Done with this company.  Every trailer I pick up has issues with it.  They are notified of the issues and they aren't dealt with.  ABS light, a bald or half flat tire, wheel damage from dragging tandems over curbs on full weight, etc.  Tell the lead mechanic about an issue with a trailer and he just looks at you funny.  WTH.

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Yesterday.  I roll into Lufkin at 1:15 pm. Contact my dispatcher via text.  They want us to let them know when we arrive and when we leave.  I guess a few hours later I texted him again.  And then again. And again. No reply to any of it.  I was there 4 plus hours to get unloaded, even though I was there before the appointment time.

With no response from the dispatcher and him not answering his phone, either, I went the Love's 2 miles up the road to get fuel.  20 minutes to get any dispatcher to answer the phone on numerous phone calls.  Finally, okay, well I need the fuel card turned on and btw? Jay isn't answer his phone or replying to text messages, what am I supposed to do next?  Long interval.  This lady didn't know, she contacted the dispatcher who talked to the manager and they said I could spend the night at home.  Okay.  She said, then after that, maybe have you get a load in Mount Pleasant (maybe 70 minute drive from here) to deliver on Monday.  Fine by me.

So, I go home.  This morning, I wake up around 6:41 am.  I'm not calling them again, this time, they can respond to either my text messages or they can call me.  We aren't going to continue to play this game.  Nothing.  I went about my business, bank, cell phone shop, fire department to try and get a burn permit.  Permits not available because there is a burn ban - though it's been raining on and off all week.  Whatever.  Can I send a request through the mail? No.  Well this is my only day off, can I just get the permit and I won't do anything until the ban is lifted? No.  Fine, I"ll just burn the leaves when the ban is lifted and y'all can do whatever you want.

It's 2:30 pm. I went to Applebee's to get their lunch special. Not bad, got a club sandwich.  Finally, I get a text from a dispatcher who says he is helping my dispatcher (who is obviously overloaded with too many drivers and can't keep up with all of it, especially after telling me this week he gets 300 text messages a day and as many phone calls - how can anyone deal with all of that? Answer and obvious: he can't).  So this dude Chris is telling me to roll up to Mount Pleasant today, get loaded and deliver on Sunday? lolololol.

I wrote him back a lengthy text message right away. No thanks, I am refusing this load. This company promised me weekends off. I worked 6 straight days last week until 9:00 pm Saturday night.  You are contacting me 21 HOURS after I contacted y'all?  And you think I'm workiing on the weekend?  No. If this company has an issue with this, please have Douglass ( the owner of the company and the person who initially made the promises followed by the recruiter who backed it up) call me.  The truck is parked and I have no intention of getting back into it until Monday morning.

Guess what? It's almost an hour and a half later and no reply. Shocking!  I'll quit the company even if I don't have another job secured before I cave into this bs.  We had an agreement, it's obviously not even being considered - at all - and I'm done with it.  This is the way trucking companies used to be when I was last in this game.  I had no idea that this was still going on. I have all of this stuff on my Iphone - the texts and a log of when I called.  I mean, this dispatcher told me yesterday that I would load today and take it in Monday and then they come back and change that plan and think I'm working on a Sunday?!!!

Ha!!  Good luck with that.  I'll be happy to take that truck back to their yard, park it and get my last paycheck on Monday if it comes down to it.  They are growing the number of trucks and drivers the have long before they have the office structure in place to deal with it. And they want to double the number of trucks they have by this time next year?  To further this, I have been talking with other drivers as I encounter them from this company. Lies.  All of them have been made promises the company didn't keep.  And then the mechanical issues, an old truck that smells like an ashtray and the situation with them having me drive over 600 miles with a huge air leak.

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3 hours later, I texted this dude back again.  "So I don't get any kind of reply from anyone. Classic".
This dude Chris finally replies: "This is Chris. I have forwarded all these messages to Jay".  What hoopdee doo.  Forward them to the owner of the company, a manager, someone that is actually going to see it and - make a determination one way or the other.  I don't even care what happens at this point.  Just another lying trucking company, promise the world, deliver you a sewage treatment plant.

Meanwhile, I got a call back from Ann at the other place.  Truck will be there tomorrow to get the brakes fixed. After the mechanic is done fixing it, that truck will be available to use for a driving test. Wish me luck.  Though I'm driving every day, lol.  You never know, tho, what nuances a trucking company wants to see when you are driving and I am going to spend a few minutes refreshing myself on hazmat driving. Stop at all railroad crossings of course, but there may be other things I don't even know about. It's on the net, I'm sure of it.