCAR ovals....move through them slowly. It seems that alot of drivers think they are needing to race in parking lots. Its not "cool", its stupid and dangerous. It would be a real bummer to have to fill out all the paperwork and tell safety your little "story" how you tore up your truck or someone else's while "truckin" through the parking lot. Oh, yeah....if its a dirt or gravel lot....the objective is to see just how little dust you can create....NOT how much.

Act like a "grownup"...not some adolescent "puss-brain".

Remember...."Stupid is as Stupid does"!!

Unless, of course, you're at a PILOT... Then, the fuel island is the only available spot to park.

Most "REAL" truck stops have place you can park after you fuel. And, the exercise won't hurt you a bit, either.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Sometimes you go in for something that should only take 2 minutes like get your fuel receipt and scan a couple pages and you stroll in the door and there's 10 people in line because there's 1 cashier trying to take care of all the truck drivers fueling, cars fueling and everybody else walking in the door, so you stand in line for 10 minutes. Meanwhile the guy behind you on the fuel island is flipping out because he thinks you're taking a shower or something. This is definitely an issue but once in a while it's not done on purpose. This happens a lot at Pilot. Every time it seems you walk in the door and have to wait in line. They never have enough cashiers. You go in the bathroom and they never have soap and paper towels at the same time. They have one or the other but not both for some reason. I'm really beginning to hate Pilot. And WTF is up with $2 a page for sending or receiving faxes ? Big time gouging with that.

Anyways, I couldn't agree with you more about how fast drivers go through the parking lot. It really is sickening. Unfortunately these drivers won't change until they're sitting in jail for running somebody over by accident because they were driving reckless through a parking lot. :?

[bigdad7]

my latest is the lazy morons that can't park their truck....was at a ta west of denver last week and looked up on my way to take a shower and there was a kllm truck parked of crooked in a pull through ....in fact so crooked that she took up three spots....i'm thinking maybe the driver had a personal emergency and will come back and fix it ....when i left 11 hours later she was still in the drivers seat playing on her computer and still taking up three not two spots an unforgivable offense in my book

i'm thinking if she couldn't pull through straight what the hell would happen if she ever figured out how to put the truck in reverse

[matcat]

my latest is the lazy morons that can't park their truck....was at a ta west of denver last week and looked up on my way to take a shower and there was a kllm truck parked of crooked in a pull through ....in fact so crooked that she took up three spots....i'm thinking maybe the driver had a personal emergency and will come back and fix it ....when i left 11 hours later she was still in the drivers seat playing on her computer and still taking up three not two spots an unforgivable offense in my book

i'm thinking if she couldn't pull through straight what the hell would happen if she ever figured out how to put the truck in reverse

Every time I have been to that TA everyone just makes up their own rules.

[rodcannon]

Anyways, I couldn't agree with you more about how fast drivers go through the parking lot. It really is sickening. Unfortunately these drivers won't change until they're sitting in jail for running somebody over by accident because they were driving reckless through a parking lot. :?

How about getting a life-size doll, dress it up like a driver and pitch it out in front of a truck speeding through the parking area?

[Syncrosonix]

i have the same problems with morons like the ones skywalker has mentioned. it never fails that the dude i pull in behind at the fuel island, is messing around inside. i've been tempted to ask some of the fuel island cashiers if i can get on the p/a and say what's on my mind abotu those special cases. i'm sure it'll turn many heads. i'm also certain that many inside of there will nod in agreement and probably offer to buy me a beer since i become so high strung at times. i'll have to decline the beer offer.

too many out there think it's nascar 24/7 and that it's a freaking race to get down that 6, 7, or 8 1/2% grade. i take those slow without having to hit my brakes for any reason other than some tard cutting me off. yeah, truck stops with the mini-nascar ovals going on, especially during the night time and many plow through the lots without their headlights turned on.

i also have a problem with people who cannot shower on a regular basis. if i can smell a person from 5ft away, there's a serious problem. i've sometimes let people cut in front of me just so i didn't have to be near that smelly bastard.

tk, pilot just plain sucks. i've also been behind that one driver who did their thing and got stuck in line. at pilot, i figured that out after my first time ever being at one to refuel. i'll wait patiently to pull forward. the pilot in ogden, utah is a royal piece of work. after weighing on the cat scale, there's really no place to park afterwards. just pull forward, set the tractor brakes, and walk/run inside. hopefully the line isn't TOO long. the pilot in springdale, arkansas is quite crappy as well. i will NEVER stop in there unless i really, really, really, really, really have to for some reason.

