Its 1700 on a Sunday evening and you turn up for work. The FLM is on the phone to an agency because a driver is refusing to do a long double manned run instead of the 9 hour shift he thought he was booked for (it changed without his consent) and 2 drivers phoned in sick for their 9+ driving hours runs.
i was booked for a 9 hour shift and volunteered to do the double manned run which was fine but the other guy is hopeless and due to the other problems, i was asked if i would be willing to night out instead. No problem! Now i am parked up in Wellingborough in the RDC which will get noisy and these guys think i am nuts for driving 7 hours to park up here. I think i am helping out a manager that i respect and get on with. Maybe the conditions are less than ideal but as a sub contracted driver, i am being paid to solve his problem and that includes the less desirable runs. At least that’s how i see it and the lengths i am willing to go to are why i am never short of work at any time of the year.
am i nuts or just dedicated to helping a long standing client who i make a lot of money from?
Sounds like dedication and customer satisfaction to me, when an opportunity arises to go the extra mile (quite literally in this case) its best to take it. Seperates the wheat from the chaff really and whether it is rembered or not by the company (chances are it will be) doesn’t matter if your happy to do it and getting paid for doing so.
Certainly not crazy and don’t really need to be dedicated; just a decent work ethic really. Nothing wrong with helping someone out under those circumstances as long as he doesn’t start taking the yellow stuff.
peterm:
Certainly not crazy and don’t really need to be dedicated; just a decent work ethic really. Nothing wrong with helping someone out under those circumstances as long as he doesn’t start taking the yellow stuff.
Good onya.
This. Where i work we have drivers refuse to cover an early or late job or dont want to work saturday mornings in the summer.
however usualy the first to moan coming up to christmas when the drivers who do help out get first dibs on overtime
Sounds like you’ll never be short of work either, customer is king, customer pays, customer says jump you say how high, thats how you make money and stay in work.
Those poor little loves too sick to attend a steering wheel, ahh diddums, bloody waste of space, they’ll be on here in a few weeks moaning about being replaced by east europeans and wondering why
peterm:
Certainly not crazy and don’t really need to be dedicated; just a decent work ethic really. Nothing wrong with helping someone out under those circumstances as long as he doesn’t start taking the yellow stuff.
Good onya.
Totally agree - just make sure you don’t become a ‘victim’ of your own success. You’ll only really find out what they think of you when you can’t oblige!
scanny77:
Its 1700 on a Sunday evening and you turn up for work. The FLM is on the phone to an agency because a driver is refusing to do a long double manned run instead of the 9 hour shift he thought he was booked for (it changed without his consent) and 2 drivers phoned in sick for their 9+ driving hours runs.
Consent …what consent??
If an agency driver accepts a shift assignment the client has every right to send the driver where they want, and change their run at whim to suit the needs of the job, the driver shouldnt have taken the assignment if it doesnt suit them. The agency driver should be prepared and suitably kitted out to go wherever theyre sent, and not pick and choose. However (like me) they may have the option to decline a night out if it wasnt pre-planned and they dont have any kit with them. Several times over the last year Ive witnessed an agency driver throwing tantrums because the run they`re given is longer than the 8-9hrs they expected, and the storm off in a huff, only for the client to phone the agency and tell them not to send that driver again
OP,I would have done exactly the same, if I was in your position.
That’s why I’ve got no mortgage now & most of the usual “I wouldn’t get out of bed for less than” Brigade, or “Its not my Job” Wally’s, are always going to be paying someone else’s mortgage.
Well done. If their were more guys that had your attitude, there would be far less ■■■■■ in this industry.
Seriously if you want to whinge and stamp your feet at something unexpected happening then you are in the wrong game. My helpfulness, or dedication, or work ethic, or whatever you call it, runs out when the law does. Until then, if they are paying, I am staying.
I would hazard that the agency bloke refusing to do more than 9 hours is more suited to something else. A 9 hour shift really is not that arduous is it? When the most energetic you will be is climbing OUT of the cab at your destination.
Surely the whole point of being a driver is that you take deliveries to places. It doesn’t matter whether you like that place or not, that’s where it needs to be. If we got to choose, there’d be a shedload of trucks parked along every sea-front and all the drivers would be in the nearest Wetherspoons!
scanny77:
Its 1700 on a Sunday evening and you turn up for work. The FLM is on the phone to an agency because a driver is refusing to do a long double manned run instead of the 9 hour shift he thought he was booked for (it changed without his consent) and 2 drivers phoned in sick for their 9+ driving hours runs.
I can actually see it from the agency drivers view though. Not through having a longer run, as that equates to more dosh, but from being stuck in a cab with another driver for hours on end. Double manned is OK only if you with a safe and sensible driver you get along with. Some people (myself included) prefer to work on their own.
scanny77:
Its 1700 on a Sunday evening and you turn up for work. The FLM is on the phone to an agency because a driver is refusing to do a long double manned run instead of the 9 hour shift he thought he was booked for (it changed without his consent) and 2 drivers phoned in sick for their 9+ driving hours runs.
i was booked for a 9 hour shift and volunteered to do the double manned run which was fine but the other guy is hopeless and due to the other problems, i was asked if i would be willing to night out instead. No problem! Now i am parked up in Wellingborough in the RDC which will get noisy and these guys think i am nuts for driving 7 hours to park up here. I think i am helping out a manager that i respect and get on with. Maybe the conditions are less than ideal but as a sub contracted driver, i am being paid to solve his problem and that includes the less desirable runs. At least that’s how i see it and the lengths i am willing to go to are why i am never short of work at any time of the year.
am i nuts or just dedicated to helping a long standing client who i make a lot of money from?
