Kind of ■■■■■■ me off when people you encounter during your day start questioning you on your break arrangements for the day.
“Do you really need 2 breaks?”
“You will get quite far down the road before you need another break then?”
The obvious implication being that they somehow expect you to pull into the nearest available layby upon reaching the maximum possible driving / work that you are legally allowed to do.
They themselves have probably never done more than about 4.5 consecutive hours work in the lives and are never more than a few yards from facilities such as tea/coffee, toilet etc.
You could go down the route (and I have done) of explaining that it would be pointless and defeat the purpose of a break if you leave it until the last possible moment before taking it and take it in the worst possible place.
Kind of getting to the stage now where I might start to say it has ■■■■ all to do with you, ■■■■ off.
Just ignore the thick ■■■■ s mate,.and treat them with the contempt they deserve, you’re dead right, just tell em to ■■■■ off …
They’re beyond help,.and numb from the neck up
They look upon their allowed breaks as a bind, something they need to legally ‘‘get in’’ between their stress laden endurance test of a working day… bosses and TMs love these guys.
The same guys also ‘‘get in’’ their 2 11 hour daily rests, to get back to their preferred 9 hours off.
They fail to see that breaks are there for their welfare, so they ‘fit them in’ to achieve their planner’s ridiculous schedules, and not to get a bit of respite or rest.
You end up seeing them in their 60s on the heart attack wards in hospitals.
You are an experienced professional, you plan your route.
People just need any excuse to point a finger, blame someone else but themselves for their own misery.
With that said, you are doing well of course planning your route with two breaks:
avoiding the risk of ending up caught in congestion; not finding a spot to park up for a decent break; or having to park up in some IE and consequently beg clemency from the security fella who came with the moped… you name it
However, you say you get ■■■■■■ off by people, and that is playing into their game. For them it is not about breaks, driving rules, driving savoir faire, it is about ■■■■■■■ you off, and you are giving them a win.
On a similar note I had operations manager say to me the other week when I got to a customers premises and the goods were not ready , no probs just carry on a take your 45 , ok no probs I said , this was at 10am I had started at 8am , so then goods were ready at 1050 loaded and away by 11am .
So then at 1330 I pull into services and have my corn beef & pickle sandwiches and a cup of tea ,
Within 5 mins of pulling in my operations manager rings me as says what you stopping for you had your break you need to be at such&such by 1500hrs . My reply was there problem as the goods weren’t ready on time and also after having breakfast at 0745 why would I want to be eating my lunch at 10am just because the customers goods weren’t ready . Made my feelings quite clear I will not be told when to eat my food especially because the customer can’t get there act together.
Happy Trucker1:
On a similar note I had operations manager say to me the other week when I got to a customers premises and the goods were not ready , no probs just carry on a take your 45 , ok no probs I said , this was at 10am I had started at 8am , so then goods were ready at 1050 loaded and away by 11am .
So then at 1330 I pull into services and have my corn beef & pickle sandwiches and a cup of tea ,
Within 5 mins of pulling in my operations manager rings me as says what you stopping for you had your break you need to be at such&such by 1500hrs . My reply was there problem as the goods weren’t ready on time and also after having breakfast at 0745 why would I want to be eating my lunch at 10am just because the customers goods weren’t ready . Made my feelings quite clear I will not be told when to eat my food especially because the customer can’t get there act together.
^^^ This.
When you start a new job start as you mean to go on.
First 2 weeks with my lot I got the usual ‘try it on’ crap…
Why did you take 11 off and not 9.
Why did you not take your break when so and so…
Why did you not start earlier this morning.
Why did you stay overnight at…
It all stopped after first 2 weeks, when he got the message…and guess what.?
I still got the job done doing it my way and not running as if my arse was on fire.
I’ve said on here a million times…
It’s a job not a ■■■■ endurance test
Take your break when it’s convenient for you not when your told to etc.
If you can do your shift on one break great…if others want to have two and drag there day out.
Let them.
Personally I’d rather get job done and home as early as I can.
Don’t need the extra hours pay etc.
But we all have different circumstances if others need the money. Want to take a . Second break and Drag they day out then who cares.
It isn’t just the office staff though, everybody is at it. The backdoor guys at the destination are asking about your breaks. You feel like saying, well, do you want me to turn up and start tipping, only to have to down tools to take my break?
