Hanging it up for real
 

Lots of talk, but now a real walk. I actually start at Wal-Mart tomorrow. After joking about that for years, I actually did it.

I'm almost certainly going to to bankrupt, and it's worth it to cut my losses and abandon this sinking ship before it hits the bottom.

I like driving a truck, and there's a lot of stuff I will miss, but I won't miss any of it that much.

This job just ain't what it used to be, and it never will be again.

Re: Hanging it up for real
 

Good luck! There are hundreds more just like you everyday doing the same thing!

Good Luck Silvan, I'll be hanging it up in 2 years when the old lady graduates from nursing. HVAC here I come

I will be joining the otr carnage this summer. Not sure what I am going to do but it won't be otr. My time on this earth won't be living out of 8 foot box, not for that little cash.

join the club
 

Well gang I went back to the pipefitters union, I can work either way as an hvac&r service, installation tech or as an( A) book fitter the pay and bene's are the same. Everyone told me I was crazy for leaving to drive a truck, but the last 20+ years have been a blast, up and down but nevertheless a blast. I need 7 years for my full union retirement which right now is $4400 a month plus social security so it is a no brainer. I miss hauling that old produce, yuma,nogales, salinas,oxnard, santa maria, brawley,la, bruces, barstow, and that high speed ride across the mojave heading east,(already three hours late )to the coast. Hunts. pt or chelsea, on a three day jump. Turnaround with a load of dry freight floorboard it and 3 days back to cali just to grab that old produce and do it again. I think of trucking all the time and smile as I see the fellas shagging those trailers scooting down the boulevard and me in my 4 wheeler looking up watching the boys ride. To that I say, "ride baby ride" keep the dirty side down, and the shiny side up.---Goodbye.

Re: Hanging it up for real
 

Thanks to you and everybody else on the thread so far.

I definitely have mixed feelings. My old boss has a gig where he hauls trees once in awhile on the weekends. I might try to get a line on something like that, but as far as doing this for a living anymore, it just isn't fun very often anymore, and it's a whole lot of aggravation, and too damn much time spent working.

Even though I'm home every night for dinner, I barely see my kids. I'm too tired to do much of anything, because 12+ hour days behind the wheel don't leave a lot of energy for anything else.

I'm not getting any action from the ol' lady any more than I did when I was on the road either, and it's usually me who is too tired or has a headache. How sad is that?

The only bad part about this deal is going broke. I've been trying to find a better paying job that wasn't trucking since about the middle of 2005, when it really started to stop being fun. I can't find one, so I'm going back where I came from, where from the other side of the docks I got the crazy idea to go do this in the first place.

It was an interesting ride, but I'm just done with it. My life is like that movie Big Fish, complete with all the women on the side (even though I only fantasized, and never actually crossed the line, although there were a couple where I definitely would have if I had had half the chance!!) I've got enough wild stories to last for years, and I don't need any more stories.

I just want to go home, and work 40 hours. Just 40 hours. With labor laws that keep my employers from f***king me without paying me for it.

The worst part is going broke right in the short term, but the best part is that I will stop going broke over the long term. Every year, I earn just a little less relative to the price of everything than I did the year before. The raises in this business get you up to the top fast, and you stay there forever. The only way to ever get a raise after a certain point is to quit your job and find something more dangerous or more distasteful in some way.

Maybe it's different for the union boys, but you can't get an IBT job in this town unless you have the right Daddy, and my daddy is the wrong daddy for that.

Hey, I'm going to a better place than McDonald's anyway. I'm looking forward to everything but the paychecks. (Going because there is actually more BS to get a job at Wal-Mart than to drive a truck, believe it or not. Or at least the BS takes a lot longer. I haven't made it through all the hoops yet.)

I hope the 40-hour work week will give you time to get back to writing. Maybe your protaganist could be a truck driver; would be nice to see a trucker as a hero on the big screen (once your book is made into a screenplay) and your name on the New York Times bestselling list. :D

Best of luck to you,
professor427

good luck silvan! :D

Good Luck to you!

We may be following in your footsteps within the next year. My wife says she is tired of watching the world go by thru a window instead of being an active part of the world.

