You don't go to work at the same time each day, and go home at the same time each day. You go to work when they tell you to, each day varies, and you go home when the work is done. There's no such thing as overtime, and if you don't get the work all done on Monday, you finish it on Tuesday, but you still only get paid for one day of work.
So, having said that, let me return to my story...
As I indicated in my last post, September of 2005, I was on top of the world. Life was good. I was making good money, had a new truck, was out of debt, was reasonably healthy, and had high hopes for the next few years.
Maybe it was God reminding me to be humble. Maybe it was karma. Maybe it just was.
On Oct 17, after a long illness, my father passed away. No surprise, we had been expecting it, but that didn't make it any easier. Fortunately, we had all our credit cards paid off, so we could make a trip to Utah for the funeral. I was allowed 2 days of bereavement leave and had to take a couple extra days off, unpaid of course, to allow for the trip both ways and a day to spend with my family when I was there. But that's what you do. I had a decent income, and we would pay off the credit cards very quickly.
OK, back to work. November 15, I had to go to Columbus OH, and pick up the load that I was to deliver on Nov 16 in Grand Rapids MI.
I was told that my load would not be ready until at least 5:00 pm, so I arrived at our facility right around 5:00. My load was not ready, in fact, I did not get in until almost 8:00. I took one look at my paperwork, and immediately saw a problem.
This was something that we had discussed repeatedly in Safety Meetings, but the management at Exel claimed that there was nothing they could do about it.
I had four stops, all in the Grand Rapids Michigan area. One at the far western edge of the city, one at the far eastern edge and two high on the north end.
Logic would have me either start on the west side and move around to the north and then the east, then come home, of, start on the east, move around to the north and then the west and then come home.
But that was not how they were loaded. I was to start with one of the north locations. In order to get there I had to drive right past two of my other stops. Then I was to go to the west location. Then back to the east location, and finally end up back at the second north location.
This would add about 50 miles of back and forth, city driving to my day, increasing my work day by about two hours.
Stay with me here, because I am going to throw a whole bunch of numbers out, but I don't know any other way to explain my situation.
It was 8:00 pm when I was finally able to leave Columbus with my load, and it is a five hour drive back home. So I arrived at home at about 1:00 AM. Federal law requires that I take a 10 hour break at that point, for safety reasons. If I did that I could leave home at 11:00 am and drive to Grand Rapids, arriving at around 2:30 pm. This would give me 4 hours until the tire stores closed for the day.
I had four stops to unload, each one would take approximately 1-1.5 hours, and then there was an additional 2 hours of drive time, back and forth between the stops. so I had 6-8 hours of work to do. (this does not include my drive time of 3.5 hours there and 3.5 hours home, making it a typical 13-15 hour day) I had to have it done by 6:30 . This meant I had to arrive in Grand Rapids at 12:30 at the latest, and 10:30 would be even better. Allowing 3.5 hours for drive time, I had to leave home no later than 9:00 am, and preferably as early as 7:00 am. This was 2-4 hours earlier than what the law allows, but, as I have discussed, truck driving is a constant balancing act between safety, legality, and a days pay. If I did not complete the load on Wednesday, I would have to finish it on Thursday, losing a day's pay.
So, I compromised, and left home around 8:00 am. That gave me 6 hours of sleep, as much as most truck drivers ever get in one night anyway. I knew that I would be cutting it close at the end of the day, but as long as I hustled, I would be able to get all the work done, and get home somewhere around 10:00 pm.
My plan was going well, until my first stop. They weren't quite ready to receive the tires, they had someone in the way, I had to wait while they moved, then they had to get the unload crew together, all the things that take a few minutes here and a few minutes there, and so, I left that stop, an hour behind schedule. Then I fought the city traffic all the way across town to the second stop, arriving at lunch time. Their unload crew was at lunch, so I had to wait until they got back. I left that stop 1 hour and 45 minutes behind schedule. Stop number three was going well. Just as I was finishing, at around 5:30 pm, I got a call from my dispatcher, with my assignment for the next day, asking me if I was going to be able to do it. I explained that I had 1 hour before my final stop closed for the day, but it was only 30 minutes away, so if he would call them and tell them I was on the way, I would get there as fast as I could.