[slodsm]

too many out there think it's nascar 24/7 and that it's a freaking race to get down that 6, 7, or 8 1/2% grade.

i also have a problem with people who cannot shower on a regular basis. if i can smell a person from 5ft away, there's a serious problem.

Those are my two greatest pet peeves.

I have been late once for a drop this year, ONCE, and it was dispatched at 53 mph going from San Fransisco to Calexico in a castrated Volvo with 79k. OK, like THAT'S going to make it over grapevine at anything more than 15 mph and I am not about to race down the backside to make up for it.

In all the other loads I have delivered, I have yet to be dispatched so tight I couldn't shower every other day if not every day. Why in the HELL would you want to smell that damn bad? Seriously? I find myself to be offensive when I have been more than 36 hours without a shower so I know those guys have to smell themselves. Hell I was in a truck when I was training with a guy who didn't shower often, my clothes stunk from sitting in his drivers seat that was infested with his BO? WTF is that about?


Other than those two gripes though, (I really hate getting blown off the road going down a 6% grade by someone), I still enjoy this job.

[Phreddo]

i can stretch to 2 days without a shower, depending on how i run and where i am.
into my 3rd day my skin starts to itch

[wolfrunner7]

And if these issues aren't enough ... I've had people scoop off the lug covers while parked, and going inside to get my advance. Was up north of Augusta, ME .. went in to get my advance at the local Pilot, snag a quick soda .. came out, lug covers removed on the passenger side. Didn't even touch the driver side. What kinda fool takes someone's lug covers on just one side of the vehicle? For that matter, what kind of fool takes those things at all?

[headborg]

Please don't get me wrong-- I agree 100% about A-holes that are not considerate of other's and do this sort of crap-- yet, just the other day at Pilot Carlisle,Pa I was scaling a load on the CAT scale-- that was it! so instead of circling back around that whole cluster-frack of parking lot-- I pulled off the scale (ahead) and ran in to grab the ticket-- which I then ran into one of the before stated lines at the counter. When I got my ticket and went back to the truck-- there was a Crete driver setting on the scale-- cussing me out-- for not parking-- and holding him up!-- then as I was leaving--- he did the very exact damn thing! This is my only gripe-- when people complain just because someone's holding them up-- just to do the exact same thing themselves-- I've seen it 100's of times-- the gripes and complains-- then goes ahead and shops & grabs some food( sometimes not even to go) right after complaining about the guy ahead.

[slodsm]

Very true, practice what you preach. If it's an empty truck stop, I will park before running in (and I mean running) but if it's late and packed, I am not fighting for a parking spot that I may take from a guy who NEEDS it because he is out of hours if I am just running in and out. I will pull up, run in, take a leak, grab my ticket and roll.

Showering, eating, buying hookers, and so on however, that requires a parking spot lol.

[BigWheels]

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane....

If a psychology major would observe a truck stop for 24 hrs, they would quickly deduce that there are 2-kinds of truckers: those with brains and those wiithout! There ain't no inbetween!

When I was OTR'ing, I pulled up out of the pump area after fueling, did my business as quick as I could, and was on my way before the guy behind me was finished fueling 99% of the time (Granted this was where you could pull up after fueling).

[Mr. Ford95]

(Granted this was where you could pull up after fueling).

Now see, what does it matter if your trying to pay inside about whether you pull up or not? The guy behind you can't fuel until your's is paid for in this day and age of fuel and run *****s. But I get the gist of it, it's the one's that go in and pay then decide to get lunch and a shower.

[rodcannon]

Do I understand correctly that truck drivers can't pay at the pump with the company credit card the way 4-wheelers can do at regular gas stations?

