A little sad

[Guest Truckergirl123]

So I had my first GT appointment set up for the 10 of this month. It was going great I had it all planned out since I was going to have four days off. I was going to rent a car and got to the appointment then drive to the airport and catch a short plane ride home for the rest of the time. That was until I found out I didn't get paid this week.

It's always nice to call up the payroll dept and see how much you got paid and for the computer to say zero dollars and zero cents. I pretty much broke down right then. I left my truck and walked away for a little bit where the other drivers wouldn't see or hear me and just sorta sat down sobbing uncontrollably. (one reason I was upset is that I'm supporting a family of 5 including me since my mom got sick) so I had $2 in my wallet and a bag of chips on the truck. I didn't know what to do or how I was going to stay alive till next week.

So after I calmed down enough that I could actually get words out of my mouth I called up a friend who works at the same company and she helped me out a lot. With her help I managed to figure out why I didn't get paid, when I'm going to get paid for the trips I made last week and get my "trainer" in trouble for some very cruel things he has done while on the road. I would like to say thank you so so so much Elena for your help.

I did manage to get some money from my dad. I think the reason he caved in is because I just started crying all over again when he answered. So now hopefully I can make it till next payday and set up another appointment with the GT. I was so looking forward to seeing him. The past two weeks were going great while waiting for the appointment. I was just happy all week long and that's kinda a rarity for me.

Well at least I'm still going home next week. I'll just drive the truck home instead of going to LA then headin home. Although I am going to be dreading having to turn in my firefighter gear. I've been placed on a untill further notice leave since I'm on the road too much to do anything with them. Which is totally understandable but I am still going to miss them

Wow I went a little all over the board on this one. Oh well it was nice to get get some things off my chest a little. Thanks for listening

<3

Christine

[Guest Mia J]

Hi Christine I am sorry for your problems.

If this was the fault of your trainer I hope he gets into more than just a little trouble. When you do get paid are you going to be able to also get the back pay at least?

I understand about having to give up the firefighting but we have to take time for the things with the highest priority and putting food in the mouths of your family is important. With any luck you will be able to do it again at some point if this is what you want.

Our understanding and support is here for you and feel free to vent anytime you need.

Mia

[Guest Maria_B]

Wow, Christine, my heart bleeds for you. Thats not a good place to be, ever.

No amount of hugs makes it better, but darn it, I'm going to try!

*hugs tightly*

[JJ]

Sorry to hear about this happening to you! I'm glad that you got ot worked out though the delay is painful and frustrating and hope it all goes smoothly from here on out

My daughter and SIL are firefighters and I know how deep the dedication goes. Maybe one day you will be able to return to it, The beauty of life is that sometimes it can hold good surprises as well as bad, You've had the bad so may the next be good

Johnny

[Guest Melissa~]

Thanks for reminding me how evil the trucking industry is. I unfortunately can tell you it's a standard industry practice to short pay checks. In each of the three companies I worked for every company cut some corner somewhere on pay. It's a good way to demotivate employees that's for certain.

[Carolyn Marie]

I'm really sorry this happened to you, Christine. I hope the company makes it right, and in a hurry, and you don't have to work with that jerk any more. Don't know where you are now, but the weather in So. Cal is nice, so take it easy and drive safe, OK?

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

[Guest spunky monkey]

hello,

huge bear hugs its terrible when your holding out for money and it doesn't come, hang in there and remember we care.

as for venting i love too come here too vent, it helps the healing process

love rachelle

[Guest Truckergirl123]

Aww thanks for the kind words everyone. it really made my night a little better. I've been sitting in Philadelphia since about 9am eastern time. I'm waitin on a trailer to be fixed which it won't be considering I can see a definite warp through the entire van. Oh the joys of being nice and trying to help your boss who was in a tight spot looking for help. Pretty much I told my boss that I will not pull this trailer any farther than our nearest drop yard about 20 miles away. It's too dangerous to go any further with it riding half on the shoulder while I'm on the left edge of my lane.

