Damn, Got Fired Again!
 

Wow, what has the trucking industry become when you can get firted so easily from a job? I am in shock that I just got fired from a job that I really liked for being 3 hours late getting back to the yard! Lets begin with my week, Mon, Tues, ran local 3 loads per day, thats a lot of loads of golf carts. Load up Tuesday night for Wednesday to leave at 7:30 am. Get in on time cant leave because I have to wait for parts to give to another driver on my route. Finally get to leave at 9:15 am, get called 5 minutes later to stop they have to add one more thing, so I stop and now its 10 am before I leave. Now running 2 1/2 hours late because of waiting for Tom (Driver Boss) to get off his ass and get his crap together. Leave Sarasota to deliver in The Villages about 2 hours away, get there cant find the address on GPS, call client she does not know area because she just moved there. After an hour of trying to find her I had her meet me at a wall mart and O followed her back to her house for delivery. Held up again when I could not get out from her address due to new construction and workers parked on corner so Icould not make turn, had to trakc down drivers to move cars etc., more wasted time. Finally get out and off we go to Albany Ga. They close at 5 pm I wont get there until 7:30, so I call dispatch and they freak out like its my fault I'm running late. They do nothing so I call delivery and beg them to have someone wait for me and they called me back and said they would. Great ! I make delivery and call office to let them know, they dont respond but say ok on text. Make delivery, now its 8 pm and next delivery was in Augusta GA by 7:30 to meet another driver to take parts and carts to Nascar vent in Charlotte NC. Get up 3:30 am leave at 4 am make it and no driver there. So I call him wake him up and meet him at my next stop. Long story short I get him loaded and off by 9:30am. Now I have to load my trailer and I do and leave around 10:30 11 am. Heading back to Sarasota (Thursday am). Dispatch does not call me all day, does not tell me I have any runs for Friday so I asume there is nothing for me on Friday but to get back and unload. I stop around 8 pm, puy in another 16 hour day, went to sleep.

The next morning I overslept and got up around 8 am. head out and dispatch wants to know where I am, I texted and told them I was in Wildwood and would be back and unloaded by noon. They text me back that they had 2 loads for me on Friday, this they tell me at 9 am on Friday! I get back to yard unload my trailer and go inside to ask where I was going. I said am I going out? dispatch says no. Thats it, he said nothing else to me so I went in to break room to do paperwork. Thast when Tom came in and fired me! I was like whaaaaaaatt??? The reason he gave me was becasue I left at 10:30 am and its only 8 hours away and I took 24 hours! I was like but I was taking my break, and I was on duty for 16 hours! WTF? Then he said it was because I did not turn in my paperwork correctly. They wanted me to fill out mileage for each state on my trip sheet, which I idi before leaving on this last trip. I was like really? Paperwork issues? Oh, then it was because I forgot to get tires done on my tractor a feew weeks ago before I left, like I am a mind reader when dispatch said nothing to me about that, so I got them done, for cheaper then they had a quote for, so whats the big deal?

Personally I think that Tom, the dickhead in charge of drivers, had it in for me for weeks and did not like me for what ever reasons. When I told another driver I got fired he was shocked and said, why???? You have been the best driver we have hired in a long time. I;m so fricken pissed! What a bunch of jerks!:pissedoff: I did nothing wrong and did not deserve to get fired for being late when I was never told I had a run for Friday, any other time I had a friday run I was told the day before, dispatch dropped the ball on that one.:banghead:

Anyway, looking for another job......again! Really sucks because I really liked the last one. Oh well, I just hope I can find one that lets me drive the speed limit!:cry:

Don't mean to be an *******, but could you not have called dispatch to see if they had anything lined up for you on friday? Just curious, we got a guy who does the same thing he waits for dispatch to call him instead of taking the bull by the horns and calling them looking for loads.. The one who asks for loads first is going to get a reputation of wanting to work and there-for will most likely be the first one picked to pull the good loads, just saying I grossed $2450 last week because I pulled every load asked of me plus extras that I asked for, my week ended out at a little over 60 hours and I was home in my bed every night... Then there are other weeks when I only gross $800 to $900 for the same hours or less however I don't bitch or moan about it, as the way I look at it is that it is $900 more then I had at the start of the week.. Work is work.. In this economy a person should be happy they have a job... You say you were a CEO of two corps at one point in your life, let me ask you this question, how did you deal with the type of guys who were always bitching and moaning about the job and the pay and the bosses?? I know when I was an Executive Chef any employee of mine who was not happy with the job, the pay, the responsibilities, or having me for a boss was free to leave and if they choose not to leave and continued to bitch I helped them out the back door with a little nudge.. No company wants to hear of employees who are constantly bitching it gets old after a while. You say you have had over 7 jobs this last year as you choose to leave at the first sight of something afoul, or in this case it seems you spoke your opinion about an incident or two and may have rubbbed a few people the wrong way thus making them look for the first excuse to send you packing. Florida being a right to work state makes it easy to fire someone without cause and a guy who talks out load about his disatisfaction on certain situations puts a big target on his back, not a good idea in this economy when there are 20 more drivers willing to do your job just waiting for a phone call...
As I said i don't mean to be an ass and there are those on this board that will say i am. I just saying maybe you need to dig inside your soul and figure out what battles you really want to fight, if you find a decent job with decent pay, it may behove you to keep your thoughts to yourself from time to time..

