Busted

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 2/28/13 Busted

BUSTED. Yup, that is what I got today as I was in the process of busting the driver about four spots away from me. He was emptying that all too famous yellow jug of his out of his passenger side window all over the parking lot for the rest of us to have to walk through. Of course the restrooms not five hundred feet away. Well, at least this time he was not parked right next to me and the contents dumped right on my battery box like some smuck did a few years back. As I tell my story today, what I want folks to understand here that there are a lot of hard working decent family minded truckers out here. And as such, we work hard to clean up our image. We work hard to run safe and legal. But just like the rest of humanity, we all have a few, well, let's say less then desirable characters in our mist.

 

It went down like this. I was sitting in my truck just finishing up my log book and about to put it in gear, when I hear the unmistakable sound of liquid hitting the ground just off to my left. I look over and see the emptying of the contents in the process. From where we were parked, anyone on the property could watch, even from the fuel pumps for the cars. So I reach over and grab my nifty smart phone and start snapping pictures. Then I pick up pad and pen and start writing the trucking company name, DOT number and tag number. Right about here is where I got busted as the driver noticed me making a record of all of this and taking pictures.

 

So he yells out his window, "Driver, do you have a problem?" And I yell back, "Yes sir I do, I do not want to have to walk through all your filth every time I visit a truck stop." I pull forward a bit to get the final bit of information that I could not see from where I was parked, then proceed to leave the truck stop. I noticed in my mirror as I was leaving that he had finally gotten his boots on and was chasing me across the parking lot taking pictures of the rear of my trailer with his smart phone. I think to myself, what is he going to do, turn me in for leaving a clean parking spot behind?

 

Now I know as most drivers with any time behind them, that one carries with them in the truck everything they need to take care of their basic human needs. All too often we are held for ridiculously long times at docks with no access to food, water, or even allowed to use the restroom facilities. No effort what so ever is made for us by the place we are conducting business at to provide us as truckers, the basic human niceties that one might provide for the common stray dog. But hey, I wear big boy pants and I choose of my own free will to put up with this kind of crap. Rest assured though, I never return to these docks.Let them find another dog to deal with them.

 

That being said though, at a truck stop with a trash can, a dumpster and a rest room not five hundred feet away and you have to dump your mess out for the rest of us to have to walk through. For us to have to crawl under our trucks to work on. For the general public to watch and have yet another trashy trucker story to tell. I do not think so. It is folks like this that have towns making laws disallowing trucks to park in them. That stores no longer allows us truckers in so that we can do some every day shopping. And shippers and receivers stop letting us park on their property over night so that we can get a decent nights rest without having to jump up and run through rush hour traffic hoping that we get there on time.

 

Sooner or later, if you drive a truck for a living, you will find yourself with the very real need to go in a predicament that there is no place to go. That is part of being a trucker. Just understand though, it is not us truckers that make the rules that put us in these situations. When this happens, there are simple ways to deal with the outcome. For starters, add some disinfectant to the bottle to keep it sanitary. Do not use bleach because as the product breaks down it makes ammonia and as we all know, mixing bleach and ammonia will cause toxic fumes.

 

Wrap your product up so that as you dispose of it in a proper waste container or preferably a dumpster, those that empty these containers do not have to deal with a unsanitary package. I have know some drivers to discreetly carry into the showers and dispose of the waist in the commode found there. Even walking to the to the bushes on the out skirts of the truck stop is preferable to just dumping it out your window for all to walk through. This act here is nothing but pure disrespect for your fellow drivers.

 

The point is this my friends, most truckers are clean respectable people. When you see one that acts like this, understand that that example is not the norm for our industry. We work hard not only to keep our highways safe, but to keep our image as truckers impeccably clean. As safe and legal truckers, these things are important to us. The information I gained from this morning will be forwarded on to the company in question in a letter. The letter will be requesting that this driver be informed that this type of  behavior is no longer acceptable in the trucking industry. That forever on, those that witnessed this event will have a clear image of yellow liquid being poured from the window of a truck with their company name displayed promptly behind it. And I sir, have the pictures to prove it.

 

Hey, I did pretty good. Not once in there did I use the words urine or pee. Awesome

 

God Bless America

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