A long day in Baltimore has me wondering what's wrong with people.
Thinking About Friday....
Last Thursday I was heading back to the yard at an early hour, and anticipated having some time left to go out and run again when I got back. When I called for my next load, I learned I had 11 stops, starting in Beltsville, Maryland and finalizing in Baltimore. Shouldn’t be a problem and clearly I could leave Friday morning and be in good shape.
Upon a closer look, once I got the paperwork, things looked a little more hairy then I initially thought. After Beltsville, I had a stop just North of Washington DC, and another one after that before I got back to Baltimore.
I’m not a fan of certain cities like Philly, or Pittsburgh or anything too close to New York City. Baltimore, on the other hand is quite comfortable. I like the people, I like the layout of the city, I just am comfortable there. Give me 12 or more stops in Baltimore on a Friday and I’ll be happy for a relaxing day. The problem comes when you sprinkle in a few stops away from Baltimore, especially when you have to jump on the Capitol beltway.
I’m slightly concerned I might not pull it off, but wish for the best and hit the sack early. It’s worth mentioning this is my first night home this week and I didn’t sleep much, or at least it felt like it.
When I am on the road I sleep like a baby. My APU keeps me icy cold all night without the vibration when I used to have run the engine. My upstairs bed is very comfy and I usually have an enormous amount of sleep, sometimes well in excess of eight hours, which is good for a growing boy.
At home, it’s a different story. I turn into a very light sleeper. On the road, trucks can pull in next to me all night, air brakes hissing all around me, never once woke me up. At home, the darn Wife snoring next to me, the little ones getting up to pee three thousand times a night, I’m up for all of it! Why? Don’t know.
Thursday night was no different- only I kept running Fridays trip through my mind making sleep even harder. I wasn’t seriously troubled by it, the worst that could happen was I would get stuck overnight and have to finish some stops on Saturday, certainly not the end of the World.
When I arose at 4:30 Friday morning, I felt oddly refreshed. I deduced because I had slept so much during the week already, I had backup rest in my system. Turns out it would come in handy during the day, that’s for darn sure.....
The Day Begins to Unravel.....
I planned to be in Beltsville for my opening stop of the day by 9 in the morning. This would allow plenty of time to drop off some 30 odd pieces of furniture and arrive North of DC right at 10, when they opened up their doors.
Departed Leesport at 6 am and was in great shape! The GPS had my arrival time just a hair before 9 and I was sailing right along! Traffic was light to non-existent on 222 and even 83 South was smooth sailing! I’m singing songs, happy as all heck for what is certainly shaping up to be an easy Friday. I’m even certain I’ll make the rest area on 95 South before the coffee of the morning makes me do the behind the wheel pee-pee dance. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!
Then I took the on ramp to 95 South.
And immediately stopped dead behind four million cars and trucks heading South on 95. By Heading, I mean crawling, as in 5mph, or less. “This isn’t good” I thought as I reached for the CB volume switch to see what the hold up is all about.
It’s pretty much a standard story. One or more drivers, concerned about nothing else but themselves and where they have they be and when, were zipping along and traded paint. One of the cars ended up upside down and the two left lanes were now blocked with the resulting wreckage. Now they have inconvenienced not only themselves, but the other four million and one other drivers that unfortunately, were behind them. One of those drivers, by the way, was about to begin the behind the wheel pee-pee dance.
It was painfully slow going. So painful that I watched the GPS go from a perfect arrival at 9am to a few hairs after ten. One entire hour lost to someone else’s bad behavior.
After we cleared the accident, the road opened up again and I just barely made my planned rest area stop before it was too late. “Surely the worst is over now” I thought as I made my to my first stop, which by the way I had never been to before.
The first stop was in a small industrial park, where I parked on the curb and walked in for instructions.
“Pull around the building, there is a dock there” some random person told me out front. Okay, easy enough.
I pull up, turn right into a driveway, go to the end of the building, turn right again and stop. I see a truck in a dock, with one dock vacant beside it. On the other side of the truck is a huge crane that was removing the old roof and blocking anything with 18 wheels from passing it in that direction. A guy appeared at the docks and told me I could either back in next to the other truck or wait about forty five minutes for him to move.
The choice was clear: I’d have to back out all the way I had just come from, and then back this monstrosity up, all the way back to the dock. Either way I’m bleeding time like crazy at this point and need to vent, so I called my dispatch and left a voicemail in regards to my status. I usually do this later in the day, but I want them to understand my predicament so an explanation won’t be needed later if I miss a stop or two before those stores close.
I try to speak slowly and calmly, to give them the impression everything is under control:
“Hi this Jason Harry, I’m at drop 11 and I lost one hour getting here due to traffic. This place is a madhouse and it’s going to take some finagling just to get in here. The way this day is going I’m not sure I’ll get these all done today but I’ll give it my best. I just want someone to hold me and tell me it’s going to be okay. Talk to you later, thanks.”
Now my that butt is covered with dispatch, I begin the task of maneuvering a forty eight foot box backwards, twice. I stick it in the door in way less time then I expected. I marvel at my superior back up skills and head inside.
The guy unloading was fun to work with, but the process was painfully slow. To top it off, there was a damaged piece that I would have to call in and obtain a return number for, costing me even more time.
I finally got the job done and was ready to hit the bricks. A quick glance at the clock: 11:20! Fiddlesticks! It’s not necessary to drive like a maniac and risk making things worse, but there’s definitely no time to stop and smell the roses at this point.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about my route out to a big road, like I usually am, but hoped and prayed my GPS would take me there in a reasonable fashion. It wasn’t so horrible, but a closer look might have been better.
I pulled out, went down the road a bit and made a right turn back towards Route 1. Oh boy, a hairpin turn to the left with a building on the corner blocking my view of oncoming traffic. Not particularly good, but a construction worker saw my predicament and ran into the road and stopped traffic and waved me on. I rolled down the window and showered him with verbal appreciation. Phew, glad he was there, that was easy!
Drive less then an eight of a mile and a tight turn to the right will require an even tighter right turn on to the final road that will lead me to the safety of a big road. Pull up to the stop sign, things look good from my left but there are some cars coming from the right. I’ll be needing to rent some of their space to complete this turn and I wait, but only for a second. The first car coming from the right reads my situation right out of my mind. He stops way back, turns on his four ways and blinks his lights for me to go. The well behaved traffic behind him waits too, so off I go.
Stuff like that almost never happens out of nowhere and I wonder what is wrong with these people. Showing such courtesy to a truck driver is such a rarity, it’s almost like it’s their way of holding me and telling me it’s going to be okay! I secretly wonder what’s next, a bunch of people showing up with clean rags and telling me they want to help polish my wheels?
Finally Back to the Comforting City of Baltimore......
My last nine stops were all in Baltimore and I was happy to enter the city limits and get down to business. Things went pretty well as I whipped from stop to stop, all the while keeping an eyeball on the ever advancing clock.
Leaving my fourth stop from last I was faced with a small predicament- the next two stops were both on York road, which runs directly North and South. My next stop was North of my second to last and on the Northbound side. My second to last was a mile south on the southbound side. I had been to my next stop on the North side, but not to the one on the South side. I knew enough about the area to know I would probably be delivering in the street and wondered, how will I ever turn around?
When I got there the customer and I talked about my options as we unloaded. Somewhere halfway through a strange guy appeared at the end of the trailer.
“Excuse me” he said as I walked towards him. “I’m parked right here and was wondering if you could pull forward just a bit so I could back out” he asked in the most polite way I had ever been asked to move my machine. Not that all people approach screaming and waving guns when I am blocking them, (which happens quite frequently) but not all are so polite.
“Sure thing, I apologize for that” I replied as I jumped down and started walking toward my truck.
“Hey no problem, there’s only so much you can do with something this size!”
He sure was an understanding fellow and I again wondered what’s wrong with the people today, is there something in the water down here?
