the hubris of the class a

When I interviewed for this gig, the boss said, "Everybody in the warehouse wants your job," meaning the driver job, most especially the class A driver. So Mack Girl is top dog! lol.

... Okay, so he overstated it a lot ~ a good number want nothing to do with getting out there in a big truck (nor a little truck for that matter). They got their own groove goin' on.

Still, there's something to it. I've already been asked about my license a number of times. How and where I got it. What it cost. etc. And the women have universally cheered me on. As one girl coworker said, "Alright, they hired the chick!"

The other is that I feel like I'm where I want to be, at the level I want to be. No envy for anyone -- not my supervisor, not the CEO. I'm Class A. Driving. Being physical. Being mental. (in the good way )

I've been through the front office a few times. The folks in clean clothes, in climate controlled and carpeted rooms. Just a different kind of assembly line. A different kind of warehouse. More power to 'em, particularly the ones who like their work. For now, my delight is right where I am.

~BettyBulldog
(thanks for the name, bro-in-law!)

Employed!

Okay, six months of looking and I got a job ~ no need to dwell on that necessary (and, really, by all accounts, not that long) period. Craigslist, Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed ... I give you my thanks and my adieu.

Yesterday. ooooh, my First day on the job. I'll be driving for a thrift/recycling/salvage organization, mostly bobtails (those class C, U-Haul style trucks), but then also a gorgeous Mack with a good half-million miles on it -- plenty broke in!

Added some more to my truck-girl lexicon -- pallet jack, lift, and my favorite to-date -- Gaylord. Yes, a 48x40x36 big-a** cardboard box that gets moved by a pallet jack or forklift has a very dignified, British moniker. Gotta wonder how that came about.

So much more to talk about! A day spent loading and unloading trucks and even a run in my Mack (I got to drive day 1 - unheard of!) to switch trailers. The best night's sleep I've had in Ever. My very own yellow vest with reflective stripping. etc. ...But I have to get ready for work.

Cheers!
Mack Girl

Graduation Day

Well, I have a certificate, a letter of recommendation, and a class A. ... I'm so sad!! I had a great experience these past weeks, and I'll miss it. I'm going to give myself the weekend to mourn its end, and to fear the Monday morning aimlessness of unemployment.

I can drive a big rig well enough to be the new, low guy on the totem pole. I've pulled dry van trailers and a flat bed. I've slid axels, switched trailers, and learned to adjust slack adjusters and to log log books. I've pulled forty plus feet of vehicle around ninety degree residential corners. I'm now comfortable with a big piece of machinery that was a complete mystery to me a month ago.

And I'm sceared I won't find a job.

But only til Monday. Come Monday, no fear. Craigslist and Monster, here I come.

...I'll also have to figure out what to do with my afternoons now that I'm not blogging about becoming a truck driver. Sweet Babboo will be glad for the extra time I'll have to try out new recipes, I reckon.

Final Week Regret & Anticipation

I'm in my final days of truck driving school. And I'm sad about that. But also happy in that I realize the guys I went through most of these five weeks have moved on -- with, at the very least, a class A in their pockets. Hopefully, jobs soon. A new crowd is coming in, and it's time for me to move on, too.

I've had a great time, but I won't wax poetic on that until Friday. Except to say, my trainers have been Fabulous. Okay, 'nuff of that, for now.

So today, I had good runs in the 10-speed and the 9-speed, and I moved between them more easily than a week or two ago. I'm still working on the reversing thing, but had a pretty good day on that, too.

Anyway, back to cappin' on the new guys. They're all fine fellas, but watching them coming in just highlights for me my own tragic flaws. ... The half-lidded, jaded conceit of the square-jawed 'veteran'. lol. Newbie-one is too young and too cavalier right off -- he'll get some humility soon. Newbie-two has done Evvverything we've done, but Tenfold -- if I have a headache, he has a brain tumor; if I've been to heaven, he has season tickets. (I stole that from the very wonderful film Shirley Valentine.)

...I reckon it's time for me to graduate.

Holiday Guest Contributor -- He Just Doesn't Know It

Okay, so it's a holiday -- no school, so no chance to ponder my school day. But I've been telling you about Matthew Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft, right?  Here's his thesis, as it were, from the Intro. The italics and bold are mine:

"This book advances a nestled set of arguments on behalf of work that is meaningful because it is genuinely useful. It also explores what we might call the ethics of maintenance and repair, and in doing so I hope it will speak to those who may be unlikely to go into the trades professionally but strive for some measure of self- reliance—the kind that requires focused engagement with our material things. We now like our things not to disturb us. Why do some of the current Mercedes models have no dipstick, for example? What are the attractions of being disburdened of involvement with our own stuff? This basic question about consumer culture points to some basic questions about work, because in becoming less obtrusive, our devices also become more complicated. How has the relentless complication of cars and motorcycles, for example, altered the jobs of those who service them? We often hear of the need for a" "upskilli"g" of the workforce, to keep up with technological change. I find the more pertinent issue to be: What sort of personality does one need to have, as a twenty-first-century mechanic, to tolerate the layers of electronic bullshit that get piled on top of machines?"

He's got a great line about how you open a hood on some new cars to find a set of smooth compartments, without hoses or wires or the familiar motor elements -- basically, they put a hood under a hood. Who does that? Why?

Thank you, Mr. Crawford, for your contributions to my blog.

Girls, Horses, Trucks

You know all those things they say about girls' passion for horses? ... a big truck is kinda like that.

Right Means Left

Had a nice run out into the countryside today -- I'm getting used to the 9-speed, trying to embrace a 'new truck' after growing so comfy with the 10-speed. What's the big deal, you ask?

In a 10- speed, you begin the pattern, selector down and the gear low and inside -- 1st. 2nd up, 3rd down, 4th up, 5th down. Selector up. Move over and down for 6th.

In a 9-speed, it's closer to your H pattern car. Selector down. 1st is up, 2nd down, 3rd up, 4th down. Selector up. 5th over and up. 

When you're new, the shift pattern change is tough to wrap your head around. Most of the other students are "car guys" and even they have trouble. My Sweet Babboo despairs of ever teaching me the difference between a '63 Cadillac and '69 Cadillac. Grills. Lights. Fins. blah blah blah. Do they have airbags? That's what I want in a car. Airbags, crumple zones and good engines.

Anyway, we spent most of the day working on backing up the trucks. The primary difference between a class A and a class B or C is the ability to reverse a tractor trailor. Honest.

If you want to push the trailer right, you steer towards your left. My trainer-gurus have a great way of simplifying -- if you're trailer is drifting right, steer right. In other words, they focus on where you don't want to go. Strangely enough, that works. Quite well.

I have a tendency to get in my head and overthink things. (Surprise!) ... I'm-a-werkin' on that.