[Useless]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

I used to find that food warehouses were the worst in general....though over the years that had improved.

Just remember....never lose your cool. Never argue with the idiots you encounter. Its a no-win situation. Best to stay calm, and if there is a problem....let your company handle it.

If someone gives you a bad time,....they may have dealt with a driver who was a yutz to them...before you got there, and they may be taking it out on you....or they are just boneheads to begin with. Don't give them the satisfaction of upsetting you....just call your dispatcher or fleet manager and let them take care of the situation. It may turn out that you are at a "problem customer" and they are better suited to handle the situation than you.

Years ago I dealt with a customer or two like that, and called my fleet manager...and the result was that I was told to get my bills, close the doors, reseal the trailer and leave. Customer was real unhappy then, but I just said: "I just follow orders". Didn't far away before I got turned around and the customer unloaded me quickly and it was done. 8)

But generally speaking....over the years I had very few problems with shippers or receivers. Be polite, dress decent, act friendly.....and never let anyone get to you. It'll all work out. Not worth getting in a lather over anyway. 8)

EXCELLENT ADVICE, Mr. Skywalker!!
:rock:
Glad you drove for a company who was willing to back their driver.

I really do wish that Noobs and Plan2B's would read postings like this before they start trying to make future employment decisions based upon:

"How many Cents Per Mile do they pay"??

"How many miles can I get per week"??

"What color is the truck"??

and

"Can a company route me to Disneyland for a 3 day layover before I deliver my load"??

[Malaki86]

Well, I can honestly say that today was one of my worst unloading experiences.

I had a load of mattress "parts" - frames, foam, fabric, etc. that delivered to Royal Beddng in Buffalo, NY. My appointment time was for 8am, and I was preplanned to pickup a load at 11am 40 miles away. Seems fine, right?

I arrived at the consignee at 6:45am and they put me right into a dock. The dockworker said they had to load a trailer of mattresses first and then they'd unload me. Ok - terrific.

Well, they finally finished loading that trailer at about 12:30 and haven't so much as put the ramp into my trailer yet. Finally at about 1:30 they decided to start on me. Now, keep in mind my trailer is less than 1/2 full of all palletized material. It took about 30 minutes to be loaded. At 2:30 I walked back to see the progress and the sole dockworker was sitting on a chair at the dock. Ok, that's fine.

I went into the trailer and started carrying items out and tossing them on the dock - there was only 2 pallets left. So, I guess he got the idea that I was pretty upset and got on the forklift and finished pulling out the last 2 pallets. When he signed the bills I told him to be sure to write in my in/out times, as well as sign and print his name. He asked why. So, I explained to him that that information was needed so my company could bill them for the 6 hrs of detention at $150/hour.

His boss wasn't all too happy to hear that.

So, now I'm nowhere near where I'm supposed to be at 6am. My dispatcher wanted to get stupid with me when I told her that my current load would be late on delivery because of that crap. I guess she thought I was going to run all night after sitting around all day being unloaded. She stopped pressuring me when I said I could deadhead an empty truck back to the shop than I could pickup and deliver a load of water.

Gawd - I love my job....

[fireman932003]

One time when I was with Werner, I went to pick up a older trailer and whent to raise the landing gear. Well, the gear didnt want to move. I kept working on it till the handle started to move. Well my hand slipped off the handle and I fell forward. I guess I was just winding it up because it let go REAL FAST and hit me in the side of the face! Just about knocked me out! left a nasty bruise though! My wife thought I got in a fight and lost! lol

[Colin]

Back in 2003, my girlfriend was due to go out with me for a week. Our first load was from somewhere down to Atlanta. I picked her up and got down there, delivered and then went to the JB Hunt yard to sleep. Got the next load; a load of paper from Macon to Cincinnati. We got there on time and swept out the trailer, then parked in the staging area. Then we sat. And sat. And sat. And sat. I have my old log books and it shows we arrived at 10:00 am. I know we got into the dock around 9:00 pm and sat some more. I checked in again around 11 pm and it turns out the machine had broke down that was making our product. I recall waking up a few times to the bouncing of the truck. We woke up around 7 am and they were done. We got our bills and hightailed it.

My g/f was so upset about the sitting. She never understood when I would describe long waits (although this was the longest at JB Hunt) before she was riding along. Plus, she thought we were in big trouble. "Oh no, mon bonbon!" We're fine, nothing to worry about.

We made delivery on time, although I made a wrong turn and had to head into a driveway to get turned around. Upon hitting thid driveway, it had a very abrupt transition and my tv jumped out of the cubby and broke the case on the floor of the sleeper. :cry:

It still worked, just looked bad.

[danske]

I delivered a load to Food Service of America warehouse in Fargo, ND. It was a hand unloaded of many different items and each had to be placed on it own pallet and counted. It took me all day and several hours the next morning to complete. The company did pay me for a hand unload, layover pay, and a hotel room but it was not worth it. :cry:

Another time at Budweiser in Houston when they were just coming out with their "Cold Filter"(?) or "Ice"(?) beer, I spent 12 to 16 hours with at least 6 other company drivers waiting to unload our empty bottles at the same dock. Apparently, Budweiser was having major problems with the line for this product and only could take a truck load of bottles on the dock at a time. We repeatly requested to drop our loads in the plant yard, but no dice. Finally, when I got into the dock, unloaded, and ready to leave, the forklift driver tipover a huge stack of bottles all over the place. I heard this huge crash while I was in the office getting my paperwork signed. I got out of there fast and don't know what further delays the other drivers experienced. :sad: