This morning finds me sitting in Houston.
Yesterday I arrived at the jobsite with the large generator at precisely 9:30 am, as promised. My part of the job was over at that point. It went downhill from there.
It only took a couple of minutes for me to figure out that the crane operator and his rigger didn't have the slightest idea of how to rig the straps to this big generator to lift it off my trailer. I stood and watched them for a few minutes as they discussed their various options.
The problem was that the generator had a big louver panel on each side, near the rear of the unit and they project out about 2.5 inches. The point directly below them is where the straps need to go on that end and that means when the thing is lifted the straps would smash the panels.
This is nothing new to me so after a few minutes of amusing myself while watching them I walked over and told them if they simply place wooden blocks thicker than the panels directly below the panels they would hold the straps out far enough to prevent damage. This is something I have seen done many times.
But of course I am just a truck driver and don't know what I am talking about. They immediately dismissed my suggestion and went on trying to figure out how to get it done. At that point I simply walked away, sat in my truck, lit a pipe, and left them to it.
They tried rigging the rear straps forward of the panels. I knew that wouldn't work because that's the heavy end and the straps need to be all the way to the rear. That's something else I had told them earlier but they argued with me that the other end was the heavy one. Again, I hadn't argued with them, they would find out I was right when they tried to lift it.
Sure enough, the front lifted but the rear stayed firmly on the deck. I just sat in my truck and chuckled although time was wasting and I needed to get to Galveston to pick up my next load.
After a few hours of trying various dumb ideas they finally decided to remove the panels. I was concerned about this even though my paperwork was already signed as delivered intact. The customer who bought the unit was on-site and I pulled him aside to discuss this with him. I pointed out that it might cause a warranty issue for him down the road.
He wasn't concerned and told them to go ahead with it. That took another couple of hours as the things really aren't made to be easily removed.
They finally had the thing rigged and I was able to pull out from under it after it was lifted. It was now 2:30 pm.
A couple of quick phone calls confirmed that it was too late to pick up in Galveston as they were closing at 3:00. I inquired about picking up tomorrow. They will be closed Friday through Monday. Wonderful. So much for that load.
I made my way to this Love's fuel stop in the middle of Houston as I was starving, sick (I have a bad cold), and needed a place to park while dispatch tried to find me another load. Here I still sit. I am hoping I won't be spending the weekend down here, but as it's a holiday weekend it's a very real possibility.
Time will tell.