The itch got me.  Gotta check out Caddo State Park.  Map showed trails and only $3 per person fee to get in. I figured 2 hours would be good. Well, they have cabins and shelters and all kinds of interesting stuff going on over there - something to think about for the future but right now? Just want to go hiking.

17 miles one way, can't complain about that.  The drive there was interesting as it stands.  A narrow, 2 lane highway I hadn't been on going out of this town straight to the Park.  Joey Ranch - a rodeo was going on and all kinds of traffic going in there.  Big arena but well off the road and the thing you really saw was a bunch of RV's.  A Baptist church having a revival - the sign said so anyway. Small church for such a large gathering - at least 100 cars parked everywhere including alongside the highway.

A hunting club.  Carlisle Hunting Club the sign had on it over an entrance to a dirt road.  Hmm, might have to check that out.  A mobile home park much further out.  70's era, aluminum built single wide homes.  Place over grown with grass and weeds. Looked hideous.  I've had thoughts of doing something like that - but please, let's keep the property maintained.  And fresh paint on the homes that need them.  Hurts your bottom line.  Yep, well I just don't believe in running a place like that.

Got to the Park entrance, drove up a ways and there was a building with signs saying go into the office cause' honey, you have to pay.  Well they didn't say quite that, but you get the idea.  I don't mind a small entrance fee, I don't really believe that we should have to pay outrageous prices as many of these types of places do that are owned by state or federal government do - since we own it, we pay for it through our taxes and yeah, that kinda pisses me off.  But....they had a sign up about donating $5 because they are underfunded. Gag.

I got up to the cabins and parked.  The trail starts right there.  I had been warned about a trail that was closed because of a bridge that was out.  Well, I got this giant dog on a leash and he's doing good but geeze, there isn't another soul other there, which I thought strange.  Well, until I started getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Figured that one out: keep moving, don't stop.  Note to self: buy mosquito repellent for any future excursions.  Anyway, I eventually took the leash off of Addler and watched in some amount of apprehension what was going to happen next.  The answer was: nothing.  He did take the lead but I didn't care about that, I wanted him in front of me.  Only one incident where we both heard an animal run off and he started to take off after the direction of the noise.

Addler! He stopped, turned around and trotted back.  I've spent some time training this dog on other issues, leash walking wasn't one of them. He was up on that the first day I got him.  He wasn't house trained - he has yet to piss or pee in the house.  The dog is very obedient.  He has a wild side to him but that's fine. He also is very disliking of strangers approaching the fence, that's fine too, that's a dog's job.  Protect.

Well there were no signs on these trails, they just took turns off into random places.  I wondered about getting lost but I just went this and that-a-way and eventually ended up at the - bridge that is out.  Turns out a giant tree had destroyed it - that giant tree fell and was still over the top of that bridge. Okay, well that's nice but the bridge was going over a stream that might have been 2 feet wide at it's widest point. Yeah, we just went around it, through the brush and up the other side.

But, after an hour of this, we were both done.  Addler was breathing heavily and I was tired.  I'm not in the shape I used to be and I am slowly coming around to getting myself back to some semblance of that condition.  I've let life circumstances affect me too greatly. There are no existing excuses, I just gotta get with it.

__________________________________________

And now another weekend gone.  Does it sound like a lame existence where the highlight of a weekend is to go hiking in the wilderness with a dog?  I dunno, I'm not sure it matters to me anymore about things that people think are important.  I've become rather isolated here simply for the fact of the lack of many friends.  I've not connected with much of anyone in the church I am/was going to, though I have tried.  For quite a while I have tried.  Not blaming the church I just think it's time to move on.  I love the preaching and the worship services but that isn't an end all.  I need real relationships and it's simply not happening there.

I guess I'll start looking out here before next weekend.

Well, end this one.  Work comes early, at least on the weeks where I go in at 7.

It finally made sense.
Long ago - in the 80's - I disappeared with a missionary organization into the interior of Mexico.  I didn't ask anyone for permission, didn't think about any consequences, didn't care really.  My thoughts were towards Catholics there that hate Christians and the Mexican army and the policia that toys with white, American citizens to get money out of them.  I still didn't care.  It was a wonderful time, yes it was.  I was there for one purpose: to expand the Kingdom of Heaven.

Years later, my oldest brother made some comments to me about that trip.  Security came to my door (at his home) asking me where you were at.  I don't know, he replies, somewhere in Mexico I heard.  I was focused on the mission field and my mind and heart was all over that.  The idea that it would somehow arbitrarily affect my brother's employment never entered my mind.  I knew nothing about it, didn't know his security status could be affected by it and he didn't bother to tell me.

The security gave him a hard time about it.  He said when it was over, he closed the door and then got drunk.  My oldest brother is a very different type of person, much different than most anyone I have ever met, seen or heard about.  Now I understand that he was facing losing a rather prestigious employment setting.  I really - never knew.  And, I didn't find that out from him.  In fact, he doesn't care about family and wants nothing to do with it. He never has. He has never given me any reason to even think about concerning myself with him or his problems.  He ... doesn't.... care.

I've never given it much consideration.  My mom just told me a while ago that when I announced I was going to Spain, that is why he tried to tell me I couldn't go.  You see, he never identified why I couldn't go and it came through my mom, not him.  Why didn't he call me about this? Ahh yes, who is he to tell me where I can and cannot go. I wasn't just going to visit Spain, I was going to stay there indefinitely with the mission organization. The situation changed and I wasn't sent.  I have always made myself too valuable - unintentionally - to the people I am with or working for.  Even here, where I am living.  The lady of the house has unabashedly told me she would like me to stay here for "years", indefinitely.  I smile, I give no definitive answer.  I like it here, but this isn't my house and though I have a lot of freedom here, it's not my property.  Even that isn't really the problem though, I just have no idea what I am going to do next and I can't just say yes, I'm going to be here forever

Not to mention that something might happen - who knows what but we are humans and s*** happens - to make them want me to leave.  I think of everything I can in any conversation that has potential long-term consequences.  The point is they didn't send me to Spain because I was fixing all of their old vehicles, driving semi's to get donated food, clothing and medical supplies, going to Mexico frequently with semi loads of food, directing the brother's dorm when I was there.

It was a rogue thought tonight.  Oh, now I see it.  They messed with him when I went to Mexico because, I found out from mom last week, if a family member leaves the country, he loses his security clearance and can't work the job he is working.  20 years ago he told me he was putting X amount of money into his 401k plan - a good deal of money I will say.  He was obviously making good money then. He has been promoted since then plus pay raises, he has earned a fortune through that company and his financial adviser told him he could retire now.  He's 57 years old.

AS for me, I am being pulled by my own internals in so many ways.  Do this, do that, do the other thing.  I am, frankly, getting sick of working to do what. Pay bills.  Gag.  I had no debt as a missionary, no bills, I paid nothing to no one.  It's sooo easy to get used to a lifestyle.  Go to work, come home, go to bed, get up, go to work, repeat.  Whereas others have no answers, I've already been there, I know what makes the heart full. Gag.  I'm not confused, I just don't know what direction to take.  I know some things that would help but they aren't anywhere near here.  Take my dog, go up to the mountains alone and seek.  Pray. Hike into the wilderness.  Enjoy God's creation.  No mountains within hundreds of miles of here. Beaches - a little different effect but still.

 I don't know.

It was a bit interesting to read a news article about 10 jobs that will be in demand from now til' 2022.  Many of them had median incomes of -- 19k, 20k, - very lowpaying IMO.  I can't even imagine trying to live off of 20k per year.  Apparently my views of pay are a bit elevated.  But, the starting wages of a truck driver fresh out of driving school is minimum 36k.  And I consider that to be low paying as well.  Though, a whole lot better than 20k.

One thing that is occurring, however, is this 80 hour per pay period deal is not actually happening. Well, it was at first. But I had almost 90 last pay period and up to almost 46 for this last week alone.  What the numbers at our branch do not justify is the amount of labor on the payroll.  Meaning, too many people.  There is just no reason to have that much labor, especially over-dosed on salesmen.  The dude that crashed the truck - he is basically there because they are having mercy on him.  There is no other reason for he does very little work unless it's forklift related.  That's just sitting in a forklift and moving things around.

