I made my delivery (a fire truck) today. While the folks at the place I delivered did piss me off a little I worked around it and got the job done. One guy told me to unload at a certain spot and while I was in the midst of the work required to detach the trailer some other guy came out and told me I needed to pull around behind the building and do the detach and unload there.
*sigh*
Fine, what the fuck ever. I needed to get the job done and get to Oshkosh to pick up an over size fire truck going to Houston. I didn't have time to play games. I pulled around behind the building and detached. I didn't even wait for someone to come out to unload the truck, I hopped in, fired it up, and drove it off the trailer myself. Hey, I enjoy driving a fire truck here and there. I did sort of hit the switches for the lights and sirens by mistake. LOL
I got to Oshkosh, picked up my shiny new fire truck, and headed back to the yard. I do enjoy over sized loads because they pay so damn well and because I can run my flashing amber beacons and look cool going down the road. Other than that, they're a real pain in the ass.
When I got to the yard "A" in dispatch said he had my permits for the load. Cool. He then said that if I left right away I could be down to the state line before I had to stop. Well, yeah, I guess I could, but I'm not going to. I had paperwork to do, and was tired, and was hungry, and basically didn't feel like it. I looked over at "R" who is the head of dispatch and said "I'm leaving in the morning. You gonna be at the bar tonight?"
Naturally he said "Yeah, I'll see ya there in a little while." So much for that debate.
The guys all showed up at the bar a little while later. "A" didn't have a lot to say to me, but I don't really give a shit. He's a sawed off little shit and I have a real hard time taking him seriously anyway. I could easily break him in half if I had a mind to and he knows it. But he's really not a bad guy, we just don't always see eye-to-eye.
While I was at the bar the boss showed up and we chatted about some bullshit or other. He and I have always hit it off and I can get away with talking shit to him that other drivers can't. I don't brown nose, I just say whatever the hell I want to say. He respects that, and we get along just fine. He's not one of those people who's feelings are hurt easy and neither am I, so we just say whatever the hell we want to say to each other. We have a few guys who try to brown nose him and he has no respect for those guys at all, and honestly neither do I. He calls me "old man" if I don't beat him to it and call him "old man". We're the same age and both have bad backs LOL
Anyway, as I sat there and had a few brews and shot the shit with the combination of company folks, drivers, and locals, I had a pretty good time. I haven't actually had the time to stop into "our bar" for a while and it felt pretty damn good to relax there and toss back a few. It's kind of an odd thing that in my business the bartender in a place 1,000 miles from your home knows you by name. I got a few hugs and kisses from some of the local ladies who have come to know me there and many of the local guys gave me hand shakes and bought me beers. It's a bit odd to be a regular in a place so far from home.
But it's kinda nice too.