There's a rule spoken about in hushed whispers throughout the trucking community - if anything bad happens, no matter who, what, when, where, or why...it is your fault. Not only your fault, but you are taught to predict the unpredictable, which that alone is an oxymoron, but I digress.
I stopped trucking for Schneider National the same time I stopped trucking altogether, in the early months of 2019 - when I crashed and jackknifed in a ditch...but let's rewind a week prior. It was in the dead of winter and just like any other year around the same time, I was struck with a nasty sickness, and I was out cold for a week. This left Schneider none-to-happy with me, as I also had a full trailer that was just sitting there, far enough away from any other trucker that could deliver the load for me. So, while I sat out sick as a dog, it too, sat.
The day I felt better, I was getting ready to start my long days again, but outside, I noticed something - there was a blizzard, snow blowing so hard you couldn't even see the lines of the road, and this isn't an exaggeration or stretch of the imagination, it was so bad, nearly nobody was out on the road that day, but I was being pressured (rather heavily, might I mention) to deliver this load anyway. I've sat out long enough...so out I went, trying my best to follow the road, based on slightly-visible tire tracks left behind from a previous vehicle.
By some kind of miracle, I made it to the destination, and the trailer was unloaded. The next pickup comes through and it's over 100 miles out, and because I'm so far out, there's also not another truck stop for about 75 miles. The location I'm at won't let me stay, so off I go.
The snow had melted some, so I could see the road better now, but I was so uncomfortable that I decided the next gas station I find, I'll try to find a spot to park, this load will just have to wait, but before I could find that gas station, I had my accident. To be clear, I was going 20 miles below the speed limit, but I was also carrying an empty trailer, during a very windy winter day, while there was also black ice all over the road. A slight gust of wind hits the trailer, and it pushes me to the side, breaks don't really respond thanks to the ice, and the trailer jackknifes to the drivers side of the window, just inches away from taking me out - but I end up unscathed, and because everyone else was smarter than me, nobody was on the road that day, and so nobody was hurt, either.
At the end of the day, I was terminated because I should have known better than to go out that day...I of course...did know better, but as I mentioned before, I was also pressured to go out anyway. Trucking was an experience of a lifetime. I saw some beautiful things, learned some amazing things along the way, but I'll never go back to that lifestyle. They expected the impossible, and at the end of the day, what happened happened, but as it turns out..even when you predict the unpredictable, you're punished. #termination #terminated #trucking #truckdriving #SchneiderNational
Good company good people freedom
I had a great supervisor. He would compliment us after a rough evening.