Okay. So today's revelations.
They are loading trucks out of railcars. This isn't surprising to me, just been a while since this has occurred and had forgotten about it.
The problem? I'm not getting any of those rail car loads. However, that only lasts so long, they might have 2 cars out there and that's about 7 loads, I am assuming - right or wrong who knows - that they would have run out today of the product in those cars.
The real problem is that the dispatcher lied to me. She said the plant was shut down and they weren't loading until Saturday. That was completely false and SHE is the one handing out the loads so she KNEW what she was saying is completely false.
The conundrum: Do I call her out on it? Contact my manager and call her out on it? My manager, however, would have known about it too - but he may not know what she told me. It's all in writing, it's all text messaging, this is why I prefer to "talk" to dispatch through texts. You can deny you said something with your mouth, you cannot deny you said something in writing with your fingers.
The conclusion? I'm going to let it go - for now. If I don't get a good run on Saturday, then all hell is going to break loose. It's going to be - she said this, this is reality. On several fronts. And the fact that I've had nothing but Oklahoma runs excepting today for the last 10 days. Today was a run to Baytown to pick up an empty trailer. They did a pressure test on it, required every 5 years per federal law. The pressure was down to zero - they pump all of the product out of it and fill it up with Nitrogen - inert and won't blow up on you. Then empty that out and you have a clean trailer that you can now pressurize with air and search for leaks anywhere.
For whatever reason, they left the caps off of the hose fittings. That is a big-time no-no and I had to wonder if they were trying to catch me in something here? Or just forgot? How do you forget to do something that is part of your job, that you would have had to have inspected by someone else at the end? The kicker: it's got a camera pointed directly at it, surveillance camera.
Surveillance camera or not, I would have - and did - put the caps back on and beat them tight with a brass hammer. Regardless that there's no product in there, that's what you are required to do. I think there's something afoot here - it's a typical trucking company and they do things that try to ensnare drivers. I mean, it's a right to work state so they could fire me at any time - but - you know how that goes. There is still the possibility of lawsuits, companies would rather find excuses to get rid of you.
I don't know if that's what's going on, but my mind always goes down every conceivable path that I can think of in attempting to analyze situations and come to rational conclusions as to why things are going as they are. Now, I'm not the only one, however, that they have dumped endless Oklahoma runs on - which is my other beef. I was talking with a driver the other day who said they gave him 8 consecutive Oklahoma runs before he finally said something. Normally, you work 6 days you are getting a healthy paycheck. You do that with Oklahoma runs and you are not getting a healthy paycheck.
Note that my guesses are just that: guesses. It could be just an inept dispatcher that has no clue what she's doing - which she clearly doesn't - and only reacts to when anyone says anything to her. I've got a lot of competition in that arena. Some drivers are calling her every single day - where is my next load or when is my next load? Or texting her the same. Or complaining about every single little thing - something I refuse to do, we are all big boys, we should be able to deal with whatever comes up without freaking out, having conniption fits and sounding like little babies.
My manager clearly despises some drivers who call him every single day bit***** about everything. He's pretty open with me - whenever I actually see him which isn't often - because I have no intentions of clouding up his day even more with useless, petty stuff that I can handle on my own.
But again, if I am sent another Oklahoma load, my attention will be going straight to my manager and I will let him know in no uncertain terms what I think about certain people getting gravy runs all the time and me getting - some gravy and a lot of non-gravy. My checks are all that matter to me - I'm working to earn money, it's not a charity. The company makes GOBS of money off of hazmat, they aren't going broke, at least not with our division. It only leaves a lot of this to either the "sqeaky wheel" or favoritism. From what I have seen and heard over the last - very long period of time - it's the squeaky wheel. My wheel is about to squeak.
Tomorrow is a day off and we have it planned. City sent me a code violation on one of the properties - it's "over grown with weeds and grass". That would be legitimate if it weren't for the fact that half the city - literally half the city if not more - is overgrown with weeds and grass. And forest - unkempt, non-maintained forest filled with weeds, brush and Lord knows what else. It's an old city, the residential areas aren't growing. A new house here and there - very rare - mostly it's blight in certain neighborhoods that they do nothing about.
Never-the-less, instead of fighting with the city, I just acquired a lawn care company to go out there and cut down all the tall weeds and cut all of the grass. Get it ALL out of there. I also am putting it up for sale - cheap. Like, 4 grand instead of the 6 to 8 grand people are asking for for similar sized properties in the town. My realtor who has been through hell with me in this property acquisition nightmare is gladly taking on the project. I told her I would give her a thousand dollars to sell the property - it's FAR beyond their regular commission. I hope it sells, she deserves something beyond the nothing she's gotten with me attempting to acquire all of these properties. We are hopeful this current one goes through and I can at least get that part behind me. The rest is all about money, time and labor. It will be what it will be.
I'm not trying to make huge profit. It's going for 4 grand, which is far less than anything else being offered. It will be a test. I will have to pay her the grand, whatever the title company costs and hopefully I don't have to pay for a survey, we'll see about that. 2 sides of it are street and the back is a creek. The only questionable part would be the east east side. I can't remember if there is a fence there or not, I haven't looked at it in a long time. I will be going tomorrow - it's not far lol, nothing in this town is far by any stretch of the imagination. Just not going today, it's dark and I'm going to bed soon enough. The test will be to see if there is any buyers and if there is any profit to be made in this kind of endeavor. These properties are sold cheap at every single auction and most of them do not sell. The ones that do sell, the buyers list them for far more than any of it's worth.
