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.  

I have been checking my company email for any kind of reply from the gm since he hasn't called me, though he texted the other driver asking him to call him.  Finally saw it in there - after work.  So no, the conversation hasn't been had yet but I fully expect to go there today and get this over with one way or the other.

No idea where that is going to go, but I'm going to be pretty open about my feelings about the pay this is a dealbreaker for me.  At the same time, I worked 87 hours last pay period and my net pay was down about $200 instead of the projected $500.  The reason is I got the 7 extra hours of OT and the taxation is probably the biggest difference.

As suspected, the fired/rehired driver has no plans of staying there long.  He was lamenting yestesrday about the fact that he's broke, is 56 years old and wants to go back overseas and engage in  the high paying truck driving jobs that earn over 100k per year. Of course, there is a potential price to pay for that pay: your life.  He is ex military and spent quite a lot of time after the military over there driving trucks for unbelievably high wages but the threat of being ambushed and killed is very real.  I don't find that kind of risk just for money to be worth it.

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Well, I can only move on with my plans to find a new place to work.  I tried to call the GM today and he is out.  He never replied to my email yesterday or today. I don't consider that a very good boss.  He committed to making a decision by mid-week and instead just blew it off.  No biggies. I have been writing down names on sides of day cabs all day long and have started checking into those.  One nearby but not currently hiring, another in a town 150 miles from here and another in Dallas - neither of which are doable on a home daily basis.  Still 5 more to look into, but it's the weekend now, no hurry. Wouldn't hear back fron any employer until Monday at the earliest anyway.

Meanwhile, the warehouse manager just called and told me I need to come in at - 6am on Monday and drive to Tyler for a load of pipe at our branch there.  Nice way to start the week, actually, as there is nothing to load onto the truck, just get in and drive. Probably around 4 hour round trip, yeah, just getting up earlier than normal on a Monday, but still, maybe I'll get off early and take a nap when I get home.

The weekend.  Nothing fancy planned here.  It's raining and I have no idea how long that's going to continue.  Well I checked, it's supposed to be clear tomorrow.  Maybe I'll take that 4 wheeler out somewhere if I can get use of the pickup and ride it for a while.

I guess what I've never understood are companies of which you are loyal to who do not return the favor.  When the times called for kicking @$$, you pump it out for them and your work ends up making them a lot of money.

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Not unusual for me to start an entry and then stop and start again.  In fact, I have a few that went on 5 times doing that. Regardless, unending internet searches - where most of the CDL jobs are posted regardless of size of company - found a place that I had looking into before.  They are now hiring and it was a fresh posting. I have applied as of just a few minutes ago, yes.  It's a local job - though an hour drive away - home every day and off weekends.  Pay is good and benefits are good.  Of course, I could already be too late with my application for the numbers of drivers looking for local jobs in this area, but I had to try.

The new manager yesterday came up to me, told me he needed to talk to me and started lecturing me on the use of one of our forklifts that has long forks on it. I just couldn't take it.  I just couldn't stand there with my mouth shut. Yes, I know all about this, I have been operating forklifts for 30 years.  The problem is due to a certain individual that has no competency in forklift operation and does much destruction with it.  But, the new manager is a total jerkoff. Literally.  I countered his every point for I am tired of his bs.  Okay, well I'm telling everyone this.  Yes, I thought, you could go about in a much different approach and you wouldn't come off as obnoxious, but I kept that to myself.

Then we went inside.  Well, where is this ticket?  He asks me.  I don't know.  I bring all the tickets straight into Kat's office and drop them in the basket.  It's automatic, I do this every single time.  Warehouse manager back me up on that one - yeah, he goes straight to her office every single time after he gets back to the yard.  The issue is not on my end.  The issue is Kat gets piles of tickets - huge piles of them - and they sometimes get lost and not processed.

He smiled at me - the new manager that is - okay, this isn't on you. I immediately got out of there. Biting my tongue too much will cause it to bleed.  This crass behavior by this individual isn't likely to ever change.