So, now the nation - in big metropolitan areas anyway - is in chaos, violence running rampant, a mayor that decided to leave an entire precinct abandoned of any LEO and the ensuing looting, violence and chaos.

Meanwhile, the virus lockdowns are still engaged. Loosening up still existent.

What does this spell out for the nation?  IMO, permanent joblessness for millions of Americans who were gainfully employed before either of these 2 scenarios unfolded and ensuing poverty.  If businesses are shut down permanently, who is going to employ these tens of millions of people? Probably not all of those businesses are permanently shuttered, but enough reports of swaths of small business and even larger corporations shuttering their doors forever is a gruesome prospect.

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Boat.  Called them, they said they took a "peak".  Said putting on automotive plugs and wires was wrong and that they don't work with the kind of setup the motor has.  Ok, I didn't put them on there but I get what they're saying. Boat wires are apparently made of different material internally to carry the spark better.  They ordered a whole new set of wires and plugs and then said it is taking up to 28 days to receive parts because of the virus.

The virus, the virus, the virus. I am sooo sick of this virus nonsense.  Everywhere you turn, you find something affected by it.  Hurry up and wait on the boat.  But they only ran the engine with a water hose, I want them to put the motor under load, which I assume they will and see how it does. Under load meaning in a pool of water to see how it does with the backpressure.  At least the motor has good compression.

Work.
Other drivers are starting to get hot under the collar with how loads are getting handed out with this new manager.  It is true that one of the temporary drivers is getting mostly Brownsville runs with a few Oklahoma's mixed in.  It's always this way when they bring in an outside driver.  They get the gravy runs and everyone else is still stuck with the garbage runs that no one wants.  Mostly because of the pay.  The company doesn't force them to learn how to unload the trailers so they just get a pass.  That driver will probably become permanent and then what.  Well, if history is any indicator, it will be years before they force him to spend the half hour to hour it takes to learn how to unload the thing.

The other driver who claimed he would only take high paying loads was shut down by the manager, now that I heard the full story.  "You are mistaken if you think you're only getting the good runs".  But, the manager can be over-ridden by his manager, of whom this driver is friends with.  The real story? Who knows.

Another driver - who is currently "Texas only" per some problem with his driver license, is also getting a dose of reality.  He got his way for years - taking the good runs and shunning the bad stuff.  That was with the previous manager who kept saying he wasn't getting preferential treatment, but everyone knew the truth, she could lie all she wanted, that didn't change the fact he was always on the road, 90% gravy runs, rarely in the yard waiting.  Now, he's 3 and 4 days in between runs, not getting the Brownsville run that he always does when he wants it.  He used to be able to pick and choose which runs he would get. And he's complaining bitterly about it.

Welcome to the rest of us real life in that company.  That driver hasn't even been there as long as several other drivers who were getting the shaft in getting more undesirable runs than good.

And then, the revelation came out 2 days ago that yet another driver had told the interim manager - the manager they put in charge after ours was let go and before this new guy showed up - that he has asthma and "higher risk" and didn't want to do anything but Brownsvlle and Oklahoma runs.  Mostly Brownsville.  His close friends - 2 other drivers there that have known each other a long time and go way back - didn't know he had this arrangement until one of them somehow found out about it.  The further revelation came out that this driver? Is a chain smoker.

I see this stuff, shake my head and say nothing to the new manager about it. He's already gotten a bit hot under the collar with other drivers saying things to him about how the runs are being handed out, I'm not going to get involved with that, at least not for now.  Another driver was fired last week.  The story was her truck smells bad.  Lol, that's not why she was fired. She takes twice as long or longer to do the same amount of driving as most anyone else. She doesn't arrive to appointments on time.  She holds up the customer and they get upset.  She was going to retire this year, but she only had until November I think before she would have jumped up into the highest slot for SS payments you can get.  It's unfortunate for her, but she did nothing to remediate the problem.  She stops everywhere, she takes 14, 15, 16 hour breaks when her 10 hours is up.  I feel bad for her that she got axed just before she was going to retire, that's all I can say about it.

Anyway, the reason I'm not saying anything to him is because good jobs are not easy to find right now.  All of these drivers complaining could have it a lot worse if they were driving elsewhere, or worse, no job at all and attempting to find one.  These people either don't realize this or are turning  a blind eye. We are still making decent money, some paychecks are kind of lean, others not so bad.  The virus is shutting down the economy, the fact that we're still semi-busy at all is wonderful news for me.

With that, I'm headed to Decatur, Alabama tomorrow.  The load time is 6:00 am?  Meaning I have to be there at 5:45 am.  I dunno what's up with that, first load never starts that early. Perhaps they have more loads and have to start earlier?  I dunno, but I'm not getting up at 3: 30 am to get started with the day.  This afternoon, I'm finally getting a haircut after almost 3 months of not having one, in the town where the yard is, and then I'm just going over there to spend the night.  I mean, starting that early is not necessary for that run,  the only requirement is to make it to the town where the plant is that same day and then go the next morning and unload and drive back. So, I'll arrive tomorrow afternoon and have to wait something like 14 hours for  unload time.

I dunno, but I already have the truck hooked up to that trailer, which is a plus. hooking up at night time isn't much fun, especially early in the morning when you're already tired and don't want to have to deal with it and triple checking everything because you are tired and you don't want any mistakes. The worst of which is having an improperly coupled trailer and having it fall off the truck when you start pulling out.  2-1/2 hours from now 4 of us headed to a hair stylist to get our hair done, when I'm done there I'm just going to go get a nice steak dinner, head to the yard and relax for the night.  Or, I guess I could just go with them and come back and leave later.  I dunno, guess I'll make that decision when we're leaving.

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What was this morning. We actually did end up driving to Longview to get hair cut/trimmed. I had half a ton of hair - 3 or even 4 months worth of it - removed from my head.  Felt really good to get that off of me, it was getting annoying and it was getting quite hot.  My hair is thick, it holds heat in.

After that we all met at Bubba's 33 - the babysitter drove from the other town with the boys as well.  Welp, the 5 year old is extremely attached to me for unknown reasons and decided he was going to sit next to me the entire time.  We had to get 2 tables because of the ongoing coronavirus restrictions they still have in place anywhere.  The table we sat down at before the rest got there - Taylor and I were there first - was huge and big enough for everyone.  The place was busy and it is a wonder how they believe that a virus isn't going to spread because - we aren't all sitting at the same table? 

Staff all forced to wear masks, I can't imagine how uncomfortable that must get wearing one for that length of time. I wear a mask here and there, depending on where I'm at and what I'm doing. 

Oh, I'm at the yard.  I finally decided that going home and getting up an hour and a half early with such an early load wasn't going to cut it. So I came to the truck, got it fired up and cooled down - it is quite warm here today.  I would have liked more to stay home tonight with my doggies, but they'll survive and I'll be better off without being dead -tired tomorrow.  Even being here and shaving off alot of time I'm still going to have to go to bed in 45 minutes to get a good night's rest.  It's only 8:00 pm lol.