I learned a lot from the old man from New York when he visited and trained me to drive the dump truck. The little old guy had almost 50 years driving experience. He had driven everything.
What I remember most was he was a funny pleasant guy out of the truck but the second he got behind the wheel he got angry and started cursing and yelling. With that thick Long Island accent he scared the hell out of the payloader and scale masters and jobsite laborers. Portland people didnt know what to make of it so they shut up. He was pissed off all the time behibd the wheel. One time this yahoo guy in downtown Portland says, "put it over there." Over there was backing blind around 3 corners with trenches on both sides. "Oh, fucking put it there, eh?" Says the old man.
"Yeah."
Halfway there the old man sees the labrorer looking annoyed he's taking so long.
"Hey! C'mere you!" He yells at the laborer. "What do you fucking think this is, a bicycle?"
The guy looked at him sheepishly now and said he was sorry. The old man acted like that on every jobsite we went to.
I learned quickly to do the same when I started driving the dump truck by myself. They were vultures who only wanted to see you fail on the jobsites. You had to mistreat them to get any respect, or at least just to be left alone to make your dump.
But when I started driving long haul over the road I went back to being nice and relaxed. I didnt think I would need to mistreat anyone. There werent any jobsites to go on. But there were other vultures all around me. The other long haul drivers. Then there were the idiots at the destinations watching you back in. There were idiot company drivers who even offered to spot for you just to fuck you up on your backing.
The old man was right. Be pissed off all the time behind the wheel. Yell at everyone. It was the only way to be left alone and respected.
A merry bunch of fellows:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jamesrivercoal.com/employment.htm