Dashboard Confidential July 2020
I can run, but I cannot hide. I am constantly amazed by the number of readers who recognize me from an inch-square picture on my column page to say hello and register their opinions on some of my past writing.
I can be hibernating in the corner of some obscure truck stop restaurant, and I get spotted. Mostly, that is a good thing, and it is always a pleasure. Some times more than others. Several times, I have thought about wearing a pair of those Groucho Marx glasses with a big nose and mustache so I could finish eating.
Case in point. Not long ago, as I was camped out in a back booth having breakfast, reading the local paper when a driver walked over and starts right in on me. I am a shill for the trucking industry, he tells me, and I promote trucking to the unknowing and gullible drivers. I have a fancy truck and a cushy job, and I write fiction stories to lure poor innocent and unsuspecting drivers to a life on the road looking for the pot of gold that is not there. (Really?) I let him continue, as he seemed like he needed to vent.
I was then told that I am like the guy who sets up the deck chairs on the Titanic. I make it look pretty, but the ship is still sinking, and we are all doomed to go down with the ship.
My new friend then told me that trucking is for losers and that he can’t wait to get out of it, get off the road, and get a “real” job.
I grabbed my silverware so I wouldn’t get stabbed in the eye with a fork for my crimes. A few more minutes of this and I would remove my shoelaces so I wouldn’t try to hang myself. I let him continue until he started to repeat himself and let him know I got his point the first time around.
When he came up for air, I pointed out that I do not write fiction but that I am merely an observer and write about what I see, hear and experience. I am a “stuff” magnet. Stuff happens, and it usually happens around me. I am neither a shill nor cheerleader but love what I do, warts and all. I have worked for good companies and bad companies, so I call it as I see it. I did have a problem with his seeing the trucking industry as full of losers and told him so.
I pointed across the room to that driver over there on the phone. He is likely lining up his next load to run his business. Same as that driver on his computer, who is dealing with a rate confirmation with his broker. Every driver in here saddles up in a $150,000 truck with a $40,000 trailer, responsible for hauling expensive loads of merchandise, produce, meat, building supplies and more through bad weather, terrible traffic conditions, spending time away from loved ones to provide for their families.
Company driver or owner-operator, we are all doing the same job.
I see no losers. I see men and women dedicated to moving goods across America, doing a job that mostly goes unnoticed and rarely gets rewarded and usually is taken for granted, until lately. The coronavirus situation brought a new light to the importance of the supply chain and those who keep the wheels turning. The nation saw what happened when that chain became broken and the shelves became empty. Dealing with closed rest areas and restaurants, poor treatment by shippers afraid of the coronavirus, the big wheels keep turning, because it is what we do.
Several drivers got a few minutes of fame on the news. The president made some nice comments, but in a few months, when things level out, it will again be just trucking situation normal. As it has always been. We make it work. No room for losers here. It’s what we do.
I pointed out to my sour friend a few reminders. The country runs on trucks, and trucks run on drivers. Real drivers who can do the job. It is not for everybody and is often a tough life with a lot of demands. Either you can handle it, or you cannot. There are no losers but different degrees of dedication. If that is not you, perhaps you would be better suited to something else and a career change should be in your future.
But what do I know? I’m just the guy who sets up chairs on the Titanic. LL
Want to read more Dave Sweetman? Check out last issue’s Dashboard Confidential.