Wednesday, May 7, 2008

It's all a test, I just know it is....

You know how you have "one of those days"? Well, I am having one of those months! I swear nothing can go right. I just keep telling myself that it is all a giant test and damn it, I am going to pass!

You just read about us getting in last night and them not being able to unload us until this morning. You also just read that they told us we would be first. Nope, didn't happen. J went in twice and nothing. So I wake up around 1030 and we still were parked in the yard. What actually woke me up was our FM calling to find out what the deal was and I told him we weren't even to the dock yet. So now that I am up, I decide to go in and raise some hell. J said he had been in twice and that didn't accompolish anything. Step aside and let Mamma do the talking mister. :) Went in and very politely asked a lady who appeared to be in charge when they were going to get to us because we had been sitting out there almost 12 hours waiting and we were told last night that we would be in first because of what we were carrying. She got this look on her face and said "You have been out there for how long?" And I told her we got in at midnight last night and it is now 1100. I also told her what we were carrying, and there is a sign posted right there that if you are carrying "minors" that you get first priority. I have no clue what the hell is considered "minors" but they guy last night looked at my bills and said that is what I had and that I would be in first. When I explained to her that the overnight guy wrote it all on the dry erase board so day shift would know, and that apparently day shift erased everything up there and re-wrote it but left out some information, mainly what we were carrying (because that is why the note was on it to let them know to get us first) she got on the radio and had a guy come to the front office. And the office girls didn't look too happy that they had messed up and it was caught. Needless to say that within 45 minutes we were unloaded and pulling out. Which is all crap because our FM said that we wouldn't get detention pay for that. But that is a whole other story that I just don't feel like going into right now. If you read Primedrivers.net I posted about it in the Drivers Lounge under the heading "Appointment times and detention". I just don't feel like typing it all out again.

Well, we get that cluster taken care of and get our next load. Deadhead 229 miles to Southport,SC to pick up a load going to Grand Prairie,TX. I make it in and see that there are 3 trucks lined up waiting to get in tomorrow morning because they are closed. Freaking great. So I get security on the CB and ask what to do and guess what? It is my lucky day. This load is actually a drop and hook so he lets me in so I can get my load. All the trucks waiting outside were going to be live loads in the morning. Hell yeah! Made my night. But don't worry, you know I have some drama for you. He has me scale going in. I drop the trailer, hook up to the new load and scale going out. I go in to pick up my paperwork and I am 180 lbs over gross weight!!!!! How can this be happening to me???? Again???????? This is 3 out of 4 runs that we have been overweight. And we have 1/4 tank of gas so we really need fuel. We debate a while on it and decide that we either take off or get in line and be 4th on the list for them to deal with in the morning. I hate doing it, but we decide to run with it. Oh, forgot to mention, that 180 lbs over is NOT including me in the truck. So we are actually heavier than that. I would tell you what we were actually over, but then you would subtract that from 180 and get my weight, and that is something a woman doesn't discuss thank you very much. Snap! :) Anyway, I head out and check the maps and no scales before our fuel stop. Decide to definitely scale it and see how much we are over according to a CAT scale. Get weighed with both of us in it and the CAT scale shows 78,280. YES! So we fill up and re-weigh and we are at 79,180. Hell yeah! Their scale at the shipper was off. I am in a much better mood now because we are actually legal. And it saves me from having to call in to our FM tomorrow and having a "talk" with him. Both J and I are really relieved so this will make it a much better trip without the headaches of wondering if we are going to get called into a scale.

We only have 1100 miles to go and we have until 0900 on the 8th to get it there so we are stopping for the night at the Petro here in Florence and leaving in the morning. J hasn't gotten to bed yet except for about an hours nap and he is just exhausted. No way is he going to start driving when his shift starts in three hours. No way Jose.

So sweet dreams everyone and I'll be back tomorrow. :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you need this installed: http://www.air-weighscales.com

Unknown said...

Kicking butt !!! It takes a woman's touch. Good job.