Also my "trainer" ( I put that in quotes because he has about 1 month more OTR exp. than me but I have 2 years local over him) isn't the reason why I didn't get paid its because payroll screwed up and didn't see the trips that I sent in so yes they will be on my next paycheck.

The cruel things that my "trainer" did to me are pretty bad and only one worth mentioning on here, I really really had to use the restroom one day while driving and was looking for a rest area or truck stop. Well he decided that he didn't want to stop and told me that if I stopped he would just leave me there. This scared me really bad so I tried to hold it but just couldn't. He had me in tears begging to pull over before he decided to let me. Basically when I called my friend and told her what was going on she had me contact his boss and tell them everything. My "trainer" got a huge lecture from his boss and I got a very nice apology but I could only accept it for a couple of the things he did. The others, well, there is no amount of apologizing one could do to let me forgive them for doing that.

I did get a call back from my GT today and we are going to schedule an appointment farther down the road since I'll be changing trucks twice in the next month and won't know when my next hometime can be.

And well here I sit, or actually lay since I'm in the bunk, in Philadelphia. This is my first time here and I'm going to try and make it my last since it isn't a very truck friendly town.

I hope y'all are doing great. Have a nice night.

<3

Christine

[Bulldog1948]

Christine,

No, Philly isn't a truck friendly town.

I rode with a buddy of mine quite a few years ago deliving stuff on the east coast; Boston,New York and down to Philly. I can't remember the truck terminal that we were in in Philly, but it was wild. Two hookers showed up by the time we got the truck parked. And it got even better. It ended up being a 3 day lay-over. My buddy John and I decided to eat at their greasey spoon and our waitress was in full drag, but her beard was showing through her makeup.

Sitting in that place was not the best place to be. So, the pimp that ran da hookers offered us a ride into downtown Philly and we went bar hopping ; ugly headache time. The next morn we caught the subway back to the terminal and I fell over a huge blue-fin tuna at the fish market. The only thing I could think was, OMG- they killed Charley the Tuna.

Anyway, we dropped some bucks in Philly [ not to the ladies], mostly in food and beer. Then to top it off, coming down the interstate we lost our brakes [ going down the mountain with 40,000+ pounds of kitty litter in the trailer]. You should seen the construction workers on the bridge running fot their lives when they seen us coming. When we flew across the bridge, I figured I was going to die in a load of future cat manure lol. Anyway, when we finally rolled to a stop, I had to pry John's hands from the wheel. Was I scared- heck yeah- only a fool wouldn't have been. But we eventually made it home safe, Thank God. Oh, I even got chased by screaming women in the batroom lol { man, in the bathroom screaming stuff]. Whata trip. One that I will never forget

Mike

[Guest Andrea_Heilotes]

Sorry to hear about your hard times Christine, I really hope that things will look up for you soon. Eventually they will look up though, just be patient and hang in there. Best of luck!

[Guest Janice Lynn]

Christine,

All of this must be terribly sad and frustrating and though I am so glad to

hear they will catch up on your next paycheck, since they have admitted

that the mistake was theirs an advance is in order to help you get thru

the next couple of weeks. I'd ask for half of what I am owed.

For the record, I have never been a professional truck driver, I worked

with and among them for 20 years. Most are good, honest people who

have done the best with the opportunities that have come their way. I

have also worked with literally 100+ trucking companies and can count on

two hands the number I would ever consider working for if I had the need

and the opportunity. I still deal with a few in my current business as I

ship goods out and have raw material delivered, but I was forced to

essentially "hire and fire" a dozen before I found 2 who I could trust to

even the minimal degree required ... and that was with a pretty thorough

knowledge of who was out there who could serve us.

