Friday, November 06, 2020

How I Got into Trucking

 When I didn’t hear back from The 99 Cents Store’s manager, I called and called and called. Eventually, they let me speak to him. I didn’t think anything wrong of following up after a great meeting between he and I. He was so rude to me! I was so caught of guard? You know when you someone makes a certain kind of impression with you, you approach them next time under that impression and they completely surprise you? In the worst possible way? I had to meditate that conversation out of my memory, it was so hurtful. It left me with a lump in my throat and a little glossy eyed. 

Tail between legs, I crawled Back to the drawing board! There’s a Big Big Lots diagonally across my then place. Well, there was, it’s since closed. They told me they were hiring. This was even closer than the 99 and the 99 was close! I went on line as I was told to and filled out an application. After a few days, I called and spoke to the manager. She told me they weren’t hiring, even though there’s a thing at the door that states otherwise AND on their website. She would call me when she needed an extra pair of hands. Ssuuurreee! Eyeroll, please! 


Big lots sells discount everything, From floor rugs, to food, to  vitamins. That sort of thing. I only mentioned these few, but I did apply everywhere. The dream is not to work retail but I reckoned that’s where it would be easiest to get a gig. Boy, was I wrong! I heard that Costco (if you’re from South Africa, think, Makro), pays well and has good benefits. I applied to several of their stores. Didn’t really wanna work there. It seemed more serious than the randoms down the street from me but I tried. It was a full time job, job hunting. As may of you may know. I still did background acting. I’d stopped cleaning houses and all the other Task Rabbit jobs. They changed their system on me. I still had my one client who used to contact me directly. Ten minutes drive to his house. Only a few hours deep cleaning. I love him to bits. Very funny, dramatic guy. We had good conversations. He made me laugh a lot. And paid me very well. Plus lots of good random tips. 


One of my special talents is that I’m good with money. I, unfortunately, had to fend for myself from a young age. The plus side to that is that it taught me how to handle finances; amongst other things. Juggling a bunch of irregular jobs and having regular bills to pay; I was still able to do all that and save. Saving is vital. Especially for us women. Why do I say that? So that you don’t find yourself sucking anybody’s nothing for money. Suck it for diamonds and designer bags. Haha, just kidding. 

Speaking of which! After Derrick’s dramatic episode in the parking lot across the street from his apartment, we were cool... ish. What? How did that happen? You ask! Well, I asked him if that was really what he wanted. If he wasn’t going to regret it because I was going to honor his wishes and be dumpable but if he thought that he could call me and try to make up when he’d calmed down; I wasn’t down for that. Let’s work it out now! Or not at all. He let the whole thing go. I apologized for being relentless. Let me explain why I did. Personally, I don’t like weird, uncomfortable atmosphere.  I will take it in the bum for the team just to be in a decent environment. I am, however, not a pushover and I do have delayed reaction. One of my saving graces. I’m also a runner. I wish this were literal! I don’t like to be in a situation where I have to apologize because I try to think things through before I do them and I consider myself fair and kind enough. If I feel like you’ve put me in a situation where I had to apologize, our days together are numbered. Don’t get me wrong,  I have genuinely apologized to people. But this one was a short term fix. Why the fck should I be the one to apologize after being treated like dirt? 

Derrick apologized back. I asked what he was apologizing for. He basically told me, doe being a dick. That was big coming from him  in the 4 months we had been together, facetiming nightly for hours, and spending most weekends together, I’d gathered that it wasn’t his personality to humble himself  or to communicate, period!


We went shopping, came back, he cooked  at some point, he talked to one of his brother’s on the phone. His brother asked if he was alone  he told his brother about me and introduced us  that was the first time he introduced me to anyone. I wanna be excited that that happened but my gut feeling told me, to chillax  so, I cooled my jets  


The rest of the weekend went well but I never forgot how he treated me. I never do! Would you? 


Between not finding a job and my relationship being wishy washy, I was like, man! We need to do something adventurous! I thought lf jobs that I could do that were ‘not for women’. Ideally, I’d love to be able to fix cars! It’s one of the things I’ve always been interested in  other than it seeming interesting, there’s also the obvious benefit of actually fixing one’s car. Being a woman, it’s be nice not to be taken a ride by mechanics.  Pun! I also love working on and in computers, I like technical sht like that. 


When I was online, Before meeting my lovely boo, Rick, I’d talked to a guy who was a truck driver. He drove across the United States  we exchanged numbers. platonically. When he found out I was job hunting, he was like, come on the road with me! Not literally but like, become a trucker! He told me the name of a company to start with and this and that  i listened and digested everything he told me. Unfortunately, I suffer from indigestion, so..  Haha, just kidding! I couldn’t get the idea off my head. 

I could go on the road and see parts of America I haven’t seen yet  at that point, I’d only been to about nine of the 50 states. Why not be a badass btch and drive an 18 wheeler for real? 

I did some research  made a list of trucking companies  made some phone calls  wrote down what they said next to their name and phone number. I narrowed my list down, According to their responses. 


What if this is the job I’m actually going to get? What would come of my relationship? What relationship? A relationship with someone who can just dump you in a parking lot? Yeah! Right! This would be a great way to get away from this destined to be toxic affair before it got worse. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be. Don’t act like I didn’t tell you at the top of this story that I’m a runner. It’s time to hit the road, Jack! Perhaps!


My immigration status came up a lot during the truck driving application period. It got to a point where I would bring it up before we talked  about anything else. A few companies were down to play. After some conditions. I was going to take care of those and then call them back. In the meantime, research! About life on the road! This was a very fun process. 


It reminds me when I was researching going to teach English in Georgia, Eastern Europe. Another heck of an adventure! I did a lot of researching then as well, being somebody who had never set foot outside South Africa. Now, I’m blogging you from Sunny California. Dreams DO come true. Even for little girls like you and I. By girls, I mean, girls and boys. 


 I didn’t tell anyone about my pursuit of becoming a big rig driver. Not a soul! 

In the meantime, here’s a no carbs month shopping list. Press play!

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