Extremely Annoyed!

The past 24 hours have been frustrating to say the least. Delays at the shipper put me half a day behind and now, I've lost the other half of the day to the shop.

I picked up not too far from our terminal with my home time load. That is the load intended to get me out to California.

Since I was so close, our H. R. department asked me to swing by the terminal to sign an I-9 form. They somehow lost the one that was supposed to be in my file.

The little voice in my head was screaming NOOOOOO!!! Don't do it! But, I couldn't really think up a good excuse to tell them when they discovered I was several hundred miles away so, I went.

The only problem with going to the terminal is they have this inspection bay that you have to go through whenever you enter the yard. It's right there by the gate so, you can't avoid it.

The inspection bay has it's good points and it's bad. On one hand it's a lot cheaper for them to find a mechanical violation than it is for the D.O.T. To find it. But, on the other hand if they find something, now you have to go over to the shop and get in line. And wait. And wait. And wait!

If you don't have a load, this is great. You get paid to sit around and do nothing. But if you do... They're supposed to put you on a priority list and you should get worked on ahead of the trucks without loads.

The head honcho in the inspection bay said he would notify the shop I was loaded and to put me on the priority list but, after five hours I became restless and went into the shop to inquire why I hadn't been taken care of yet.

The service writer says I'm not on the priority list. What? Grrrr!

I contact my dispatcher and ask him to send another email explaining why I need priority out to the shop. He says he'll take care of it.

Fast forward another five hours and still no move. Again I check with the shop and again I'm told I'm not on the priority list!

Now, two different people have told me they would notify the shop to put me on the priority list, and the shop keeps saying that I'm not on it!?!?

Is something wrong with the inter office email or what?

Yet again another call to dispatch to upgrade the urgency level a notch or two and more hurry up and wait.

Don't know what tomorrow will bring. But, if they yank me out of my truck in the middle of the night to work on it, I will not be a happy camper!