I want to talk to those drivers that are in their trucks, parked at a truck stop for the day, waiting to deliver their load tomorrow morning. The driving is done and if you’re lucky, your carrier will be paying you layover. I have one driver manager who made sure her drivers got paid $25 if they arrived for a Monday delivery close to the destination late Saturday or early Sunday. When she left, so too went our layover pay.
You’re in the truck and thinking you should be home and off the road. Trucking is a fine profession, but maybe you’ve done the OTR “thing” for a while and it’s time to move on. The pay isn’t bad, the benefits acceptable, but you keep thinking about your wife or husband and your kids.
Maybe you are responsible for an elderly parent and you feel guilty that you should be there for them. I know there are a good deal of truckers who are involved in dysfunctional relationships – divorces, separations, incarcerations and illnesses. Being on the road seems to make these situations only worse.
I’ve heard and seen my share of drivers sitting in restaurant truck stops, tears in their eyes, red faced, trying to deal with a family situation. Haven’t we all seen drivers arduously trying to send or receive money via Western Union, desperate for a positive outcome. Frustration, anger, depression and heartache are common on the road. It’s not just with truck drivers – traveling salespeople, airline crews and certainly our military service members are all going through the same thing.
These family situations only make a drivers “relationship” with their dispatcher, broker or partner that more difficult and stressful. One thing tends to bleed over to the other. You get upset at a shipper because your daughter is dating that motorcycle creep with the tattoos – you’re angry with the short miles your getting from your dispatcher and you yell at your girlfriend because of that expensive pair of shoes she just bought. There is nothing worse than driving 11 hours - you’re tired and exhausted at those damn 4-wheelers who made your life miserable – but your wife needs you to talk to little Bobbie because he hit Johnny at school today.
Would everything be easier if you were home? Maybe. But, in your mind, it clearly would and it’s eating away at your insides to be sitting wherever and you’re not home. There are also those drivers where jealously rules their day. What is Carol doing tonight after she gets off her waitress job? There’s that new manager at the Wal-Mart that is being a bit too friendly to your wife. It’s all because you’re on the road, away from home, right? Your mind sometimes just races thinking about it.
Well drivers, I need you to slow down a bit. Get a grip. I speak from experience. Please, come on in off the road, but be very weary,because as Judy Garland said in the Wizard Of Oz – “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore”. Follow what I’m saying here – there is a certain “comfortableness” about being OTR. You know what you have to do, what is expected of you and you also know what the frustrations are out there. You know at XYZ you’re going to have to deal with that arrogant security guard and the stupid receiving department that is going to make you wait. Let’s call these things the “givens” of the road.
Open the trap door, you’re out of the truck, at home, looking for a new job – not in trucking – and nothing is for certain – there are no “givens” anymore. You actually had some perspective – the ability to hang up the phone and get away from a certain situation by being away from home. Now, you right in the thick of things. You just might end up more miserable that if you just kept at OTR trucking job.
Let me tell you that finding a job, in this economy, is far more stressful than being out on the road away from home. But, don’t misunderstand me, I know you’ve got to do what you’ve got to you. All I’m asking is that you make the decision carefully. Whatever you can do to smooth out that transition – go back to school on-line (you’re in the bunk right now and could be doing that) and earn a certificate for something you want to do whether it’s tech related, cooking, mechanical, etc. Remember money smooth’s over a lot of problems – not all – just most.
PS/I did a post titled “Six Sigma? Smart? Cornerstone? OMG” that is related to what I just wrote – the two tie together – and I’ll try to wrap it all up tomorrow. Thanks for your support and be safe out there.
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