This area is not prime real estate. The sellers think it is - and those properties sit there forever. Let me short change all of them, sell them for a grand or 2 profit and keep buying them. I have 2 others I can sell if this one goes that route. My vision of putting cheap housing on those properties was nixed by the city. People do put up these "lean to" houses - they are small and the undoubtedly don't cost much. It's the only thing I've seen new being put up around the city for new housing. Not much of it, but perhaps there is a market for cheap property to put them up on. I don't have the money to put up houses all over the place and rent them or sell them. Just not in the cards for me, y'all know my plans and this type of thing isn't it.
Still, it is an intriguing idea to sell property cheap if there are buyers. Most people don't know about tax lien auctions and it can stay that way. Even if people know about it, they have to have the cash to buy them and they have to cash - then and there when they have the winning bid - and Texas state law confronts the people that bid and don't pay right away - I mean as soon as the auction is over - with a 20% fine of the amount the auction sold for. If you think Texas ain't getting it's money, think again lmao.
Anyway, I am not fighting with the city about it because they have this stipulation about the property being under X amount of square feet to mandate this type of upkeep. The rest of these properties get away with it because it's - over the small size limit. Makes absolutely ZERO sense for undeveloped property - which the city is full of. I could take video down the streets and show you land in the city limits - LOTS OF LAND - that is undeveloped and not maintained at all. That property I have over by the railroad tracks is also small enough to fit the city's rules and it would cost me either a lot of my time or a lot of money to clean that lot out. It is very small. I have a new chainsaw, it would get it's use on that property is what I will say about that. I ain't spending hundreds of dollars to clean up that land if the city finds out about it. Better off laying low, just comply with this thing and not start a needless battle. Keep track of my expenses and keep adding that to the sales price.
The guy want's $140 to clean up the property. He will easily spend half a day out there doing that, so I said yes. Well, if you want us to haul off the limbs and stuff, it's going to cost more. Nope, just pile it up in the middle of the lot and I will burn it. That IS legal in this town, albeit I have to get a permit to do so for $20. Or if it's not too much, load it up on my trailer and haul it to the dump.
Oh! Guess how long I have to get this done? I JUST got this notice today. You think a month, right? At least 30 days? No, I have til the THIRD OF NEXT MONTH before this person goes out there again to inspect it. Unbelievable. This is the FIRST notice I have received about this property and I get all of a WEEK to clean it up! Not even the City of Phoenix is that brutal. Still, I will pick my battles and this isn't one worth fighting. It's not that much money, the realtor will be out there after they clean it up and take pics, post a sign FOR SALE out front, list it on the Realtor MLS and it will show up on all the land searches and all the city searches. There is a creek running through the back of the property, I wonder if that's some kind of appeal for anyone? I doubt there's fish in it tho, lol, a small creek.
Tomorrow I will be calling a title agency to see about getting the title cleaned up on it and see if there are any problems. Whatever it costs, it has to be done.
This will be an ongoing story - albeit one I didn't want to have to deal with at the moment, I have other things on my mind. The property was cheap, a few bucks spent on cleaning it up isn't going to hurt my feelings and whatever it costs for the title agency - who knows.
And yes, I went by the property today. Lol. Nope, the surveyors haven't been there. But, was re-examining the property line at the front today. These neighbors are going to lose a chunk of land they apparently think belongs to them. I'm not gleeful about that prospect. I do think if they wanted all of that land all the way up to the driveway, we could make a trade. He gets all of that - property lines redrawn and legal fees at his expense - and I get some of his wooded property at the back. I really can't wait until the survey is done, if it is what the appraisal map shows it is, there is a deal that can be had here if the guy is open to it. Otherwise, I will take my property and do what I intent to do with it.
But all of the property in the rear of his place - all separate tracts but all in his name - is very desirable and could enhance my investment. He could retain his garage and other stuff out there and we can call it good. I'm not looking for land wars, I'm looking for land deals. He's doing nothing with that property and I think it could be a good tradeoff. But that's my thinking, I dunno what he might think.
Anyway, now I have another thing to add to an already crowded plate. Ces't la vie.
Tomorrow will be a full day. Go to that property, take pics of what I want done per the guy's request, send it to him and then go to the storage lot, get the boat hooked up to the SUV and then we are going to Longview. Drop the boat off - I want the damned thing fixed once and for all, go to a store over there that has her crack - she calls it crack, it's Monster juice, a specific brand that is hard to find and the only kind she likes but has to have every day, pretty much like a coffee addict type of thing - then off to the Home Depot for a part for my waterfall filter. I ordered the part and then realized it's coming from china. Yea, no thanks, I don't want anything directly - or indirectly for that matter but that's near impossible nowadays - and it takes weeks to arrive. Just that our town had nothing at the Lowe's to do what I need to be done. I want the big fish out of the aquarium and into the pond. I will take my AR 15 with me in case we have time to get a new sight for it and get some practice and real ammo for it. After that I assume we will be eating lunch over there.
Did I say the kids are still gone? Yes and we are all loving it. The peace and quiet around here is amazing! I love the kids don't get me wrong, but a decent break from all of that is well needed and appreciated. It also means we can go out during the day and do whatever without having to think about taking the kids with us or finding someone to watch them. So that's tomorrow.
Addler has settled down. I'm not sure I want my dogs over at Maria's again. It's nice of her to take care of them, but all 3 dogs that went over there were not right when they came back. Aspyn finally ate after 3 DAYS of not eating. She didn't eat that much but geeze. I think it was the stress of 5 dogs and a lot of barking going on that threw them out of their normal personalities and eating. Sleeping has been on the minds of both of my dogs and Taylor's dog since they came back. It's really good to see Addler back to normal, he was worrying me the first two days. I didn't even think this would be an issue, he has been subjected to going back and forth between properties in the past, tho it's been a while. Maybe he thought I was leaving him there permanently? I dunno, but his sweet, loving personality is back and I am thankful for that.
This post waxes long. More I could go into, but I think this is enough for one post.
G'nite.