Whatever the case, it will be mildly amusing to hear the gm call me for my take on it if he even does so.  I've got some carefully thought out words for him.  He's part of the good ole' boys club and that is something he needs to face head-on.  If he can't admit that, then there is no use in have a conversation about others that are also in that club. I've given up hope on the place as it stand, confronting him with the truth isn't really going to be an issue for me.

Well, back to the grind - looking up endless websites for names of trucking companies engaging inthe type of trucking I am looking for.

Long day at work. Seriously.  I am not afraid - at all - of driving in heavy rain. In fact, I'll brave pretty much any weather conditions.  But when it's pouring rain and you are having difficulty seeing anything through the windshield, that takes hyper-concentration and just drains me.  But that's what i did for 8-1/2 hours, I knew when I got back to the yard they would send me home simply for the fact that I have too many hours on the clock. I ended up with 45 for the week.

Now, when I got back, the co-worker approached me and told me that he had been texted by the General Manager who said that Thomas - an inside salesman that's been there maybe a year now - had called him and said that this place was operating in the good ole' boy's club mentality.  Yes, I have been saying that forever. But it takes more than just me saying it to confirm anything. The GM didn't believe me - he called the inside salesmen though to see what they sould say and they told him everything was fine.  Which was a bald-faced lie.

They are yelled at every day, belittled, and in Thomas' words: treated differently.  Yes, we all are that haven't been there for 20 plus years. I've said that in this blog, too, several times over. But, I wasn't making any points with any management over there calling them out on it.  Not sorry, the working envirnoment is horrid and has stagnated at the same - low - level that the new manager brought it down to.  Well, allegedly the gm is going to call everyyone including me to find out what is going on.

Duhhh. What did you expect was going to happen? Instant paradise with a man that has no people skills?  That chums around and laughs it up with the people that have been there for 20 plus years but gets a stoic, ugly look on his face with everyone else?  And on...and on....and on.....the gm is a double-talker and plays people - or tries to but us newbies see right through it now.  He makes promises and then simply drops them in the trash can to be forgotten about forever - or until someone like me brings it back up.

I gave up hope on the place a while back, they can say whatever they want now, I consider it meaningless drivel.  They never follow through on anything so I don't say much of anything to any of them now.  I'm just biding my time until I find a new job that will suit me.  OTR is on the backburner.  Not my first choice.  Got my new CDL in the mail yesterday - replete with tanker and hazmat endorsement.  I'm  now applying at places that haul - whatever - in tanks, mostly fuel though.  Many of them want previous tanker experience, some of them will make exceptions if you've been driving tractor trailer rigs for a predetermined length of time.  I'm applying at all of them regardless of their requirements.  UPT last night - which has previous tanker requirement or at least 2 years tractor trailer experience.

But there are many more.  I just like the bigger companies because it is usually more stable and usually offers better benefits.  But, I also found a pamphlet in a truck stop the other day advertising CDL jobs for heavy hauling.  I've done a bit of it.  It's not that hard, really.  I just don't know the nuances of when a particular load has to have an escort or when it has to have a police escort.  Yes, I'm applying there today as well.  Those are very high paying jobs in the 100k range for experienced drivers - which I'm not in that particular field but give it a year and that would change.

Whatever.  Just apply, apply, apply, sooner or later something will break.
_________________________________________________________________

And apply apply apply I have been doing. What a way to spend a Saturday.  ATS has specialized hauling that pays a good deal of money.  It's not local but I would be willing to do it for that kind of pay for a year or two until I get some serious money saved up.  Applied at several fuel hauling sites and spent even more time perusing trrucking magazines and looking up companies.

Now, off to the trucking sites.  People in the industry might have some ideas.  It gets very tedious doing this for long periods of time but it must be done.

____________________________________________________________________

Entertainment of the day.
First, I am sitting here in my bedroom filling out endless applications.  A man yelling at the top of his lungs comes through the window. WTH.  Obscenities and threats.  I look out the window, there is a pickup parked right there so I couldn't see anyone.  Welll whoever this dude was, he went on.  I went outside.  I am hearing a man yelling behind some bushes that are on the neighbor's property.  Where are you? You effing a-hole and all kinds of bs language.  I finally see this dude, next to the street, emerging from behind the bushes.

He walks over to the neighbor's other side of the house, cussing and shouting all kinds of profanity, enraged.  Now I'm just gonna stand there and see if anything happens, cause' whatever it is, that ist he deputy Sheriff's house and there is no way those people could possibly condone whoever this freak is behavior.  The deputy's cruiser was gone - he has 2 jobs, one as law enforcement the other as a banker.  Under any other circumstances, I would have called the police.

Well, he walks into their carport - out of sight but certainly not out of hearing.  This is too much. I text the Sheriff.  He replies...huh?  Turns out the man is the Sheriff's brother who was yelling at the Sheriff's son - but it wasn't just yelling. This was livid anger.  Apparently this dude has had a stroke and has totally messed up his brain.  That's what was texted back.  Okay, not trying to start trouble.  I texted him because he asked me to a while back.  So, no biggies, sort of.  Well kind of is, I mean I wouldn't tolerate that kind of nonsense at my house in Phoenix by any neighbor.

Well, anyway. So, I'm going through the tedium it is to search out companies online and apply.  I have been doing that off and on all day long.  I have to take breaks from it, it just gets tiresome.  I mean, I am going through an entirely new round of this stuff looking for hazmat/tnaker jobs.  I now find out a lot of them want a TWIC card.  It's basically - I had to look it up honestly, had no idea - a card  that gives you access to "
access to secure areas of the nation’s maritime facilities and vessels. TSA conducts a security threat assessment (background check) to determine a person’s eligibility and issues the credential." Well I just went through TSA's background check for hazmat, getting a TWIC card would simply be applying for one.

Same with pretty much anything else.  Well excepting for going out off the country.  I finally found out, just a few days ago from mother, why my oldest brother tried to tell me some 20 plus years ago that "you can't leave the country". He would lose his security clearance. And thus, his position.  I have no idea what would come back for a passport with that kind of crap going on.  Oh, hey, your brother is working in a position with security clearance so we can't issue you a passport based on the potential that you will be kidnapped for ransom/information.

I always go off on tangents. The second event with the neighbors occurred when the boy from down the street came ringing the doorbell.  I get a knock on my bedroom door.  I'm trying to remember his name - Conner - wants you. What for? Blank stare.  Okay.  Well, he says, we got an install kit from Home Depot to put in a new drain for the sink in the bathroom. It is the wrong size.

Well I'm walking in the door with this kid that doesn't live there - but is over there all the time - and apparently she - deputy's wife - thought he was just going to come over and ask me.  She sees Conner first and starts making a comment about whether he knew what to get - and then saw me.  I'ma take a look at it, see what you need.  I walk back there, take a look, figure it out.  Not the wrong size.  Well how do you connect that sized pipe to that one?  Those kits come with everything, they just didn't know how to use them.  I have been doing that stuff for decades, showed the boy - literally put everything together off the sink and handed it back to him - what to do and that was that.

I'm one of those cheap skates when it comes to plumbing, electrical and cars.  I can fix most all of it. If I don't want to, I'll pay someone else to do it. If I don't want to spend the money on labor and shop fees and inflated parts prices, I'l do ti myslf.  Actually I can fix a lot more than that, it's just a thing I decided that I could do out of necessity.  I'm learning 4 wheeler repair because they want as much as auto repair shops or even more for labor fees. Gag, no thanks. This ain't that hard. Just don't necessarily want to do it. It's a pretty strange situation going on over there.

As for me? Way past my bedtime.

Sitting here watching the news stations carrying the election coverage and as the polls had predicted, Trump wins a 5 state sweep.  My scrutiny these days are the polls themselves.  How accurate are they?  Well they pretty much nailed this one.  It's just that everyone hinges on the next poll that comes out.  What did we do before polls? I think these polls actually sway elections to some degree.  Clinton is giving her victory speech - full of lies, exaggerations and partial picture of whatever she is talking about.  Which is expected, but I cannot fathom 4 or 8 years under her "leadership".  Actually, I just turned it off.  I can't stand to listen to her - much like Obama - for more than a few minutes.  The rhetoric and innuendo is just more than I can handle.