A quick story: One time about 20 years ago there was a trucking

company out here in the Northwest that worked every state west of the

Mississippi. They had a horrible reputation and screwed over their

drivers on a regular basis believing that a tough economy and lacking a

union would keep the drivers in line. Not so. By agreement among more

than 25 drivers they agreed that they would walk away from their trucks

and then, upon getting to to either the airport or bus station, called

the dispatcher and told them they quit and hung up. This was before the

days of GPS so the dispatcher had only a vague idea as to where 25

trucks were parked alongside the road. Outcome: Every single one had

a job inside of a week and the trucking company went bust.

[Guest Truckergirl123]

Thanks everyone it makes me feel better knowing I have a safe place to go with my problems. I love this site and all the people on it.

Quick update here. It looks like I might be getting out of Philadelphia within the hour . One good thing that happened from sitting in front of this shop for so long is that at about 3:00am today I got a 34 hour restart. I didn't really need one but it's always nice to start fresh on hours. Other then that its kinda sucks sitting here in 100 degree weather. And it doesn't help that I haven't been able to take a shower for about 3 days. Oh the joys of driving OTR. You never know what you're going to run into out here lol.

Oh and mike I lost my brakes once coming through donners pass heading west. I wasn't driving but pretty much took over the situation to get it stopped without using a career ender ramp. I think you're right you would be a fool not to be scared in a situation like that. The whole time I was thinking that we were going to go flying off the mountain at 85mph. Scary scary stuff out here sometimes. Take care everyone

<3

Christine

[Sally]

So glad that you are feeling a bit better, Christine.

This is a great place to come for support, a place with a lot of people in similar situations, those who are about to start their journeys and those who have pretty much completed theirs - who better to listen and understand.

The main thing is to learn to finally feel good about who you are.

Love ya,

Sally

[Bulldog1948]

Thanks everyone it makes me feel better knowing I have a safe place to go with my problems. I love this site and all the people on it.

Quick update here. It looks like I might be getting out of Philadelphia within the hour . One good thing that happened from sitting in front of this shop for so long is that at about 3:00am today I got a 34 hour restart. I didn't really need one but it's always nice to start fresh on hours. Other then that its kinda sucks sitting here in 100 degree weather. And it doesn't help that I haven't been able to take a shower for about 3 days. Oh the joys of driving OTR. You never know what you're going to run into out here lol.

Oh and mike I lost my brakes once coming through donners pass heading west. I wasn't driving but pretty much took over the situation to get it stopped without using a career ender ramp. I think you're right you would be a fool not to be scared in a situation like that. The whole time I was thinking that we were going to go flying off the mountain at 85mph. Scary scary stuff out here sometimes. Take care everyone

<3

Christine

Now, you really scared this old man. I thought coming down the PA mt was ruff, but Donners Pass- OMG

Mike

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

Well I, for one, am glad Elena was able to help you out. Your trainer sounds like a bad egg and I'm sorry you didn't get a good one. There are trainers in every company that use the student just for the extra hours and don't care about teaching them how to properly drive the truck.

[Guest Truckergirl123]

Thanks Lizzie, but he's not really using me for extra hours. He just likes to think he knows everything cause he's leasing a truck. In reality I would say we are about the same level of driving skill with me being way more careful behind the wheel, still trying to get used to a 53' trailer and a huge sleeper vs a single rear day can and a 45' grain hauler.

I pretty much learned everything I could so far in my first half of training this half is meant more for the company to make you lease a truck since they only put you in a leased truck. Glad to hear from ya Liz take care.

Mike, that happened in my first half of training. It was two students and a trainer in my truck. The other student was driving while I sat in the passenger seat. Turns out he was resting his foot on the brake pedal all through the mountains and when we really needed the brakes we had none. We also had a nice cloud forming behind us blinding everyone. The only way we got it stopped was out of pure luck that at the bottom of the hill we were on went straight back up again. Basically by the time we reached the top of that hill we were going about 20-25mph and I popped the brakes hoping for something to happen. It worked and we stalled just before cresting the top of the hill. The look on all of our faces was priceless. We joke about it now but in reality we all know it's no joke. Take care and have a great day mike

<3

Christine