Take Your Time And Do It Right

In the few years I've been a member of this forum nearly every incident members have posted about could have been avoided or less severe if we just slow down and take a moment to think. Yesterday I seen somebody make a mistake and due to the frustration it escalated much further than it should have. I delivered to stores in Omaha NE and Sioux City IA with a drop and hook across the border in Dakota City NE at Tyson. Showed up and was told the P.O. number wasn't valid but they allowed me in to drop it anyways then bobtail to the staging area outside the gate. I waited 2 hours for dispatch to sort it out turned out the load wasn't ready yet. Dispatch told me come back empty they'll pick it up the following day. I went back in the gate to hook back up and immediately noticed a driver had their tractor at about a 45 degree angle trying to hook up. I planned on walking over there after noticing they seemed to be stuck underneath because they kept inching forward and then back. The driver got out of her truck and came over asking me for help as I was hooking up my trailer. Turns out she high hooked it and rather than cranking the landing gear up had the idea to try and maneuver the truck around to get out from under it. The kingpin was resting on 5th wheel release arm. She was even more worked up at this point and told me cranking the landing gear wouldn't work when I suggested it. I asked her to allow me to try. Sure enough it worked out but it SUCKED with 42k in the box. After it was clear she pulled out. I then started lowering it back down while she slowly backed up and then we visually checked it was the correct height before backing in all the way. This is the proper way to hook up. G-town has posted pictures of trailers being wrong heights that would have resulted in high hooks had he not taken the extra 20 seconds to get out and look. Bird-one shared a picture of a trailer missing its apron. She tried to take the easy way out to save 20 seconds and it costs her over 30 minutes and a ton of aggravation. After she had pulled out I also noticed the release arm was bent as well as the landing gear due to the angle she had the rear of the tractor hitting it while trying to get unstuck. We all make or have made boneheaded mistakes. The best thing you can do is stop and take a moment to clear your head and come up with a solution. The most troubling part of my interaction with her was the comment she made "with how many times I've high hooked you'd think I would've known how to get out of it." No....you'd think you would've learned your lesson and G.O.A.L.! I don't G.O.A.L. in a daycab due to the rear window but If I'm in a sleeper your dang right I'm getting out!

Crank of shame. I did that one time but full trailer's go down way easier than up. I won't ever attempt to pluck another without a G.O.A.L no hurry big enough for that hassle. Most people do that once some can't get right probably the least of that drivers future worries. Safe travels and easy picking to all at T.T

Another note why do yard dogs leave them so high? Seems every drop and hook they have them sky high. They have to crank that many more times too a bit easier for them to do but why? Anyone know?

Another note why do yard dogs leave them so high? Seems every drop and hook they have them sky high. They have to crank that many more times too a bit easier for them to do but why? Anyone know?

Yard dogs don't touch the landing gear.

Possible explanations include,

previous driver cranked it too high when dropping.

Or my favorite, the uneven yard. How many drop yards have you been in that are completely level and flat the whole way through? How many are just dirt lots? I tend to find more of the latter.