And then....I have Christian friends that call Trump evil and say that no Christian could vote for him with a clear conscience.  Oh really?  Well, honey, I will vote for whichever GOP candidate wins, because the worst of them is far better, IMO, than either of the democratic candidates.  Not really a fan of either party now, I used to be Republican all the way but conservative politicians have betrayed their constituents far too many times now.  

Enough of politics - though I am finding this entire election cycle to be highly fascinating.  Mostly because you have 2 rather bizarre candidates in Trump and Sanders that have captured the imagination of people that are dismayed at the direction the nation is heading - though I am definitely never going to agree  with any form of Socialism, especially when a candidate just comes out and says he is.  Then you get his followers trying to define what democratic socialism is and telling you that you are an idiot, stupid, a-hole, jack@$$ and more because you don't automatically believe or accept everything that they are saying.  They can define socialism any way they want, Socialism doesn't work for very long, for one thing and I don't want more government control, dictation, higher taxes, more intrusion into my personal life, etc etc etc.  

The current job situation.  The new manager and I basically don't talk.  I am doing that on purpose now because he is such a totally unsociable person excepting with the people that have been around 20 plus years and even then, he is still just not a conversationalist by any stretch of the imagination.  He got mad at several people today, I just watched.  There is one situation where a fusion machine - a very expensive piece of equipment that is made to heat-weld high density polyethele pipe together - was rented to a customer they didn't know. The caveat is that the machine was delivered by the vendor we use to get those machines from, we didn't deliver it ourselves.  But, it is our customer and delivered for us.  My coworker knows this guy and flat out stated he would have told them not to rent it to him. Well, the machine was supposed to be gone for a day, it's been since January.  It's an almost 100k machine.  So, I can see getting a little upset about it, but the other stuff was stupid, petty and inexcusable.  At this point, keep your anger away from me and I'll leave you alone as well. 

If he does start in on me again, I'm pulling my phone right in front of him and press the record button.  I got 11 hours in yesterday.  I loaded the truck from front to back and took it to a jobsite 100 miles away. It took them hours to unload because they didn't have the proper equipment to do the job.  Next I want to another site to do a return.  Well, 100's - literally - of heavy fittings laying in the dirt in a 100 square foot circumference.  Took 4 hours.  I didn't get back until long after everyone had gone home.  Which was the only thing the new manager was about to start in on me about today - the only "conversation" we had all day as well.  He came up to me this morning with an inside salesman in tow and started trying to grill me on where was the paperwork for the delivery I made yesterday?  I gave him a blank look. I was thinking, did he even botherr to check the basket where we put completed delivery tickets into? He reworded it.  I looked him square in the eye and said yes, I put it in the basket after I got here today.  He got a look on his face.  The guy just looks for trouble.  Dude, the building was LOCKED when I got here last night, I couldn't put it in there last night.  

Ohhhh, that's right.  I keep my verbiage with him extremely limited.  Answer the question, that's it.  

So, I loaded the truck up again this morning for the same jobsite 100 miles away.  Technical load - just a lot of tangents you have to think through before you even put a single pallet on the bed of the truck, because if you don't think it through, you are going to end up pulling everything back off after realizing it isn't going to work and reload the entire thing to be able to get it all on there.  I'm in the will call and an inside salesman says, well that load is illegal.  I am 100% positive there is nothing illegal about the load, but I bit.  What is illegal about it?  It's over loaded, there is too much weight on it.  Nahh, it's not even close.  Well look at all of that stuff on there.  Yeah, it's loaded, but not overweight.  Well how do you know it's not overweight.  Look at it.  Yeah, I'm looking at it, it looks too heavy.  Okay, well the main way I know if I have a heavy load is when I put it in gear and start driving.  

How can you tell if it's too heavy by driving it? The warehouse "manager" finally interjects himself. I didn't need - or want - his help but I just let it ride.  Are you some kind of turck driver dude? You don't even know what you are talking about. Have you ever even driven a truck?  Well I moved one around the lot once.  Lol, the place erupted into laughter. 

Whatever.  I'm a bit more resolved to find a job that fits me rather than just finding whatever I can to get out of there now that I have ascertained that I can at least float by with what I am making. I'm a bit concerned that trying to take Addler OTR might not work out so well. He's a very active dog, much more so than any Dane I have ever seen and he likes to run and frolick and tromp around all over the place.  I mean, I would definitely give him long walks and figure out how to make sure I could let him off a leash - in places away from people anyway - and let him run and get the energy out.  I dunno.  A lot of thoughts I've been trying to process.  

Well, enough for this one.  

I completely spaced out calling the Texas DPS to verify if my fingerprints had come through sufficiently for the TSA to do their background check.  The paper they had given me said call 4 days after you go for fingerprinting.  So I called today. The automated system was nauseating.  On each menu selection, you had to listen to this monotone person go on and on and on about qualifications for this, paperwork for that.  7 plus minutes just to get to the menu that allows you to push 0 for a real, live person.  15 more minutes on hold before a very nice sounding lady got on the phone, said who she was and asked how she could help me.

Well that took me off guard, so I didn't say anything about the wait.  Asked her about the fingerprints. She got my information and said, well you don't need to worry about that now.  Why?  Because they have already approved you and the new license with the hazmat endorsement will be sent out shortly.  But didn't they have to check my fingerprints and do an extensive background check?  Yes, she replied, they already finished that, which is unusual because I know of numerous people that applied in January and still haven't received an answer.

I got home today and there was the first new license (they told me that I would recieve one with my tanker endorsement and then if I qualify, another with the tanker and hazmat endorsement on it).  A second letter from Texas DPS saying I have qualified for Hazmat endorsement and will be receiving the new license in 12 to 14 days.

There's just one problem with all of this.  I don't have a job lined up that requires hazmat or tanker endorsements.  I don't even know if I will be able to get one.  I have checked several companies that haul hazmat - mostly fuel - and they all require 2 year tanker experience.

Okay, well KAG (Keenan Advantage Group) called me back today - I applied yesterday.  Try filling out one of those applications with a smart phone versus doing it on a computer that can autofill everything.  Took half an hour! I got a bit excited when they called because they have lots of local jobs.  Well, we don't have any local jobs in the Shreveport area right now, but we do have OTR tanker jobs out of Longview with one of our subsidiary companies.  Would you be interested in that?  Out 10 to 14 days......

Here's a situation where it might be worth taking on an OTR position temporarily - a year at least I am guessing - to move back to local driving.  Meanwhile, the overnight driving position in Tyler is not only still open, they want me to come Monday for a road test - which I would surely pass and be hired. And spend 14 hours a day in work related activities. Still, a 3 day weekend is very appealing.

I don't know how long I am going to be mulling over this, contemplating and analyzing the pro's and con's of any given job or when/whether I am going to take another one.  It certainly isn't an easy decision  - but I knew it wouldn't be.  I just didn't realize it would be this hard.

I'll tell you what, if you could capture the images that your dreams give you onto disc - far more vivid than anything Hollywood could ever pull off.

Anyway, serious thought about the all night driving job and I nixed that.  I just can't readjust my entire lifestyle to being awake all night long and trying to sleep during the day. Not to mention 60 miles either way to work, plus 12 hours at work, meaning 14 hour days, leaving only 2 hours  per day to do anything at all besides working and sleeping.  Sure, you get 3 days off but that kind radical change to sleeping and awake hours is  too much for me.

But, I did apply at KAG - Keenan Advantage Group - yesterday.  They apparently do some kind of tanker training because they don't have a clause stating you must have x amount of experience pulling a tanker.  I was back at the refinery yesterday watching them, it's just nothing that is that complicated.
______________________________

Warehouse "manager" has something up his crawl against me - but then again - he was bs talking behind my back telling the good ole boys "we were doing fine without him before he came" and "he can carry his ass" (meaning, quit/leave).  I ignore him.  I work with him, yes, but only as far as the job parameters dictate, beyond that, if he wants to start s***, I have my phone ready to record any of this crap now.  But, they won't say anything around me because ---- they know I will dish it right back to them.  However, at this point?  No.  Just record the crap.

