Today the gm finally got back to me.  He was supposed to do this middle of next week. I received his call over in Tyler, TX at another of our company's locations where I was picking up pipe - had to leave the yard at 6 am.  Anyway, he gave me the same jibberish he did before, so I got a bit more - in your face - with him after it became glaringly obvious that he was excusing his way out of giving a raise by saying that it appears that we may be coming back into good times in a month or two and that our hours would likely go back, and then, he tried to explain, how would I explain that to the company?  Ummm, the same way my gm in Phoenix did when we had a huge project start up and we were working 12 hours a day?  The base pay shouldn't be based on whether you "might" end up with 50 hours per week somewhere down the line.  

I made my points but it became apparent that it was a futile effort.  I simply told him I know what I'm worth and it's a lot more than what you are paying me.  I have numerous job offers, nothing I really want to do - OTR trucking - but they are there.  Well, he replies, I really don't want to lose you.  It means we will have to start all over again (with a new hire, training the person to do the job and learning the product, which takes quite some time).  Yup, I thought, but you aren't willing to up the ante at all.  I then posed the question of what the company would do if the other two drivers also were going to find greener pastures (my buddy already told him that he was looking for a new job and I don't really care about the rehired dude, he's a player)?  The phone went very silent.

Yeah, go ahead and get your temp drivers and see how that works out.  Whatever the case, the rehired dude showed up at 7 this morning - I was told that  he was supposed to come in at 8 last week.  They sent me home at 2 but kept him there. My co-driver said they had sent him out in the semi at 4 pm.  Oh really?  That was the only thing the gm agreed with today, no one should be getting more OT hours than anyone else.  

Whatever.  I'm pretty sick of the whole thing.  I have a couple of leads on a few local jobs - but then again so does everyone else around here.  Still, I applied at them anyway.  The worst decisions I have made in my entire life are culminating in a perfect storm of hell on earth for me.  Moving out here to marry - giving up a good paying position with quite a lot of security and a lot of free time to do whatever I wanted.  Transferring over here for far less wages than I was making in Phoenix.  Finding out when I started working here that the temperament of many of the "old-timers" working here is quite dinosauric.  Anger and tempers, people more than willing to throw each other under the bus.

Now I have to make a decision and I can't say it's easy.  I'm just not enthralled with the idea of OTR driving.  I'm just not.  I've got jobs lined up that I could take my dog which would make the day go by easier, but I have no idea if that dog  is even going to be able to handle that kind of lifestyle.  And then what?  

Well, whatever.  Gotta get out of this bedroom and hang out with some people, this stuff can get depressing.