This might end up long and I’m going to try to keep it concise.
-flatbed, picked up in Denver @ 10am Thursday 11/16 headed to Nashville, TN
-sched drop Sat 11/18 8-10am w/ reload 1hr away, also scheduled for 8-10am
-to avoid weekend issues, after confirming Sat load could be picked up Friday, haul ass and deliver Friday 11/17 at 1pm
-broker confirms arrival time at reload 2x Friday
-reload was Woodburn, KY to Winterhaven, FL. 800 miles, $520 pay for me. I also need a 34hr reset, and to deliver early enough in the day on Monday to get a reload.
-en route to reload, text from dispatch says stop reload cancelled, it’s 230pm on a Friday so we probably won’t have any reload options
-I let him know that doesn’t work for me obviously, I busted my ass to get here, everyone confirmed, it’s only 230, we need a reload.
-(have had this type of issue before recently, last week this happened to me in Houston. I’m supposed to get layover pay when this happens but I have to fight for weeks to actually get it)
-same broker gives us a load going to TX but picking up 6-10am Sun. I ASK if we can get it sooner, DISPATCHER SAYS I CAN CALL AND ASK
-sends me rate con, I call the number on the rate con (broker) and ask. They transfer me 2x, to a guy who says he doesn’t know just be there Sunday. I ask who does know, who can I talk to? He transfers me to his manager.
-I ask why my load was cancelled when it was confirmed? He launches into blah blah typical bs. Then he slips and says the $200 the customer pays for cancellation doesn’t cover their expenses either when I try to level with him and tell him I’m a single dad out here trying to support a family, this really hurts my budget, etc. trying to humanize myself.
-I ask if the Sunday load can get picked up sooner? He says maybe, as early as midnight but I’d just have to go there to see. It’s in the middle of nowhere and if I do my reset before the pickup, I need to be somewhere I can get groceries and do my laundry, so that doesn’t work for me. Can you give me the load number so I can call in to see if it’s ready before I leave to go there?
-meanwhile, the first guy I talked to at the broker is messaging my dispatcher asking why I’m calling them? My dispatcher is texting me yelling at me that it’s inappropriate for me to contact brokers, I have no reason, what am I doing, this is unacceptable
-manager I’m on the phone with says yes, I’ll give you the load number, hang on. Puts me on hold. 2 mins later comes back and says he’ll call me back in a minute.
-never does
-few mins later I get a text from my dispatcher telling me he pulled the load off me, I never should have called the broker (he told me I could call and ask for earlier pickup!!)
-I point that out and he says basically NO LOAD THIS WEEKEND. YOU WILL SIT EMPTY. MONDAY MORNING I WILL SEE IF THERES ANY LOADS AVAILABLE. ILL FIND LOAD TO CHICAGO IL. MANAGEMENT IS UNHAPPY YOU CALLED BROKER, YOU NEED TO BE ADULT AND HANDLE SITUATION BETTER,YOU WILL GO TO CHICAGO AND AFTER THAT IT IS OUT OF MY POWER.
-I ask WTF that means, how I did anything wrong by calling to ask for earlier load, and to ask why my load was cancelled since he couldn’t bother to pick up the phone to call me.
-just spams same message everytime I reply
-it’s 3pm. He leaves at 3pm. So that had a lot to do with it
-I call my manager the AGM, I call the GM, I call ops director. No one answers. AGM and GM voicemails full. I send an email to OPs Director, text messages to AGM and GM. No answers.
-telling everyone this is ridiculous I can’t get any support after 3pm on a Friday. Also advising I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but if I have no load scheduled why should I sit in Nashville unpaid for the weekend? To get a load to Chicago? I’ll just go home (Milwaukee) since I’m not getting paid anyways.
-I contact the orientation guy (I’ve been here a year) who also handles flatbed equipment, payroll issues, and dispatcher relations. HE ANSWERS
-I explain everything. I told him I’m being punished for following directions. I talk loud. It’s not emotional. I just talk loud wtf am I supposed to do about that, I always have, I dunno what to do about that. But I’m being punished and basically threatened that I’m being fired Monday for asking why and doing what I was told? I advise him that if I can’t get a load, I’m just going to go home, because I’m not getting paid anything. He says I should get layover pay and my dispatcher should have told me that. Yeah right.
-he says I should call after hours dispatch to ask for a load so I do. They say they’ll put me on the board and call me if they find anything and to check in with Weekend dispatch at 7am, they’ll have better luck.
-I call in to weekend dispatch at 7am. He says he doesn’t think there will be anything available but he’ll look.
-I’m 7hrs from home. I have no scheduled loads, which means no official work reason to be sitting in Nashville. I sat here overnight, I’m getting pretty fucking pissed again. I told weekend dispatch I’ll wait til 830 and call him back. If there’s no prospects of a load I’m going home. If I’m not getting paid anything then I might as well spend my weekend with my daughter since I wasn’t going to be home for thanksgiving anyways.
-so right now I’m planning to leave at 830, gets me home around 4pm, enough time to complete a 34hr reset by Monday morning and figure out wtf is gonna happen next.
-If you read this all, thanks for letting me feel heard. If not, I understand.
