Why are people so Goddamn stupid?!?!

Ok, so as you know I'm a truck driver. I got to my drop this morning and this is what it looks like from Google.



My appointment was 9:00 a.m. and I got there early as any professional would. The broker called me this morning and woke me up asking me "Hey in case you get lost, do you have their phone number?"

To which I said "I Google map every location I'm going to so I can see all the details I need to." and we ended our conversation.

Now, as I arrived to this place there was no shoulder and a locked gate as you can see by the image. Wanting to be as safe as I can be, I pulled over the short curb a little and parked in the lot as much off the road as possible and turned my hazards on. As I was walking up to the building I noticed a baby blue truck pulling a trailer exiting the other side where the gate was open. He turned left to approach the street I was parked on. As he approached the intersection he pulled over, got out and started walking to my truck. I called to him and he instantly began to give me an attitude.

He said something like "You ran over my curb, drivers do that all the time and they aren't supposed to! See how that section of the curb is lowered over there? That's from drivers pulling over it all the time."

I said "You should put up a sign that says that." which of course I got no response for.

I began to tell him that I did that for safety. That I'd rather be halfway off the road rather than block the full lane. Then he said "The broker was supposed to give you directions this morning for how to get here. I just spoke to him this morning and asked him if he gave you directions and he said he called you and you told him you knew exactly how to get here."

And to that I said "That is not a yes or a no, people need to start learning how to answer yes or no questions with a yes or a no".

He then proceeded to tell me "Well, you can't make this corner so don't even try. There's a line in the ground that keeps breaking because drivers keep running over it, so you'll have to go down the road, turn around and make a left down this road instead."

So, that's what I did. And as I pulled into the open gate, the locked gate was now open as well so I could pull up through it giving me room to back into the dock in the center of the building. Now, there was a gold pickup truck right next to the dock. Any driver with a brain is always looking to avoid costly accidents and make things as safe and easy as possible. I got out, pointed to the truck and said "Can that truck be moved?" and the guy said with the same combative attitude "That truck has been right where it is for the last 30 loads, all the drivers have backed in with it there." And I said "I prefer to work smarter not harder, there was no harm in asking." as I walked back to the truck.

Anyways, I backed the truck up near the dock and got out to break the seal and open the doors. There were two rail road ties parallel to the dock that he pulled out parallel to the trailer so that the tires could roll up onto them. This would allow the floor of the trailer to match the height of the dock.

As I looked at how long the rail road ties were and how for forward my trailer axles were, I told him it didn't look like the ties were going to be long enough, implying that he move them further away from the dock.  Well guess what? Rather than just do that, he said "Go ahead and pull back and we'll see."

So, as I pulled back to the dock, as I suspected there wasn't enough room. I then told him that I could slide my axles further back a little instead of him having to move the ties further forward. I did so and was shortly backed up correctly to the dock.

He then proceeded to say something like "I normally don't have to use these rail road ties, but they seem to be making trailers lower and lower. Next time I get a truck so low I'll have to measure the distance from the dock to the end of the rail road tie so that when the truck backs up they have one axle on and one axle off."

And me, being one who likes to streamline things and make them more easy and efficient said to him "Really all you would have to do is cut the ties and have every driver slide their axles to the back like I have. That way you wouldn't have to measure some distance every time and have the driver slide to meet that distance and have all the adjusting. It would save a lot of time and effort."

And him not knowing about my industry came back with "But there might be some trailers that are a different distance from the tire to the back of the trailer."

And I said "Every trailer that has a sliding tandem axle will slide back to the end of the trailer, and if the axles don't slide, they are already at the back of the trailer. If you just cut the tie to a certain length that will accommodate any slight variances between manufacturers if there are any."

I looked up and he was gone. Yep, he was fed up with my logic and walked away without saying a word before I had even finished.

So let's recap how this person is creating their own misery:

#1. This person has repeatedly had drivers roll over his curb to park. How do you solve an issue like this? Very easily and cheaply. You put up a sign right along the curb that says "Do not drive over this curb." or "Truck entrance on other side, no parking!" You could also put a series of short poles into the ground right along the curb to discourage driving over it. As long as a driver stands to do damage to their vehicle by hitting them, unless they are totally stupid they will avoid driving over the curb.

#2. If the brokers job is to communicate your specific directions to the driver about how to get there and what to avoid, you do not ask the broker if they relayed that message, as if it were their choice to do so. You TELL the broker specifically to relay that information and WHY it is so important to you.

People who whine about their problems while having the power to fix them get zero sympathy from me. Especially if I attempt to tell them how they can correct their problems and they resist simple solutions. Fuck those idiots.