Is trucking "Fun"?

I was asked recently by a young cashier at a truck stop, " Is trucking fun?" I told her it depends on what you mean by fun.

She countered with, "... you get to see a lot of the country".

I said, "yes that true, whatever is on the side of the road".

I think that is a comman misconception of our profession by the general public. They really belive somehow that we are professional tourist. Nothing could be fruther from the truth.

They just don't get it that in order for them to have all the great goodies they can get at Wallmart someone had to bring it from somewhere and in a timely manner.

They just don't get it that we don't have time to go see Mt. Rushmore (even if we could get the truck there). The job is drive from poinnt A to poinnt B as fast as possiable so we can wait while the reciver or shipper takes thier sweet time to take the product off or put it on.

Yep, drive, sleep,drive, sleep and drive some more. Who has time for fun?

And home time is for many of us a mad rush to get all the chores done that had been neglected while we were away.

Fun? who has the time?

But the human machine doesn't  work well without some kind of "fun". We have to relax and release the tensions of the day. For me I read or play computer games or write, but every once in awhile the bordom and stress builds up and I just have to stop and 'veg out'.

So driver, what do you do for fun? I would like to know. Leave your comment. Thanks.

Manageable bits and pieces

Out with the old and in with the new. A term usually reserved for New Years, but today I am going to use it to describe the beginning of our Kitchen remodel.

If you have ever thought that home time for a trucker is the same as for the rest of the world, you would be most mistaken. I had been out for three weeks, got home friday afternoon, mowed about 1/4 acre, and began the project pictured on the left the next morning.

Finished this counter top Sunday night and started packing for another two week run. I have an 10 hour drive ahead of me today to get my load unloaded tomorrow bright and early. I had asked for today off because today is my 14th wedding anniversary to the most patient, loving , tolerant woman, I have ever known.

What makes truckers home time different than the rest of the worlds is that we have to live our lives in bits and pieces. There is still one more counter to resurface but I cannot start a project over the weekend and continue it through the week should it take longer than I estimated so, manageable bits and pieces.

The same is true for our relationships with family and friends. Relationships take time to develop so as you might guess truckers have few real friends. I have been living were I currently reside for over eight years now and I know few people and have no friends. Family takes all of my time when I am not caring for the home they live in.

Home time is dictated by the freight, and your ability to tolerate the long hours, boredom and your need for money. Every time I go home it costs about two to three hundred dollars on the next paycheck so, as I have said in my book, "So You Want To Be A Truck Driver" this job is not a job but a lifestyle. Not all are cut out for it, buy my book before you ever invest a single dime in this way of life, many are fooled by the clever advertising of the truck schools and driver teaching companies.

 Anyway will be late if I don't put it in gear so, till next time keep the rubber side down.

Les

Coffee VS. Cola

Hi all, I have caught a lot of flak over the years for my serious coffee addiction. I am embarrassed to tell you how much coffee I drink, so, I won't.

I have noticed over the past five or so years that soda is quickly becoming the beverage of choice for truckers. I know neither drink is good for our bodies but really which one is worse? 

Just off the top of my head I would have to say soda is.

Why?

Because soda contains sugar as well as caffeine. Sugar is a drug much like heroin and contains a good deal more calories than coffee, empty calories that contain no nutritional value. An 8 ounces serving of soda pop averages about 120 calories, 8 ounces of coffee averages 1 calorie, big difference. It's no wonder I know people who say all they had to do was quit soda pop to loose 25 pounds.

In an article on WebMD sugar, "...not only makes us fat, it also wreaks havoc on our liver, mucks up our metabolism, impairs brain function, and may leave us susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, even cancer."

A lot of drivers have told me that they switched to soda because it seems to work better at waking them up, this doesn't surprise me, even when considering the fact that soda contains less caffeine than coffee, an average of 95 to 200 milligrams for 8 ounces of coffee, and 23 to 50 milligrams for a 12 ounce soda. What makes the difference is the sugar, it's all those calories being dumped into your system.

Caffeine of course is also a drug, it affects our nervous system and gives a feeling of wakefulness, it increases our heart rate and blood pressure and may even cause the heart to beat irregularly and can interfere with a good nights sleep. It is also a diuretic which explains why you have to pea more. It also has the added effect of becoming tolerated in your system meaning that you must drink more to get the same effect and it is addictive just like sugar. The FDA had put together an informative brochure on caffeine, you can get it at:
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/UCM200805.pdf.

