Sunday, November 6th, 2011
“Sit' yerself down sonny, I got something to tell ya.” I wish it was prefaced that way more often. I'm sure it would prepare me for the wave of subjectivity that was incoming. It can happen at anytime, anywhere, but it happens all the time at driver lounges. Any place where truck drivers gather, there will be a massive outpouring of unsolicited opinions.
Today, I've made it to our Clackamas, Oregon terminal. This is one of the nicer ones, and it has a fairly sizable driver lounge for the amount of drivers we employ (about 1600). Most companies of note will provide an area for drivers to do a number of things, like shower, laundry, catch up on the interwebs, veg out in front of a TV and otherwise be social. The social aspect certainly lacks when drivers are out on the road, often having nobody to talk to expect yourself. To be honest, I find that I talk to myself, just to hear a voice. It gets that lonely.
Seeing as this is my first time here, I find it prudent to explore, to take an inventory of all the stuff I can and cannot do at this location. Coming to the lounge, there is a grip of drivers hanging out by the door. This comes as no surprise since a large percentage of truck drivers smoke. At least it seems that way whenever you try to go inside any building. Now, this being Oregon, there are signs near the door, asking that smokers stand at least 25 feet away from all doors while smoking. Some people will do so out of courtesy, others, out of respect for the law. Truck drivers in general fall into neither of these categories and heap upon themselves a mantle of oppression by “The Man.” Not even “The Man,” it gets blamed on the bleeding heart liberals.
One particularly loud gentleman was right next to the door, smoking and happy for it. Fair enough. I used to smoke, and I understand the happy chemicals it forces your brain to release. It can feel really good to smoke, except for that nasty cough of your lungs trying to repair themselves. He was carrying on, complete with grandiose gesticulations, explaining how he just stubs his butts out on the building, then throws the butts in the trash can by the door. His justification was that the cigarette “tower” was way over there, because of these stupid people who don't want to deal with a little smoke and live until 90 when they're wearing diapers again. That is his truth. I smiled, nodded and walked away.
On one level, I would love to see all of these people with all of these great opinions and ideas on how to fix things actually do it. So often, I encounter people who know exactly how to fix the economy, how to run the country, how to administer disaster relief, how to handle foreign policy, and how to handle the poor. On another level, I would be horrified to see what would happen if they DID get into power. Meanwhile, this same loud driver began to rail on the occupy Wall Street Movement. Some of the opinions expressed included having all of the protesters go down to Washington D.C, and protesting there instead. It would be warmer, which would be nice for them. I could continue with more of his opinions, but I feel that you can hear them either on Fox News, or on Rush Limbaugh's show.
This is a VERY common occurrence in the trucking industry. At first, I had no idea that truck drivers were such a conservative lot. “The damn EPA makes us use this DEF*. Costs too damn much!” “The Government is trying to make trucking a 9 to 5 job.**” “We are getting taxed out of business!***” “California is a bunch of dirty liberals trying to make us be clean.” OK. I made that last one up. You get the idea. It is as if the entire state of New Hampshire collectively decided to do the same job for the entire country. Granted, there are a few people with broader points of view, perhaps myself included, in this industry, but any attempt to reason with many drivers meets with a strong resistance. While there are some points I may agree on, there are many I keep to myself. I've never seen any point of trying to convince someone of my point of view. I have learned to accept that we all create our own realities, and each of them is just as correct.
*Diesel Exhaust Fluid- it helps reduce the amount diesel particulates escaping into the atmosphere
** The Federal Government has created a set of rules called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. Since it has been passed (and since revised) truck fatalities have deceased since implementation
(look at number of miles traveled for a fair comparison)
*** The only people going out of business are people that do not manage their costs well. I still see owner operators idling all day long, burning fuel and money, driving exceptionally fast then turning around and complaining about fuel prices. We all make our own fortunes. (But hey, this is just another opinion form someone driving trucks, isn't it?)
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