Anyway, the place in Tyler isn't giving up.  I've worked at current company for 10 years, an apparent anomoly in the trucking industry.  They have a road test schedule for me on Monday.

Ugh. Decisions.  Will my company come back with an answer about pay before Monday?  Likely they won't come back with a "fresh" answer for months.  I have so many thoughts that contradict other thoughts - what to do, what to do.

Back to warehouse manager.  He can't contain himself forever.  It's just not in his nature.  He will lash out at some point and hopefully I have the finger on the button to start the recording.  This stuff really needs to be exposed to corporate, who won't ever believe a lone person that will have no backing from anyone, perhaps the other driver but that's it. We are already branded - yet- they knew the nature of this new manager, they know the dispostion of the warehosue dude - it's just a good ole boy's club. I get text messages every day from the other driver, he hates working there now.

I'm done. I have too much on my mind to write any further.

As time passes and the s*** gets floated around at work - the gm repeated the contents of my email to the new manager, who went and blabbed it to numerous people - even after the gm specifically stated that the hadn't discussed or even told the new manager about the email - it gets more and more of a volatile work place.  The good ole' boys - people working there for 20 plus years - were sitting around discussing my email to the gm this morning.  They didn't realize a set of ears was standing around the corner, hearing everything they were saying.

No, not me.  Warehouse manager sent me out on an all day run today.  

And no, I'm not procrastinating.  I am supposed to go for a road test tomorrow, but the man that I have been speaking to disappeared on me today and after several phone calls and text messages, I gave up. It was the local job - though 60 miles away - that runs 12 hours a day at least but has me off 3 days per week.  I may just take one of the postions offered that I have considered whether it is "optimal" or not and deal with the local job I want as time progresses.  I have too much going on right now, my mind is distracted by work and focusing on a completely different type of driving job is just kind of a "out there" thing.  I got the endorsements while I had time ot get them - and waiting on approval for the hazmat.  I can go work somewhere else and figure this stuff out when it all calms down. 

___________________________________

3 days later.  Yesterday, round 1 o'clock, they had a run for me to go Ruston.  It's about 70 minute drive.  Warehouse manager - I call him that, he has all the roles of a manager but does not have the official, sanctioned title from the company - tells me that "Matthew wants to talk to you".  Matthew is my old manager, a few better person for the position than the new one. He has been completely removed from managerial roles and is totally engrossed in outside sales work.  No idea what he wants.

Go into his office, hey Ben, it'll be about 10 minutes, just finished up your review here. My review? I thought.  They had done everyone else's but they didn't do mine - presumably because they thought I was quitting, who knows, I didn't ask.  Okay.  I thought about it for a few minutes.  They just can't give me a bad review, whether they like me or not.  I show up to work on time, every time, I get my work done, I do whatever they ask of me without questioning it, I get the job done faster than anyone else there.  My attitude is good even if sometimes I have to fake it.

Well, of course, the new manager was in on it.  We sit down, closed door and I just sit and wait.  You know, whatever they say, I'll take it in stride.  I know my worth and value to the industry I am in and my contributions to this company.  So, Matthew had to do the review because Mark just started a montha n a half ago as the new manager.  Matthew starts in on it - you know what you are doing, I gave you a 3 for this, a 4 for that, etc etc.  I was a bit surprised at the amount of complimenting and praise he was giving me. The new manager interrupted after a while and said, well, I'm going to give my version of a review, I know I haven't been here the last year but I have been watching you for the past - 2 months he said, however long he's been here.

I didn't even brace myself.  Calm, cool, collected.  Not going to let him get under my skin.  So, what he said next was near shocking, considering coming from him and considering everything else I have heard him saying.  I can't really ask any more from an employee than what you have been doing.  You know what you are doing, you get the job done, you show up to work on time, you do everything that is asked of you, I think you are doing an excellent job.  I was very impressed that day I went out and worked with you moving the railroad ties, you have a very good work ethic. This went on for a while.  I mean, really?  What else was I going to do? Thank you for the compliments.

But I knew the fracture was going to be brought up: pay.  Well, so what arae your goals with this company? Are you looking for another job or what?  "well, I have been looking for another job and since they are calling here to verify my employment you arleady know that".  So, what is your issue? Is this something with me (the new gm), others working here, what? My issue, flatly, is the pay. You think I want to walk away from 10 tenure with this company?  It would take me at least 10 years to get the kind of benefits - vacation time in particular - the I have here.

The discussion went on and on and on.  They knew I was going straight to the gm to ask for more money.  Yes, I have been talking with him, according to him they can't make a decision until they say where the numbers are later this year.  Which, I simply don't accept, not at the pay levels you are paying me.  Ben, you are making more than any of the other drivers.  Any of them in the entire region.  But, I replied the pay is substandard.  I've asked countless drivers from other companies coming in here how much they are getting paid if they wanted to respond and not a single one of them is being paid anything as low as the pay is here. So, your argument about it being the prevailing simply isn't true.

This has been on of their arguments all along and it just doesn't wash.  For experienced drivers with a good driving record you are going to make much more than what this company pays and the only reason I was okay with the pay was all of the OT making up for it.  It was the weight on the scale that equalized it for me. Not the best comrpomise, but I was making enough to be happy enough.

Well, Matthew interjects, you would have a much better chance of getting a pay raise going through Mark than going to the gm yourself.  Mark piped in - yes and anyone that I feel deserves a fighting chance you can bet I'll stick up for them and give it my best effort to try and get it through.  If you would like, I would be willing to try that for you.  Okay, I appreciate that, thank you.  Well, how much are you wanting?  I named an hourly wage and they just sat back and took that in.  I was being completely serious, it's not an unreasonable figure so that was that with me, like or not, that's what I want.  So, they both started talking, $3 more per hour?  Ahh, $2.50 brings me up there.  They started shaking their heads at first and said no, no way, you'll never get that much of a raise.  I just stared at them.  I'm not going to say, okay, 50 cents  then.

Then they started hedging.  Well, okay, well I don't know about that kind of raise but we'll see what we can do.  That's more like it.  I don't expect them to give me a $3 per hour raise, but you know the old idiom of starting higher and agree to something lower - though not that much lower.  $2 per hour is the minimum I would agree to, but I held my cards in my hand, I wasn't giving them any of that.  Mark has known the gm for a couple of decades, he's in their club, I will agree that if he really wanted to take it up for me with him, he stands a far better chance than me.  I'm basically an outsider and they even came close to saying something like that.  "Yes, well, Eugene and Eddie (and a long list ) we've know for 20 years, but you and Terrance (the other driver) only a couple of years and we don't really know you that well.

This really threw me into a conundrum because yesterday, before this came up, I was ready to make a decision. The place in Tyler never called me back for the road test. I called them a couple of times with no answer so I blew that off. I was pretty much set on PTL and was going to call for an orientation date.  Seriously.  I weighed the options, OTR isn't that great but the pay is.

Going to work this morning - a little strange. Simply because they told the temp driver last week that I was quitting and wouldn't be back.  Lol, I didn't give out that kind of information.  The last conversation I had with the GM was that he would appreciate me letting him know when I make a decision about staying or going.  Okay.  However, they did not have the temp driver come into for my co worker told them I was coming in.  They don't ask me, they ask him for the new manager doesn't want to talk to me.

It was even stranger getting to work and opening up the gate, I was the first one there, and having the warehouse manager come flying in, park his truck at an angle taking up 2 spaces, rush out of the truck and into the will call.  WHAT, was .... THAT .... all about?  I just walked in, clocked in, got on my work clothes, what's up?

Now, I was sent clear to Pineville, which took 5 hours round trip.  No problem with me, I didn't want to be in that yard. Especially with a manager that gives me looks but won't say a word to me.  Well, that changed today.  After I got back and was given an order to pull for tomorrow, he came up to me in the warehouse and demanded I stop what I am doing and " you are going to have to put that pallet down right now and go get pipe for those people", pointing to a truck with a gooseneck trailer that had pulled into the yard.  This wasn't, would you please go do that and thank you,  it was in anger.  I just smiled at him back.  Kill him with kindness, my motto.  In fact, after he was out of hearing range, i started laughing at the utter pettiness and stupidity of this man.  What a miserable, wretched person.
It's not like I would have tried to resist him if he had taken nicer tones.  I don't really care what they want me to do at any given time.