Good Luck with the job search...

Timberwolf

7 jobs in one year????? WOW.....

I read all that and from what I could tell of you from it I wouldn't hire you. To me it sounds like you blame someone else for all your problems instead of yourself.

yea as usual theres people that go to judging people...got ten commandments, anyone?

I don't know you well yet, Instigator. I read a few of your posts in the women's forum. But, I think I'm WITH you on this one!

Contrary to what some believe, there are some real idiots out there in dispatch/resource management. Believe me... I could run FedEx better on LINE 5 then they are doing right now.

I pride myself (as I believe you do) on "personal responsibility," but I don't always see the same from the "useful idiots" who control so much of our lives, careers, and paychecks!

Trucking works best when decisions are made BY truckers! There is not ONE of us on this board who doesn't try their best to accomplish the tasks given them everyday.

Until or unless I find reason to believe otherwise about you, I am prone to take you at your word, and enjoy your posts.

I offer a belated "Welcome" to the board from one who likes to see intelligent new members.

I hope you find a good gig soon. Trucking is definitely an "individual" thing. If it don't FIT... you must acquit! I plan to do this the rest of my working life. There is NO WAY that I will do something I don't like to do... or work for schmucks... until I retire. What would be the point?

As my Dad keeps reminding me.... I have a "meal ticket" in my wallet. Don't do anything to screw that up. But never forget WHO is in the driver's seat!

I'm sorry all I read was firted....... . :o

Good luck job hunting, you'll find a good fit eventually.

Well i quess if I believed in that little imaginary man in the sky then I may be in trouble, however since "organized Religion" is man's way to seperate humanity then I think I fall in line with the norm. I will stand my statement that it is a wise man who picks and chooses which arguements are worth the battles. Instigator has said in other post that he himself will leave a job at the first sight of any issue with pay or deception thus resulting in him having over 7 jobs this year alone in my book that is a little overboard, as our world is filled with deception, so one must learn to adapt and work with it to fit his/hers needs which happens to be one of the basic core values of humanity "the need to survive" and the willingness to make it happen at any cost. Such is life..

Timberwolf

In this economy I can't say I blame him for jumping ship at the first sign on trouble. Got to look out for Numero Uno which it appears he is doing because the companies sure aren't looking out for you. They are always looking out for themselves. Good luck with the search Instigator.

I wasn't the one saying you were judgemental, Timberwolf. You had an opinion and expressed it. You made some good points. As a "career move," job hopping is not a good idea. And in this economy, one should think real hard before quitting on a paycheck. But, no driver should have to put up with a bunch of chit from employers.

As I said, trucking is a very "individual" thing. Some might LIKE to keep experiencing new things... others might like security. Point is, having a CDL gives you many options in life. And ONE of them is saying FU to companies that take advantage of you or treat you like dirt.

Just "judging" by his account of this one situation, I believe Instigator was right to feel he had been wronged. He even said that he liked the job and would have stayed with it for a good while, I'm sure. Some people (like me,) are prone to suffer abuses longer than others. Others have a more gypsy attitude that allows them to move on whenever a foul wind blows.

And who do YOU blame when you know it is not YOUR fault? Or, is it always your fault? Humility is good. Self awareness and introspection is good. But, defiance in the face of injustice is what made America great. I read the same account you did, and I thought he did all he could to get the job done. I would hire a driver like that in a New York minute!

Your name isn't TOM, is it? :lol:

Nope name isn't Tom.:)

I agree with you wrote. Just the feeling I got from the post is he was blaming everyone but, himself for everything that happened when some of it more than likely could have been avoided with a simple phone call on Thursday evening.

We're cool, Not Tom. Like someone said.... pick your battles. Everyone here has an opinion.

BTW... that phone call SHOULD have come from dispatch. Drivers should never HAVE to make a call to find out what the company has planned for their "power unit" and the very valuable "resource" they represent to the company.

Welcome to the board.

