Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/925196
Voices 6 | Overdrive | January 2018 Truckers are different. They deal with things other people don't have to, and have jobs that stray so far into their total existence that they sometimes take for granted how weird it would be if everyone did things like truckers have to do them. Imagine showing up at Grandma's house on Saturday afternoon with a pickup truck slap-full of things Granny asked you to bring from the church warehouse. You back up the driveway and jump out to unload it just as Granny steps out of the house with her friend, Guido. She tells you to get your hands off the goods because Guido is going to unload it. And you'll be paying Guido $300 to perform this service. Most folks would think Guido is holding Granny hostage and slap him in the head with a sock full of quarters. But a trucker would ask Granny if she had a pallet jack and a wavi- er to sign for liability release, and give Guido the finger instead of $300. Mark Granny off the list for load coverage. Pronto. Imagine being on the brownie committee for the school fund-raiser. You deliver your homemade brownies at the committee member's home, and it's a mob scene — you have to wait around to be marked off a list. Nature calls, so you ask to use the committee mem- ber's facilities and are told no. When you ask if there are any facilities you can use on the premises elsewhere, you're told no. So you ask if you can leave your brownies and find a place to use the facilities without losing your place in line, and you're told no. No offense to brown- ie-baking soccer moms, but I would bet my eye teeth a woman fitting that stereo- type would lose her mind if she were refused a restroom. The law would be called at some point, and the com- plainant would be told, "It's private property. They can do what they want to do." Here's a startling thought: What if everyone had a 14- hour clock? You're sitting in the emergency room with a sliced-up finger, and the sur- geon sewing it back together falls out like a fainting goat halfway through the proce- dure. The aides run in, drag him out of the way, and explain that Dr. Doodad made a grave error in stitch planning and unfortunately overran his hours. You're asked to hold on – to the wound, son, hold on to the wound so you don't bleed out – until they get another doc with fresh hours up there. Regular folk wouldn't go for it. They'd threaten lawsuits and flail around and make the finger bleed more by pitching a fit. A trucker would say, "I need a roll of electrical tape and a shop towel. I gotta be in Tucumcari tomorrow. I can't fool with you. Tell Dr. Doodad to go back to paper logs. Peace out." What if everyone's lives mirrored trucking? Wendy Parker chronicles her journey on the road with her owner-operator husband, George, in the George and Wendy Show blog on OverdriveOnline.com. " Most people have tunnel vision — they only see what is directly in front of them and not the big picture. " — J.M.W., via OverdriveOnline.com Doc's out of hours – bind that wound, son, before you bleed out. " From the things I see every day on the roads I travel, I've come to believe that people are the dumbest animals on earth, and they reaf- firm that fact by the things they say and do on a daily basis! They also have no clue how the transportation industry operates. " — Trucker President, via OverdriveOnline.com