Rough Day

Here I sit, 630 in the morning stuck in mud and requiring a tow out. I was scheduled for 13 hours and have to wait about 90 minutes for the tow truck. This particular customer is a catering kitchen that operates out of a building in their farm house. They have a gravel driveway and I figured as long as I stayed on the gravel I'd be ok. Despite having some rocks down, I lost traction while backing and slid into their grass. We had quite a bit of rain yesterday. I wasn't able to rock the truck out unfortunately so I'll have to be winched out. Really sucks, I gave my 2 week notice yesterday and now I'll have to call my future employer later today and explain what happened and see if they want to move forward as this was preventable.

Oh, that's a crappy way to start the day but I certainly wouldn't sweat it. Getting stuck in the mud at a farm is far from being a crime. I very much doubt your new company will be concerned about that. You have quite a bit of solid experience at this point and getting stuck in the mud at a farm is no big deal. In fact, it's certainly not an accident and I don't see why you would have to report it at all. I mean, it's mud. Stuck happens. No biggie.

The most important thing is to get on with your day is if nothing happened. Don't let that distract you. Your job is super tough as it is. You need to stay relaxed and focused so you can get through the rest of this day safely.

Move forward, don't sweat it.

I figure I'll give them a call later today and explain the situation in case my current company puts it on my DAC. I don't want them to believe I'm trying to hide anything. I took some pictures and at least there's no damage other than my pride. Thankfully they're sending someone from Rock Island out to give me a hand since I'll be behind schedule. They won't be here for another 3 hours but at least I'll get a helping hand. Definitely not going to allow it to distract me once I get moving again I've seen it play out here numerous times when someone focuses too much on a previous incident a larger one is bound to happen.

In fact, it's certainly not an accident and I don't see why you would have to report it at all.

Unfortunately, here at OD it would be a "accident" as well, you would have to take pictures fill out accident report and meet with safety. I doubt anything would come of it, especially if you have a clean record so far.

Talked to one of my managers about it, he said it goes down as preventable because I had to be pulled out by a wrecker. I left a voicemail with future employer informing them of what happened I haven't heard back yet. They ended up not sending me any help because they feel I can get back on schedule which I've made up about an hour after being behind 2 hours. One of the other drivers out of my yard told me he'll meet up with me in a couple hours after his route is finished. I'm surprised I haven't been told I need to go for a drug test. I'm not worried about passing one, I just figured they'd be sending me.

Ended up only being 10 minutes behind at 2pm when I met up with the other driver for my final 6 stops. We finished my route an hour ahead of schedule and the customers were extremely happy, they were told I was 2 hours behind and my last stops wouldn't be delivered until 7pm. Last stop was off the truck just before 4pm. Future employer is surprised my current employer is listing as preventable and putting on DAC but it is what it is. They don't seem too concerned about it as there was no damage and no citation. This is the pic I took after trying to wiggle my way out. I didn't have far to go behind me, or to the driver side until the compacted dirt driveway but everytime I tried to move I dug in deeper. I tried using my curb ramp, a sheet of metal we use to roll up the curb rather than needing to pull the 2 wheeler up, to roll up onto with my drive tires but the truck was too deep and it didn't do any good.

This portion didn't have really any gravel which made this situation worse.

This was the aftermath of their yard after I got dragged out.

Only damage is your pride, which is a good thing. Too bad a customer will have a location that needs a serious upgrade in order to meet large car standards. "We get big trucks in here all the time"....