I'm back in Appleton. More training. Today I got more PeopleNet training too.
I also got a wake up call of my own. I need to start thinking like a big company steering wheel holder.
We stopped for a 30 minute break in Plover - where I also learned something about eLogs - more on that in a minute - then when we pulled out a few minutes later across hwy 54 the driver looks at me and says, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE?!"
He rides with the window open and Right Wing AM Radio blaring ALL. DAY. LONG. so I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Then when I turned the radio down, he told me he was losing air pressure.
After some investigation on my part, I found he'd had a brake chamber go bad (at 220,000 on the truck...really??)
I put out the triangles, and talked to the trooper that had already showed up, then immediately went to the guy's toolbox to start looking for some wrenches and and zip ties.
He asks WTF I'm doing, and I told him I'd found the caging bolt, and what my plan was.
He says OH NO! We gotta call somebody and sit and wait.
Apparently...my days of making shit work, to get to a decent shop or (in this case) back to the terminal are over.
No more caged brakes.
*sigh*...I suppose. It never really was legal to do that anyway. Even with an empty tanker.
BUT...I will say they had a mechanic out, and we were up and moving in pretty short order, maybe an hour and a half.
Whatever. I'm still carrying an assload of tools, and keeping myself moving as much as I can.
Now, what I learned about eLogs.
I see more people nowadays fueling in the middle of the day than I ever did before. I always fueled either at the beginning or end of the day.
This particular PeopleNet setup (from what this guy says, and I have my doubts) does not require fuel stops to be logged on Line 4, which not only makes no sense to me, but might explain why he's worked here 9 months and is still running a paper log as well as a PeopleNet log, so he logs off duty, fuels the truck, takes the remaining time as a break, and proceeds to the side of the road 4 miles away when the brake chamber shits out...
Anyway, I think a lot of people are scamming the line 4 system this way. Which to me makes no sense.
This same guy thinks that when you log a pre or post trip in PeopleNet you MUST sit still for 15 minutes. I've already heard different from several different sources, one of them being the orientation dude in Louisville...
You KNOW when you ran paper logs, you were required to show 15 minutes for fueling...why would you think you're exempt on the eLog? I smell poop. And it's NOT because they're finally fertilizing the potato fields around here.
Like I said, I've seen a few guys at this terminal that run paper and PeopleNet, and they claim it's because they "are just so used to it" or are "more comfortable that way". I think it's because they're on Double Secret Probation...
I keep my mouth shut and nod a lot. No really...it's true...
Getting tired of riding with people since, I'm such a people person you know...and getting anxious to be on my own. Another guy I've ridden with a few times is such a chatterbox I DON'T FREAKING CARE HOW NICE HE IS.
The truck they said I'm going to be driving is in pieces in the shop with the whole top end torn apart. Bad injector...or two...I'm told. It's a beat up 2009 Mack that came out of the Chicago terminal. At least it's a manual...
Also, avoid the Howard Johnsons in Appleton. They goofed stuff up, and I have to straighten the billing out this week.
Hopefully Trump in his infinite racism will mandate that people that deal with the public in hotels speak more English than Hindi. That sure would be handy...RAAAAACIST.
Whatever. When "open mindedness" and "tolerance" start costing me money, I get pissed.
So that's the story. Training continues, and I'm getting anxious to screw up all by myself.