Rolltainer Blues For August

It started out great. Took a vacation and it was great. My body definitely needed the time off. As great as it was I noticed I was kind of antsy to get rolling towards the end and it felt kind of weird not driving , waking up and unloading , etc. First load back I could tell summer was TRULY here. Hotter than hades out there. Load was overweight…got parked late and had to wake up early and unload. I noticed I was dragging and thought it was being out of practice but then it got worse. Migraine and vomiting. Had this going on for 2 days and they were giving me long loads because I normally handle those just fine. I told them “hey guys I need to shut down”. The reply was “no issue” you can deliver it day after tomorrow. A week or so later I was in a rush and got to my 3rd stop of the day. The store was getting another truck at the time, a pipe had busted the night and flooded it out, so the manager was just like “oh great, another truck” and broke my seal so I could start unloading. Went through the front door. Got it out in almost record time. When it came time to leave, the manager actually looked at the paperwork and noticed…..I was at the WRONG store!!!! This was the store that I always delivered too 3rd stop on this run so complacency kills kids, totally my fault. Soooo, I contacted my FM and informed him of my snafu. No worries there but “fix it” all is forgiven. I had to reload everything I took off. Now when unloading in can put 3 rts on the liftgate to go down. Some of these can be easily 1000 lbs a piece. So with the heavy ones I could only take up one at a time. Also my lift gate was old so leaned forward. Ended up having to hook straps up to most of them to get them pulled back in the trailer. Then I had to go and deliver to the correct store. I was physically EXHAUSTED! Very sore because I had to use a whole different muscle group to reload the stuff with the different liftgate. The next day my load planner saw me dragging (*****ing) before i started my pretrip ( i had to spend the night at the dc because I ran out of hours) He asked me if I wanted to run a load to a different dc which I wouldn’t have to unload! And I could run my next store the next day. That was a blessing. I definitely didn’t feel like unloading and needed a break. Forward to Thursday. I get my preassign early and it is a load that will make it possible I can sleep at my house and deliver the next day but it is a 6 am mandatory appointment. I hustle and get it unloaded early. I call the manager( she has been late before) and she assures me that she will be there on time. Traffic is horrible. But I get parked with just enough time to do my break and still make my appointment. I get ready to head to my car with the idea of my own shower and bed on my mind. Discipline nags at me and I do my post trip walk around. Flat tire on my tandems. 😢 So I put in my breakdown and wait. Guy calls me about 1 am and I reaffirm where I’m at. He tells me to just continue my sleeping and he won’t have to wake me up . Thank heavens. I wake up , get my pretrip done and have it timed to where I get to my appointment exactly on time. It’s VERY tight and I have to slide my tandems forward to get around the building and I have to move empty rts out of my way to complete my turn around the building. The Building is still locked No cars in the parking lot I wait I call her cell phone number with no answer. Appt is 6 am and the store opens at 8 am. She pulls up in the parking lot at 0805. With her head down. And told me she overslept!!!!!! After I had confirmed yesterday!!!!! I tried to keep my cool but had to throw in that “ I hope You enjoyed your extended nap!!”😡😡😡

So here I am on hometime. Woke up and took a pleasure drive in my car. Bought some donuts and plan on doing some couch setting and tv show binging.

One last thing. “Liquid iv” which is a drink mix you can get from Amazon, maybe Walmart is an essential!!! It has saved my bacon this summer!! No more leg cramps due to dehydration at night. If you have a physically demanding job this crap works for hydration!!better than pickle juice !!

Be safe my friends! It’s been rough but it be like that sometimes. Still enjoy the job and am thankful that I work for people that take mercy on me from time to time.

My company never told me I would have aus like that so I assume I should be mad at them 😂😂😂🤣

I'm just laughing & crying at the same time.... husband says 'he's a BRAVE MAN!!' Liquid IV?? That's a thing?? Okay, omw!

Just went thru your videos a bit ago ... and shared (again) with the whatnots (and whomnots, haha!) I'll have to check again, for THIS!!

Thanks, Ray. How a manager can be 2 hours plus 5 mins late.. yet WE can't!! OMIWOW. .. Helluva read, for sure, man. Enjoy the hometime, as you can.

It's total HAIL typing with a torn left rotator cuff... but, ya know what? People can do.. what they set their mind TO!

You're an exemplar. AND plus.

~ Anne & Tom ~

Wow. You have been killing it and it but back. Hope next week is better. I thought committing to this for a year was amazing and a second year? Well, crazy? ;)

Don’t know if we will do a 2nd full year. Will have to see what happens. Sometimes ya just have a good run of bad luck out here.

I'm just laughing & crying at the same time.... husband says 'he's a BRAVE MAN!!' Liquid IV?? That's a thing?? Okay, omw!

Just went thru your videos a bit ago ... and shared (again) with the whatnots (and whomnots, haha!) I'll have to check again, for THIS!!

Thanks, Ray. How a manager can be 2 hours plus 5 mins late.. yet WE can't!! OMIWOW. .. Helluva read, for sure, man. Enjoy the hometime, as you can.

It's total HAIL typing with a torn left rotator cuff... but, ya know what? People can do.. what they set their mind TO!

You're an exemplar. AND plus.

~ Anne & Tom ~

Liquid IV is absolutely a thing and I love it.

That's a definitely a rough go of things, Papa Pig. Way to keep on trucking (some pun intended). Enjoy the home time. You earned it.