New Job Is Exhausting

Hey everyone. In the scheme of things......this was minor, I got lost, ended up in a residential and a tight turn where I curbed the truck. I ahd a 47K coil sitting on the center of the trailer. You can all Monday morning QB all you want. Yes,........I shouldn't have been back there and yes I was anyhow. When flatbedding and with the different delivery sites, you WILL find yourself in confusing situations. Hard to explain fully without a few paragraphs. Just take my word for it please. It was bad decision making with fatigue and a road closure involved. Beginning and end of that story.

I stopped once I curbed the truck. I had a heavy coil, It was tipped a little and when I went to back out with the thought of calling the local PD to get me out of there, I had the tractor bucking and the load starting to oscillate. With a high center of gravity and that instability I just pulled the brakes, called the company for help and figured I'd take the beating. They had to get a wrecker out there to pull the trailer off the curb, flatten out the load and get me going again.

I did get some finger wagging from safety. That is to be expected. The best thing was I quit digging myself into a hole and recognized the potential for real trouble. It was frustrating the night I made my initial post.

Don't get me wrong. Not taking it lightly. But still appreciating that I was in a tough situation I made the right decision to shut things down and call for help. It could have cost me my job, it could have been worse than that. I didn't damage an expensive tractor, a trailer or the load. All those things are important. I could have walked away with my head held high knowing I did the right thing after making a big mistake had I been let go. I guess these are rookie mistakes that are forgivable?

Other than that, things are going well with the job. I am making delivery times. Customer service is excellent. I am following company policy.

I would say as a newbie you did just fine. You got yourself into a pickle and asked for help before it became much worse.

I would just suggest that when you get your plan to look at your GPS and plot your route AND beyond your route. Plot a way out and a way around. You'll never know until you get there what to expect. Sounds simplistic, I know, but having done City Driving right out of the blocks 7 years ago I still plot every delivery on my Google Maps to include what to do if I miss a turn or if I'm not sure of the ingress or egress into the shipper.

Matthew, thanks for relating your experience. It’s educational for everyone and I’m glad you came out of it more experienced and wiser.

In my short career, I’ve gotten into two situations where I called the police for assistance. The officers were very kind and helpful and one even commended me for stopping and calling for help. Good lesson not to let pride get in your way when you need help. As has been said on this forum before, the law enforcement people would rather respond to a call for help than a mess to clean up when things go from bad to worse.

Matthew the term Monday Morning Quarterback does not apply here.

We have decades of experience here, able to mentor and advise when appropriate. No one is going to throw you under the bus for making an honest mistake; taking responsibility and attempting to learn from it.

Thank you for sharing this. Stopping when you did was the right thing todo.

Safe travels.