Don’t really fully understand how things go at agencies mostly because I hate the ■■■■■■■■
Speaking generally if an employer is ok with you, fair and treats you like a grown up, a team situation usually emerges from this, as opposed to a “them and us” situation. You say you respect your boss so he must have earned that respect.
If it was me in YOUR situation I would have done, (and have done in the past) the same as you, if it was me in MY situation with who I work for …■■■■ them
Co bosses should realise you only reap what you sow
peirre:
Consent …what consent??
If an agency driver accepts a shift assignment the client has every right to send the driver where they want, and change their run at whim to suit the needs of the job, the driver shouldnt have taken the assignment if it doesnt suit them. The agency driver should be prepared and suitably kitted out to go wherever they`re sent, and not pick and choose…
+1
I have my normal day bag for every agency job and keep a duvet and pillow in the car just incase someone gets it wrong, ‘Be prepared’ is what my old scoutmaster taught me (+ a couple of other thngs that may not be legal).
Worked with a few of these ‘you must be nuts’ workshy brigade, as they didn’t contribute to putting food on my family’s table their comments where treated with little respect.
These are the same buggers that moaned at crimbo time when I got the longer shifts, sow the seeds today reap the benefits later on.
the original agency guy may have only taken the job on as it was a 9 hour shift. He may have had a reason for needing to back home or off duty by that time.
Maybe even something as simple as needing to be off to have his minimum rest before his next (maybe a full time)job.
del949:
the original agency guy may have only taken the job on as it was a 9 hour shift. He may have had a reason for needing to back home or off duty by that time.
Maybe even something as simple as needing to be off to have his minimum rest before his next (maybe a full time)job.
If that’s the case, then he should’ve factored that in before taking the assignment.
There have been cases where agency drivers have stated that they need to be finished by a certain time as theyre booked to do another agency job the next day, or finished because they have to pick the kids up from school etc. Unfortunately that's tough luck and of no concern of the transport office theyre currently in, again he should’ve factored that in before taking the assignment
scanny77:
am i nuts or just dedicated to helping a long standing client who i make a lot of money from?
As a subby, no. Its how you get a decent reputation and get more work.
Mate of mine phoned me on Friday. Was supposed to be doing Hull to Leicester and pick up in Melton on the way home. Got to Donny services and had a phone call saying they wanted him to collect from Coventry and hadn’t expected him to get so far back so quickly - probably because he’s agency. So he was going to go to Coventry and collect. Didn’t have enough hours to get back so it was going to mean an unexpected Friday night out and run in Saturday. Still did it, got 4hrs pay for 2hrs work on Saturday morning. Funnily enough he’s never short of work and has clients asking for him.
I actually find it strange when drivers kick off about things that make them money. I remember one day when my work ws finished for the day at fyffes in Livingston. The guy explained that he had a tyre fitter coming out to fix a trailer that he needed on a bay for the next morning. He asked me what time i was finishing and i said he is paying the wages so its up to him. He looked surprised and asked if i minded waiting then putting the trailer on the bay. As the only class 1 driver there, not doing so would create a problem for them. I was happy to oblige but i got the impression that most drivers would have left them to it. I don’t understand that! My sole purpose in being there is to solve the clients problems. Sometimes it goes against me but usually it goes in my favour even when f that means like today, i have already been told i can go home when i get back or do a local run to make my hours up. It is my choice which is him returning he respect that i have shown him as far as i am concerned. This is a guy who will deduct time from drivers who deliberately drag the job out. I do it too sometimes but not too much and they know i am thorough and never cause problems. I check my vehicle including where the load is going and fridge settings. If i keep myself right i am keeping them right. There have been a few mistakes made recently and i do not want to be a driver who freezes the chill and chills the frozen. Or the guy who shipped an empty trailer to Belfast instead of a full one.
some drivers make it very easy to look good in there
keeping them happy is putting money in my pocket. I am merely ensuring that i am the first to be given shifts and the last to be cancelled. I don’t know if i take pride in the job but i do take pride in how i do my job. I have sod all else so that is more important than the pay i get for it but i still like to earn my pay rather than be paid for a half arsed effort
peterm:
Certainly not crazy and don’t really need to be dedicated; just a decent work ethic really. Nothing wrong with helping someone out under those circumstances as long as he doesn’t start taking the yellow stuff.
Good onya.
Totally agree - just make sure you don’t become a ‘victim’ of your own success. You’ll only really find out what they think of you when you can’t oblige!
This ^. Everyone is nice and pally and “you’re our best driver” etc when it’s going in their favour, but trying standing your ground when you get an unreasonable request or some other kind of ■■■■ take, then you’ll see just how much mutual “respect” there really is between you. In my experience that’s when you find out people’s true colours and you soon discover those people who you thought were decent are in fact utter [zb]s. Always be on your guard and don’t get complacent when things are going well.