So bottom line here. Neither drug is good for you. Soda Pop will put pounds on and coffee will mess with your nervous system. Both are addictive. Best choice, drink water.

What will I do? What do all addicts do...

Keep the rubber side down. Till next time.

Les

Make it Hot... To Go!

I do love my  Road Pro Portable Oven.

The Picture shows a lentil chili I made for dinner. Half a cup of dry lentils, half a package of chili seasoning, half an onion, a can of diced tomatoes and about 4 ounces of shredded roast beef plus about half a cup of water. I put all of that in the bread tray the put it into the oven, plugged it in, and headed down the road. About an hour later I had to pull over and eat it cause the smell was making me hungry!

I don't get paid for endorsements like this one and if you would like to encourage me to keep writing then buy my book, "So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver". or my other one "Ten Commandments a Guide to Holiness".
At the very least like my Face Book Author page, please.

Enough advertisement!

The company I currently work for doesn't allow inverters installed since they think their little 1500 watt inverter will run a microwave and the environmental air, so the portable oven has been a Godsend for me.

Pictured on the right is my average breakfast (when I don't oversleep). It is made of 3/4 cup rolled oats with about a cup of almond milk made overnight by adding the liquid and letting it sit. I did make my eggs in the portable oven by lining the bread pan with foil then adding two eggs whipped with about a quarter cup of water, poured onto onion and bell pepper, plugged it in for about 20 minuets and presto, scrambled eggs. I did find that adding about half a cup of water into the oven under the bread pan does speed up the cooking of any item, but be careful when you open it that you don't get a steam burn.

I have cooked potatoes by wrapping them like I would for a conventional oven and putting them directly into the portable oven. I have had better results by adding water to the bottom half of the oven and then putting in the bread pan and the potatoes in the pan. It take about an hour to hour and a half and the way I deal with the time issue is to put them in at one of my stops then plug the oven in about and hour or so before I stop for that meal.

I have steamed broccoli in the same way I cook potatoes, takes about 20 to 30 minuets.

I like hot meals and with this cool little item I get to eat fresh and hot while on the go.

Keep the rubber side down.

Les

NO TIME!!!

"I Don't have the time to eat healthy",I can't tell you how many times I have used and heard this truly lame excuse for not eating healthy while on the road! That excuse is especially lame now, since we must take the mandatory 30 minute break we are all complaining about.

Let's get honest guys, the fact is you do have time you just don't want to do it.

Look at the meal in the picture at the right. I guarantee it took less time to fix than standing in line at Mcdonalds. I can guarantee it because I made it. Half a 12 oz. bag of salad mix a few slices of onion and tomato, as well as a few slices of cucumber from our garden, a can of tuna and a can of green beans, all under 8 minuets, heck, took me longer to eat it than to make it. So don't give me that lame old excuse,"I don't have time to fix healthy meals while on the road". I have two words for you B.S..

Let's consider the long term situation.

Keep eating at Micky D's or getting those footlongs at Subway and the oversized sodapops and the bags of chips, cookies etc. at the truck stops and I guarantee you your body will rebel. Diabetes, sleep apnea, heart and vascular diseases are all from poor nutrition and a lack of exercise. Lets face it, our way of life is a formula for physical disaster. We aren't just sedentary we are Super Sedentary. Of course there are exceptions and if your one of them please pass this article on to a fellow trucker.

For years I said I didn't have time to eat right while working, I was lying. First came sleep apnea, the mandatory yearly sleep studies are expensive and require an overnight stay at a sleep lab. There is the nap study which takes just an afternoon but what a pain.

Then came diabetes. I then had to learn something about nutrition and controlled it for a few years with diet but the day came when the good old excuse was once again employed and I soon lost control again and couldn't get motivated to regain control, that in time lead to being put on insulin.

Truckers if you are put on insulin work is done until you get a waiver from the FMCSA.It took me 10 months to get that waiver, thats a whole bunch of time. The waiver procedure requires that you have an endocrinologist and optometrist and see them every three months, not cheap without insurance or an income. And, unemployment in most states will not cover you during this time. Disability, forget it if you can work doing something else like cashier at Micky D's or greeter at Wall Mart.

So for every dollar you spend at one of the fast food restaurants or the junk food isles at the truck stops you better save two dollars for you future medical needs or you can take the time to eat right now and avoid the future health problems of wasted time and loss of income.

Your choice, spend a few minuets now making a healthy choice or spend months or years paying for it.

Keep the rubber side down.

Les

Life of a Truck Driver

Hi all. I have been home nearly a month recovering from emergency eye surgery. Kinda sucks but am enjoying being home.

The attached photo is from Meritor on Twitter and is a accurate representation of our work life.

As accurate as that graphic is there is a whole lot not said, such as the crappy work conditions, the crappy truck stop food, the isolation, bad attitudes, poor relations with significant others due to the long periods of separation. Then there is the other drivers, even other commercial drivers can sometimes be real jerks.

Also, there is the health issues. Long hours sitting, little to no exercise, inconsistent sleep patterns and poor quality foods leading to hypertension, diabetes,and heart disease.

I read recently that the average lifespan of a truck driver is 56.

So why in the world would you want to be a truck driver?

Truth is, if I had known it was going to be like this I would not have singed up, but, now I am trapped unless I am willing to give up all I have and start over, too old for that now.

You might be able to save some one from this horrible and way underpaid lifestyle if you buy a copy of "So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver" and give it to them. 

Keep the rubber side down

Les

Dispatchers - Angels or Demons?

Hi all, havn't been writing much lately since with this new company I don't sit very often. I Love it.

I have been thinking about dispatchers since so far the dispatchers I have had with this new outfit have been wonderful. Problems are addressed quickly, dispatches are nearly simultaneous with empty calls, and all have been thoughtful and respectful. Without a doubt this is the best crew I have worked with in my 20 years of driving.

So, why write about dispatchers on a trucker health blog? Answer, it's hard to want to eat right when your pissed off, that chocolate bar is just the thing to take the edge off, right.

Dispatchers can make life heaven or hell for us out here on the road. They can ignore us, leaving us to hang out at the truck stop when we would rather be working. They can want us to work when we have asked for time off. They can wake us from a dead sleep with dumb questions. They can put us on runs that will make sure we can't get home for that ball game or anniversary we told them about last week. Yes, dispatchers can make life Hell.

I have heard and experienced many horror stories regarding dispatchers. I had one dispatcher that would always deadhead me back to the yard after every load knowing full well that I got paid on loaded miles only, his reasoning "You make more money this way", I had one thing to say to that BULL###T! It didn't take long to straighten him out when I got to talk to the owner.

In listening to many of the horror stories I began to see a come thread. Yes, there are bad dispatchers, no doubt, but are you a good driver? Do you take every load that you can do legally? And if you can't take it are you respectful in your response? Do you inform your dispatcher in plenty of time when you want home time? Do you give respectful reminders concerning home time? Are you argumentative or are you respectful at all times? Are you considerate of the dispatchers time or are you chatty, telling war stories instead of business? When there is a problem do you call with an angry or hostile tone? In nearly all the war stories I have heard the driver had not been professional; at some point he had become hostile or belligerent, forgetting his manners and demanding his way.

Yes it's true we are the backbone of this industry, without us trucks don't roll and dispatchers don't have a job, but, they are people too, with feelings and problems just like the rest of us, so bottom line, if you want your life behind the wheel to be a good one, then treat your dispatcher with the dignity and respect that a professional gives. And if they are still A**holes then talk to someone over there head about changing dispatchers if that don't work, then there is always the next job.

Keep the rubber side down
Les

Please check out my website at http://augerles.wix.com/be-a-truck-driver

Who Represents Us???

I made a disturbing discovery this morning.

Correct me if I am wrong, but, it seems that the three million Commercial Drivers or so here in the good ol' USA are being regulated without due representation.

There seems to be only a few players that have been showing up at the public hearings and that are being heard by the FMCSA and non of them have the company drivers intrest at heart.

Those players are the OOIDA, (Owner/Operator Independent Driver Association) and the ATA, (American Trucking Association).

The OOIDA has a membership of approximately 150,000 or about 15% of all drivers and most of those are small company owners. The ATA has 37000 members who are all corporate size truck company owners. I didn't check any of the roll calls on the various regulatory hearings held by the FMCSA but did do a search for truck driver associations and didn't really find any that appeared to represent the company driver. Of course there is the Teamster who have branched out into other industrial divisions and boasts 1.5 million members but who really believes they are interested in the company driver.

You could say that the OOIDA members interest are similar to ours and in many respects you would be right but, it's still all about profit for their members. Of course the ATA is worse. They don't care about us company drivers trying to make a living, I do believe they are the ones promoting the lie that there is a driver shortage, there is actually far more drivers than the market can support which is part of the reason wages have fallen so far behind inflation.

Non of these organizations as far as I know have ever considered trying to get us reclassified by the government into our own labor class, consequently we are still treated as day labors as far as the labor law is concerned.