Before I left, a woman who had been checking off the items approached me with a five dollar tip. She wouldn’t take no for answer and I eventually accepted it. I thanked her and promptly put it into a can in my truck that is labeled “money Wife doesn’t know about.” In three years, this is the third time a customer has given me a tip, so unfortunately there is not an enormous amount of money in my secret container.
I pulled forward, he escaped and I finished delivering to the customer. Together we came up with a plan. He would stop traffic while I made a left onto a side road, backed straight across it, then made a left and onto my next customer down the road, somewhere on the right. I sure did appreciate his help, some customers will magically disappear once they have the goods in hand.
They call me Mr. Smooth....
I called ahead to the next stop which was unfamiliar to me. A bubbly women on the phone said to pass the store and park along the curb by the church. Not a problem except I never saw the store but I found the Church okay. I called again to say I was here and she said “Yup, I see you, the guys will be right over.” Where is this girl on the phone, I wondered, cause I never saw the store nor her on the phone. She saw me though, must be a super secret Government owned store perhaps.
I went back to the trailer and opened one door, which by design is the one on the right, near the curb where the customer would grab it. I do this because not only does it keep the customer near the curb and away from the hazards of the traffic in the road, it’s just easier. It’s just wide enough to unload from too.
While waiting for ‘the guys’ I jumped in the trailer and began sliding stuff to the tail. One of the first things I did was to grab two sets of bed rails, in long skinny boxes and set them against the closed door on the inside of the trailer.
I noticed an attractive young lady in a bright pink shirt outside, a few paces away. “Purr-tee girl” I thought as I continued forward into the trailer for more goods. When I came back, she was looking up at me and smiled. “Hello” she says and all at once I realize she is the bubbly woman I spoke to on the phone.
She informed me (in her usual bubbly manner) that what they usually do is back up a box truck against the trailer and slide the furniture from one to another.
“Sounds good- guess I should open the other door though” and I jumped down to open it.
She obviously had me distracted because as soon as I opened the door, there was a gigantic crash as the rails I had leaned on the door came crashing down. It was quite embarrassing, but I’m glad none of us were hurt, nor were the rails that came flying out. Yes sir-e-bob, I am mister smooth when it comes to the ladies!
Last stop is ‘officially’ closed!
I left the bubbly girl and her guys who unloaded me at around 5:30. It was only 9 or so miles to my final stop and they close at six. It’s a National rental chain store and I know they are there past that, but history has taught me that some stores will not unload you at if you’re a hair past six, even for one box of lamps! I have eight pieces for this last stop and the miles through town on a Friday takes up a lot of time.
It was 6:05 when I pulled out front of the shopping center and set the brakes. I made a bee line for the door, hoping for the best, but quickly prepared a falsified story in my mind about how when I kissed my sleeping kids goodbye in the morning, I’d promised them Daddy would be home that night. I even brought out the big guns and was prepared to shed tears if I really needed to!
Good people were on my side once again. Instead of having to use my falsified story or even tears, I just simply walked to the counter like I had no idea what a clock was or even what it’s purpose might be.
“Eight pieces, right?
“Yes sir” I replied and was happy to see I was going to pull this off.
“Pull around back and we’ll get them off.”
Went around back and two cheerful fellas off loaded the only stuff left on my trailer. Finally, I was done.
High Powered Attorney Money For All this fun....
It was a more hectic day then usual, but driving home it felt good to actually pull it all off, considering how the day started out. With the exception of the people who wiped out on 95 that morning, a lot of good people helped me along the way from understanding people in cars, to my customers that day, especially the last one!
The preceding two trips that week were a combined 21 stops across North West Upstate New York, trips that were so easy and so much fun I’d do them for free if I could afford to. In this case though, I preferred to think those were in fact freebies and all the money I earned for the week happened on this day. It took up all fourteen hours, and when I calculated my weekly total it was a great hourly rate for the day, just North of a hundred an hour. That's a good hourly rate, and it took away any remaining sting left in my soul for the day. Chaotic at times, but at the end of the day it sure was fun!