I left early today, well I got my 8 in.  Headed to Carthage - Texas - to get fingerprinting done for hazmat.  The address they gave me took me to a gas station.  I tried Google maps, which took me 10 miles the other side of town - a ranch with an inn, back to the gas station.  Duhhhh, geeze Ben, you only spent 11 years finding addresses for that other company.  I had the right address in the maps, but looking at the number on the gas station, it was in the 2300 block and the address I needed was in the 2600 block.  Welll whatever, I found the place, gave prints of every finger and that was that.  TBH, I don't even know if it will end up resulting in any kind of hazmat job, but, I am now deliving into things I had only thought of doing before.  I am sooo tired today, though.  I was going to start looking on line for jobs with hazmat or tanker or both but - I ain't. Number one, hazmat background check takes 2 to 4 weeks and number 2, knowing the stories about the DHS, who knows if I will even be approved.

It's only 5:30, maybe I'll wake up a bit and do some searching a little later on. I am so sick of that job I am working now.  The manager just kills the atmosphere and, I am defintely not the only one that hates it, I'm just one of 2 that has actually said anything.  I am not saying anything further.  I made my case, they denied it, it is obviously a losing proposition when you consider people working there for 25 years that are making less than a dollar more per hour than I am.

But, I'm gonna have to get moving on applications.  Think I'll take a short nap and hope to feel a bit better and then start some searching.

For almost 4 weeks, I've had this swelling going on in my upper left eyelid.  I didn't know what caused it, I just figured it would eventually go away by itself.  But it wasn't and this morning I thought - hmmm - if I quit this job I won't have health care for 90 days.  So I went into an express care place this morning - Sunday that is - and figured they would give me some kind of antibiotic.

And that's exactly what the doctor was going to do. "Well, we're going to give you an antibiotic and that should take care of the problem. But if it persists for any length of time, come back".  Well, I repleid, it's already been almost 4 weeks.  He was on his way out the door to write a prescription but those words stopped him in his tracks.  I'll be right back.  I didn't like the sound of that.

He came back, with an assistant, put a couple drops of anesthetic in my eye and gave it a few minutes.  How did he check to find out of it was working? Stick a needle in the eyelid.  It wasn't working.  I didn't say anything, let's get this over with.  I had no idea that he was going stab that eyelid repeatedly, over and over and over, 30 - 40 times.  Stab it, squeeze the eyelid, apply copious amount of pressure that was causing my eyeball to hurt under the pressure - which is when I did say something, let's not cause any damage here please.

Blood everywhere, he just kept picking at the abcess over and over with that needle.  He left for a minute, came back and started all over again!  We finally got to the end of this, he kept putting saline solution in my eye to clean out the blood. Finally called it done.  Thank God Almighty.  Got done with that, headed up front.  You don't owe anything.  Okay.  Paying for health care, might as well use it while I have it.  Headed to CVS.  Pharmacy closed.  Oh, we'll be open in 10 minutes.  Okay.  Got the prescription, was heading out and decided to get some wrinkle cream for my face.  Looking pretty - bad - there.  I've used it before, it actually works.  Got a box that said $5.99 in a sea of boxes that had over 20 listed.

Dude at counter rings it up. That will be $22.79.  Huh?  I walked back over and checked, clearly stated $5.99. He called another person to check it.  Yup, these boxes are in the wrong location. I got the cream for $5.99.  I didn't ask him for that, he just did it, I was going to leave without it.

Now, back at home, thinking.  General manager came up from Baton Rouge on Friday.  Why did he do that?  He never comes up at the end of the week, his visits are always at the beginning of the week and usually stays for several days or the entire week. My mind has gone to all the fear issues.  Bringing a final paycheck to fire me.  Giving instructions what to do with me, who knows.  Don't have a good feeling about it, but it's whatever.  I'm glad I waited to make a decision on what company to work for  for I got the ball rolling on hazmat and I hope to eventually find a job that pays much better with that endorsement.  It always does, but you still have to find a job that works for your lifestyle.  Now, back to the gm, after he was going on about this pay stuff on the phone the other day, I flat out asked  him if he wanted me to leave.

It sure was sounding that way.  No! He replied.  Now, that doesn't mean he didn't change his mind.  I guess I am a bit perplexed by him going up there on Friday, that is not usual modus operandi for him.
I'll find out tomorrow morning if anything - not good - becomes of it.  If I've learned anything in life, it's not to make rash or quick decisions. Now I did make a fast decision to start looking for a job and I have talked to countless recruiters, but I haven't actually pulled the trigger on any of them yet.  Trucking companies are in a deseperate contest to try and lure drivers to their companies.  It's that bad.  They all have tractors sitting there, empty, waiting to be driven  and enough business to keep you driving.

At least I do have my old manager on my side.  That didn't come from him directly, that came through my co worker who was sitting in the new manager's office decidedly stating that he hopes I don't quit.  Well of course, he's an outside salesman now and getting the product delivered to the jobsites on time with correctly pulled orders is something he is focused on.  Regardless, whoever is on what side, the pay is the serious  issue that the gm has flatly stated isn't going to change.  "Not a good business decision right now".  But, you don't mind keeping me around at greatly reduced pay yet doing the exact same job?  Yeah, I posed several questions that got either no answer at all or a fancy two-step.

It's a challenging environment to continue to work in since I've "made the waves" that no-one else there in any of the branches ever has.  Nobody has ever challenged us on this before.  Well maybe people should grow a set and speak up for themselves and even if it doesn't get you what you either want or need, at least you have the peace of mind that you tried before you left.  If I hadn't tried and hadn't pressed the issue, I wouldn't have felt good about quitting once I do pull the trigger.  But this hazmat and tanker endorsement opens up - hopefully - new avenues of opportunity to have a job that has me going home every night. But - the caveat is - usually is in trucking - that you have to have x amount of time OTR before they will consider it.  Why? Because you have a record and it can be verified as to whether you  screwed up with it or not.

It makes sense, I suppose, especially driving around 10,000 gallons of gasoline.  After my study the other day, the biggest concerns in tankers is taking curves and stopping.  I didn't realize that a quick stop could have the fluid in the tank forcing the truck into an intersection, called fluid surge.

Well, I'm going to look around on the internet for bulk fuel haulers today and get some names of companies that engage in such.  I still have to pass the Homeland Security background check - Lord only knows what criteria they use.

Okay.  I wrote this on my FB wall but I am defintely writing this in my blog as well.  I went to bed last night at 8:30, that's early even for me.  I finally dragged out of bed after 7:00 am. Got Addler outside, got myself some coffee, came back in here - my bedroom - sat down and contempleted things.  WHAT am I doing? Yeah, going OTR solves the financial problem but it does nothing to solve the problem of finances and having a life outside of work. You live in a truck.  Those trucks are nice nowadays, the OTR version of them, but they are small boxes and they can be as nice as all get-out and still, you are living in a box.

I sat there and just prayed. Lord, what am I supposed to do now?  I have NO clue.  I don't want to live OTR.  I know I could probably handle it for a couple of years but even that is really a lot.  Yes, I could save up a lot of moeny, definitely.  But isn't there another solution to this?  It wasn't really an extended prayer time, I just lifted that up and then, my head started getting full of this notion that I should study for a tanker endorsement and a hazmat endorsement.  But that's going to take a long time, that doesn't help me right now.  No, just do it.

I didn't look up the handbook, I just looked up tests online for tanker endorsement and hazmat.  If I can answer enough sample tests, I can pass the DMV test.  Tanker had it's variations, but I quickly learned that and was passing every test I could find easily.  I mean, it isn't rocket science to know that going around curves, you slow down initially and then speed up a bit to reduce side to side surge.  It was something I had never really considered that stopping at a light quickly could get that forward surge to pushing your truck out into the intersection.