Meanwhile our wages have not kept up with inflation and now we are being saddled with Government regulations that makes it even harder for us to meet the demands of our jobs and the needs of our families.

I got no answers.

Wish I could retire.

Please visit my site and consider buying my book by clicking HERE

Minimum Wage? For Who?

Hi all, been thinking and getting a bit pissed, so thought I would vent here.

Ever since I heard that President Obama by Presidential order granted Federal Employees a minimum wage of $10.75 an hour I have been pissed. I am pissed that he and his cronies believe they can pressure the Congress into passing a similar minimum wage bill for private employees by such a stupid move. It's stupid because everyone knows their are so few minimum wage jobs in the Federal Government that it was a nothing action. Its only purpose was to start an outcry by the uneducated masses to put pressure on Congress to act in a way that would be very bad for this country.

Why is a minimum wage of $10.75 an hour bad for this country?

Answer : higher cost equals higher prices, and that's inflation, period. Sorry, money doesn't just fall out of the sky.

And, guess what, truckers are not covered by the minimum wage law.

In fact our wages have been the most depressed wages of any industry. Twenty years ago when I started driving truck I was making 28 cents per mile, today I am making 28 cents per mile plus 7 cents per mile per diem which means I am taking home more actual money but 7 cents per mile of that is subsidized by all of the rest of you tax payers. Now here is the real rub, 20 years ago the average cost of a house was $113,000 today it is $311,400 and that kind of inflation holds true for everything from cigarettes, to food, to cars, to; well you name it, you get the picture.

Last year I made about $40,000. That means I drove 114,285 miles at an average speed of approximately 55 mph. That means I spent 2,077 hours behind the wheel at an average of  $19.25 per hour.

Sounds pretty good to the guy or gal flipping burgers at Mcdonalds right? Twice the wage they are making, but if I got this figured right I spent 259 days on the road. Now that means there was 4144 hours I was not paid for but had to remain at work and because I eat and sleep at my work place and since I am responsible for that load even while not performing my job, meaning driving, that means the real hours at work was 6, 221. Divide that into $40,000 and the real wage is $6.42 per hour. Minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, hmmmm.

But it gets even worse; since the FMCSA didn't take the forethought to require resets be done at the driver's home, I spent at least another 15 periods of  34 hours parked somewhere other than home, and was still responsible for my employer's truck and trailer, and still not getting paid. This now gives us a total of 6,731 hours at work for a real wage of  $5.95 per hour.

And I havn't even added up the extra cost of living in a truck and having a wife and kids; it's like having two separate homes. Nor have I deducted the payroll taxes which amount to around 35%.

So you still think you want to be a truck driver and earn those big bucks the school recruiters promise??? Better buy my book and find out about the other drawbacks to this lifestyle, you can get it by clicking HERE.

Spoiled

Boy,am I getting spoiled on this job.

The company that I now work for uses new Volvo Power units and just like the cars Volvo makes, this thing drives like a dream. Its got all kinds of bells and whistles including an automatic 12 speed transmission that really works!

That having been said, the living space, (ie sleeper) sucks. The cabinets are too small and of the wrong size to fit anything. The lighting sucks and even if I was allowed to have my inverter installed there would be no place to put my microwave, so back to cold meals and buying coffee.

Talking about getting back to things, I've had to get back to basics on my food plan. Picked up over 40 lbs in the last 6 months. It really is easy to decive ones self and think "awe this little bit extra won't hurt", and maybe once in a while it doesn't. But, when the once in a while turns into everyday, well that's a problem.

I did see my Doc just before going back to work and was glad to find out that even with the weight gain my diabetes hasn't raised its ugly head but my cholesterol did take a significant jump up to 208, yep back to basics.

So once again I will publish my basic food plan for those that haven't seen it before:

Breakfast :
1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 6 ounces lean protein and a piece of fruit.

Lunch and Dinner:
6 ounces of lean protein,  2 cups salad mix with Italin dressing, 1 cup green vegtable and a piece of fruit.

2 snacks allowed of 3 oz. of protein or a piece of fruit. Keep meals about 4 to 6 hours apart. And ladies cut the meal protein down to 4 oz. for best results.

Finally if you know someone who thinks they want to join us out here on the highways, and you cant scare them off, then buy them a copy of my book, "So, You Want to Be a Truck Driver"
and maybe I can.

Blackballed!