Last Thursday I was heading back to the yard at an early hour, and anticipated having some time left to go out and run again when I got back. When I called for my next load, I learned I had 11 stops, starting in Beltsville, Maryland and finalizing in Baltimore. Shouldn’t be a problem and clearly I could leave Friday morning and be in good shape.
Upon a closer look, once I got the paperwork, things looked a little more hairy then I initially thought. After Beltsville, I had a stop just North of Washington DC, and another one after that before I got back to Baltimore.
I’m not a fan of certain cities like Philly, or Pittsburgh or anything too close to New York City. Baltimore, on the other hand is quite comfortable. I like the people, I like the layout of the city, I just am comfortable there. Give me 12 or more stops in Baltimore on a Friday and I’ll be happy for a relaxing day. The problem comes when you sprinkle in a few stops away from Baltimore, especially when you have to jump on the Capitol beltway.
I’m slightly concerned I might not pull it off, but wish for the best and hit the sack early. It’s worth mentioning this is my first night home this week and I didn’t sleep much, or at least it felt like it.
When I am on the road I sleep like a baby. My APU keeps me icy cold all night without the vibration when I used to have run the engine. My upstairs bed is very comfy and I usually have an enormous amount of sleep, sometimes well in excess of eight hours, which is good for a growing boy.
At home, it’s a different story. I turn into a very light sleeper. On the road, trucks can pull in next to me all night, air brakes hissing all around me, never once woke me up. At home, the darn Wife snoring next to me, the little ones getting up to pee three thousand times a night, I’m up for all of it! Why? Don’t know.
Thursday night was no different- only I kept running Fridays trip through my mind making sleep even harder. I wasn’t seriously troubled by it, the worst that could happen was I would get stuck overnight and have to finish some stops on Saturday, certainly not the end of the World.
When I arose at 4:30 Friday morning, I felt oddly refreshed. I deduced because I had slept so much during the week already, I had backup rest in my system. Turns out it would come in handy during the day, that’s for darn sure.....
The Day Begins to Unravel.....
I planned to be in Beltsville for my opening stop of the day by 9 in the morning. This would allow plenty of time to drop off some 30 odd pieces of furniture and arrive North of DC right at 10, when they opened up their doors.
Departed Leesport at 6 am and was in great shape! The GPS had my arrival time just a hair before 9 and I was sailing right along! Traffic was light to non-existent on 222 and even 83 South was smooth sailing! I’m singing songs, happy as all heck for what is certainly shaping up to be an easy Friday. I’m even certain I’ll make the rest area on 95 South before the coffee of the morning makes me do the behind the wheel pee-pee dance. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!
Then I took the on ramp to 95 South.
And immediately stopped dead behind four million cars and trucks heading South on 95. By Heading, I mean crawling, as in 5mph, or less. “This isn’t good” I thought as I reached for the CB volume switch to see what the hold up is all about.
It’s pretty much a standard story. One or more drivers, concerned about nothing else but themselves and where they have they be and when, were zipping along and traded paint. One of the cars ended up upside down and the two left lanes were now blocked with the resulting wreckage. Now they have inconvenienced not only themselves, but the other four million and one other drivers that unfortunately, were behind them. One of those drivers, by the way, was about to begin the behind the wheel pee-pee dance.
It was painfully slow going. So painful that I watched the GPS go from a perfect arrival at 9am to a few hairs after ten. One entire hour lost to someone else’s bad behavior.
After we cleared the accident, the road opened up again and I just barely made my planned rest area stop before it was too late. “Surely the worst is over now” I thought as I made my to my first stop, which by the way I had never been to before.
The first stop was in a small industrial park, where I parked on the curb and walked in for instructions.
“Pull around the building, there is a dock there” some random person told me out front. Okay, easy enough.
I pull up, turn right into a driveway, go to the end of the building, turn right again and stop. I see a truck in a dock, with one dock vacant beside it. On the other side of the truck is a huge crane that was removing the old roof and blocking anything with 18 wheels from passing it in that direction. A guy appeared at the docks and told me I could either back in next to the other truck or wait about forty five minutes for him to move.