[Phreddo]

it seems that pilots only accept comdata at the pump
regular cards, visa/mc/discover need to go inside

[headborg]

the card readers at the pump- if they are working usually only take the major fleet fueling cards--

comdata
t-check
tic-check
EFS
TCH

and this is just a recent new development in the Trucking Industry-- about 6 years??-

I can remember a time before card readers at the pump-- everyone had to go inside and stand in line-- just to get the pump turned on. I also remember the time before satellite fuel pumps were around-- you had to slide that long hose across or under the truck and fill one tank at a time.

[Syncrosonix]

too many out there think it's nascar 24/7 and that it's a freaking race to get down that 6, 7, or 8 1/2% grade.

i also have a problem with people who cannot shower on a regular basis. if i can smell a person from 5ft away, there's a serious problem.

Those are my two greatest pet peeves.

I have been late once for a drop this year, ONCE, and it was dispatched at 53 mph going from San Fransisco to Calexico in a castrated Volvo with 79k. OK, like THAT'S going to make it over grapevine at anything more than 15 mph and I am not about to race down the backside to make up for it.

In all the other loads I have delivered, I have yet to be dispatched so tight I couldn't shower every other day if not every day. Why in the HELL would you want to smell that damn bad? Seriously? I find myself to be offensive when I have been more than 36 hours without a shower so I know those guys have to smell themselves. Hell I was in a truck when I was training with a guy who didn't shower often, my clothes stunk from sitting in his drivers seat that was infested with his BO? WTF is that about?


Other than those two gripes though, (I really hate getting blown off the road going down a 6% grade by someone), I still enjoy this job.

back in the summer time when i was going down donner pass, i was hauling some corrosives, and had an idiot can hauler tailgate me for a good portion of the way down the pass. he was yelling at me over the cb to speed up and it was MY fault his brakes were beginning to smoke and give way. i usually don't answer back on the cb, but he was one of those "speshal" cases. i also don't use profanity over the airwaves, but he was asking for it. fortunately i wasn't the only one cussing him out about his bad driving behavior. somebody got a hold of the highway patrol and ratted that idiot out.

the thought of him rear-ending me was starting to freak me out and i wasn't gonna speed up for anybody. especially with hazardous cargo. other drivers out there who tailgate the hazmat haulers are total idiots and shouldn't have a license. that goes for the truckers as well who feel the need to do that as well. better yet, they need to get the hell out of the gene pool. i won't tolerate that kind of stupid behavior. i'll ask politely for the driver to give me room, or pass. if there's no answer, or i get a smart-ass answer back, the stupidity continues, then it's to the hands-free device i go and calling dot immediately.

on flat surfaces, i don't mind that much. going down mountains is another situation altogether and there's no excuse for the lack of common sense. it's simple: pass me if you're going faster than i. i haven't ever smoked my brakes and don't plan on it.

as for the showering part, the longest i've gone was 2 days. i was going absolutely bonkers by the 40th hour. i had been bathing myself with napkins soaked with water. i left my hair alone. man, it was a greasy mess! i felt ashamed of myself. when i was gonna be passing a flying j, i made damn well sure to stop by there to take care of business. if i stink, somebody had better tell me so that i can handle it. i hate being stinky. i hate it even more when i have to speak with a pretty lady in shipping & receiving at a warehouse or department store. i also hate having dragon breath. i'll eat a few cinnamon altoids to take care of that, brush my teeth, or both.

as for the dirt lot with making all kinds of dust. i've been guilty of that, but i was the ONLY one in there and didn't realize how soft the dirt actually was. it was the dirt field next to the loves in coachella/indio, along i-10. there was no wind and all people could see was one giant cloud of dirt.

[Chasing Daylight]

Do I understand correctly that truck drivers can't pay at the pump with the company credit card the way 4-wheelers can do at regular gas stations?

Well, sort of. If the company has issued you a ComData, or similar fuel card, you can "pay at the pump." But, you still have to go inside to get your receipt.

[Phreddo]

i started carrying mouthwash to get me by until i can stop and brush my teeth.
usually in the morning i just want to get going.