Hi all,

Have you every heard of someone being "Blackballed"? Do you know what that term means? I didn't, but I have been using the term to describe something I have been finding in our industry during this job search. I had also been exposed to something similar earlier in my career.

According to Wikapedia, Blackballing describes a voting procedure that was common in Gentleman Clubs of the Victorian Age. It was a procedure used to vote in a new member. It only took one black ball in the ballot box to exclude the initiate. If you sponsored that initiate and they were blackballed, you would then suffer the same fate as the blackballed person. In this procedure fairness and explanations played no part, if you pissed one person off you could be blackballed.

In our industry (trucking) I have found there are two entities who are likely to "cast" you the black ball if you are trying to get a new job. The first is the Safety Dept. of your previous job and the second is (and the most likely) the Insurance Company of the job you want.

If you have been fired from your previous company for anything safety related you will be blackballed from many companies, period. The period of blackballing will last from 3 months to 5 years. And, it doesn't matter what your CSA score is or how much experience you have. With some companies just being fired for any reason is enough to get you blackballed.

I believe, though I can't prove it, I was blackballed from flatbed companies after I had gotten hurt while working for flatbed company in California. After that job, I could not get hired on with a flatbed company for a period of seven years and I am one of those fools who actually like "throwing rags". I began to get suspicious when one employer was all hot to hire me, then after the DAC was pulled, they wouldn't even answer the phone when I called. I pulled my own DAC and saw absolutely NO bad information on my "Consumer Report". After being turned down by a few more flatbed companies for no good reason, I gave up and went to work for JB Hunt for 6 months,(6 months too long).

There is another thing that can get you blackballed, take six months off of work and your blackballed from many companies.

I understand the companies have a great deal to lose if they hire the wrong guy, but when someone such as myself with 20+ years of experience, a clean MVR (Motor Vehicle Record) and a great CSA score knocks on your door at lest take the time to find out what happened and judge it in light of the aforementioned data not the data that some statistical genius in an ivory tower somewhere that's never even seen the inside of a truck has come up with.

Here is one of the things that is really wrong with this system. Dispatchers and Safety Directors know how this system works better than the average driver and will sometimes use the system to "burn" a driver they didn't like. It can be very time consuming and expensive to correct false data on your DAC, (the main tool used for blackballing) and the companies have little to fear in the form of reprisals if they get caught doing it.

Bottom line is, if you like driving truck for a living always be professional and realize it only takes one slip up to get blackballed.

Keep the rubber side down. God bless

Please comment, especially if you have ever been blackballed.

Leslie R Auger has driven truck for more than 20 years. He has written a book for the want-to-be truck driver called, "So, You Want to Be A Truck Driver", You can get it here by clicking on the title or visit his website at So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver? | Wix.com

Job Hunting

If your anything like me, you hate looking for a new job.

In today's truck driving industry it has become a bit simpler to search for work, as you don't have to travel around and log a bunch miles on your personal vehicle to put in apps. Now-a-days, you can just hop onto the internet and within a few hours have a hundred or more truck lines to check out.

With my experience, I also got about ten to fifteen phone calls from recruiters, but that might not be the norm, I don't know.

At any rate, thought I would write about one of the pitfalls I have been able to spot as I have been going through this process.

As I wrote in "So, You Want To Be A Truck Driver" our industry is filled with dishonesty and that is especially true when searching for work. Remember a recruiters job is to fill driver seats, the bigger the company the more likely they are to waste your time since you are just a number to them. If you are experienced with three or more years of driving and have a clean MVR (Motor Vehicle Record) and a 0.0 CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) score the recruiters will work harder at trying to sign you up for orientation.

One way I have tried to cut through all the nonsense has been to seek driver comments on any company that I am interested in. I have been able to find driver reviews at several web locations; Rip-off reports   Indeed.com   Glassdoor.com  just to name a few. But, there are problems with relying on these reviews, especially if you only read the first one you come to. Often the first review you see is written by an angry disgruntled ex-employee who is not above lying about the company he/she just left, so read several, if they are all saying the similar things then stay away from that company.

You also should be aware that some company recruiters will check out these driver reviews and post good reviews that appear to be coming from a driver. So read as many reports as you can and watch for similarities in both kinds of reports, good and bad, only the most experienced writers can hide their style.

Shouldn't need to be said, but, you can pretty much discount any report written by someone who doesn't know how to write, or tell the whole story. If you are not an experienced driver the whole story will be much harder to spot, but if the writer doesn't confess to some wrong doing on his or her part then they "ain't" telling all since we are all human and there is always blame enough to go around when there is a problem. Here is a good example of what I mean: Boyd Bros.Review

One more thing you might want to check out is the companys safety rating which you can get for free here. They use our safety ratings to determine if they want to hire us so let's turn the tables on them and use their safety data to determine if we want to work for them.

