On the rare occasions that I work in the UK,I find that most drivers just
want to tell me about how much blacker their dog is than mine.
So I stopped trying to explain about living in Asia and all the other places and things
I see and do because most, just do not understand that there is life after logistics.
Now I find that a book and a set of earphones (sans ipod) provide the cover to keep
me free from BS.
BTW, I am not unsociable,but you would have to come to Malaysia for me to prove it.
orys:
MR VAIN:
The biggest problem is that most won’t speak cos they can never be sure of talking to an english speaking driver .So what?
If he don’t speak English (or any other language you don’t speak) just smile, and move away to your paper.
I am not too sociable myself by nature, but I was approached on many occasions on the ferry or train in half of the european languages… If you don’t start because of poor chances of finding someone speaking English in UK, how on earth Portugeze driver can even thing about starting conversation in his language on the ferry from Denmark to Norway?
Dint mean to cause offence Orys 
QUOTE
Example: I ask a guy two three weeks ago now as he just jumped out of his 620 Toplinner tricked up with lights ‘n’ all if he had got a green. I couldnt see where I was parked and all the bays were full. He gave me such a dirty look I had to go to the toilets and wash it off! “NO”! was his reply, in such a miserable bad manner that I felt like pulling him in the waiting room and saying, whats your problem fella? Probably because I didnt have a matching Scania jacket on
Worst thing you could ever do is ask me about my motor, you’d have a job to shut me up!!! 
FarnboroughBoy11:
I know what your saying but when I’m on my break it’s my time for me only. I like to sit comfortably and quietly, read the paper and recharge my batteries. I’ll say hello and have a polite chat but I don’t wanna be talking bollox to a stranger for an hour. Today for example stopped at the cafe on the A444 coming out of burton, walked in said hello to another driver then prayed to god he wouldn’t start a conversation, he didn’t, we each read our own papers and enjoyed our own respective breakfasts
I noticed you being unsociable at Fat Ladies layby earlier-you had the curtain across the windscreen and looked deeply in-thought
mattcollin:
It’s nice to be nice; hello, how are you, goodbye. There’s a world of difference of being an unsociable misanthropic so and so to just liking your own space. I rarely sit in RDC waiting rooms because its like a [zb] doctors waiting room. Full of gloom faces, if I can I’d rather read or watch a DVD/TV. But having said this by the same token it costs nothing to be polite and be on your way. Some people are just plain rude.Example: I ask a guy two three weeks ago now as he just jumped out of his 620 Toplinner tricked up with lights ‘n’ all if he had got a green. I couldnt see where I was parked and all the bays were full. He gave me such a dirty look I had to go to the toilets and wash it off! “NO”! was his reply, in such a miserable bad manner that I felt like pulling him in the waiting room and saying, whats your problem fella? Probably because I didnt have a matching Scania jacket on
Everybody can have an off day and I’m certainly no exception but manners cost nothing and liking your own space isnt or shouldnt be an excuse to be rude. If you wanna sit and “chew the fat” do so, otherwise, a quick nod of the head, smile and be on your way.
sums it up very well for me
im unsociable i dont want to talk to other drivers unless i know them, otherwise im just not bothered. to be fair i talk to people then after a few minutes i find myself glazing over and thinking to myself " i dont care what your saying cos im not really listening. "
MR VAIN:
Dint mean to cause offence Orys
Not at all.
I just can’t see the problem: if you want start to chat, start it and if the person don’t speak your language, just make an apologizing gesture and noone should be offended…
These days I dont get to RDCs (thank god), But i do make an attempt to be social to people I deliver to, as people have said manners cost nowt!!
I remember back in the 80s there were just as many Billy ■■■■■■■■■■■ about, always drove claaped out ERFs and looked liked tramps and were always going to Doha…
I also remember the days when we didnt have phones Laptops or all the other junk we seem to have with us now, rember having a 24 off at the top of the Blanc on French side hade a great time exploring on my own, also remember not talking to people for days on end, yes it did get lonely but you only had yourself to argue with so you would always win…I also remember the female hitchhikers on the slip road as you come out of Calais especially in the summer 
I am parked up at Tott Hill at the moment just wondering if I should go and knock on a few doors and start a conversation…erm maybe not, I’ll listen to radio 4 a programme about ■■■ Addiction 
Just a thing I do enjoy speaking to foreign people to try and learn their language…thank you in Polski is ‘Kin Qweer’…well thats what it sounds like…
mattcollin:
It’s nice to be nice; hello, how are you, goodbye. There’s a world of difference of being an unsociable misanthropic so and so to just liking your own space. I rarely sit in RDC waiting rooms because its like a [zb] doctors waiting room. Full of gloom faces, if I can I’d rather read or watch a DVD/TV. But having said this by the same token it costs nothing to be polite and be on your way. Some people are just plain rude.
Do you say that because you mean it??
Or only because it’s how it should be done, like a bit of political correctness?
If you mean it…respect
But most people ask “how are you?” while still walking, so that you don’t even get chance to say, you had a real bad day, your constipated and had a burning sensation this morning when you let water off 
Many a case people people say hello and goodbye, but a the next roundabout they run you of the road to be 5 seconds before you at the next RDC.
Or ask you “how are you” but if you had a hard attack 5 minutes later, they would phone your boss to see if there where any jobs going 
I try to be sociable and friendly to other drivers I meet, but I also accept that some drivers want to be left alone, I can usually tell pretty quick if they’d like a chat or not, I’ll talk about anything to pass the day.
One thing that does annoy me a little is when your at the ticket office with another driver who just ignores you, barely even acknowledges your ‘hello’ or whatever, then another driver comes in and they’re like best buddies, chatting away like your not even there, I think thats abit rude tbh
caledoniandream:
mattcollin:
It’s nice to be nice; hello, how are you, goodbye. There’s a world of difference of being an unsociable misanthropic so and so to just liking your own space. I rarely sit in RDC waiting rooms because its like a [zb] doctors waiting room. Full of gloom faces, if I can I’d rather read or watch a DVD/TV. But having said this by the same token it costs nothing to be polite and be on your way. Some people are just plain rude.Do you say that because you mean it??
Or only because it’s how it should be done, like a bit of political correctness?
If you mean it…respect
But most people ask “how are you?” while still walking, so that you don’t even get chance to say, you had a real bad day, your constipated and had a burning sensation this morning when you let water offMany a case people people say hello and goodbye, but a the next roundabout they run you of the road to be 5 seconds before you at the next RDC.
Or ask you “how are you” but if you had a hard attack 5 minutes later, they would phone your boss to see if there where any jobs going
aka ■■■■■■■ glass. Cystitis mate, you wanna get that looked at, or wolf down a load of cranberry juice - that’ll sort it. 
caledoniandream:
mattcollin:
It’s nice to be nice; hello, how are you, goodbye. There’s a world of difference of being an unsociable misanthropic so and so to just liking your own space. I rarely sit in RDC waiting rooms because its like a [zb] doctors waiting room. Full of gloom faces, if I can I’d rather read or watch a DVD/TV. But having said this by the same token it costs nothing to be polite and be on your way. Some people are just plain rude.Do you say that because you mean it??
Or only because it’s how it should be done, like a bit of political correctness?
If you mean it…respect
But most people ask “how are you?” while still walking, so that you don’t even get chance to say, you had a real bad day, your constipated and had a burning sensation this morning when you let water off
That’s a valid point.
It’s one of the first thing Polish man have to learn when he’s coming to Britain: many of the British people don’t mean that. They just ask but don’t want to be bothered with answer.
I still fall for it: someone is asking “how was your trip to Norway” (real example), I (learned with experience) answer “It was all right, thank you” but they prompt me to tell them more, so I start to tell and about in the middle of second sentence, they just walk away…
I think it’s a cultural difference: in Poland they will say “hello” and “good buy” as this is polite, but they won’t bother with asking “how are you” or, moreover some particular questions like with my Norwegian exapmle, unless they are willing to listen…
Muckaway:
FarnboroughBoy11:
I know what your saying but when I’m on my break it’s my time for me only. I like to sit comfortably and quietly, read the paper and recharge my batteries. I’ll say hello and have a polite chat but I don’t wanna be talking bollox to a stranger for an hour. Today for example stopped at the cafe on the A444 coming out of burton, walked in said hello to another driver then prayed to god he wouldn’t start a conversation, he didn’t, we each read our own papers and enjoyed our own respective breakfastsI noticed you being unsociable at Fat Ladies layby earlier-you had the curtain across the windscreen and looked deeply in-thought
I was in a foul mood mate, had some ■■■■■■ drive into the side of the unit in high Wycombe earlier plus I had to go down to kinsgton bagpuize from Witney to then come back to Witney to change trailers… Great planning 
Anyway how’s the missus, Am I going to see the foden abandoned outside Witney community hospital soon??
I personnally welcome a friendly chat in some of the boring RDCs, but I have to say some of the best convos I have had have been the “back in the day” convos, some you have to take with a pinch of salt but I do like hearing other drivers exploits. My interests include modified cars, hospital radio, freemasonary (funny handshake club), and tech gadgets, how many drivers here have similar interests as that or would like to hear about them?? especially when theres riveting day time tv to watch lol.
Funny point though, alot of you have said you dont like hearing about how the job used to be but 60% ish of this thread has been about the good 'ole days lol.
caledoniandream:
I think a lot of people nowadays would die from loneliness, if I see how much they are talking small talk on the phone.Maybe that made many drivers a little bit unsociable, and having enough on their own company, and just don’t feel the need to speak to anybody.
Think your right there, if they cant find a victim on the end of the phone they find a victim in waiting room/canteen etc.
jessicas dad:
to be fair i talk to people then after a few minutes i find myself glazing over and thinking to myself " i dont care what your saying cos im not really listening. "
I do that ALOT
Had a guy at a drop near Nuneaton invite me for a drink, no sooner had the pint hit the mat than he was off on a ramble about something or other, I tend not to drink quick but had to drop it in 2 in order to escape 
I think a lot of this stems from the places drivers now meet each other, in days gone by that would be a yard, cafe/routiers or a customs compound, these days it’s likely to be a waiting room in an RDC, people’s attitude will be different in an RDC waiting room, in there all you’re doing is waiting for the chance to escape.
In a cafe/routiers you were in a relaxed frame of mind, out in the yard you were free to move around without the constaints of HSE, at customs you were there for a specific time frame and there was no point being in a hurry, so you were all in a better mood to begin with.
There were still people around who you didn’t want to talk to or listen to, but you had a bit more choice in the matter, stuck in a waiting area that choice doesn’t exsist, so it’s understandable why people keep quiet, you could ask the most innocent question and the nutter with the bag full of corned beef starts a conversation that you cannot stop, we’ve all met these people and it’s a memory that will haunt us forever, far better to keep staring at the floor I reckon 
FarnboroughBoy11:
:lol: I was in a foul mood mate, had some ■■■■■■ drive into the side of the unit in high Wycombe earlier plus I had to go down to kinsgton bagpuize from Witney to then come back to Witney to change trailers… Great planning
Anyway how’s the missus, Am I going to see the foden abandoned outside Witney community hospital soon??
I hope you didn’t cross Newbridge? Trading Standards were about yday (pulled in a few Bob the Builders for overloading, and they watch lorries going over the allegedly weak bridge that farmers cross loaded to the hilt
The Mrs feeling a bit rough, 2days overdue now-if baby too long I’ve offered to fix the towing eye on the foden
Mala99:
I haven’t been driving as long as many on here but I find you go into say an RDC and not many chat or say hello or you go into a truck stop and everybody has a table by there selves apart from the bloke that wants to say he makes more than you even though he prob dosen’t even in my owen company some drivers pull up at night and shut the curtains and won’t talk.Can anybody shed some light on this for me as i find the few that will talk i learn alot from and atleast have a laugh with
I don’t talk to other drivers i don’t know much as the conversation usually evolves around t!ts or football, sorry to say i’m not that shallow (not in the least interested in football)
Also most people won’t talk to strangers these days, (whether it bee in canteen or on bus) as they don’t want to appear foolish in front of strangers; they live tucked away on their own little world with delusions of grandeur and talking to someone remotely intelligent could shatter that illusion 
Muckaway:
FarnboroughBoy11:
:lol: I was in a foul mood mate, had some ■■■■■■ drive into the side of the unit in high Wycombe earlier plus I had to go down to kinsgton bagpuize from Witney to then come back to Witney to change trailers… Great planning
Anyway how’s the missus, Am I going to see the foden abandoned outside Witney community hospital soon??I hope you didn’t cross Newbridge? Trading Standards were about yday (pulled in a few Bob the Builders for overloading, and they watch lorries going over the allegedly weak bridge that farmers cross loaded to the hilt
The Mrs feeling a bit rough, 2days overdue now-if baby too long I’ve offered to fix the towing eye on the foden
No but I was thinking about it 
decided it werent worth it and went over the toll in Eynsham and down that way. good luck mate hope it all goes well.
caledoniandream:
I’m a unsociable miserable person (my missus tells me that every time when I’m home) If I wanted company or a chat every time I meet people, I would have started a pub or was a bus driver.
I don’t really like people, and the only person I speak a lot with, is myself.
And what a lot people forget……………… I choose my friends carefully, they may come with the work, but don’t have to.
Not everybody I come across or says hello to me, has the right to speak to me, if I feel I want to speak I open my mouth, if I don’t want to speak, I will ignore you or have rubber ears.
Been there on the big tables in the Autohof’s in Germany, stories as big as a mountain, how much BHP the truck has, how much GBP the driver has…………………………what makes you think I would be interested in that information for one second?
I’m not at all interested in any information, and will sit on my own table or read my paper and answer only decent questions on the level……”Can I have the salt please?”
I drive since 1981 and I have heard most of the stories, and came to the conclusion that most of these guys take or another route or………drive in front of me. I never seen these beautiful female hitchhikers who are up for it, never found a policeman who gave me a bottle of wine and let me off for speeding etc. etc.I will help anybody where I can, if they ask, but if you don’t ask fine with me.
I had fantastic weekends with other unsociable people, but only because we choose to do so.
But I don’t think anybody in this job who does long distance and several nights out; choose this job because such a great social life came with it.
Use to be 5-6 weeks away, over 40 weekends a year, and there where many trips where my conversation was restricted to “where do you want me to put the load, and how many pallets do you want me to load” and ordering some food.
That was fine to me, even in the time that there was no mobile phone, no laptops or TV in the cab. A book kept me sane and / or I would enjoy the place where I was.
That time you sometimes had to wait 2 days for a telex or before that you could make a connection per telephone.
I think a lot of people nowadays would die from loneliness, if I see how much they are talking small talk on the phone.Maybe that made many drivers a little bit unsociable, and having enough on their own company, and just don’t feel the need to speak to anybody.
After 7 years in the office as a TM, I still don’t talk before 10 AM because I cannot be bordered.
A forum is an ideal place to be, because I can answer and talk when I want to, you can read it or ignore it when and if you want to, all fine with me.
As every driver knows, being a miserable ■■■■ is the first qualification for TMs’!
As every driver knows, being a miserable [zb] is the first qualification for TMs’!
Got that right, part of the interview / selection process is to phone you up in the middle of the night, and if you are crabbit enough and bark to the driver you past first selection.
No need to speak properly but: ■■■■ up , take the pish and you are having a giraffe are the things that need to be pronounced properly.