Frustrated, End Of My Patience.

Admittedly, it's been a hell of a bad month. My mom passed on April 2nd. My dispatcher did not make it any easier on me. Our already strained working relationship has been shoved to the edge of the cliff, and I'm trying NOT to go off.

For almost two years, I have kept my mouth shut and kept it respectful in dealing with her. My personal abhorrence for her personality is separate from doing my job.

My truck, which apparently has been sold (while I'm still driving it, about 800 miles away) is now in the shop for the third time in a week. Twice for the same check engine light, which is when I was told that the truck was sold.

Yesterday, I did my pretrip as usual, and had no leaks anywhere, no fresh drip marks on the pavement after allowing it to warm up. I get a whole 12 miles climbing East out of Laramie Wyoming, and I get coolant spewing everywhere. It's 3am, in the dark, on a hill. I can't get a good look at where it's coming from, but after the fan stopped, there were 3 very distinct streams of coolant peeing all over the road. Fantastic.

Road Assist says roadside mechanics are all 4+ hours out, and then they might not be able to fix it anyway, so they elect to tow me back to Laramie.

Tow driver is there at the two hour mark, and it takes him close to an hour to hook my truck. He sheared one of my drive line bolts getting it off. Whoops? 4 hours from first phone call, until my trailer is dropped and my truck is dropped into a bay. Grab the second shower of the day, grab food, and come back to talk to the shop. They won't even look at my truck until 14:00-16:00. Great. I let dispatch and RA know the timeline for just looking. They have another driver take my loaded, and leave their empty with me. I spend 15 minutes on the phone with weekend dispatch to make sure he is fully aware of what happened, and we can both CYA with my dispatcher. He states specifically that he knows we are both going to "get yelled at by her." I take a nap.

At about 12:30 I feel them open my hood, where they find the radiator is the leak source. 13:15 I talk to the service writer again, to see if they have an idea if the parts are available. I get told they are already on the way. Sweet! The counter person stated she would call me before she left with an updated timeline. I elect to not get a hotel at this point, because it should just be an hour or two before they start on mine. I update dispatch and RA on the new timeline, and go play videogames, and fall asleep again. Whoops. Call and speak to the shop again at 20:30. "Oh, we won't even get a tech on it until 07:00 or 08:00." That's nice. Update dispatch again, make a hotel reservation, and uber over.

The following images are the last messages between last night and this morning. She has admitted to me that if the message is more than 10 messages, she doesn't read it.

I was awake, at oh my god it's early, to pee. I see my phone light up. At this moment, it's 05:41 mountain time. Am I overreacting for thinking she is deliberately ignoring all the other QC messages between me, weekend and night dispatch, and RA? I know she can see every one of those messages.

Grrrrr! I hate that we can't edit typos. She doesn't read messages if it's longer than ten words.

Rough month for you indeed.

But get some rest and recharge your batteries, you are a very strong individual and we all know you are a very knowledgeable driver.

What company do you drive for? Is it Prime? Can you request a new FM? If you don’t connect well with your FM , that can have a huge negative impact on your entire driving life. I’ve had two FM’s that were no more than robots for my first company. With my current company I have a great FM and it has made a huge difference in my life. Maybe you need to look into a change in this area.

Hang in there, girl. This too will pass.

Maybe once the truck is all repaired, things will be better. Any dealership or shop will string you along with timeline updates, from my experience anyway. Warranty work is the lowest priority because it's not a money maker for a dealership, and ends up on the back burner. When I was at Crete with that Cascadia, I had to have the radiator replaced. Mine was a catastrophic blowout just across the crest of Raton Pass heading south on I-25 at the CO/NM border. Ater the tow, the five hour radiator job took the dealership five DAYS, and they had the part in stock. I would plan on being a hotel resident for awhile.

Concerning your dispatcher , maybe it will get easier once you've got the next truck, but maybe it won't. I would be asking to switch to another's board. If she's already known as a PITA, I don't think it will be difficult for you to get switched. I've divorced fleet managers more than a few times over the years and only twice have I regretted the decision.

T.G. (I assume) she was my FM too. I can relate to your frustration and I can also verify your complaint is not unjustified.

Nailed it in one.

When I told her I needed to go home for a painful breast lump check, her response was "Breast cancer doesn't hurt." Two weeks after my best friend was DXd with invasive ductile carcinoma, over a "painful lump."

When I told her that I needed to get Peaches home to see her normal vet, for suspicious breast lumps, her response was "Good, without a dog on the truck, you can start training."

When Mom had a stroke, she yelled at me, because night dispatch took me off the load I was assigned, and was going to find something more direct.

When I came back from my ten day run home from hell in a rental car after moms stroke, I told her I needed one more day before I could face reloading my truck. She told me "I'll give it to you, but now you are just bull****ting me."

When I was home after she passed, I put my truck in the shop per RA for a check engine light. I was in the middle of writing moms obituary, and I got a message saying that my truck was out of the shop and I needed to let her know when I was ready to go. Leave the next day to go 130 miles for a trailer, get check engine light again, RA sends me back to the same shop. This is when, after a full day waiting I get told the truck is for sale.

Now this. I just can't keep fighting.

T.G. (I assume) she was my FM too. I can relate to your frustration and I can also verify your complaint is not unjustified.

Sorry you are having a rough time of it. Would try anyone’s patience.

Maybe reach out to Kearsey about her Prime FM. He is also mine and very easy to work with

My day just took a bad turn. My receiving customer has my delivery appointment as 4/20 rather than 4/17.

I’ve asked Dispatch to ask Sales to get the shipping customer to correct the date with the receiver. I can still get unloaded today. Just have to be patient

I didn’t call ahead to this customer to confirm my appointment. I’ve had this happen a couple times before. Maybe the lesson will sink in this time to always call ahead.

I rarely call ahead, and it's only bit me once.

I didn’t call ahead to this customer to confirm my appointment. I’ve had this happen a couple times before. Maybe the lesson will sink in this time to always call ahead.