Hoot-Hoot

BLACKBOX

Life is a Highway...
What's the latest you've ever return to your Center or Hub? It didn't happen to me but another fellow PC driver. In fact. it happened just this last peak.

We had a terrible ice/snow storm. They called everyone to head in at 1400, deeming it too dangerous to be out there. Everyone got back at a reasonable time. Except for this one guy.

Apparently, while heading in the city decided to shut down a highway he was heading back on. They shut down all four lanes southbound while equipment could plow and sand the road. Because of this there was total gridlock for miles and miles.

I guess you can surmise he was stuck in the middle of this and what made matters worse was cars and trucks not being able to get a grip on the roadway after sitting in one place for so long.

The next morning, the story around the center was about a PC car not getting back until 11:30 pm. I saw the driver in the check-in room and he looked like a walking zombie with eyes as red as lipstick.

He should have called off as he was in no condition to put in another long day. Can you imagine yourself in this situation.
 

Big Babooba

Well-Known Member
10:45 PM - started at 8 AM. Had a flat 20 miles from the building at 19:30. When I got back, I then had to shuttle my air to the airport.
 

RanMan

Member
12:30 am. 15 hour day . We had a ice storm during peak season of 1990. I made my last delivery at 11 pm. Then a 40 mile drive back to the center.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
We had a rookie peak driver one year that came in early (about 6:00) one day and brought back a butt load of NDA rural residentials - No Delivery Attempts. The next morning they chewed him out royally and told him he would deliver every stop he had loaded that day. He got done at 4:30 a.m. He said that after 10:00 p.m. he tried to be real quite so he wouldn't get mistaken for a thief or peeking tom. Just working as directed he said. :wink2:
 

tworavens

JuniorMember for 24 Years
We had a rookie peak driver one year that came in early (about 6:00) one day and brought back a butt load of NDA rural residentials - No Delivery Attempts. The next morning they chewed him out royally and told him he would deliver every stop he had loaded that day. He got done at 4:30 a.m. He said that after 10:00 p.m. he tried to be real quite so he wouldn't get mistaken for a thief or peeking tom. Just working as directed he said. :wink2:

Holy Cats! So did he ever work again after that? I wish I had those kind of cojones!
 

rod

Retired 22 years
They let him go right after peak and he was never heard from again- I think he moved out of town. They never over loaded him again that peak season though
 
2am here. It was a Friday, so I didn't have to work the next day. And yes, I rang and knocked on every door between 10pm and 1:30am. I was PRAYING someone would call in a complaint.
 

sweatyguy

Member
12:57 A.M. one peak....Center manager was sleeping in office when I returned to building at about 12:30 A.M...told him I had about 40-50 stops I needed to sheet as missed before punching out...driver's all around me running out of hours and dropping their stops to me as the day wore on....never did get the car looking empty....When I was walking out to my personal vehicle, the preload was coming in...I don't even remember working the next day....Crazy...
 

IWorkAsDirected

Outa browns on 04/30/09
What's the latest you've ever return to your Center or Hub? It didn't happen to me but another fellow PC driver. In fact. it happened just this last peak.

We had a terrible ice/snow storm. They called everyone to head in at 1400, deeming it too dangerous to be out there. Everyone got back at a reasonable time. Except for this one guy.

Apparently, while heading in the city decided to shut down a highway he was heading back on. They shut down all four lanes southbound while equipment could plow and sand the road. Because of this there was total gridlock for miles and miles.

I guess you can surmise he was stuck in the middle of this and what made matters worse was cars and trucks not being able to get a grip on the roadway after sitting in one place for so long.

The next morning, the story around the center was about a PC car not getting back until 11:30 pm. I saw the driver in the check-in room and he looked like a walking zombie with eyes as red as lipstick.

He should have called off as he was in no condition to put in another long day. Can you imagine yourself in this situation.


Not long after I started I was doing vacations. Had a route I'd never done and a loader who had never loaded it. All named streets, one area across the freeway and about 10 miles from the other. Another area, all fields with confusing and sometimes inaccurate addresses.

Ended up running back and forth a few times til I had room to sit down with a map and sort it all out. Got in after midnight, but I wasn't taking anything back to make the next day even worse.

Before I left blind that morning the manager/supervisor said "If you don't have at least 120 stops you don't have enough" Some help he was.
 

NHDRVR

Well-Known Member
bout' 10 o'clock or so, last peak...

How funny is it that we get called back during a storm at 5 or 5:30.

Seriously guys?? You wait til 5 as if somehow the past 8 hours we were working in it were ok but now that the roads are getting cleared up and the plows are out it is 'less-safe' on the road?? Really??

Way to go...
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
bout' 10 o'clock or so, last peak...

How funny is it that we get called back during a storm at 5 or 5:30.

Seriously guys?? You wait til 5 as if somehow the past 8 hours we were working in it were ok but now that the roads are getting cleared up and the plows are out it is 'less-safe' on the road?? Really??

Way to go...


Ha! That happens here too.
 

finaddict

Well-Known Member
Obligatory,thank god i`m in feeders.....blah,blah.....I`m going back to bed.
Much worse than delivery for being stranded. Several of us have had to overnight due to unexpected snow/ice storms or a meeting point driver not making it. Then there was Gaston in 2004, I was in delivery and stuck in Richmond until 0230hrs. Slept on an empty pkg shelf for a few hours. Roads were flooded, blocked, or destroyed. Google Image Result for http://www.ldschurchnews.com/media/photos/2004/22170.jpg
 

overallowed

Well-Known Member
Punched out at 12:15am. It was during peak back in the late 80's. My wife had to have emergency surgery due to medical condition. They let me work 8hrs for a couple of days afterward, but then one night as I was finishing up my commercial route at 6:30, here comes my sup with a P500 loaded with about 100 resi stops in what can be considered a "high risk" part of town. He said it was my turn to pay for the last few days. Didn't know area at all. He was there waiting for me when I got in. This was long before cell phones and ODS messages. He was not happy that I came in that late. Tuff. That is what he gets for bringing me a basket case. Never happened again.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
Punched out several times 12-1:30 during peak. Especially during the huge cutbacks on the day before Christmas. (Christmas eve)

Latest/earliest I ever got in was almost 5AM.

Actually got back to the center at around 7. Had my wife waiting, as it was our 10th wedding anniversary, and we were to go out with family to eat. Big party already waiting.

Come to find out, a pickup was left hanging. 4900 books. Sent me back out to pick them up in an 800. I didn't even get to the pickup until 9:30.

Had difficulty getting people to bring the pallets to the dock, as they were "closed" as well.

Then the top speed back to the center was 25-30 due to hills and curves. Even on the flat areas, not much more than 35-40 flat out.

Part time sup was the only person there when I got back in.

They tried to find fault with what I did, but couldn't.

The center manager actually tried to get me to agree to put some of that day on the next pay period, because he didn't want me to show that many hours.

d
 
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