The choice was clear: I’d have to back out all the way I had just come from, and then back this monstrosity up, all the way back to the dock. Either way I’m bleeding time like crazy at this point and need to vent, so I called my dispatch and left a voicemail in regards to my status. I usually do this later in the day, but I want them to understand my predicament so an explanation won’t be needed later if I miss a stop or two before those stores close.
I try to speak slowly and calmly, to give them the impression everything is under control:
“Hi this Jason Harry, I’m at drop 11 and I lost one hour getting here due to traffic. This place is a madhouse and it’s going to take some finagling just to get in here. The way this day is going I’m not sure I’ll get these all done today but I’ll give it my best. I just want someone to hold me and tell me it’s going to be okay. Talk to you later, thanks.”
Now my that butt is covered with dispatch, I begin the task of maneuvering a forty eight foot box backwards, twice. I stick it in the door in way less time then I expected. I marvel at my superior back up skills and head inside.
The guy unloading was fun to work with, but the process was painfully slow. To top it off, there was a damaged piece that I would have to call in and obtain a return number for, costing me even more time.
I finally got the job done and was ready to hit the bricks. A quick glance at the clock: 11:20! Fiddlesticks! It’s not necessary to drive like a maniac and risk making things worse, but there’s definitely no time to stop and smell the roses at this point.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about my route out to a big road, like I usually am, but hoped and prayed my GPS would take me there in a reasonable fashion. It wasn’t so horrible, but a closer look might have been better.
I pulled out, went down the road a bit and made a right turn back towards Route 1. Oh boy, a hairpin turn to the left with a building on the corner blocking my view of oncoming traffic. Not particularly good, but a construction worker saw my predicament and ran into the road and stopped traffic and waved me on. I rolled down the window and showered him with verbal appreciation. Phew, glad he was there, that was easy!
Drive less then an eight of a mile and a tight turn to the right will require an even tighter right turn on to the final road that will lead me to the safety of a big road. Pull up to the stop sign, things look good from my left but there are some cars coming from the right. I’ll be needing to rent some of their space to complete this turn and I wait, but only for a second. The first car coming from the right reads my situation right out of my mind. He stops way back, turns on his four ways and blinks his lights for me to go. The well behaved traffic behind him waits too, so off I go.
Stuff like that almost never happens out of nowhere and I wonder what is wrong with these people. Showing such courtesy to a truck driver is such a rarity, it’s almost like it’s their way of holding me and telling me it’s going to be okay! I secretly wonder what’s next, a bunch of people showing up with clean rags and telling me they want to help polish my wheels?
Finally Back to the Comforting City of Baltimore......
My last nine stops were all in Baltimore and I was happy to enter the city limits and get down to business. Things went pretty well as I whipped from stop to stop, all the while keeping an eyeball on the ever advancing clock.
Leaving my fourth stop from last I was faced with a small predicament- the next two stops were both on York road, which runs directly North and South. My next stop was North of my second to last and on the Northbound side. My second to last was a mile south on the southbound side. I had been to my next stop on the North side, but not to the one on the South side. I knew enough about the area to know I would probably be delivering in the street and wondered, how will I ever turn around?
When I got there the customer and I talked about my options as we unloaded. Somewhere halfway through a strange guy appeared at the end of the trailer.
“Excuse me” he said as I walked towards him. “I’m parked right here and was wondering if you could pull forward just a bit so I could back out” he asked in the most polite way I had ever been asked to move my machine. Not that all people approach screaming and waving guns when I am blocking them, (which happens quite frequently) but not all are so polite.
“Sure thing, I apologize for that” I replied as I jumped down and started walking toward my truck.
“Hey no problem, there’s only so much you can do with something this size!”
He sure was an understanding fellow and I again wondered what’s wrong with the people today, is there something in the water down here?
