I'm writing endless entries for my sanity.  

Because I just spent almost 2 hours reading endless training stuff.

This was the precursor that was pounced on me when I arrived at the plant today.

And tests. Tests on all of them.  

I'm a truck driver, I don't need to know all of this stuff about plant operations.  I'm not a low IQ person by any stretch of the means, but why should I need to know about plant operations that I have no involvement with? Scientist stuff and operations junk, I'm not working there, I just get the product loaded onto the trailer, deliver it and done.  

So I had to sit here on my laptop and study and memorize this stuff, for I know how this works with this company. I've gone through this several times before. Hours and hours of training for material I'll never deal with - unless I become an employee of their plant and become involved with their operations, smh.

However, it's not our company that wants us to learn this stuff. It's the customers.  This particular customer who shall remain nameless but is a huge name in the cryogenics industry and is all over the country feels it's necessary.  The thing is, I've been going into this customer's plants all along. Texas, Ohio and Alabama without getting too definitive here.  

Whatever. I'm done with all of that, it's all passed 100% correct and I'm tired.  

Kind of gives me a feel for going back to college. Lol

 The layers of bs just keep piling up.

I was sent down here - Bosrah (?) Connecticut to haul cryogenics, I found out after I got there. great, that's all I do anyway.  Cool, the lady manager replies, they said you've done Oxygen and Nitrogen.  Uhh, no, and I've never told anyone anywhere that I have.  I doubt it's much harder to learn than Ethylene, maybe easier actually, especially Nitrogen.  Oxygen - well that stuff is kind of different.  

I felt as if I had driven 270 miles for nothing. That was the length of the drive down here, I stopped for nothing, just wanted it over with. Drove straight to the plant to talk with her about tomorrow.  

Just another page in the books of time of failed communications and not on my part. For no one asked me those questions, they could have looked it up if they had wanted to, I think they were trying to find a way out for the obvious calculation error they made in needing two more drivers up there in Vermont. 

It's 5:30 pm, I just got done eating at a local restaurant, food not bad, not great but it filled my gut and I was hungry.  Place completely empty, I thought it was closed at first.  

Oh, and I'm now staying at a 6 story Holiday Inn.  Been 40 to 50 years since I stayed in one of these, everything else has been Holiday Inn Express.  The room is huge, the carpet is nice and well appointed. Much better, actually, than the Fairfield Marriott I just got done staying at.  But they have the same policy here: We don't go into your room while you're staying with us. The dude was completely apologetic saying that and was extremely helpful. For when I got to the room, I found a Keurig machine - with no coffee, no coffee cups and no creamer.  Wow.

I went all 5 stories back down - I asked for the highest up room he could give me, this was it, the 6th floor is obvious suites and probably much more expensive - he said yes Mr. B, I will be pleased to go get you a bag full of stuff! Do you like half and half? Yes please and no sugar and no decaf. Sure thing! Several minutes later he came back with a bag, but declared he needed to go to the - closed - restaurant and get the half and half.  So I followed him to the entrance of the restaurant - definitely closed and that was my guess before I even came here, hence going to a restaurant and eating dinner first. 

He comes back with that and says, well, since you have the ice bucket with you, I can go get you that too! Oh, no worries, I just didn't know where the machine was.  He insisted that the ice machine was right there in the kitchen and no bother! Service with determination and a smile, gotta love that! Sure, why not!

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.  Why? Because I'll be back at the bottom yet again. After learning all that stuff up in Vermont, it was rather useless, being directly sent down here.  I've kept a good attitude about it while around all of these managers and other people, I will vent about it here. For I have never seen such mismanaged, miscommunicated, misdirected waste of resources. Okay, I have but this is really quite ridiculous.  

They didn't need us up here. That's the fact. 

The other driver is whining to high heaven, tired of hearing it actually.  Just more of the same after yet another conversation with him.  ON and on and on, he should have just said no thanks, I'm not going anywhere.  He said I was making him look bad.  I thought but didn't say, probably.  I am not demanding to go back this weekend. I may end having that done but right now, if my sleep comes back to me I will be good to go tomorrow. Yes I hate the idea of having to start over and fill my head with all kinds of new stuff - but at the same time, it's kind of intriguing. 

But, ethylene is back in full steam and has been  back since before I left. 

Whatever. I have online training to do now.  There are certain courses you have to take to be able to get into certain plants.  I figured I had done all of those courses, but apparently I haven't done this one.  Or more than one, I have no clue.  It's still early enough, but I want to get that over with. I have to be at the plant at 6:30 am, a bit more merciful than Vermont, to get a tractor and apparently follow another driver to deliver - whatever. I'd rather do Nitrogen, oxygen is really bad stuff, actually. You really need training for doing that stuff.  

 So, run done - 4 hours and I did it solo at the unloading plant so I am proud of myself that I only made on goof up and nothing serious and easily fixed.  I was trying to vent the emptied trailer before turning the actuator switch to the off position. It would have vented for a long, long time lol if I had tried to keep doing that. Realizing the error of my ways, I turned it off and it vented down within a few minutes.  

