Back to having no friends again! Nobody to talk to. Poor me! Someone give #TruckerBrook a hug! Oh, wait, don't, we're in a pandemic! One of the things my ex-husband, Calvin brought up when I vented to him about them giving me a filthy truck to move into. He was like, you know that's borderline illegal, right? They shouldn't have just gotten your truck cleaned, they should've had it sanitized. Out for the week that I do my run for before going back to the terminal for my two days off, and boom! Truck died on the I-5 freeway! It just died! So, I was able to pull off only onto the shoulder, but like, right along the line, so too close to the road still. The sun was right above me and there was barely any cell signal. I know I mention this signal thing a lot but it's true. I have never had this problem living in a Third world country and Second world,ie, South Africa and Georgia respectively. But hello First world America! Hello Trucking! You get to be in the grey areas where cell network companies don't see it necessary to place a tower. And of course, that's where I'm going to get into a ditch or get stuck on a bridge, get run over by a serial killer truck driver, or, in this latest case, die.
I sent message to new manager. That's jut to let her know, otherwise, what's she gonna do? She couldn't authorize me to get curtains for a truck, how's she gonna help me when the whole truck dies? I was there for hours. You're not getting paid extra or anything like that, being stuck here by the way. If you're out there for more than a certain amount of time, your clock will reset and you will be 'able' to start working as soon as your truck's ready.In which case, you will have spent your sleeping time on the side of the 5 freeway, trying to call for help. These things happen more often than you can imagine. Some people still take their break, but I'd like to think more drivers, just consider that their break and get on the road after, with very little rest. I was outside on the dirt, walking around with the phone on speaker, waving it up in the sky to pick up signal. Roadside assistance would finally pick up. I'd give them my details, then they wouldn't be able to hear me. I'd move a hair and the call would disconnect. They would call me right away and go straight to voicemail, or and blah blah blah. Same story, over and over for a while. Eventually, I got hold of them. They sent someone from not far away. The person they were going to send didn't have the part they suspected I would need, so they had to go far away to buy it and then come back. I think it would've been better to dispatch someone from afar,and have them head straight for my location. But what do I know? I'm just a female with common sense.
Guy finally arrived. At this point, I had found the sweet spot of cell signal inside the truck. I guess it works best being inside than out, cos the truck is taller than me trying to wave a cellphone. I kept the phone plugged in and situated on that very spot. I only took the calls on speaker. I don't generally receive phone calls. Most of the people I communicate with text me. Well, they message me on Whatsapp. They're overseas. The guy worked on my truck for a bit and then, uhm, it was time for him to go home, haha! You can't make this sh*t up! He also needed another part for the truck. They had someone else come relieve him. Said person would also bring the new part. The new guy was also friendlier, so we chatted a bit. he was fast. Done within an hour. The problem was a brake line that had a leak. The truck uses air breaks. All the air was leaking out, truck switched off as a safety measure. It was night by the time the guy was done. In fact, I think I was out there for about 8 hours. On the side of the freeway from noon until 8! Imagine that! Nobody stops to find out if you're ok, even though you have the orange cones out. Also, they don't know how long you've been there for, if you know how to fix, are you male or female, blah blah blah. It could also be a set up. Maybe you're a killer or blah.
I don't do night driving and because everything I did on the account was within California, I could afford to go rest somewhere, and still make my appointments after picking up the next load. I found a place with a ginormous dirt lot more than an hour away. I save the places I part at, so I am able to look at my map app and see where what is in time of need. The dirt lot place has a super expensive restaurant with great reviews. I am not a restaurant out eater when I am working, so, that was whatever. They also have no showers but restrooms for us. So that's always good.
When I was off, the truck needed to go into the shop. I had a list of things that I wanted them to have a look at as long as they had the truck in there. They told me that they needed to send it to Volvo. It was within some warranty. I had to move my stuff out into a temporary truck. So far, I was having a great time on this account. They moved me into another unsanitized account. I cleaned it myself. It wasn't filthy, it just wasn't cleaned since the driver before me used it. I didn't want to complain. I used it for the week I was going to be out and hoped that mine was going to be ready when I got back. It was. You know what that means: moving again. CArrying fridges, microwaves, and other heavy stuff. I cook in my truck, so it's always fun to move the whole kitchen.
There was a mattress (wow, is that how you spell matrass?), so I didn't have to move that. But I worry about bed bugs and stuff. I do take my fitted shit and hope it will keep everything buried under it. Whew! I literally just took a giant breath, at the thought of these silly challenges of this job. It's not just your job, it's also your home life. I had used an older Freight liner while my Volvo was in the shop. I'm familiar with a Freightliner, so it wasn't a train smash.
Felt good to be back in my Volvo again. Not for any reason other than, it was MY truck.
@BabalwaBrook on all social
youtube.com/babalwabrook
No comments:
Post a Comment