As with any job, some stresses can make it hard. With Semi drivers, I think there are so many more things that stress them out and make their job just that much harder.
In my other article I told of some of the things just driving on the freeway, that can stress them. There are so many more things that can add to their stress.
STRESS WITH HEAVY LOADS
They are hauling these heavy loads that have to be delivered on a particular day at a specific time. There are so many things that can slow them down and make them late, things that they really cannot prepare for. Traffic, accidents, construction, flat tires, or just having to go to the bathroom, the list is endless.
But the worst thing that can slow them is the actual delivery. There could be other trucks unloading, so you sit and wait for your turn. You get there on time, and no one is there. The business isn’t open, and no one around to unload you. So you sit there and wait, maybe you got the time wrong. But after sitting there for 6 hours, no one has showed up. Your dispatcher has no clue whats going on.
You have to leave your delivery spot and find a place to park for the night and hope they will be there tomorrow to offload you. You have more than just this one delivery on the truck. So guess what, your other shipments have to get rescheduled. It is very stressful not to be able to deliver on time. It’s not the driver’s fault that no one is at the drop, it’s the driver’s fault that you wrecked your car and closed the road for 3 hours, but it still reflects poorly on the driver that he couldn’t deliver on time.
Are you even going to be able to offload tomorrow? You wont have any idea until you get back there tomorrow.
HURRY UP AND WAIT
You have wasted a whole day waiting for your truck to get offloaded. Your next two deliveries are now late and had to be rescheduled. And the load you would have been picking up after your deliveries is now going to someone else because it has to go now, not wait another day for you.
Now you go to pick up your new load and there are 10 trucks ahead of you. Great, hurry up and wait again.
The time on your clock for today is has run out. If you were loaded, you still could not get on the road. Hopefully, you will get loaded first thing in the morning so you can get on the way, but you still have three trucks ahead of you.
NEW DAY NEW STRESS
As the morning comes, they finally call you in to be loaded. An hour and a half for them to load you. Another hour to tarp your load, and eventually you can leave. But wait, you need to stop for a potty break and coffee before you get on the interstate.
FINALLY, finally on the road. But it will not be without more stress. There will be that four-wheeler that speeds around you to pull in front of you and slow down. The construction zone that has closed one lane, and everyone waits till the last second to get out of the closed path. So now you sit dead on the road while all the idiots that couldn’t get over, try to squeeze into your lane.
These are just some of the things that the truckers deal with that stress them out. This doesn’t include the phone calls from family and friends who miss them and think they can fix things at home when they are a thousand miles away.
A TRUCKERS LIFE
For all of you who think a truckers life is easy, think again. They are constantly under more stress than what we deal with.
All of us who don’t drive a semi need to have a lot more consideration for these drivers. STOP being part of their stress and pay attention to what you are doing. You can wait behind them for a few minutes to get to the off-ramp. You don’t have to hurry around them and cut them off to get to the ramp. That is a good way to get hit. These rigs are 80,000 pounds fully loaded. They cannot stop or avoid you as quickly as you think. Treat them with the respect they deserve. They work very hard to keep the trucks rolling and make sure that their deliveries are made.
They are someone’s father, grandfather, son, husband or boyfriend. And they want to get home to their families as much as you do.