Hobo

Hobo I realize you were not calling me judgemental, not even sure if "One" had directed it towards me or not?, I was just inputting my un-solicited two cents just because I can, It's an ego thing.... Something about his post and the fact that he admits over 7 jobs in one year just seems a little juvenile to me. At some point in life you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself it is me??? Can he really say all of his last 10 jobs were decitful and screwing him out of money each and every time?? I find the odds of this (even in this business hard to believe)
I have only been driving since the end of 04 and have worked for a total of 4 companies since that time 2.5 years at CCC not the best company in the world yet they gave me experience and confidence behind the wheel left on good terms to go work UPS Freight for 1 year, left because of my herniated disc, The teamsters and the thought of having to work the dock because I was on the low end of senority left on good terms to work for Florida Rock for two years another fair company that trained me to pull fuel and in fact i would still be with them had it not been for the fact that Mansfield came into town like a hurricane and took back all of their buisness leaving me to fear getting laid off, so I went to were the business is and have not looked back since and dmn glad i did Mansfield is an amazing company to work for I love this job and will be here until I retire or die which ever comes first.
My point is that at all of these jobs i can find something that I do not like about them, I can complain that at times i have not been paid fairly, I can say that "yes" they have lied to me at one point or another. This is the reality of life there is no such thing as a perfect job, a perfect life or a perfect blowjob for that matter.. Every week when I deduct payments for my kids 529, our IRA's and all the other bills we pay I quickly realize where my priorities lie and it becomes a no brainer choice for me that I am very happy to make.. To each their own and I wish him luck in looking for a new job in Transportation however with so many jobs in such a short time period it will catch up to him rather soon, if not already... I truly wish him luck and hope he finds what he is looking for I just feel he needs to lower his expectations just a bit. Reminds me of the biblical saying "Pride goeth before destruction" (Pride before the fall) and he just may be very close to letting his pride drop him face first on the floor... Just saying..


Timberwolf

Let's remember that he didn't quit on them, they quit on him this time. I'd be interested in what happened previously for the other jobs.

Kentla, I obviously missed it, where did he say this was his 7th job in a year?

Granted the phone call should have come from dispatch but, it didn't. So maybe he should have given dispatch a call and asked them if they had anything for Friday.(Especially if he was used to getting a call from them everyday.) If they didn't he should then tell them his plan and when he would be back on the yard. Would have saved allot of headaches.

Thanks for the welcome to the board.:)

I think we agree that he COULD have taken the initiative to make the call, but that doesn't excuse dispatch for NOT making the call. I think he thought they KNEW he was out of hours and needed to take his 10 hr break.

So... not knowing ALL of the details, are you still standing by your statement that you wouldn't HIRE him? Given his account of who didn't do what... none of it HIS fault... do you still defend the company for firing him without cause?

I deal with stupidity from dispatchers and "higher ups" every day. I try not to vocalize my contempt, because it would look bad on my employer (Independent Contractor) and for now I'd like to keep my job. But... that doesn't mean I can't come on here and blow off some steam to fellow drivers about it!

I believe that is the totality of Instigator's post. That is the way I took it. I didn't see an invitation to criticize or opine. I saw a driver expressing his frustration with the "industry."

I feel his pain even tho I've probably never walked in his shoes. Something tells me that you haven't either.

Just sayin'

Hobo

He talks about his seven jobs in the past year on the" your disgusting thread". You are right that he was fired my perception from just reading his post history is that he makes ppl aware of his dissatisfaction many times over which in my opinion puts a target on your back... that's all I was trying to say in my first response. Pick and choose your battles... life is to short... timberwolf

Timberwolf, you are an interesting dude. I guess in your eyes its ok to work for a company that you know is ripping you off each week? Not me, sorry but I am old school and I wont work for a company that is being dishonest with me, shorting my miles, not paying me what they said they would, or pulling some other type of driver scams. All of the jobs I had this year I left due to the companies pulling some sort of shenanigan on me, of coarse I will admit that job number 2 was at best my own fault for opening my mouth when it was truly needed, but it did cost me my job, oh well live and learn. The other jobs I left for good reasons, one of them I was unjustly fired from as a matter of fact, after talking to them about it, they did agree to say I was laid off rather than say I was terminated becasue they did finally agree that the reasoning was not that good ans that I just wanst a good fit for "them", you dont get along with everyone out there, so be it, I moved on.

Do I rant a little? Sure I do, I guess thats just me, I am venting in pure frustration regarding the trucking industry. maybe its a Florida thing because I never had a problem when I trucked in New York. Maybe its a southern thing, they have no work ethic or moral values like some of us "northerners", I guess I will never know but for now, if you cheat me, screw me on my pay, or miss treat me, yes I will chose to leave and protect my good reputation and license.

There is a good reason why I dont have any tickets or accidents on my record, I am an excellent driver with good moral values and I wont let anyone screw that up for me.

