Life Update!
Keep forgetting LJ is a thing. Ah well. Anyway, life update! Still working at my current company, but a few changes! No longer working the dock. They put me on a run that wouldn't give me time to work the dock. But not a big deal, the money I make doing this run makes up for the hourly wage lost. Only problem is, I did it for a week before they had me do something else. Technically I'm still the driver for that run, but for the past 3 weeks I had to help cover P&D runs while drivers were on vacation. Normally I wouldn't have to do this, but there were some... unexpected issues with other drivers preventing them from working, including a family medical emergency and unfortunately the death of another driver. Sad, but not entirely unexpected given the health issues involved leading up to it. So rather than tell the drivers taking scheduled time off they can't, they had a few night shift drivers switch to days until we had more staff scheduled. Was a nice little trial run for me; see if it was something I'd actually enjoy.
And it was! First two weeks I covered for one driver who did P&D for 8 hours then ran to Milwaukee and back. Should have been one week but medcard issues prevented the driver from returning to work after vacation. Worked the Green Bay area, Neenah area, Sheboygan area, Wausau area, and Shawano area during my daytime works. First couple weeks were mostly pickups, since I was starting mid-afternoon. Sometimes I had deliveries, but mostly because they needed extra help delivering goods in the areas I'd be picking up in. Last week though was a good mix, as I was full P&D for that week. Start at 9 in the morning! First 2 days didn't involve a lot of stops. Maybe half a trailer's worth of deliveries. Third day was a full trailer (but half the trailer was one stop).
Lots of challenges, especially when I accidentally bricked my GPS (tried to update maps, wound up corrupting the map data. Took me 2 days to fix that) and had to get a new one. First 4 stops were done blind, since I have no phone service in those areas. Managed mostly fine though! Friday was a real challenge though, as I had quite a few inner city deliveries at strip malls involving alleys, some of them real tight (as in I'd have to back blindly into a dock around a corner without putting my truck through a guardrail and into a river, and I'd be off pretty far, but still had just enough contact to still move freight off the trailer and onto the dock). But I still managed just fine, making all my deliveries on time, and all my pickups on time!
Now I'm back to my night run. Which sounds like it's going to be lots of fun, considering one of the terminals I'm exchanging freight with at the switch point is consistently late, leaving our freight not getting back until the day drivers are mostly out on their runs. Which wouldn't necessarily be so bad if it weren't service due that day. Ah well, it's a fairly new run, so it's probably going to be a while before they get everything smoothed out.
I would love to go back on days though. Partly because I enjoyed sleeping when it was dark out for a change, but mostly because there's no sitting and waiting (and actually getting paid for when I do have to sit and wait, or break down! Night runs are not hourly wage, but run based instead. Breaking down during these runs don't pay unless you've been broken down for more than 2 hours). But I can't do that until they put up bid sheets for the runs. Even though technically there are two runs available right now due to a prior retirement (that they never hired a replacement for until so recently they're starting either this week or soon after) and the recent death, but because we're hiring 3 drivers who were already told they're starting P&D I can't just take over a run because that's a bit of a dick move, telling a prospective employee they're doing this, and then making them do that instead when they do get hired on. Bait and switch, I believe it's called. Seniority or not, I shouldn't do that (and the manager won't do that. Gotta do it right by bidding when the time comes!)
Healthwise there's not much to report. Teeth are all taken care of! Still not wearing the dentures. Don't like them. Waste of money. Ah well. Also I'm sterile! :D Had a vasectomy about a month or so ago. So glad I don't have to do that again. It wasn't exactly a terrible experience, but dear god that was the most uncomfortable thing I had to go through. But I'll be honest, I'd rather go through that than have a kid. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but babies make me super uncomfortable, and I was never comfortable being around most kids. It's just not for me! Plus I've not wanted to have kids for over 31 years now (literally my entire life :P) so best way to ensure it! And apparently my insurance covered all but the $30 copay!
EDIT: Just discovered my insurance in fact did not cover all of it. I only received the bill for the office visit, not the actual surgery. Turns out the charge is over $2k, but insurance thankfully dropped it down to $730. Ah well, it's still cheaper than 18 years of child care :P (Also cheaper than an abortion, but I really don't know if I'd feel comfortable even suggesting that, let alone dealing with one.)
And it was! First two weeks I covered for one driver who did P&D for 8 hours then ran to Milwaukee and back. Should have been one week but medcard issues prevented the driver from returning to work after vacation. Worked the Green Bay area, Neenah area, Sheboygan area, Wausau area, and Shawano area during my daytime works. First couple weeks were mostly pickups, since I was starting mid-afternoon. Sometimes I had deliveries, but mostly because they needed extra help delivering goods in the areas I'd be picking up in. Last week though was a good mix, as I was full P&D for that week. Start at 9 in the morning! First 2 days didn't involve a lot of stops. Maybe half a trailer's worth of deliveries. Third day was a full trailer (but half the trailer was one stop).
Lots of challenges, especially when I accidentally bricked my GPS (tried to update maps, wound up corrupting the map data. Took me 2 days to fix that) and had to get a new one. First 4 stops were done blind, since I have no phone service in those areas. Managed mostly fine though! Friday was a real challenge though, as I had quite a few inner city deliveries at strip malls involving alleys, some of them real tight (as in I'd have to back blindly into a dock around a corner without putting my truck through a guardrail and into a river, and I'd be off pretty far, but still had just enough contact to still move freight off the trailer and onto the dock). But I still managed just fine, making all my deliveries on time, and all my pickups on time!
Now I'm back to my night run. Which sounds like it's going to be lots of fun, considering one of the terminals I'm exchanging freight with at the switch point is consistently late, leaving our freight not getting back until the day drivers are mostly out on their runs. Which wouldn't necessarily be so bad if it weren't service due that day. Ah well, it's a fairly new run, so it's probably going to be a while before they get everything smoothed out.
I would love to go back on days though. Partly because I enjoyed sleeping when it was dark out for a change, but mostly because there's no sitting and waiting (and actually getting paid for when I do have to sit and wait, or break down! Night runs are not hourly wage, but run based instead. Breaking down during these runs don't pay unless you've been broken down for more than 2 hours). But I can't do that until they put up bid sheets for the runs. Even though technically there are two runs available right now due to a prior retirement (that they never hired a replacement for until so recently they're starting either this week or soon after) and the recent death, but because we're hiring 3 drivers who were already told they're starting P&D I can't just take over a run because that's a bit of a dick move, telling a prospective employee they're doing this, and then making them do that instead when they do get hired on. Bait and switch, I believe it's called. Seniority or not, I shouldn't do that (and the manager won't do that. Gotta do it right by bidding when the time comes!)
Healthwise there's not much to report. Teeth are all taken care of! Still not wearing the dentures. Don't like them. Waste of money. Ah well. Also I'm sterile! :D Had a vasectomy about a month or so ago. So glad I don't have to do that again. It wasn't exactly a terrible experience, but dear god that was the most uncomfortable thing I had to go through. But I'll be honest, I'd rather go through that than have a kid. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but babies make me super uncomfortable, and I was never comfortable being around most kids. It's just not for me! Plus I've not wanted to have kids for over 31 years now (literally my entire life :P) so best way to ensure it! And apparently my insurance covered all but the $30 copay!
EDIT: Just discovered my insurance in fact did not cover all of it. I only received the bill for the office visit, not the actual surgery. Turns out the charge is over $2k, but insurance thankfully dropped it down to $730. Ah well, it's still cheaper than 18 years of child care :P (Also cheaper than an abortion, but I really don't know if I'd feel comfortable even suggesting that, let alone dealing with one.)