Welcome to The Shit Show!

Alright, let's go straight to the shit show first job with the temp agency!  I had to drive one hour to the hotel where they park bobtails. Bobtails are just the tractor / head part of the tractor/trailer. I was to leave my car there, take a tractor where I was to pick up a trailer in another location. I logged on into their in truck computer device. I punched in destination where I was picking up trailer and drove... around... in circles. I had the destination in my cellphone maps as well for backup. As someone who wasn't familiar with the area, I didn't want to take a chance in that residential area and end up with a bridge on top of my trailer. That's the reason for my patience in driving around in circles. It got to the point where I contacted the manager and asked him what was up with the truck computer. He told me those don't work for directions, to use my cellphone. Well, thanks for telling me that beforehand! And it's my cellphone, will I be remunerated for its use? In 200 ft, stay on the left lane; said the GPS lady as I was stuck in the middle lane during rush hour traffic in Southern California. There was no way I was going to be able to squeeze in. Definitely not in a truck.I made it to the first USPS (United States Postal Services) location.

Long check in process just to get in, but I understand. It's federal building. I found the trailer. It has a roll-up door. I had never used that kind before and I was told to make sure I had straps. I had no idea what those were supposed to look like nor how to use them but I was so running late. Having taken care of all that, I made my way to the mail pick up spot. Very narrow bays, like most places in LA, it definitely must not have been designed for 53 ft trailers. I made it in (he said), ran inside. They had a very African looking lady in there. She confirmed her family is from somewhere in either central or Western Africa. I forget. They loaded me up and helped me strap the load. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I couldn't be more grateful. Called dispatch and told them I was on my way to meet the truck from Arizona. That's who I was going to be exchanging trailers with. The mail I had just picked up was destined for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Instead of having one driver drive it all the way there, and the one from Albuquerque to Los Angeles doing the same, they have us meet halfway and swap trailers. 

I had to spend most of my drive there communicating with a bunch of people I had never talked to before because apparently, I was super late. I arrived at the initial location on time. Sometimes, that's all you can do in trucking. The rest of the stuff is not in my control! I ended up not driving as far as I was supposed to, meaning that the New Mexico guys drover further than planned. There are two of them in their truck. They're a team, one drives when the other sleeps and vice versa. I apologized profusely when we did meet. I picked up that trailer, turned around and headed back to Los Angeles t drop off some of the mail in a different location than I picked up and take the rest to yet another location. It was like, those people couldn't sent me to more new places in one day. The final place was like, uhm, you're empty, so go ahead and drop your trailer, blah blah. Whew! Dropped trailer, then bobtailed back to the hotel where my car was. Switched to my car and headed home. An hour and a half later, I was home and so happy the gig was just for one day. 

In trucking,  You have 14 hours to play around with while on duty but maximum 11 driving hours. I arrived back at the hotel right at the 14th hour. The money was going to me awesome but I worked for every single hour of it. would I want to do that again? Mh! I don't know! Maybe I can get used to it? Do I want to get used to it? Let's see...!

One day, while minding my own business in my bedroom, a prospective tenant showed up. He is a very loud speaker. See what I did there? I heard every word! Also, America and their thin walls. No offense. The guy complimented landlord, Tom on the wall paintings and other arts around the house. They came upstairs and he was taken to the room right next to mine. Great! I'm gonna be sandwiched between Landlord and this guy. I already try to tiptoe when I know landlords are in bed, so as not to disturb their sleep.I heard what his rent was going to be, he used to be in the military, he now works for Costco, etc etc. Seemed like a nice guy, albeit too loud.

Speaking of which, one morning, while downstairs, I bump into a guy. Good looking with blue eyes. He didn't give off a vibe that he was trying to get acquainted. I introduced myself and went into the garage while he was putting on his shoes. This was going to be my bathroom partner as he had moved into the loud guy's room. He was not the loud speaker. Something about him was loud though and I found that out the hard way when I went to use the bathroom. (Speaking of Shit… show). More on that next episode.... Do check out my youtube channel under my name Babalwa Brook  And you can add me on social @BabalwaBrook #TruckerBrook

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Bye for now!