Before I left, a woman who had been checking off the items approached me with a five dollar tip. She wouldn’t take no for answer and I eventually accepted it. I thanked her and promptly put it into a can in my truck that is labeled “money Wife doesn’t know about.” In three years, this is the third time a customer has given me a tip, so unfortunately there is not an enormous amount of money in my secret container.
I pulled forward, he escaped and I finished delivering to the customer. Together we came up with a plan. He would stop traffic while I made a left onto a side road, backed straight across it, then made a left and onto my next customer down the road, somewhere on the right. I sure did appreciate his help, some customers will magically disappear once they have the goods in hand.
They call me Mr. Smooth....
I called ahead to the next stop which was unfamiliar to me. A bubbly women on the phone said to pass the store and park along the curb by the church. Not a problem except I never saw the store but I found the Church okay. I called again to say I was here and she said “Yup, I see you, the guys will be right over.” Where is this girl on the phone, I wondered, cause I never saw the store nor her on the phone. She saw me though, must be a super secret Government owned store perhaps.
I went back to the trailer and opened one door, which by design is the one on the right, near the curb where the customer would grab it. I do this because not only does it keep the customer near the curb and away from the hazards of the traffic in the road, it’s just easier. It’s just wide enough to unload from too.
While waiting for ‘the guys’ I jumped in the trailer and began sliding stuff to the tail. One of the first things I did was to grab two sets of bed rails, in long skinny boxes and set them against the closed door on the inside of the trailer.
I noticed an attractive young lady in a bright pink shirt outside, a few paces away. “Purr-tee girl” I thought as I continued forward into the trailer for more goods. When I came back, she was looking up at me and smiled. “Hello” she says and all at once I realize she is the bubbly woman I spoke to on the phone.
She informed me (in her usual bubbly manner) that what they usually do is back up a box truck against the trailer and slide the furniture from one to another.
“Sounds good- guess I should open the other door though” and I jumped down to open it.
She obviously had me distracted because as soon as I opened the door, there was a gigantic crash as the rails I had leaned on the door came crashing down. It was quite embarrassing, but I’m glad none of us were hurt, nor were the rails that came flying out. Yes sir-e-bob, I am mister smooth when it comes to the ladies!
Last stop is ‘officially’ closed!
I left the bubbly girl and her guys who unloaded me at around 5:30. It was only 9 or so miles to my final stop and they close at six. It’s a National rental chain store and I know they are there past that, but history has taught me that some stores will not unload you at if you’re a hair past six, even for one box of lamps! I have eight pieces for this last stop and the miles through town on a Friday takes up a lot of time.
It was 6:05 when I pulled out front of the shopping center and set the brakes. I made a bee line for the door, hoping for the best, but quickly prepared a falsified story in my mind about how when I kissed my sleeping kids goodbye in the morning, I’d promised them Daddy would be home that night. I even brought out the big guns and was prepared to shed tears if I really needed to!
Good people were on my side once again. Instead of having to use my falsified story or even tears, I just simply walked to the counter like I had no idea what a clock was or even what it’s purpose might be.
“Eight pieces, right?
“Yes sir” I replied and was happy to see I was going to pull this off.
“Pull around back and we’ll get them off.”
Went around back and two cheerful fellas off loaded the only stuff left on my trailer. Finally, I was done.
High Powered Attorney Money For All this fun....
It was a more hectic day then usual, but driving home it felt good to actually pull it all off, considering how the day started out. With the exception of the people who wiped out on 95 that morning, a lot of good people helped me along the way from understanding people in cars, to my customers that day, especially the last one!
The preceding two trips that week were a combined 21 stops across North West Upstate New York, trips that were so easy and so much fun I’d do them for free if I could afford to. In this case though, I preferred to think those were in fact freebies and all the money I earned for the week happened on this day. It took up all fourteen hours, and when I calculated my weekly total it was a great hourly rate for the day, just North of a hundred an hour. That's a good hourly rate, and it took away any remaining sting left in my soul for the day. Chaotic at times, but at the end of the day it sure was fun!
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