I’ve been away from this blog for too long. I apologize to myself for neglecting the latest chapter in my life story (smile).
And may I say that a lot of water has passed under the bridge. I, as promised, departed Stevens Transport (worst company I’ve ever worked for) near the end of August. They made it soooooo easy – easy to leave, that is.
Not wishing to improve my life as I ticked towards my one year anniversary, when I could leave the company without penalty, they continued to make my life miserable. The misery came mostly in the form of not getting me to where I needed to be for planned time off no matter how often I reminded them. It’s almost as though they were messing with me on purpose. (Ya think?)
In June, I made it clear that I had to be in Minnesota for a wedding on July 27th. No problem. I delivered a reminder at least weekly and they got me as close as Des Moines around the 22nd when they told me they didn’t have anything going to the Twin Cities … sorry. I went into hyperbitch mode. Why tell me they could do something when it was obvious they had no inclination of following through on it. I spoke to my driver manager, my counselor (smirk) and ended up having to shoot an email to the head of the driver services department. Only then did my counselor come to the party with anything positive. And the most positive they could get was the offer to pay for gas for a rental car that I would have to rent to get me from Des Moines to Minneapolis. After investigating one way rentals, I found that it would only cost a few bucks more to rent a car for the week.
I left my car at the Kenworth dealership and drove north, enjoyed the heck out of the wedding along with the events before and after. I drove back to Des Moines early the following Monday morning and started the last stretch of my employment with the trucking company from hell.
I was able to drive only by visualizing my light at the end of the tunnel. The final challenge came when I reminded management that I had to be back in Houston by August 20th so I could close on a house sale and house purchase. No options. They had known about this event for at least four weeks and the closings were to take place in Houston which should have been a no-brainer, right? So what’s less than a no-brainer? I’m at a loss for words because Stevens delivered even less than my below zero expectation.
After maximum hassle, I was able to get back to Houston in time for the closing. My final trip home included a lame layover in Dallas and a wee hours of the morning trip to a Walmart distribution center. But I got to the Houston yard the morning of the 19th and totally unloaded my truck. I would need nothing more than a toothbrush and change of underwear, at most, for my final trip back to the mothership in Dallas following my closings.
With the move out of our old house complete and the settling into our new home started I was only too happy to hit the road again, even if only for a few days. I notified Stevens that I was ready to roll and said I needed a route that took me to the yard. “Why,” came the reply, “are you leaving us?”
Hmmmm.
“Just gotta get back to take care of some business is all.”
Of course, it didn’t happen very efficiently but I did get back to the yard, drove my truck through the safety lane, returned my load locks and meat lock to parts so they could credit my account. I went back to get my truck, dropped my trailer, parked my truck and, it being after hours and most of the staff being gone for the day, I took my keys to the night dispatch window and bid those nasty-assed vultures adieu (not really in French – I just said “so long”).
My wife picked me up a the gate, and I was gone. We spent the night at our daughter’s place in Fort Worth, and headed back to our new home in the morning.
I would be starting a new job at a tanker company in Pasadena, TX.
drivology 