Trucker with Anger Problems
At the shelter I work at (as opposed to volunteer at) this week, we took a delivery of something like a thousand pounds of cat litter. Our delivery driver backed into the alley by our building, but then realized that there was a garbage truck in the alley behind him. He asked one of us (I went) to come out and block traffic so he could move his truck out and let the garbage truck out. But the the garbage truck disappeared off down another branch of the alley. We assumed he'd exited somewhere else. Delivery driver opened up the back of his truck and started breaking down the pallets of litter.
Soon thereafter, garbage guy came back and pulled his truck up to within a few feet of the delivery truck. He honked his horn and yelled at our diver to move the truck. He said he couldn't; that his load was unstable and that he'd tried to let garbage guy out and hadn't meant to block him in, but now his load was unstable and he couldn't move. He would have to unload first.
Garbage guy was not pleased by this. There was a lot of shouting on his part (the delivery driver remained very calm and businesslike). When that didn't work, he started blowing his air horn. A lot. For bursts of ten or fifteen seconds at a time. Meanwhile, all the shelter folks were working on unloading litter onto a rolling cart.
Garbage guy continued shouting at the delivery driver in Spanish, and at everyone in English obscenities. We kept unloading litter. Then garbage guy moved his truck up until it was inches from the delivery truck, trying to block us. Delivery guy had to start tossing individual bags of litter out between the trucks and onto the lid of a dumpster for us to grab. We all tried to tell garbage guy that if he'd move back, we could unload faster.
Garbage guy backed up a little, then moved forward and left, trying to block as much space as possible and, I'm quite sure, intentionally threatening to hit me with his truck where I was standing and grabbing bags of litter from the dumpster lid.
The shelter manager called 911. Neighbors came out and complained to the driver. At one point, between horn blasts, I was petty and shouted "How's that working out for you?" This seemed to anger garbage guy. Whatever. We kept working.
Finally we had almost everything out. Garbage guy had stopped blowing his horn and had rolled up his windows to sit and sulk in silence. Delivery driver slowed down a bit to make sure the police arrived before he was done. (It took them about half an hour. We actually called them back to ask what was up, but just then a car finally arrived.)
All of our staff who were still there came out to talk to the police and support our driver, who had remained calm and professional through this whole thing, much to his credit. I would have had trouble doing that. (Turns out he had a law-enforcement background.) Delivery guy specifically asked for a police report to be filed. The police talked to garbage guy. When they came back, one of the officers said, and I quote, that he was a "certifiable asshole" and possibly not very smart. Delivery guy said that part of what he was yelling in Spanish was, more or less, 'Watch your back; I'm gonna find you and get you."
We finally finished giving our statements to the police and our driver left to do the rest of his deliveries. At least, to places that were still open. I waited for the garbage truck to pass totally out of sight down the alley across the street before going out to my car. I really did feel threatened by this guy. Somebody who can lose it so completely like that seems like a real danger.
So that was one of the more memorable parts of my first week at the shelter.
Soon thereafter, garbage guy came back and pulled his truck up to within a few feet of the delivery truck. He honked his horn and yelled at our diver to move the truck. He said he couldn't; that his load was unstable and that he'd tried to let garbage guy out and hadn't meant to block him in, but now his load was unstable and he couldn't move. He would have to unload first.
Garbage guy was not pleased by this. There was a lot of shouting on his part (the delivery driver remained very calm and businesslike). When that didn't work, he started blowing his air horn. A lot. For bursts of ten or fifteen seconds at a time. Meanwhile, all the shelter folks were working on unloading litter onto a rolling cart.
Garbage guy continued shouting at the delivery driver in Spanish, and at everyone in English obscenities. We kept unloading litter. Then garbage guy moved his truck up until it was inches from the delivery truck, trying to block us. Delivery guy had to start tossing individual bags of litter out between the trucks and onto the lid of a dumpster for us to grab. We all tried to tell garbage guy that if he'd move back, we could unload faster.
Garbage guy backed up a little, then moved forward and left, trying to block as much space as possible and, I'm quite sure, intentionally threatening to hit me with his truck where I was standing and grabbing bags of litter from the dumpster lid.
The shelter manager called 911. Neighbors came out and complained to the driver. At one point, between horn blasts, I was petty and shouted "How's that working out for you?" This seemed to anger garbage guy. Whatever. We kept working.
Finally we had almost everything out. Garbage guy had stopped blowing his horn and had rolled up his windows to sit and sulk in silence. Delivery driver slowed down a bit to make sure the police arrived before he was done. (It took them about half an hour. We actually called them back to ask what was up, but just then a car finally arrived.)
All of our staff who were still there came out to talk to the police and support our driver, who had remained calm and professional through this whole thing, much to his credit. I would have had trouble doing that. (Turns out he had a law-enforcement background.) Delivery guy specifically asked for a police report to be filed. The police talked to garbage guy. When they came back, one of the officers said, and I quote, that he was a "certifiable asshole" and possibly not very smart. Delivery guy said that part of what he was yelling in Spanish was, more or less, 'Watch your back; I'm gonna find you and get you."
We finally finished giving our statements to the police and our driver left to do the rest of his deliveries. At least, to places that were still open. I waited for the garbage truck to pass totally out of sight down the alley across the street before going out to my car. I really did feel threatened by this guy. Somebody who can lose it so completely like that seems like a real danger.
So that was one of the more memorable parts of my first week at the shelter.