Oh, and I just wanted to mention one more thing, the reason why I get re-hired all the time is because even after I leave a job, I try to leave on good terms and get a good referral from them. Once someone road tests me and they see how well I can drive, I usually get offered a job on the spot. Good drivers are hard to find and I have certainly mastered my craft over the years, my driving experience speaks for itself on my road tests. I dont pick gears, I shift like butter, I dont run red lights or drive too fast, I shift at a low rpm not trying to win a race, I have many years of backing in trailers in NYC and 5 boroughs of Manhattan so I can back up very well, my experience is what sells me all the time and my expertise in the field. I will never be unemployed in this industry, I am that good!

I know thats a little cocky but hey, its good to be ........me!

Hahahahahahaha enjoy your day and safe driving out there!

:thumbsup: Instigator... you could be (click that>>>) http://www.classadrivers.com/forum/c...ver-world.html

New York has a 7.9% unemployment rate, Florida has a 10.3%. The higher the rate, the more people looking for jobs, the more the ability of employers to just toss people out the door if they screw up even a little. Florida is a "Right to Work" state. New York is not. In Florida, and other right to work states, you can be fired for any reason at any time without any justification, or any remedy for the worker to argue the firing before any kind of adjudicator. Frankly, you have no rights in Florida.

You seem to have a nostalgia for working in New York. Unless things tanked there too, I'd go back because workers are treated better in non-right to work states. The right to work states tend to be what are also called "red states" and often have lower standards of living for their people (Not all the time, this is not a political comment).

Many of these posters are correct. If you are an argumentative person, then working in a "right to work" state where you can be targeted and fired for any cause is a bad idea.

Just my 2 cents worth.

true to a cetain extent, you can fire someone without cause, however they can still file for unemployment rights.
Right to work states like Florida still have to follow federal law and can not fire based on race, creed, religion, Sexual orientation..


Timberwolf

Yeah, I looked at that too. I had about 7 jobs in my whole career. "Job-hopping" won't help him either.

I've never been fired before....
but then, I've never been a Band Teacher. http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...on_redface.gif http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...0/icon_lol.gif

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...chthegirls.gif

No, but they can fire you for just about any other reasons, including but not limited to: they don’t like your work ethic, they can’t afford you, even if they don’t like the color of your socks. Whether or not you can get unemployment might be a different story.

This is true. How to Prove that is another thing. The employee has the burden of proof.

I assume that Instigator was not fired because of any of the protected reasons. He was probably seen as more trouble than he was worth by the powers that be.

I would just file for unemployment and move on.

Just wondering about this statement Instigator, do you mean that the company wanted you to drive slow or they were over working you and expecting you to drive above and beyond the limit?

Ya disappointed me. I was expecting to see pics of the "PLAYBOY BOOTS AND SADDLE CLUB"......

Noooooo...... I believe he's hoping to find someone that doesn't CASTRATE their trucks and govern them to 65.

I'm not sure I understand that line of thinking these days. I drive a truck that can do 65 when I want to cruise, if I'm pushing I can get 70 out of it and I'm somewhat running with traffic around here. I went to test drive a truck for my brother's company which can do triple digits. While it was nice to be able to actually run with traffic it wasn't a big deal I found.

West of the Mississippi, you want to go like hell... and they let you. :p

I still rarely do over 65 even west of the big creek.

. At least until you get out of West Memphis :smokin:

Ahhh Kate finally someone who understands me! lol Yes the one company that fired me with out good cause I think the dispatch and my boss was intimidated by me because I ask a lot of questions. IDK when they say 600 per week for training ( 4 weeks) and then they send you out on your own to run 3400 miles per week, I will ask why? Why would you expect a driver to work for less than minimum wage? I did good work for them (Double Bogey) I fixed problems, I mad up for incompetent dispatch who would forget to tell me what to do next like I could guess! All in all I think I found the right job for me at Pritchet Trucking hauling local, do my job and go home same stuff day in and day out, thats what i want.

Actually I was referring to the speed of the truck, at the last job they had no governor, I could drive any speed I wanted. My new job is 65 mph but I dont care cause I am only driving 40 miles each way no big deal.

What you describe is the number one problem with the trucking industry as far as drivers go. Driver managers either make you or break you and with larger companies they 'break' more drivers than they 'make' since most DM's are managing 25-50 trucks. They don't pay any attention to your comm w/ them just the numbers related to your hours available and the hours required to deliver loads. All other issues like you describe here don't matter to them. They matter to the safety department but not logistics. They put the drivers in the middle and terminate you if you don't perform and maximize the truck's profit potential. That is what it is all about and the only way a driver can stay employed is if you can master maximizing the truck's profit potential. These are the hard facts. It takes some time and maybe a few job changes. Don't feel bad, this industry has approx 70% turnover rate yearly. ---Also you did not mention the name of the company? Some of these larger companies don't want too many 'veteran' drivers,.. they want mostly rookies and some of them terminate quickly with no warning (which makes you eligable for unemployment).