Yeah, so do I! I haven't done diddly squat since I took the gig I still have for awhile longer. My old gig was a lot better for time off, because I worked absolutely ragged when I worked, and then I had like 3-4 days off a week. That's my speed. (And no, nobody has a 7-on 7-off thing that runs around my area, or I'd think about it.)I do have a novel brewing in my head somewhere. If it ever makes it that far, I promise to do everything I can not to let it turn out like all those other stupid trucker movies.Thanks neighbor.

I'm working on a couple of angles to get me out of a truck too. I've known for a long time that as long as you're working for someone else, you just a "running dummy". I get out of the truck, I'll be getting paid for what I KNOW, not for what I do. That means, I'll be getting paid whether I'm actually doing something or if I'm fishing.

Last summer, I met a guy I used to work with years ago. Back then, he rode a bicycle because he could not afford even the cheapest car. But, when I saw him at Ft Chiswell, VA, he was driving one of those HUGE DIPLOMAT MOTORHOMES. He told me just a couple of things before he realized who I was. Like he's got a patent on an epoxy compound and he's trying DESPERATELY to survive on a meger $500K a year. When he realized who I am, and it's my idea he pantented, he disappeared very quickly.

I have another idea that's worth far more than any epoxy compound ever was. And, when I get a working model together, it's going to be MY TICKET to one of those motorhomes, and two parking spaces at Wal-Mart. I won't have to work for a living anymore.

I went around that bush when I got laid off last year. Here are your retraining options around here:

1. truck driver
2. hairdresser

The unemployment office pretty much laughed at me. "Why don't you have another job yet? There are 97,000 ads in the paper right now."

Yeah, and 96,999 to 97,000 of them are all crap.

But anyway, I get what you're saying about out of the frying pan and into the fire. It's crazy that I'm this happy to be taking a 52% pay cut.

But I look at it this way. I hate being a cashier. I really do. Barf. Puke. When they told me they were going to start me as a cashier, it was almost a deal breaker.

When I went through the training stuff, I did everything but the cashier stuff, and saved it for last. I put off actually going out there to the floor for as long as I could, and I did not want to touch that stupid register.

But after about an hour, my smiles weren't fake anymore. This is pretty much the worst they can do to me, and wow.

It's all I can do to finish out my time at my waning day job now. I just don't care about it anymore. It's my past. I'm stuck between two worlds, but I know which one I am heading to for sure.

Well, 99% sure. It's still damn hard to take a 52% pay cut, just in case I snap out of this and it turns out it was all bad fish or something. But at least I got a good starting rate out of them, comparatively speaking, and it's better than the 67% pay cut I was looking at when I put these wheels in motion.

It's still not remotely enough, so the only way I can get through this is to kick ass and take names and climb, climb, climb.

F**k a truck. It's going to be all I can do to make myself crawl back inside that thing tomorrow. My other life already feels like a bad dream, and I'm still living it for now. Or I will be again, tomorrow.

I promised the owner I wouldn't leave him hanging out to dry with no driver, and that's going to be a damn hard promise to keep.

Oh yeah. This is a strange road I'm on, but I know where I'm going, and I'm absolutely positive I'm going to get there.

Or else I've gone insane now, and this is all just a manic episode. I wonder. I'm not used to being happy. It's not my natural state.

i used to be in grocery for 12 years before driving a truck. at the end i wasa store asst. manager, store did 250,000 a week in sales...i made 39,800 a year to deal with the 100 employees under me and endless shit from the customers. i also was putting in about 12 hour day 6 days week. now i have no headaches, no one to worry about but number one, work around 45-48 hours a week and make 20,000 more a year. and i am not a pain in my wifes ass when i get home cause i am bitching about the store.

I wish you luck Silvan!
It's funny how life is, you can't wait to get out and I can't wait to get back in. I thought I could give it up aswell. 8 yrs later and I can't fight it anymore. I start my new job on Monday OTR.
If you are a true driver at heart, I think that you will get the itch again like me.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

sometimes it's not about the money, it's about how you spend the coin of your life. :D

will walmart give you the time to write? as well as you do it, i hope it's what gives you the most happiness. :wink:

good luck in your venture with wally world. i remember working at the supercenter in north scottsdale as an overnight stocker in the pet department. man, the overnight management through safety out the back door and had me doing all kinds of crap. a brand new high wall shelf that was said to withstand a few tons collapsed on me one night. what a lovely code white that was! i was out of commission for an entire 2 weeks as i recovered from it. they had me put 40lbs arm & hammer kitty litter top to bottom, left to right. as i was working on the final 3 boxes, a loud crack, and next thing i knew, i was covered with boxes of cat litter and my fellow associates helping me out from under there. it felt like the worst hangover ever.

the overnight crew at that store was the best paid for being non-management, but treated like crap from the management and customers. gawd, i hated dealing with the friday and saturday night crowds. i tried going back to walmart a few years ago, but i didn't get through the personality assessment portion of it. that's such garbage. meh, i suppose if i ever become tired of the otr game, i could go drive school or city buses in the greater scottsdale area.

Well, after doing both jobs for a 40-day marathon during which I only had one day off, it's officially official.

I got everything settled up with the O/O I drive for and the company he's leased to. The company will miss me sorely, because I'm competent as hell, but my DM understands where I'm coming from, and he isn't being a dick about this. The O/O is just barely managing to stay civil, but I think he'll be able to be honest and give me a good reference if I need it down the line. I did the hell out of that job, and I did everything I said I would do, and not a hair more, just like the O/O did for his part.

As of now, I'm retired, and I start full-time at Wally World tomorrow. I'm moving from lawn & garden cashier to service tech in the TLE, which ought to be an interesting change of pace, and pays a lot more.

I don't know if it's a new career or just a lifeboat, but I'm really pleased that I managed to hang it up after all these months and years of inner struggle on the matter. My wife is happy, and we're determined to make a go of it. She makes good money now, and the tables have kind of turned compared to how they were a few years ago. Now she's the primary breadwinner, and I've got some catching up to do.

It's going to be really tough. Maybe too tough. But we're going to try it, and see what happens. If nothing else, I'm glad I only have one job now. Keeping my feet planted on both sides of the fence for that long really chafed my nuts. :) But I had to be really sure I wasn't just caught up in some silly daydream.

No. I actually like working at Wal-Mart, and I want to go back. I've wanted to go back for a long time now, and the only thing stopping me was fear of going broke.

[/quote]I do have a novel brewing in my head somewhere. If it ever makes it that far, I promise to do everything I can not to let it turn out like all those other stupid trucker movies.Thanks neighbor.[/quote]

I've written a novel about a female truck driver, and I have a screenplay about trucking that I just finished. Let me know if you need anybody to proof read that manuscript. :D

final update
 

I've completed my first week at ol' Wally World, and my wife and I have taken stock of everything.

I haven't been this happy in years, and I feel better than I have in years too. My hips and knees aren't bothering me nearly as much, and I just don't miss driving a truck that much. A little, sure. Maybe by Christmas I'll try to hook up with a part time gig hauling trees or something, or maybe I'll try to pick up some extra work hauling plants next spring, or maybe I'll never drive a big truck again.

Not being so damn miserable with my life doesn't suck. Now I just have to figure out the ugly problem of making ends meet on less than half the pay I used to earn. Ugh.

Re: final update
 

Good luck with that. My husband and I had to figure out how to do that when I had to quit driving (due to a baby being on the way). It was stressful for us. I hope that you have an easier adjustment. :)

A month with no trucks...
 

I thought I'd wander by and post another followup for those of you who have been following my plight on this thread.

I had to go back and check the dates. Apparently I'm halfway through my fifth week of living in the real world, and punching a time clock.

It's easy to lose track.

I don't think I'm heading back out there, and I might never drive an 18-wheeler again.

What's more, I'm not even looking to trade up for a better real world job than changing oil and tires at Wal-Mart. Not yet. For the first time in years, I'm not looking for anything, and I'm not going around gnawing on the "I should take the good with the bad and plow on with driving" bone. I'm just enjoying the moment and making the most of what has been a really alien state of mind for me for most of my adult life. I'm enjoying contentment, and freedom from worry.

The most telling event during this whole experience was one night when my wife reminded me to take my Pepcid before bed, so I could sleep. I realized I don't have to take those anymore. No more acid reflux problems.

