Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Do the right thing. Yes, I am aware that this is a movie title. No, I have not seen it. In spite of this, I know it to be one of the truths in life. In whatever you choose to do, choose excellence. Treat every task as if it were sacred and deserving of your full attention. Admittedly, this is easier to say than to practice, but excellence becomes a habit after a while, like anything else. That said, it will sometimes bite you in the ass if you have expectations of getting things done.
To wit, I started my day early, to get the load to Usk. I figured that somebody would be ready to snatch it up in a heartbeat, so I moved as quick as I could, because I've been the guy waiting for someone else to show up. Happily that was not the case. Even better, I got to drive some roads I've not been on before. North of Spokane is a big plot of farmland, some of it for sale. Cool and all, but not what I am looking for in a location or climate. If I want snowy winters I'll just go back to Central New York honestly. Further afield, the land becomes more akin to Flagstaff's climate, dry-ish with fire loving pine trees. Well, maybe they don't LOVE fire, but it helps them reproduce, particularly Ponderosa pines.
So I get to the mill, and drop my trailer, switching it out for a loaded one heading to Sacramento. In some ways, this is cool, because the load is routed along the East side of the Cascades instead of down I-5. Not entirely new, but anything south of Klamath Falls is new territory. US-97 goes from there to Weed, CA; this is a seldom traveled path. Hooking up to the trailer, I see the tandems are too far back for California. They have a bridge law stating that the center of the rear axle can be no further than 40' from the center of the kingpin (the bit that connects the two units). SO I go to slide the tandems, but it is one of those trailers. One that has been so well worn and used that the pins have smooshed the metal around the holes and they tend to stick. Out comes the hammer. Twenty minutes of wrestling and pounding iron later, I'm almost ready to go.
Having gotten the load scaled, I see that the trailer door does not seal properly. I call it in, since a leaking trailer would be very expensive if say, a roll of newsprint were to get wet. So I phone it in (hehe) and i am told to go to the Petro in Spokane, because it looked to me like a trailer door seal was missing. Should be a quick fix.
After an hour of pulling 45000 pounds up and down hills, through roundabouts four lane highways and all sorts of traffic lights, I get to the Petro. Pull up to the service bays, and check in. I get in line, and wait. Then I wait some more. Two hours have gone by, and I'm still waiting. After a bit more waiting, I get into one of the bays, only to find out that the trailer seals are fine. The header is bent. (a header is the bar that goes across the rear top part of the trailer) Looks lie someone backed into a light pole or something. There's even a hasty-looking repair in the center of the roof, right by the header, and it turns out that it leaks. So the people at Petro can't do anything about it.
Like a fool in a hurry, I take off down the road. A few miles later, I get a message saying to take the trailer to a repair shop in town. Turning around, I arrive in town, and have the trailer shop guys look at it. (as an aside, Spokane is growing on me, I'm really enjoying all the people I meet here) One guy comes out, looks at it and starts swearing. Not in an angry way, more in a “how the heck did they not fix this right, and this is going to be long and expensive,” way. We go in and get another guy and they come out with the camera taking a couple pictures.
The company gets called, and at first they are quick to respond. Sadly that did not remain the case, when I told them I was running out of time to drive somewhere safe. In the end, I still have the damaged trailer, with the leaky bit downhill, just in case. The doors still do not shut properly, and I have no idea what I am going to do with this load. I suppose I'll see in the morning. Had I not said anything, chances are that the load would have been just fine. I could be in Biggs, Oregon by now, hanging out in the Gorge, getting ready for the south bound leg tomorrow. I'm just trying to do my job, and part of that is keeping the fleet in good shape. I am starting to feel that not many people think that way, hence all these trailer issues I've been having lately. Ah well. Maybe next time I'll just deal and get paid instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment