Hi lads
I’m working for master staff agency I hate them I’ve got to sit n wait for them to phone me
I don’t know if I’m working next day or what they phoned me 6.45 am to be at work 10 miles away get there TM says I’m late I wish I could find a full time job so I know what day n time I should be in anybody else same problem
Scott
CAMARON:
Hi lads
I’m working for master staff agency I hate them I’ve got to sit n wait for them to phone me
I don’t know if I’m working next day or what they phoned me 6.45 am to be at work 10 miles away get there TM says I’m late I wish I could find a full time job so I know what day n time I should be in anybody else same problem
Scott
er join a few more agency’s then so when they ring u can say jobs sorted you gotta be quicker
get your cv up on cv library too thats how i landed my job im at now
Be under no illusions dude - that is shabby treatment of the highest order. Only advice is to register with an insane number of different agencies and you will eventually gain more options to choose from. Im a noob to the game, having switched to this trucking malarkey only last November, but my luck (as it were!) is slowly picking up. I too have had a taste of use n abuse cowboy set ups, and all you can do is bite the bullet and elect to boycott them. Relatively easy for me to do that, admittedly, cos about a year and a half ago I split with the missus, and the kids are pretty much grown up now (if indeed they ever really do!) Not being on my uppers helped immensely too. Im covering a full 70 miles a day to and from work which isnt ideal, but the work is just fine, and theyre (currently) a great bunch of blokes to work with. The guys on here will tell you that unswerving tenacity is the winning formula, and relentless door knocking will eventually reap it`s own reward!
My own version of Pig Latin…Nil illegitimus Carborundum. 
When I did agency driving I used to tell them full weeks only and refused point blank to do same day call outs. In the end I got an understanding that if they didn’t give me a weeks work on the Friday, I would simply not be available the following week. Worked for me!!
Sitting by the phone and being ready to rush out at a moments notice is no way to live. Don’t do it. 
Set out your stall from day 1 stick to it they will learn i definitely would no consider a same day call out unless they where prepared to enhance the rate they are scum its simple
I hate agencies too…
They aren’t all as bad as that but, as said, sign with a couple and tell them what you will accept, not what you will put up with from them. They soon learn.
To be fair when i got my current job i had the same attitude asked them what they expected of me then told them what i was prepared to to that way every ones clear with no grey areas
its no life mate sat waiting for the phone to ring because you dont know when to rest up for.
so you find yourself staying in bed all the time and before you know it the depression kicks in 
Where do you live? Then we can suggest…
When you start accepting work at any time they ring they will keep doing it, let them know what you will do and stick to it. I did agency for 6 years and never rung asking for a job if they think you don’t mind sitting at home until a good job comes in will always keep you in work because if you don’t work they don’t earn.
Just walk away from “Master Shaft” agency. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, and even if 90% of them are crap, you’ll likely to hit a winner on the 10th go - yes? 
LIBERTY_GUY:
When I did agency driving I used to tell them full weeks only and refused point blank to do same day call outs. In the end I got an understanding that if they didn’t give me a weeks work on the Friday, I would simply not be available the following week. Worked for me!!Sitting by the phone and being ready to rush out at a moments notice is no way to live. Don’t do it.
…if you do it, you’ll only ever be “used” for sick cover. The plum agency jobs are covering El Tempus Maximus and their cushy number job - whilst they are on holiday.
THESE are the ones you get given for the whole of next week on the friday preceeding…
CAMARON:
Hi lads
I’m working for master staff agency I hate them I’ve got to sit n wait for them to phone me
I don’t know if I’m working next day or what they phoned me 6.45 am to be at work 10 miles away get there TM says I’m late I wish I could find a full time job so I know what day n time I should be in anybody else same problem
Scott
Agencies should be outlawed, the use and abuse all drivers, charge companies a fortune and pay drivers a pittance while the owners sit on their fat asses and run BMW’s and Mercs and own villas in the Med.
Do what I did for the winter months when my show company gave me 12 weeks paid holiday, hand round card as a freelance driver, charge about 25% less than the grabbing agency would charge, make more money and be your own boss.
Winseer:
LIBERTY_GUY:
When I did agency driving I used to tell them full weeks only and refused point blank to do same day call outs. In the end I got an understanding that if they didn’t give me a weeks work on the Friday, I would simply not be available the following week. Worked for me!!Sitting by the phone and being ready to rush out at a moments notice is no way to live. Don’t do it.
…if you do it, you’ll only ever be “used” for sick cover. The plum agency jobs are covering El Tempus Maximus and their cushy number job - whilst they are on holiday.
THESE are the ones you get given for the whole of next week on the friday preceeding…
Trouble is, there is an abundance of distribution companies out there, that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring an agency for a driver at 3am of a morning because one of their drivers has phoned in sick and likewise agencies that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring someone at 3.10am of a morning to offer a solitary days work. All the agency does is go through a list of names in random order until they find some muppet sad enough to fall for it. Start doing that and you’ll truly know how a piece of toilet paper feels after endless days of crap dropping on them. 
I reckon most drivers never have a “second time” they’ll be phoned at 3:10am… 
Winseer:
I reckon most drivers never have a “second time” they’ll be phoned at 3:10am…
I made it to 2 phone calls, the second one was a conversation about the reason for me not answering the first call at 3 AM.
The last I heard the HMRC were seeking to extradite the woman who owned the agency from America for not passing the drivers PAYE to them. Allegedly
just play themat thereown game, they love to get phone calls when your workingnight shift 
big boots:
its no life mate sat waiting for the phone to ring because you dont know when to rest up for.
so you find yourself staying in bed all the time and before you know it the depression kicks in
I never did and I did agency work for over half the the 20 years I drove trucks. If the phone hadn’t rung by 5.30pm there was a good chance there was no work the following day so the following day I just did whatever I wanted. If they rang and needed me then if I wasn’t doing something I’d go and if I was I wouldn’t.
I expect you’ve got a mobile phone? You do know they work outside the house? If you’re waiting in for the phone to ring instead of getting on with other things then that’s your fault.