Sunday, October 15, 2023

 Sunday  mid-morning

Been up for quite a while, actually, getting stuff done.  I'm on my last day of freedom before the grind of daily working comes to pass. I can tell right off the dispatcher is going to be a problem.  She came right off as all the host of other trucking dispatchers that don't care about your personal life, you will drive the truck and that will be that.  I don't want to clash with anyone, but I feel like she is going to want me working 7 days a week in perpetuity and that isn't going to happen. I could see possibly working a weekend here and there, but I am not working 7 days a week. They don't even force you to do that in long haul trucking.  

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Went to church, over to the park to confirm the 2 night stay had left - which they hadn't. I have a long term coming in today, so that kind of got me going.  Went straight home, pulled up their phone number and called them.  This is the RV Park, what time were y'all planning on leaving today?  He replied he is at the entrance to the driveway and will be hooking up and leaving immediately, he and his wife had gone to breakfast with their student they have at one of the local colleges and were just now returning.

Ok, I thought, breathing a huge sigh of relief. My long term is coming in at 3:00 it was only 12:30, so we're good.  I said no problem then, I have someone coming in at 3:00 so I was getting a little concerned.  I don't have any other empty lots and won't have until tomorrow, unless the other QuickTrip worker is staying. He's due to pay his rent today but he's not home.  I saw him a few days ago, seeing that guy is pretty sporadic.  

I turned the battery charger off this morning to the truck and now, 6 hours later, fired it up.  A little sluggish but that's the way it was when I first got into it in Oregon.  An interior light was left on - the kids got into the thing a week ago and turned the lights on, unbeknownst to me and left them on after they got out.  I saw one of them and turned that off, but yesterday I noticed yet another one on.  Any lights left on in a vehicle, obviously, will eventually wear the battery/ies down.  

I only say all of that because at 6:00 am tomorrow, I will be leaving out of here for the yard in Arkansas. I don't want to be having to fool with jumper cables, battery charger and hoping I can get the thing to fire up.  Presumably, I'm meeting the manager and the dispatcher, hopefully getting some things fixed on the truck, pickup up a trailer, coming home and then loading in Lufkin, I believe it was.  Lufkin is something like an hour and a half from here, so a 10:00 load time is pretty easy.  Come back here, leave the next morning at whatever time I will need to leave to go up somewhere in Arkansas and deliver, then back here, down to Lufkin, etc.  

Then, I will be put on another dedicated run that is similar but is more miles, I believe.  I dunno, but I'm both ready to get started with this and at the same time, ready to just stay home and deal with my park, lmao.  No worries, I'm sure I'll get with the program and get into this situation as much as I can, but I can foresee butting heads about weekend work.  Need not go into that again, I'll deal with it as best as I can without getting myself fired.  Tho, if they express to me that they expect me to work on weekends in contradiction to what the recruiter said, I will be looking for another job.  And good luck to them finding someone like me that is willing to take lessor pay for the home time.  

It's a good problem to have in having a full park and trying to keep it that way. The family backed out, I know because I called them this morning.  I would have had to cancel a man that wanted to come in today if this family was actually coming, but I had this feeling they were not going to follow through.  I texted them twice last night with no reply.  I called them an hour ago and they said no, it's too far away.  It pissed me off, actually, because I was going to cancel the other person coming in, I had to leave them on hold while I figured this out.  

THIS is why many RV parks require a deposit to hold a lot, a non-refundable deposit and I'm thinking of doing the same thing now.  This lady tried to tell me she "had just now seen my texts from last night". BS and in a pig's eye.  You just now saw texts sent over 15 hours ago?  Please.  I would have lost this other person's business and he has been in the park before. He has a nice looking trailer, he's quiet, doesn't bother anyone, perfect type of people to have in there.  I think the reason this lady "changed" her mind is because I was asking for the condition of the trailer. I forgot to ask when she first called but once I remember it, I wasn't leaving it to chance.  It may very well be they have a trashy looking trailer and that is what really got them to just blow me off.  

I could have directed them to the trailer trash parks nearby if they so needed.  

So, just checking the camera, the 2 nighters just left and this other guy is coming in in about an hour and 15 minutes.  This keeps my park full. Tomorrow, the 3 nighters are leaving and then that lot will be empty.  So currently, just the quik trip dude. I will be going over later to see if he's home again.  I can't see his lot from the camera and I really need to get about 4 more cameras over there to be able to see everything.   

I'm seeing several days of rain next week after this one coming.  Like, if it were true, I could put down the grass seed. It's amazing that there are several patches of rye grass coming up around the place. I put down far too much seed last year, some of it must have gotten into the dirt and waiting for cool temps to come back out?  Rye grass doesn't come back such as Bermuda, it has to be replanted every year. Hence, pain in the butt but the seed is far less expensive than any variety of summer grasses. The price went up, but not that much on the rye grass. $39 instead of the $35 I was paying last year. That's at a local mom and pop feed store, everywhere else is much higher.  

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Phone call.  Hey, I'm here at the park but lot 1 is taken!  I look through the camera, who on earth pulled in there? The 2 nighters were already gone, I verified that earlier.  Ugh. I replied I'd be over there in 10 minutes to find out who is doing what there, cause' there isn't anyone else slated to come in today.  Well, lot 2 is open! he says. Ohhhh, ok, the dude at lot 2 moved to lot 1.  We're all good, you can take lot 2 and you won't have to move again.  

Went over there, grabbed my month's rent from him and then lot 1 wanted to get into this long, unbelievable conversation.  I mean, seriously.  Dude.  I finally said I need to go.  It's Sunday afternoon and I have stuff to do. Yup, I up and left lol.  

The QuikTrip dude wasn't home, as usual. Hit and miss with him, I'll keep going over there until I see him.  Actually,  he has until tomorrow noon to either pay or leave.  But if he intends on staying, it's not like he's going to call me or anything.  He'll just stay there until I finally get a hold of him.  

Well, enough of this.  I'm going to relax for a while and then go out and check to see if the truck is going to start.  I kind of think it will now that the lights are off in the thing.  Make some lunch for tomorrow ot take with me and get my computer in the truck - I will be taking the laptop with me in case there is something that needs to be dealt with for the park. There is no smart phone app for the software.















 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...