Survival of the fittest Truck Driver

 

The Semi-Handsome guy we shall name, Trevor. Cool people. I think he and I worked the same shift or something. Oh, wait! Not really! He told me he never got a day off. The older gentleman who took me for a ride along on day 1 also told me the same thing. Everyone was overworked. Hopefully, they weren't underpaid. Right? On behalf of United States Postal Service workers; you're welcome, America! One Night, I did my deliveries: This is how most of my Mail Routes looked - 

Pick up a sht ton of mail in big containers with a 53 ft trailer ( 16 meters). LOAD THE TRAILER MYSELF! When I initially got the gig, I made it very clear, I only do NO TOUCH freight. I will back into a doc and open up the trailer for you but you unload your own load, thank you very much. They told me, it's just mail, and everything is in wheeled containers. Let me tell you! What is mail? It's any and everything! From Animals, to car parts, to books, etc. Some of that sht is super heavy. The containers may have wheels, but so does a car and trucks. WTF does that mean? Well, it was a loophole and I got got! Some of the containers wouldn't even move, they were so heavy. I realized day 1 that I was going to need to be extremely fit to be able to pull the gig off. Pardon the pun. I right away worked in working out into my already tight schedule. Everyday, before work, I would go to the hotel gym. It was usually in the middle of the night, so nobody else there. Then take a nice bubble bath, bobtail (truck without trailer) from hotel to USPS Distribution center, pick up a trailer, or it'd already be backed to a door. Run to the entrance, brrrrr! Bang on the glass part of the door and wave, hoping someone will see me as I had just cut my hair and it was so hold out there. Someone would let me in. I would then tell them which run I was doing, they would confirm which door. USPS staff would roll everything to my destination's section. Usually two or three destinations. Make no mistake, always load the last stop first, or else you have to unload the entire trailer to redo it.  OR worse! The staff was very helpful, they would monitor me and make sure I don't fck up. That doesn't embarrass me. I like it hen people are nice and mean well.Also, I don't get embarrassed.You have to leave within a certain amount of time of your schedule.Not too early in case there's still mail on the way for your destination, not late, cos it's a relay, someone's scheduled to pick up your delivery at a certain time. Some of the mail has to be done within 24 hours, 1-3 days (priority mail) and all that. People paid accordingly, you can't mess up the flow. 

Loaded trailer

I go to a stop, it's probably 1 am or some witching hour. There's nobody there. I have to make sure I brought the keys with me, usually there's some space to squeeze my delivery into. Sometimes, not. In which, I have to move sht around. More work for #TrucckerBrook. Make sure as I do all this, that I will leave room near the elevators for others to be able to drop or pick up. AND for me to be able to pick up whatever mail is from stop one for stop 2 and or 3 or the distribution center. Lots of attention to detail! Good thing it's not past my bedtime. Lather, rinse, repeat. Then back to base on schedule with whatever you brought back if anything. Sometimes, I would deliver somewhere, then have to wait for their last pick up at the end of the day. Meaning, I would drop my trailer with them, and then go hunt for a spot to sleep during the day, as if that's normal. Try and find somewhere with restrooms and food. Wet wipe bath upon waking up, then go pick up trailer. Again, load it yourself and then get on the freeway from Idaho to Washington state. Podcasts all the way, back into a spot. It's packed, so you have to wait your turn in line. If you're lucky and a guy's a jerk, he will try to cut in front of you. They did try it to me, and I picked up speed and blocked the fuck out of them. Then I got out of my fcking truck and went and talked to them about it. Cos, WTF? They were probably running late. Not my problem. I have three hours to unload this sht, drop the trailer and go take a one hr nap at the hotel. Go to the gym, then start all over again. Everybody's time is important, Sir. There was only one other female truck driver. She drove a box Truck (the small lorries). We always got excited when we saw each other.

One early morning, I got a call just after finishing a shift. They wanted me to help moving the trailers. Thankless job ag. They don't call you a yard dog for nothing when you do that. AND they truck they gave me was stick . I hadn't driven a manual truck since trucking school! And I barely passed! 

More on that next time, gotta run, my lobster & crab cakes are ready. Yum

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