Happy Trucker1:
Within 5 mins of pulling in my operations manager rings me as says what you stopping for you had your break you need to be at such&such by 1500hrs .
That sounds like classic micro-management, watching you on the tracker type behaviour. It isn’t that bad where I’m at thankfully.
edd1974:
Take your break when it’s convenient for you not when your told to etc.
If you can do your shift on one break great…if others want to have two and drag there day out.
Let them.
Personally I’d rather get job done and home as early as I can.
Don’t need the extra hours pay etc.
But we all have different circumstances if others need the money. Want to take a . Second break and Drag they day out then who cares.
It isn’t really dragging out, I was talking more about when you are doing maybe 12 hours and take a 15 and a 45 minute break or if your day justifies two 45s, actually taking them instead of tear-arsing to get it done in less than 9 hours driving.
Noremac:
It isn’t just the office staff though, everybody is at it. The backdoor guys at the destination are asking about your breaks. You feel like saying, well, do you want me to turn up and start tipping, only to have to down tools to take my break?
What are they asking about exactly?
Are they trying to tell you when you should be taking your break or what?
Noremac:
It isn’t just the office staff though, everybody is at it. The backdoor guys at the destination are asking about your breaks. You feel like saying, well, do you want me to turn up and start tipping, only to have to down tools to take my break?
What are they asking about exactly?
Are they trying to tell you when you should be taking your break or what?
Not really, more just commenting and generally asking about your breaks. They have an app where they can see where you are. If you have another drop they might be asking if you can make it there and when you will need a break on the way back etc etc. I try to be as accommodating as possible as it is possible they are just making conversation, but it gets on your wick when they say things like how far you will get down the road before needing another break.
If you are delayed, they might be thinking the driver shouldn’t take a break to get the drop done etc, that kind of thing.
Noremac:
It isn’t just the office staff though, everybody is at it. The backdoor guys at the destination are asking about your breaks. You feel like saying, well, do you want me to turn up and start tipping, only to have to down tools to take my break?
When questioned in the past by the odd backdoor guy why i was late I just say I stopped for a snooze & they ■■■■■■■ hate it
See paragraph relating to Digestive and gastrointestinal disorders to understand that being unable to take breaks at a regular time is very bad for your health. An easy answer to all those demands to take breaks to suit the delivery schedule rather than one’s physical needs. This has been known about since the 1930s.
Many years ago for a change one summer I volunteered to drive as second man a coach from Woodall services to Chiasso.Passengers were campers and cyclists the latter being dropped off at various points throughout Europe en route.
Obviously driving conditions varied with each trip and the the boss of the holiday company would ring up and say we had to stop at a particular service area then later complain because we had to take an extra break to comply with regs.He would also ring the bus phone with various complaints,one that a passenger called him and said we were driving at 100 mph.Actually it was 100 kph.
To cut a long story short I was not invited back.
Muddy K:
Am sure they would much rather you take your breaks/naps/food when you need to. Better than crashing the truck right?
I think some places if there was no break required by law wouldn’t let you take a break. I myself … dislike the mandated break(s) - I’d rather take it/them when I get tired and sleepy so I can actually benefit from the rest rather than do it just to tick the box and then feel like cwap 2 hours later but now I’ve already used my break so tough luck
Thankfully where I’m at it isn’t too bad, but I did do a 7.5 tonne fruit and veg run a few years ago, where the manager was saying when I got back from a first run “you can just load on break and have your cup of tea later”.
Also he was getting me in around 5am for a run when the previous driver had been coming in around 3.30am. He started getting complaints from the customers about me being there at a different time to the other driver. It isn’t exactly rocket science to work out what was happening but that didn’t prevent him from calling me asking where I was and why I hadn’t been to such and such yet. Needless to say I didn’t stay there long.
Other times I have taken runs where another driver has called in sick or whatever. Leaving sometimes a matter of hours later than the scheduled time. Again, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that every delivery will be late that day and I would be arriving at unfamiliar times at all the customers, getting into difficulty with parking, traffic etc etc. You couldn’t make it up sometimes.
Our lot never question breaks and being on frozen I usually have around five hours a day on break. What the pilchards on the front desk do have a habit of asking is “what time can you work to? Do you have any big days left?”
My stock answer to either is “I’ll match your commitment to the company and finish at the same time as you do”. They rarely ask me now.
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