Some of that was the big worry at the end about what was going to happen to my dedicated freight, but not all of it. I had been taking those antacids at bedtime for years before anything on the driving front started to fall apart on me.

No, I think I'm done with driving. I know guys who can't imagine doing anything else, and more power to those who love it. I was never really in it for much more than a paycheck. It grew on me, and I became damn good at it, but there's not much love lost here. I wasn't born to it. I just forced myself to learn how to do it, and to become good at it, very good at it, in spite of having no natural aptitude for the profession at all.

Breaking up is hard to do, and this was hard, but I really needed to break up with trucking. I'm a different person now. So much more relaxed, and not worried about anything, even though we're so broke now I should be terrified.

It was the right choice. The only thing keeping me trapped was the money, and by giving up the money, and all that material :dung: along the way, I'm free.

FREE!

More free than I've been in years, even though it would seem like the opposite should be true, considering how much more rigidly structured my life is now compared with driving.

I'm proud of that chapter of my life, and I will tell stories about it until I die, but I don't think I will be coming up with any new stories anytime soon, and probably never again.

But I'll never say never. Who knows. I'll keep my CDL, even though I guess after six months or a year or something, nobody will hire you.

Okay, we get it, Sylvan..... you were really, really, REALLY good at it!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just KIDDING, dude!! :wink:

Thanks for the update. I've been wondering how it was working out for you. I know what you mean about the Pepcid thing..... only for me it was the opposite.

I used to be really depressed. When I started trucking.... all that went away! I felt TRAPPED here in the South, and getting back out West set me FREE!! You felt trapped by your trucking job, and now you are Free!

It's a good feeling. I wish you the best.... and do stick around and keep in touch!

Hobo

Yeah man, I was.It's all about finding whatever makes you happy.

The funny thing is I was just talking to Mom's old best friend, and one of the last sane things Mom said was that she expected me to go back to Wal-Mart and stay there.

Yup. Mom was right. Or at least partially right. I might get into working on these bitches. I like working in a shop. It's almost as much freedom as the road in a lot of ways (and as much responsibility) and it has turned out to be a surprisingly good fit for me.

When I decided to go back to Wal-Mart, I figured I'd go back to where I came from when I started all this, and try to get into a position as a department manager, and then try to get into salaried management.

When they said the only full-time openings they had were in the shop, they unwittingly closed the door on someone who could have turned out to be a great manager.

Because of the way the pay structure works, and the premium I get for having dirty fingernails, if I leave the shop to take the department they're offering me now, I have to supervise 10 people and deal with several tiers of salaried management for an additional $2 a week.

Pfffffft!

I think I'll just change my tires and oil, thanks. For now, I'm just enjoying not being miserable all the time. Trucking had its ups for sure, but they were few and far between.

Good luck!
 

And you know.. noone is going to remember that you delivered that "emergency " load of cabbages to kalamazoo in the dead of winter on icy roads so tired you cant sleep.

They'll remember that book long long after your'e gone.

As a writer once said when asked for advice on how to become a professional writer "Writers Write".

I dont see the word truck anywhere in that sentence.

Re: Good luck!
 

That's true, and that advice scales out to a lot of other things in life. I had a friend who was stressing over something, and I recounted the story of how I drove home from Virginia Beach in ever-increasing snow cover. By the end of it, I was running in a foot of snow in an empty (for all intents and purposes) single-axle cabover, and I damn near lost it going up a mountain.

The moral of the story is I should have stopped in Bedford with all the other trucks. I had a lot of time to ponder that gleaming Wal-Mart parking lot and wonder WTF I was doing plodding on.

In that case, I was coming home in order to do something I considered really important, but whatever it was, it wasn't that important.

I should have stopped in Bedford.

I'm glad I finally did. I don't know if I could even still drive one of those things now, and I feel 10 years younger too.

More power to those for whom life offers no other acceptable choice. I know plenty of them, and we're still friends, but I'm glad I hung it up. Just because I can be a supertrucker when I need to be, my heart just isn't in it.

All the bullshit out there, and so little compensation when you look at what you really have to do to earn a living. It's the best kept dirty secret in America. This whole damn country runs on slave sweat.