I did that for an hour and a half, I think.  I just kept looking up different tests from different sites and finally I started getting all the answers right.  Okay, let's move on to hazmat - which I knew would be much harder - and then come back to tanker and take a few more tests as a refresher. Well, my first hazmat test scored 40%. Well I didn't feel bad about that at all, I expected it. I have NO knowledge of hazmat, just used common sense but a lot of questions you need knowledge, common sense doesn't rise up to the occasion.  Second test was 60%, 3rd - on and on - and on - and on.  I posted on face book at least 30 tests, but thinking about it, 2 plus hours of 24 to 45 question tests that I was poking out on the keyboard in rapid fire succession? More like 50 of them.

It took QUITE a while to get to the point that I could actually answer all or most of the questions correctly.  There is a lot there to learn.  But, I thought, well, this is a go-for-it situation.  So, I went back to tanker questions, aced all of those and then back to hazmat. where I found even more tests that threw curve balls at me.  Good, I thought, I want everything they can dish out, I don't have time for classes, handbooks and studying. Just get past the initial testing and I'll get the rest of it done by hands-on experience if I can find a place that will give me the opportunity.

So there it is.  I drove to the DMV office - which was completely void of people. I commented on that when I went in there.  Yes, the lady at the desk stated, and that's a bad sign because my co-worker here is about to leave for the day.  Ohhhh, well I'm here now!! lol.  A LOT of paperwork to fill out, especially for hazmat.  Wow.  She informed me that I would pass the tests easily.  I took that as a good sign and didn't bother to tell that I had spent all of 4 hours this morning studying for it with nothing else and no previous experience.

Sat down at the computer and started in on it. I reminded myself to stay calm, don't get anxious, that's how you make mistakes and give wrong answers.  Keep in the same mindset you were in earlier when you were doing all of those tests and yes, it hopefully will be okay.  I will point out now that I had my doubts.  How do you just study for a few hours and then show up and take the tests?  I figured if I passed those tests, another sign from the Lord that there is something better on the horizon.

Curve balls.  Trick questions.  I knew they would be on there, I didn't honestly know if I had answered them correctly or not.  But I didn't waste any time with either test, I was done in 10 minutes.  I don't ever waste time on such things, you either know or  you don't know, sitting there thinking too long is actually a detriment in such things, I have found. If I don't really know, take the first thing that came to mind.  It might not be right but it's what you thought is right.

Tanker? 19 out of 20 questions right and that test replete with numerous trick questions.  Even the lady at the counter admitted that such types of questions were in there.  When the hazmat test came up on the screen, I got a bit nervous.  I stopped for a few seconds and redirected my thoughts.  NO, I am going to remain calm and I am going to have enough confidence to get through this.  If I get too many wrong, then so what?  If God is in this, though, I'm going to pass these tests.  Now, the reader can argue with that all day long and say that is simplistic thinking or stupid or falling for a fantasy or whatever, but remember: I just started studying for this stuff today and I have no experience with either tankers or hazmat.

I did sit there for several seconds on probably 5 or 6 questions.  Because those questions weren't asked in any of the tests I had taken.  I thought through, made a decision and clicked on it.  I was nervous at the end of the test because I had  no idea whether I passed or not.  When I saw 27 out 30 correct, 24 correct needed to pass, I was elated!  Yes! I has listened to all these  other drivers for years saying how incredibly hard it is to pass the hazmat test.  That is really what had thrown me off about this.  Endless drivers saying how hard it is. Well wth.  I wonder now if they every really even tried versus what they said?

If you want the truth of the matter, making it through Homeland Security's background check and subsequent decision is more of an unknown to me than a test with definitive answers.  That's next.  Appointment Monday to have fingerprints taken at a seperate, private business (but given out by Texas as the sole company to engage in such) and see if I pass that for the hazmat.  Tanker is done, I have that endorsement and could haul food products or whatever else is available without hazmat.  But hazmat is the money. It really is.  People with hazmat thar are engaged in positions that haul hazmat materials always make more money.  There is risk, of course, especially with certain types of hazmat - well all of it really but some worse than others (think: radioactive).

I don't even know if I will be able to find a job with all of this! LOL that's the funny part. I am just acting on what I felt the Lord impress upon me!  Well it's not like laughable funny, I take the Lord seriously, but He does have a way of injecting humor into situations.

Meanwhile, that company in Tyler?  That has the 4 days on 3 off but occasionally 5 days on and 2 off? That is driving all night? Yeah, that one.  "Please call as soon as possible so we can schedule a road test".  A road test means they are hiring you, it's not if, it's when?  Why couldn't I take a local position that might be hell for a while but get this hazmat through and jsut do it? Or even stick with my present company until it is through - though that is, admittedly a dicey proposition - and see what I can find?  I dunno.

I just can't make up my mind because I am not really comfortable with anything yet.  I mean, I like the PTL company, I think they would treat me right but it's still out 12 to 14 days at a time.

I have a weekend to contemplate all of this, at least.

Welll here it is Thursday morning.  I'm home - off for two days.  Probably off forever.  The gm simply isn't going to budge in pay and trust me, it is substandard pay.  The only thing that equalized it was the large amount of OT that all the drivers were getting. I guess they believe they can just arbitrarily remove a large portion of a person's pay and that person is just to sit around and eat it.

I talked with two drivers from the main branch down south about this as well.  They were lamenting the pay but they were unwilling to do anything about their situation. That's really where you could force a decision in our favor: come together, say we want more money or we are leaving.  The company would be screwed.  This isn't a get in the truck and drive operation.  There is no way, at all, that anyone else working there that isn't a driver could cover all of that, just impossible. We pull orders, check them, palletize them, shrink wrap them and load the trucks.  Those people have absolutely no clue how to load a tractor trailer rig, none, whatsoever.

But, that isn't going to happen.  So face reality.  Live with wages that are so abysmal that I consider it poverty level - though it isn't it just seems that bad - or move on to something I really am not sure I want to do but make twice the money and do that for a while until/if/when I find a local job that I like, that pays me well and that I can spend the rest of my working days at until I retire.

My thoughts have returned to rentals and properties.  I just know I could eventually get a very good income off such a venture if I could get my foot in the door.  Need to get my credit back up.  It's a goal that I am now implementing to increase my credit rating and get a piece of land and turn it into a mobile home or RV park.  Or a mixture of both is usually what many of them do.  Not a trashy one, either, one that is well manicured and maintained.  Non-prime property out here is pretty cheap.  You don't have to be in the middle of town to have a place that is alluring to people who need lower priced housing.

I'm probably going to have buyer's remorse in quitting this job and doing something else, just like my mom had when she recently put her house up for sale and has signed on another one on the other side of Phoenix.  Her reasoning was good, but she's 80 years old and all of her friends are right there.  She did have some reservations and wondered if she had made the right choice but now she's all into it. It is a move that gets her much closer to her Payson property and also very much closer to my oldest brother.  My middle brother about 25 miles - instead of the 50 it used to be.  I am having doubts that that automatically means she is going to see them more, but perhaps.

I'll probably hate it at first but settlle into eventually.  I doubt my present company will ever want me back, so this is the point where I have to make absolutely sure that this is a good  move.

This local job that came up - I'm kinda backing off from.  It's 60 mile away. It's almost all night driving.  I'm just not really much of a night driver anymore and I think I might hate the job. At the same time, it's 3 days  off every week. Could I handle it? I just don't know.  Big gamble to take if I find I can't adapt to being up all night long and sleeping during the day.  Plus 600 miles of commute per week.  A lot of wear on the car and gas and all of that.  My current weekly commute is about 350 miles total.

If I eliminate that, then I am down to two companies.  One that comes through here frequently and one that the closest I get is Dallas.  Dallas is 150 miles, but it would only be a trip home every two weeks so I wouldn't really care that much about that.  It just sounds like a better company than the one that comes through here frequently.  I would have to find a place to park the truck to be able to come here - though I think I've found one and am going to drive over there today and see if they allow overnight parking for 2 night stays.  Definitely don't need the truck getting towed and getting stuck with a huge towing bill.

Well, I'm in the throes of decision making and right now? I'm going to drive down the road and see about parking a rig at a small, local truckstop.  There aren't any big ones here, lol.

Got into a bit of a tiff with the gm last night.  He had stated that he would call the new branch manager and tell him to try and keep the hours the same.  He literally said that, I'm making it up, my memory isn't that bad, I know what he said.  He said the same thing to the other driver on another call.  So, I emailed him, FYI, eddie is coming early and staying late and as you agreed, we should all have about the same hours.

