Novacane....take all your things out of the '99 and put them in your truck that is being worked on. Ignore the mechanic and his rantings, get everything situated in your truck, get out and inform the mechanic you are going to bed in your truck. Wake you when this baby is ready to move down the highway.

Go to bed....you should able to sleep, I sleep in a moving truck, a stereo going, cb sqawking, partner using colorful words at 4 wheels, and every now and again when slowed down I can hear the reefer kick in. Get a good nights rest.....start fresh in the morning. And if you really want to make the mechanic's night tell him you need coffee hot and black come morning. :lol:

 

Here goes.......
Your in Gary, just quit already!
Turn the truck in, go home, find a new gig!
Driving or otherwise!
Roehls not for you and you are not for Roehl!
So do the both of you a favor and move on!
Having driven for them twice, and I would go back in heartbeat if I had to go back on the road!
Did I ever have trouble? Sure, who hasn't! But your stories are getting to be a bit too dramatic!

Novacane wrote:This is where I jumped off your wagon! :wink:
What else are just "some little white lies?"
I wish you well in whatever you decide and hope you will someday find the success we all deserve!

 

I've all your posts on here and to me your experiences lately is not trucking in my opinion. It's a company taking advantage and using a driver !!!. I congradulate you though , you might not be a man , but you've sure put up with more then most men would including myself. I'd suggest contacting other companies it seems in my area western ,ky. if you pull flats you can be home most every weekend. I would think it would be the same there in Tn. Good luck to you !!.

 

Well, I got tired of waiting for the truck to warm up, and decided to say screw it and go to sleep, worst thing that can happen is I wake up freezing and will have to wait for the truck to warm back up again. Much to my amazement, the truck never did die, between the heater being on and the teen temperature, it managed to run around 170, cool.

I slept pretty good considering, but was still ready to hit the road this morning coming home. A quick check to see if my old truck was fixed left little doubt that they didn't have my parts there, bummer. So back into the hoopty I go and am on my way home. Found yet another quirk with the truck, and this one is the first time I have ever seen this problem. The cruise control won't turn off with the brake pedal, you have to turn it off on the dash, or it will keep pulling, this seems unsafe, and I have no idea how it can even happen, it just seems that there would be so many safety devices used on it that it couldn't possibly mess up, but this one does not work right, and I found out the hard way.

Anyway, I was about 300 miles into my trip, and decided to grab an exit to get some lunch, and check the boards, so here I am. I also wanted to take the opportunity to answer some questions asked by others.

Bush Bunny, I agree with you about their repair and maintenance, and I would love to hear from other drivers to see if they get treated this poorly, or if it's just me. And I don't know about other drivers, but I don't like to make waves, I will take a considerable amount of bs before getting angry most of the time.

Yoopr, I talk to a lot of Roehl drivers, and I hear the same stuff from them about maintenance, so I don't know who you are talking with, but I assure you I am not the only one getting the short end of the stick when it comes to getting your truck fixed. And they DID tell me to drive without the stack, no hinting around, no dancing around the subject, point blank told me that they talked with safety, and they said it was ok to drive it. To be honest the stack wasn't that big of a deal, it didn't bother me none, well the noise was a little loud, but it wasn't horrible. But I did want the coolant leak fixed, and THAT is why I was pushing to get the truck into the shop, not because of the stack. I just wanted to make it clear, that they did tell me to drive it without the stack, and I have the qualcoms to prove it. I made dispatch write and tell me they would take care of tickets I might get from dot due to the stack, and they did, so there is no doubt about this subject.

Bush Bunny, I tried like heck to get to sleep in my truck, and it just wasn't going to happen, believe me it would have been wonderful. They said that the drive line was out of it, and it wasn't safe to be in, so that is where it ended. I understand I could have went to dot with the stack, but again, I didn't think it was that big a deal, and I didn't want to chance them looking me over with a fine tooth comb and maybe finding a log book violation or something that would cost me money, and make me sit waiting to be fixed before I could leave, to me, it would have made things difficult both for me and the company to do this, and that is why I didn't. Looking back on it, I almost wish I had done that, but live and learn I guess.

Rokk, thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it.

Freebird, I wish I could "just quit". But I don't have the money to, I couldn't even get home at this point, and if I quit, they sure won't send me home for free. What little amount of money my checks have been has gone 100% toward bills, I have no "spendable" money right now. Besides, I do still like the company, I just wish they would do the right thing, just once. I am sorry if my post seem too dramatic for you. For one thing, I try to tell my daily story how it happens, and if you have read them, that includes days that nothing happens, I write it as it happens. Back when I started with my first job with the nursery, I said I would only write the truth, and I always have. The ONLY time I lied I fessed up to, not because I had to, NOBODY on here could have ever known besides me. But I came clean, knowing that people would start to doubt what I say from now on, and giving them fuel against me like you have used it. I KNEW that would happen, and I told the truth anyway, so believe me, or don't, it really makes no difference to me.