One last thing, you should know what you want in a job. How much home time do you want, is insurance important and how much are you willing to pay for it, and of course how much do you want to get paid as well as how many miles do you want to run weekly? These are important questions to answer before checking out any company, but don't buy their answer until you check them out or until they are willing to put it in writing.

Well, I am scheduled to start orientation with a company on Jan 6th 2014, but still have my ear to the ground.

Keep the rubber side down.

Fustration for doing what's right

Hi all

Really frustrated today, dealing with any but my local government always results in great frustration

.

A little background here before I get into my rant for today.

I’ve been a truck driver for the past 27 or so years, before that I worked factories janitorial and restaurant work. I have seldom been out of work more than a few weeks except when I wanted to be and had the resources to be. But all that changed Nov 2 2009.

I had a Dr. appointment with an endocrinologist on November 2 2009, I have been diabetic since 2000 and had controlled it successfully with diet at first, and then with oral medication but beginning sometime in 2008 I began to lose control even with both methods. That is the natural progressive nature of type 2 diabetes.

So, in the interest of not loosing my appendages or creating more serious medical conditions I agreed to go on insulin.

In case you don’t know, the Federal Government monitors truck driver’s health by requiring that a driver be medically “certified” to be able to operate semi-trucks. They do this by requiring a driver to submit to a physical every two years as long as there are no problems, if there is a problem, at the discretion of the physician that time period can be shortened to as little as 30 days. Of course there are guidelines that the physician must follow laid down by the Feds. There are some medical conditions that will automatically disqualify a driver, such as, diabetes controlled by insulin, out of control hypertension, untreated sleep apnea, the loss of a limb, loss of eyesight or hearing, and some types of mental illness. All of this to protect the general public and as a driver I have no problem with this except…..

Now my rant.

Except, the automatic disqualification by reason of insulin use. I understand that in days-gone-by, insulin use did sometimes cause low blood sugars that could cause a person to pass out, not a good thing when driving down the highway at 60 or 70 miles per hour with a 60 to 80,000 pound vehicle. Oral medications are more likely than insulin to cause this kind of reaction but oral meds do not mean instant unemployment for the driver.

Agreeing to do the right thing and begin insulin treatment does. Why?

Here is what I really take offense to, insulin use makes a driver unemployable by statute, but he doesn’t qualify for unemployment in many states, or Medicare or any other type of public assistance.

There is a waiver available thanks to the diligent work of many including the American Diabetes Association, however the process takes a minimum of six month’s and many Dr.’s visits. Of course, you have no or little income to pay for those Dr appointments and no insurance and few places to turn for financial help.

My frustration today comes from two sources, first is unemployment, I was lucky enough to qualify from another state but now that has run out and I cannot get an extension because I do have funds available through my state, now another waiting period and God forbid you need to get a hold of them, I’ve been trying for three days now and am writing this while on hold which has taken me all of three days of calling them to get this far

My second source of frustration is the Federal wavier program. I called them yesterday to check on the status of my application but of course I could not get through to them and had to leave a message, they are supposed to call back the same day, they didn’t, nor have I heard from them since the last time I sent them any paperwork, about three weeks ago

Later…

Unemployment answered, and I found out much to my surprise my former employer still has me listed as out on medical leave, errrrrrrrrrr. Now I am disqualified and have to go through the appeal process, meaning at least 4 weeks without income.

While on the phone with unemployment the Feds called and guess what the Dr screwed up the paperwork for the second time, Gerrrrrrrrr, so now at least a couple more weeks before my paperwork can be sent to the review board, we are really cutting it close since the Dr reports are no good after 6 menthes and the eye Dr appointment was at the end of December which means if it don’t make it to the review board soon then I have to go for another visit to the Dr.’s. Double Gerrrrrrrr.

Ok, So now I am totally frustrated. You would think that some one would figure this crap out and centralize all of this and streamline it for drivers who are caught in this terrible catch 22.

The only good news out of this is that the gal at the Federal Transportation Safety Administration, Diabetes Exemption Program said that 98% of all waivers are approved, a cause for hope.

I have written an e-book for those of you interested in becoming a truck driver. My experience can save you thousands of dollars and I am giving it away for a mere five bucks.

You can get it here http://xr.com/BeATrucker