Mountain Girl's Adventures In P & D - What? You Dispatched My Tractor To Someone Else?

Second day in-a-row.

First, yesterday, I was to come in to at 10:00am instead of my usual 7:00am. I had actually called the dispatcher at 6:00am and asked him not to give out my truck to anyone else, as I'd be there at 10, ready to rock 'n roll. Not a chance. Gone. They were out of tractor's and they had to give it out. They had another one ready and waiting for me, though. He's not the usual dispatcher, who's totally awesome. This guy is the terminal recruiter who works in dispatch when the real dispatcher is on holiday. The day turned out to be tough, too. All my "stuff" was in my tractor: my maps, my dock hook, my wipies, my hooking and unhooking gloves (the ones I don't drive with), my clean interior. Did I mention Myyyy maps, dang it. La-la-laaaaa, one thing after another, from there. A trailer with a completely unacceptable inside tandem that needed replacing on the spot. Boom. An hour lost. Hooking doubles with a bad dolly Boom. Half hour gone. ...Having to unhook that set and start over with a new dolly. RRrrr. Another half hour gone. ...Serta refusing the entire loads of both trailers, yadda-yadda. That part I didn't care about. So what? I did my job and still made it to their dock before my cut-off time.

Today, 8:00am clock-in time, that same replacement dispatcher says, "It's right out front. I didn't give it out."

Uhhh. Nope. Not there. Looked out front. Walked around the terminal for 50 minutes, hunting for my truck. Good work-out though. The dispatcher left his counter in disbelief, and walked the yard, too. Nope. "I have to give you another truck. I don't know where it is and we're burning time."

"Well, Iiii'm not burning time," I quipped under my breath. I grabbed the other truck, hooked, delivered, came back to the yard. I survived the morning without incident. (Rare for me as I'm either a DOT inspection failure magnet in the yard, finding dysfunctional equipment almost every day ...OR I'm just the only one who actually inspects these vehicles, and turns 'em in to the shop right away ...hmmmm. That's for another discussion)

11:30am. I quietly asked the other dispatchers if any of them figured out who took "that" tractor. (I'm trying not to make a big deal that it's my assigned tractor because they gave me one waaaaaay sooner than they do most and I don't want to be a thorn in anyone's side)

The dispatch manager, standing behind a city dispatcher says, "H---- took it." He's the same guy who had it yesterday. "He took it? or did B--- dispatched it to him?" I asked in a low, unemotional voice. (poker face. Think poker face)

"Oh no. He took it. No one dispatched it to him. He just grabbed it, hooked to his trailer, and left the yard with it."

"Ok," I said. "Anyway, no worries. H---- is a really nice guy." I lightheartedly walked off. No biggie. I'm dealing with my day. Off on another run.

But before I left to go get my next trailer for another run, I see H---- standing at the linehaul dispatcher's window. I walked through the dispatch room and stood in the window, looking at him from the inside ...out, through the window.

"Dude, H----. Why'd you take my tractor again today?" I whispered. He looked straight at me (we're decent friends). "'Cause they tolllld me to," his foreign accent stretching out syllables for emphasis. Then he steps back for a second, realizing he actually is talking to me. "Hey, you're luuucky, Dude," He whispers. "Why?" "Becauuuuse your brakes failed. I completely ran a stop light and couldn't stop. Could ...not ...stop. Then I got back to the yard and I couldn't stop agaiiiiin, man. It's in the shop right now. It's deadlined. I'm waiting for a new tractor."

There ya' have it.

The tractor instantly lost its importance. He said he was sorry for taking my it. I told him, the only thing that was important was that he was okay. He's an 18-year veteran driver. I'm sorry he went through that, under the circumstances, he was way better qualified to handle it than I. Glad he's all right.

...More on whether or not what he said was all true. With the way these trucks are dispatched electronically from the dispatcher's computer to the driver's handheld computer, the dispatch manager had to be right ...that H---- took it without permission - a no-no. How the brakes failed is something my best friends in the shop are going to find out and let me know. (I checked the brake pads before going home, while the tractor was still in line to be worked on and they were fine, it's an old truck, so it might have been the air lines....)

Bottom line: no one hurt.

Lesson learned: focus on safety, not "wa-aaa, where's my trwu-uck."

-mountain girl