Rockefeller, Thanks for your post, and I try to find places around home, but I am home only on the weekends, and it's hard to fill out applications, and then be there for an interview, so on and so on. This is why I am stuck going with the bigger companies, they call me. By the time I hear about a job, confirm it, and talk to the company, it has bee filled already, or they want a man for the job. There is a sweet meat delivery job in my hometown, perfect pay, everything, would love to work there, but they want a man because of the weight lifting involved(they don't realize how heavy tarps are). Another thing is that I don't have a FULL year in yet, next month I will, and most small places around here require 2 years, so it's just a web of different things that really decrease my chances of getting hired somewhere, besides with the bigger companies like JB.


In the end, I write to help out new drivers, those who wonder what it's like, and those considering driving for a living, not to entertain people, or fabricate a story and then waste my time writing it, and trying to defend it. If I ever get to the point that people don't get something out of my posts besides a "entertaining story" then I won't post any more, I want to help all the potential drivers out there make the right decisions, and answer their questions, my posts here are tame compared to the amount of pm questions I get and try to help with.

Anyway, I gotta hit the road, home is only a few hours away, take it easy everyone!

 

Novacane,

You girlfriend have THE PATIENCE OF JOB! I really don't know how your hanging in there with all of this. Your not even able to pay your bills on the pay your recieving. You have put up with this for a year next month.

I am not a job hopper, and I too have been known to stick with things through thick and thin long beyond when most others have bailed out. All that said... If your still with Roehl after next month when your year is up I will be very disappointed. You have a lot of potential. Don't waste it. You have a family to take care of, so swallow your pride and do what is right by them and get yourself a better job. You have too much on the line and too many folks depending on you so don't let your pride keep you from making good on your promises... OK? Sorry if it sounds like I am getting on your case, but I hate to see bad things happening to good people. We are looking in from the outside and are not as close to this as you. This gives us perspective that you may not have. We are just trying to help.

I am with the others here. Put your foot down and expect them to get their jobs done and fix your truck. They figure your a pushover so they can do whatever they want and you will just keep swallowing it. Get up some gumption and put on some steel toe boots...

Longsnowsm

 

What I would like to know is you said they talked to safety, why didn't you talk to safety?
My instructor has told us , when in doubt about ANY THING , talk to safety.

 

I didn't talk with safety because I did not care! It didn't matter if it got fixed or not as far as I was concerned. The only thing I was worried about was getting a ticket for it, and I covered myself to keep that from happening. Everyone on here freaked out about the whole stack deal, I never seen it as an issue. Now if I had been able to smell exhaust, or the leak was under the pass. compartment, then I would have been freaking out about it, but I felt it was safe, and safety must have agreed cause it wasn't fixed until almost 2 weeks later.

 

Excuse me Novacane............WHAT the "F" are you doing driving for ANYONE, if you are making so little $$'s........in one of your other post you said you netted something less than $275.00 for the week..........your time is more valuable than that, at least I know mine sure in the "Hell" is.....I wouldn't work for my mother at those wages.....much less drive someone else's truck all over this country..........hate to tell you this, your not on a sightseeing excursion......your out there to make a living......so far you've failed that part from what your post say.


You somewhat prove that, P.T Barnum was 100% correct. with that statement.

You sure in the hell seem to be a "slow learner" and a natural born sucker...........that company, like any other could give a good "Rats A$$" about you........they don't lose a bit of sleep at night, thinking about how "Ole Novacane" is doing out on the road, while they are comfortably sleeping in their beds at home during the night..

Novacane.........as you are well aware, I certainly enjoy reading your post.........and certainly am not trying to give you a hard time..........but, your much better than the way you are being treated.....we DO NOT run all over this country.......just to stay well below the "Poverty Level" or make ends meet.....period. I have nothing but admiration for you........I sure know I wouldn't have lasted or taken the abuse you have had cast upon you........I would have told them to shove it where the Sun don't shine..........you can get a job picking up "Aluminum" cans along the roadway and make much more $$'s than your making now.....do yourself a favor.........take control of YOUR life and get the "Hell" away from "Roehl"........asap.

Good luck...........Josh

Hell, the "grass" could be half-dead and would be greener than she has right now........I only need to be hit in the head with a "Hammer" once, to know it hurts like Hell.

That applies to any company........just ask my wife.....22-years with a "Major" corporation.....she and about 50-others come in one day..........."thanks for the years you put in, clean out your desk by end of work day"

On a positive note, she did recieved a 6-figure severance package........and was hoping she could get laid off or terminated.......she only stayed because of the "Insurance" package being a "Cancer" survivor........we actually were happy when it happened, but, we're the exception to the general rule..............Josh

 

yoopr:

I wasn't aware I had to have a trucking pedigree similar to you to have an opinion. I've read a lot of your posts and this is the first one that seems beneath you. Although I have zero time working for Roehl or any trucking company for that matter, I have learned many lessons in my life as I'm sure you have. Truck drivers are not special...you don't get bonus points because you've driven for 20 years. If that were the case I'd be looking down my nose at you since I have 20 years in the Corps. I don't feel you are incapable of having an opinion just because you don't have the same background as me. My opinion was just that...an opinion. An opinion I reached by reading Novacane's posts. I'm not saying it's right, it was just, in my view, a unique possibility that no one else had brought up yet. Please accept my apologies if it caused you to lose any sleep.

Semper Fi