You can't really mess up too bad without them catching it. They are watching you on the multiple cameras they have installed everywhere. They can see the panels on the trucks and what you are doing. The other driver told me no way was he unloading solo today and demanded from the company that he be sent up with another driver again.  I found it refreshing not to have to follow someone all the way up and all the back.

So now, I'm at the hotel, taking a quick break to eat dinner from last night. There isn't much to eat in these parts without having to either order ahead of make an appointment for sit down, I basically bought this second meal yesterday so I would have something to eat either last night or after work this morning. Considering I crashed - heavy - early - yesterday at 5:30 pm, I wasn't exactly going to be eating last night.  I feel a lot better today just from getting a lot of sleep - a lot more than I have been getting anyway.  A lasting trend in the direction - more sleep - would be nice.  

I'm 263 miles from Bozrah, Connecticut, that's where the terminal I'm going to is. I have zero details of what I will be doing, presumably hauling some sort of chemical but it's guaranteed not what I normally haul out of Texas and whether I will need training or not, who knows.  I seriously could have just spent the week out here and have been very happy about it now that I know I can do the connections and disconnections at the receiving plant by myself with no supervision.  To have to start over somewhere else is a bit disconcerting.

Talking to the other driver a few minutes ago, he wants out of here.  He called our manager and told him to have him buy a ticket on thursday to fly out of here on either Saturday or sunday.  I'm not making any such demands even tho I'm fairly disconcerted with the equipment here, I can deal with it. I might vent a bit here and there, but I can make it through the week. Making through another week remains to be seen.

My real concern right now is if we're going into either New York City or Boston from that  yard in Connecticut. I have zero interest in either of those places as far as work is concerned and people are being murdered frequently now in NYC and crime rates have skyrocketed.  Deblasio is a freaking idiot, the people living there should get a petition going for a recall.  But above and beyond that, NYC is the worst city in all of America to drive a truck in. That's a fact.  If you ask a truck driver cities they don't want to go to almost immediately they will blurt out NYC at the top of their list. Boston and Chicago will be right up there as well and then LA.  I've done all of them, none recently and hope to never have to drive a tractor trailer rig in any of those towns ever again. 

Okay well, done with lunch, time to pack my things and get out of here. 

 5:00 am. 

Fell asleep yesterday at 5:30 pm and didn't wake up until midnight. Fell asleep again and woke up around 2:30am. Decided to get up and read a bit to trick myself back to sleep. It worked until around 4:00 am and that was the end of sleeping.  Sounds like a lot but my whole internal clock is out of sync and I'm feeling it. 

The realities of this trip are starting to settle in.  Junk trucks, various mechanical issues being the top complaint both I and the other driver have.  The one I drove yesterday wouldn't shift into gear without completely grinding and clunking it in.  One of the front brakes was making a horrid noise, metal on metal sound as if the brake linings are completely wore down. On both trucks I have driven, the Quaalcomms aren't working meaning I have to do a paper log.  

Federal regulations limit it to 7 days per month a driver using paper logs as I understand it.  

I'm happy to be in a hotel, but I sleep better in my truck.  We are also not assigned a truck, in fact, no one there is unless you are an owner operater and have your own truck.  That's troublesome.  I don't do slip seating and if I had known that that was the situation here I would have rethought my decision and said so. I should make a list of things for the "next" time they ask me and if they can't answer the questions, the answer will be no.  But, the manager just goes through the list of drivers he thinks would fit in well enough and if they say no, apparently they can, he moves on.  I might be doing them a big favor, but I'm not doing myself any favors besides the guaranteed minimum pay per day, which they almost 100% likely will screw up and I'll have to force the issue.  

I'd have to say that if this ever happens again, I'm not going unless I'm going in my own truck or they can guarantee me that there is a truck that will assigned to me while I'm there to drive that is in good operating condition.  How this company making as much money as they are can't keep their equipment in good shape is unfathomable. Think about it. They flew two of us up here. They put us both up at motels.  They are giving us $40 per day allowance for food. They are giving us a $300 per day guaranteed wage - which is good because that would be another sticking point.  We are getting all of this, you know they are making excellent money on this account, why aren't they at least as interested in keeping their equipment in good working order?

That's a good way to piss drivers off.  Apparently they do this "all the time" as it has been related, pulling drivers from all over the place because they can't keep any local drivers happy. Well no duhhh.  

Anyone that has been driving for any length of time know that this little game they are playing here is bs.  I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and toughing this out. 

And now being shipped down to Connecticut - near New York, not far from Boston, who knows what hellish conditions may be found down there?  I'm doing one trip up here today, coming back to the hotel, getting my stuff and driving 250 or so miles down there to face what, I have zero idea. After 7 days I'm asking to go home.  I was going to stay 2 weeks but I doubt I'll be able to handle it without getting thoroughly pissed off, these people don't have their acts together and it shows, glaringly, more so than looking directly into the sun. 

With that, I'm off to the yard to see if there even is a truck available to take out this morning.  

G'day.