He wrote back and said he never said such a thing.
I'm glad it wasn't a phone conversation because I got - angry- pretty quick.  Like what?  I'm sorry, I replied back, but those were your words and you told the other driver the same thing.  He wrote  back that he isn't doing this off hours on email we can talk during business hours.  I said no need, I will be calling Ferguson and exposing all this garbage going on in this acquired company.  All of this stuff violates Ferguson policy.

Now, will I have a job when I get to work today? I don't know but I'm talking all my work issued clothes with me and dumping them in the bin.  I don't want to have to make a trip back there with the stuff.  But, this guy is either lying or has a very bad memory.  Either way, there is another driver that he said the same thing to to verify that yes, he did actually say that.

But, obviously and for whatever reason, they are showing favoritism to the rehired driver.  I am at least as good as he is in terms of getting work done, driving, etc etc etc.  In fact, I have much more knowledge about the business than he does but in my current position there that doesn't really mean much.  That knowledge hasn't been useful since I left Phoenix.

I've got one more  job offer, local to consider, otherwise I'm going over the road.  The problem with this offer is two fold. First, it's 60 miles away, second it's all night driving.  Now, I was driving 60 miles to my current company every day, one way when I was living at Val's house.  Long drive but I considered the alternatives and that was OTR or Regional.  So I could deal with that already having had done that. The all night stuff is what I am not sure I could deal with.  Start at 4, 5 or 6 - they said they don't know until you go through oritentation and whatever's available.  It's drive south with a trailer, drop it off and bring it back.  That's it.  but, it's a long ways off to wherever they are taking it.

The up side is that at least every other week it's a 3 day weekend.  Now that would be nice. Another flip to this, though is that it's fracking sand and who knows how reliable this account they have is? I forgot to ask that question. Well, off to work.  Find out in an hour if they are going to tell me to take a hike.  I am mentally prepared for  it, I really don't care that much at this point, especially with solid job offers lined up.

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.

_________________________________________________________________________________

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.

________________________________________________________________

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.

No answer on pay yet.  I was going to give him until today and if I don't get an answer, call him and ask for  it.  But, prudence says to wait until the end of the week and let him decide without me pressuring him to make a decision and then possibly ruin any hope that there may have been for salvaging this job.

Meanwhile, the fired/rehired driver is getting preferential treatment and neither of us 2 other drivers are happy with it.  He is coming in at 7 and leaving at 5. Yup, what happened to the no-10-hour-per-day deal.  He should have had to take the same schedule that they had given to the temp driver - 9 to 5.  Yes, we are going to press the issue -this morning actually.  Starting with the warehouse manager and ask him why this is happening.  It will be a piece of bs, there is no good reason for it and then we'll move to the new manager.  I have no idea what his answer will be.

I did get 2 days off next week. I wanted to use my floating holidays - two of them anyway - in case this deal goes south and I won't be  able to use them and if I quit, i won't get compensated for them.
Besdies the fact that between New Year's and Memorial Day - which is 5 months - there are no paid holidays given by my company.

That's all I have.  I have been checking all kinds of stuff for OTR driving both the driving aspect and the "comfort" aspect.  My 3rd paycheck under the "new" rules arrives tonight via electronic transfer. It  has 87 hours on it - which is better than 40 per week I guess but still at least 13 hours short of all OT pay - so it will be a little better than last paycheck but certainly not enough to cover the loss.  I've simply resolved myself that that  ist he way it's going to be and I have to do what I hve to do.  Every daycab truck I see - which is a semi tractor that doesn't have a sleeper on it - I look at the name and I look up the company and see if they are hiring.

If it doesn't have a sleeper then it is local work, you are home every night.  So far, zilch.  Every company I've checked isn't hiring.  Good local jobs don't last long and that's the end of that story.  And at least around here? There aren't that many day cabs running up and down the roads.  A couple of them I saw yesterday - which aren't hiring right now - were well away from their terminal.  Hundreds of  miles worth.  Meaning they get good amount of work. I drove 400 miles yesterday and almost 500 the day before though.

Anyway, time to be off to the wonder--land I know as a place called  work.

Well, as the days pass, so the information also comes rolling in.
They relieved that temp driver of his duties today.  However, they told him I am probably going to quit so they may be calling him back.  Now, it's not surprising that they know I have been applying elsewhere for jobs - they have been calling and calling for verification of employment.  However, those calls are going to corporate, not the local management.  Not that I didn't believe that corporate wouldn't come along and tell them what I am doing.  I knew this before I started this process.

However.  I didn't expect management to tell a non-management person that information.  I think that's unprofessional if nothing else.  I have been intentionally keeping a very good attitude and keeping my work ethic up, doing what I have been doing all along.  At least I'm not giving them any "good" reason to get rid of me.  They could release me at any time which is fine, I can be in an orientation as early as this coming Monday if that happened.

Regardless, I did tell the GM today in email that I still wanted to stay at this company, that I could get along with the new manager if his demeanor remained "mostly" at what it is now and that I await his decision.  I am carefully wording everything I say and leaving nothing to subjective interpretation. Well, people can subjectively interpret whatever they want, but I am carefully thinking through what i say to anyone and keeping my conversations at a minimum.

Whatever the case, I'm going to bite my tongue and wait for the GM's decision.  It is at least possible he could make a favorable decision.  I don't know but I won't wait forever.  I have made up my mind and the gears are turning.  I have 2 companies now that I have narrowed it down to and when I am pressed to make a final decision, it will come to me which one to take. I have no idea if Addler will take to being in a truck but I wanted the option open and at least try it if it comes to that.  They offered without my asking - I wouldn't ask them to do that really - to take care of him while I am gone but that means I would only see him 4 days out of the month and I do not think that would work.

He is very attached to me now.  Very attached.  It would be a tragedy in my mind to have to give him up to yet another owner/family after going through 2 already in his relatively short period of time he has been alive on this earth.  In fact, I would contact the original owners and see if they would take him back.  The lady loved him dearly and she was devastated to have to let him go - as I would be.  It will be a matter of whether he takes to a truck life or not.

It is unfortunate but I do have to think through all of this and be prepared for what may come.  To be honest, I have had thoughts of asking my oldest brother - of whom I have no relationship with - if he could get me into Boeing.  I have no qualifications so that would be a longshot even if he agreed to try.  I've also had thoughts that if I do go OTR, to spend my free time doing online education.  But in reality, I am 52 years old and it is difficult for people over the age of 50 to get into much of anything without ample experience in any given field.  I can make excellent money OTR I just know that it is a sacrifice.

I've called the waterworks company within 100 miles and no-one is hiring.  For any position, not just trucking.  It's serious hard times out here with the oil fields being shut down.

Well, I can take solace that at least I have something to turn to even if it isn't optimal.

As I posted the other day, I wasn't going to wait around to hear back from the general manager. I went ahead and emailed him from my company email account today to ask him about the pay raise. It was worded with respect and professionalism, I have not yet determined to burn my bridges with this company.

I got a reply email from him within a few minutes actually. He stated that he had just gotten back from Dallas and needed to make a phone call to my new manager and that he would try to make a decision by mid week.i'm not holding my breath but you know it was worth a try anyway.

Eddie, the Driver that was fired for failing a drug test, started today. From the perspective of trying to get a pay raise that is really good news at all.if I were to quit today they would just pick up with them where I left off. Of course he is a pothead and who knows whether he has been able to give that up or not. He was using a coworker's urine drug test in the past. One would presume that the company would force him to do regular from, but this company doesn't seem to be normal in that aspect.

Regardless I am starting to warm up to the idea of being in a truck for extended periods of time. It would be tough to face two weeks at a time out on the road with a dreadful outlook up on it. There are plenty of cons with OTR driving but there are some pros to it as well. 

Unfortunately I would not be at all surprised if they came back with nothing. My current company that is. But I still think an ounce of faith that there is a remote possibility that they might agree to enough of  a pay raise to keep me there. 

