Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Second thoughts about dedicated

I wish I could say things were going well with the new account, but they're generally not. The times I've not gotten standby have generally become intolerable. Last week I had to cover a load for someone who ran out of hours, thus forcing me to cancel plans for the evening. On Tuesday I was given a run that was so long I couldn't get back in time, forcing me to sleep in the truck in 95° heat; I didn't get home until almost 6 AM this morning and was so tired I had to go straight back to bed. I was trying to make plans for the evening and my plans for yesterday had been canceled due to work, only to get a call saying that I was being forced to cover yet another run, this time on top of the route I'd already been assigned for the night. They expected me to get on the road no later than 10 PM (not counting time to drive there, which means I'd be leaving home before 9), even after I told them I had made plans for the evening that would have me out until at least 10:30 and that I'd expected time to - you know - sleep before starting another nine-hour shift.

At this point it's seriously tempting to go back to running system, in which I'm going everywhere all the time and only get home every other week. At least there they didn't pretend to care.