I sat around all day waiting for a call from dispatch so I could get back on the road and make a few bucks. I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't heard from them with this being the holiday season and all that. Late today I decided to go ahead and buy some groceries to make dinner tonight.
Around 4:00 I picked up some beer as I figured if I hadn't heard from them by then I wasn't going anywhere today. Right.
I got the call a few minutes ago, about 3/4 of the way through my second brewskie. She said she needed me to be in Savannah, GA first thing tomorrow morning. Huh? Say what? You call me this late in the day and tell me you want me to be 300 miles from here first thing in the morning?
I told her that I simply couldn't do it. I was nice about it, friendly, all that jazz, and I was also honest with her and told her that I had been up all day ready to go and had given up on moving today and started on a brew or two. It's not like I slept all day ya know. She said she'd see what she could do.
A few minutes later I got a call from "R". He runs dispatch. I almost laughed when I heard his voice and could just imagine the conversation between her and he. He asked me what was up, and I asked him what was up. We had a brief conversation about this proposed load and I basically told him that while I didn't get shitty with her I wasn't too pleased with the timing of this thing as I was up early and ready to roll this morning, that I was now settled in for the night, and that her planning skills really suck moose tit. The "F" word was used by the both of us a few times, but that's just how we communicate with each other and neither of us were actually mad at the other. He and I get along great and have spent more than a few hours tossing back brews together.
I did tell him I felt bad about things because I know she's trying to get me going, and that I want to get going because I have bill collectors to feed, but hey reasonable is reasonable. The law requires 8 hours between having a drink and getting behind the wheel of a rig, and he did mention that would still give me time to get there. I brought up the fact that I was up bright and early this morning ready to roll and at that point would be sleepy as hell and ready to go to bed. Don't want me wrecking the truck because I fell asleep now do ya?
He acquiesced and said he'd go to plan B. That pretty much means "Ok, I'm not happy but you're right and there's nothing I can do about it".
Yeah I do need to get back out there and make some money, but I have never liked these last minute been up all day but now drive half the night dispatches. "R" knows that too. We've discussed this sort of thing a few times in the past so I'm pretty sure he knew my position before he called me. But he has to do his job which includes keeping his dispatchers happy as well as we drivers. I wouldn't want his job.