Meanwhile the time draws nigh for me to go to one of the orientations. So I am going to look up the things that they have made for truck drivers make their life easier while they're driving on the road. One nice thing that many trucking companies have nowadays is electronic logging. No more logbooks, you just input the information into a device which is sent back to your company and kept on file. It warned you when you're getting close to the end of your allowable driving hours. I only know this because I asked a driver into our yard last week about it. He showed me the device showed how it works.

I have stopped putting out applications for jobs. The only ones that I wouldn't lie for now our local jobs and I have done all of those that I could find. There were some great jobs that are local but they are in my area. I do not believe that I want to relocate again unless it's completely out of this entire area.

The other driver texted me to day and stated:"I don't think we are getting a raise so, I'm leaving! F*** LUSCO!  Now Eddie going to be getting all the deliveries."

Eddie is the driver that was fired a year ago or more for testing positive for THC.  The truck driver who was driving trucks - as high as a kite.  How do you like that idea?  Truck drivers operating 80,000 pounds worth of machinery that are totally impaired in their judgement and thinking.  Yup.  Talk about a company setting itself up for a fall.  He is also a true bulls****er and talks out of both sides of his mouth.  I am not exactly happy he is coming back and I question the judgement of a company as big as this one is in allowing this person back. 

For him to get that job back, he would have to be kissing the new manager's @$$.  The other driver's statement about Eddie getting all the deliveries is simply a statement about Eddie getting all the good runs - which is desirable over having to stay at the yard.   In reality, I get a lot of the good deliveries as well.  But I get dumped into the other driver's truck and he ends up in either the PU or the 550.  Monday I am taking a trip to Mississippi and that is an all day event.  

The other driver is pisssed. I was upset at first but now I'm just biding my time.  Monday I will call the GM and ask if he can give me a raise or not.  I won't wait.  Well, I: can appear like I'm waiting, orientaation for the company I have chosen start date on the 11th.  I'm going to "try" to take all my floating holiday days off - 3 days worth.  If I quit, I get my earned vacation hours but all the rest of it just goes away.  

_____________________________

Another entry written in segments.  Got busy attempting to finish up the Polaris.  Seems to be working fine, I just have to put body parts back on it now.  I had new tires sitting out there for it - 2 of them anyway - was time to finish this up. Money already spent, ramps to get the thing up on a pickup truck.  I'm not really going to be spending money like that at this point on much of anything until I get my job situation worked out.  This area is dried up of local jobs that pay anything, I would have to move to Dallas to get something decent.  

No, I don't want to live in Dallas.  I do know several people there, though, but it's just another big city like Phoenix, the traffic is horrible among other things and it's nothing I want to get involved with.  I have been sending out a few more applications but it's become obvious there is nothing local.  I have tried and asked around.  A company that has LTL told me they have too many drivers and basically, that is the situation everywhere - at least out here  because of the oilfield dump.  I didn't sign up for this. I have been trying to get my mind to accept the idea of OTR and it's been difficult.  It is not the easiest life in the world, but most people don't understand that.  You don't go home every night, you have to spend 10 hours a day driving and then after that all the other stuff such as eating, refueling, laundry, finding a place to park for the night, etc etc etc. 

I can tell right now that 2 days home after being out for 14 is going to seem like nothing.  Maybe my world needs shaken up a bit, I don't know. There is another way to look at OTR - you get to see a lot of places that most people would never be able to visit in one lifetime.  Is the glass half empty or half full proposition.  One thing for certain, my dog is content to be with me - alllll day long.  At the same time, he has friends out back and they play a lot.  He would miss that, I'm sure.  I really don't know which he would "like" more - staying here without me or going with me and not having the freedom of a back yard to roam around.  

Meanwhile, my landlord's freinds that moved back here late last year - are broke.  Which isn't anything shocking in this world but, they inherited a 100k and blew it.  Literally blew it.  It sounds like a lot of money but if you're not working and you are paying all your expenses out of it, yeah.  They bough a pickup truck and the grand total after all the money they dumped into it is 20k.  That's a 1/5th of that money right there.  I'm not judging them, I actually feel sorry for them. They are young, he is out of the military and has severe PTSD.  They just didn't think into the future.  They also didn't try to find jobs.  

Me? That money gets invested or start my own business if I could find something I both enjoy and there is a market for.  To sit around blowing 100k is just unfathomable to me.  I figured this out quickly when they came over the other day and stated to not tell them where the truck is. I don't know where the truck is, but why?  They took out a title loan on it. Title and payday loans are the worst loans on earth, period.  But it was almost shocking.  I didn't say anything about the inheritance, but my landlady did after I engaged that conversation.  What happened to you all of your money?  "It's tied up". 

But I watched them.  Buying extremely expensive liquor - like one bottle at $100 type.  Expensive cigars.  The truck.  A - temporary - lavish lifestyle.  I've seen  this too many times.  I eventually have an inheritance coming - hopefully not anytime soon - and I can tell you that my portion of it will be well more than that.  I have no intentions of just blowing it if it ever comes.  Perhaps I'll die first - though I wouldn't wish that on my mother, being a parent I understand you would much rather die off before die off first before your children.  

Anyway, just watching people going through such things.  Yes the brought it on themselves, yes, they should have had some foresight.  But still.  I mean, at least buy a house/property with it? Out here you can buy a house for less than 100k.  I'm not saying anything fancy, but you would own the property and only be left paying property taxes and insurance.  In fact, there is quite the lack of rentals out here and people needing such. There is a college a mile away and another college 2 miles away and yet another college about 4 miles away. There is a market here for room rentals.  

Apparently, Louisiana has specific anti-bullying laws and apparently, there is some grounds for filing a suit against the company for knowingly installing an "asshole" - the gm told me that yesterday - into a managerial position that has a known history of violence and putting him over employees he openly dislikes - though he has no real reason to since we don't even know the man.  If there is an validity to what I have found online, I have witnesses including one from outside the company.  It would be interesting to see something such as "intentional infliction of emotional distress" as it is called.  Certainly have been exposed to that from that dude from day one, but now as a manager?  Unbelievable that there are trolls walking around this planet that actually think talking to people like this, especially in a managerial position, is somehow okay.

I actually wasn't thinking anything about bullying and lawsuits.  I just know I don't want to work for an a-hole - even HIS manager calls him that behind his back. Oops!  But, my co-worker called me today and we talked for an hour or so. I - kinda - get him to thinking about things.  He's young. He's not stupid but he doesn't go to the places I go in the thinking department.  Not saying I'm Einstein, just I tend to spend a lot of time analyzing things that are affecting me and going down every potential trail of outcomes that may occur.  It's everything from the worst to the best outcomes.

Monday should be - interesting.  I'm transferring photos to my desktop computer so I can empty my phone of all the memory eating pics and videoes.  I intend on getting recordings of any interaction between him and I from this point forth if I can get the phone going nonchalantly.  I really do want to catch this stuff on a recording.  Yeah, I do. Because it's not going to stop.  It may slow down, he may hide it for awhile after the gm gets on his case, which by now he already has, but this dude really needs some counseling.  That's my best answer to people that cannot get a hold of their emotions.  It's not a jab, either, it does work if the person is open to the counselor's input.

I don't have much faith that the gm is actually going to do anything about my pay.  He has no choice but to deal with the new manager.

I have been searching intently for local jobs and it just isn't there. The laid off oil field drivers have flooded the local market and the only thing that will change that is if oil field driving jobs come back.  They apparently pay quite well but I bet none of them expected their jobs would ever be subject to the idea of a oil crash, if you will.  The prices will eventually go back up and perhaps those jobs will come back and perhaps they will take those jobs back, don't know.  The only local jobs I have found are very low paying crap that doesn't pay on the level of an experienced CDL driver.  I have also been looking for forklift jobs, but those don't pay enough money either.

___________________________________

Well here it is Sunday evening.  Tomorrow should be interesting to say the least.  I don't see the man as having the ability to fire me, not after the way the gm was talking, but who knows.  This conversation with him, if it takes place, will likely be edgy.  I do not fear the man and I refuse to fall into that trap - that is what is going on at that branch, he's got people in fear for their jobs.  I don't get it but whatever. I'll go in with an open mind just in case there is any hope but with two, separate and extreme issues - him and pay - it is unlikely that one or the other or both will be rectified.