I walked back to the back of the trailer, and turned around to step down.
Let me interject here: A semi-truck trailer sits about 4.5 feet off the ground. at about 18" off the ground there is a metal bar called the DOT bar, designed to keep a car from running up under the trailer if it hits you from behind. The traditional way to get in and out of these trailers, was to use that metal bar as a step, hold onto the edge of the doorway, and climb in or out the trailer. There were no handles, no other straps, no grab bars, no safety equipment of any kind on the back of the trailers.
As I was unloading at this stop, it had started to snow, and there was a fine layer of snow covering the first 6" or so of the trailer floor, just inside the door. As I went to step down, reaching for the DOT bar, my other foot was sitting on snow, and as my weight shifted, I started to fall. the side of the trailer was slick, as it was wet fiberglass, and so there was nothing to grip, and I fell, coming straight down on my leg. When I hit the ground, I head two distinct pops, and my leg collapsed out from under me, I fell backward onto a pile of tires that was sitting behind me. I think those tires save me from any serious injury to my tailbone when I landed, as well as keeping me from hitting my head when I fell back.
I knew with no doubt, that my leg was broken, I heard it break, I felt it break. I was not yet in pain, but I knew that would come later. I asked the workers to call me an ambulance, as I knew I could not get myself to a hospital. I called my dispatcher and reported to him that my leg was broken, and I called Diann, (My wife), and told her that I had broken my leg, so I would need a ride home, and asked her to come and get me. Then I settled back in the snow and waited for the ambulance to get there.
At this point the employee who I had sent for an ambulance returned with his manager. It went something like this:
"Are you OK?"
"No, I broke my leg, did you call an ambulance?"
"Would you like to come inside? Maybe have a cup of coffee and get warm?"
"No, I cannot walk, I need an ambulance, will you call an ambulance?"
"Would you like me to call anyone? Your company or something?"
"How about an ambulance?"
They finally got the hint and called an ambulance. The fire truck arrived first, and the ambulance shortly after. I explained to them that my leg was broken, and they cut half of my pants off, splinted me up, and helped me stand up and lay down on a stretcher.
On a side note, I didn't want to leave until I was sure my truck was secure. There were approximately $25,000 worth of tires sitting in the back of an open trailer, that I was responsible for. The truck needed to be pulled forward about 5 feet so the back doors would close. Then they could be locked. There were 4 firefighters and 2 EMT's standing there and not a single one of them was willing to drive my truck forward 5 feet. I think finally they called the state police and they sent over a motor carrier enforcement division guy to drive the truck five feet and lock the doors.
They loaded the stretcher, with me on it of course, onto the ambulance and drove to the hospital. I don't remember much about the ride, except that as the shock wore off, the pain kicked in. I still was foolishly operating under the assumption that I would get to the hospital, they would put a cast on my leg, Diann would be there to pick me up by the time they were done, and I would head home.
At the hospital, they transferred me from the stretcher to a gurney, cut the rest of my pants off, took off my splint and wheeled me into an x-ray room. Shortly after the xrays were developed, the ER doctor came in and told me that I had a severe break, and he was calling in their orthopedic specialist to look at it. OK, no problem. Diann was still four hours away and wasn't quite sure where the hospital was anyway, she was just driving through the blizzard towards Grand Rapids.
The orthopedic specialist came in to see me, and informed me that my leg was worse than anything that he had ever treated in his life. He said that he would be willing to attempt it, if I really wanted him to, but he would be much more comfortable referring me to someone who had the skills to do it right. I agreed that I would be more comfortable too, and sat back to wait for the next guy. In the meantime, I asked if maybe I could have something for the pain, and my request was met with shock. Everyone had just assumed that someone else had already given me something, so I had been in severe mind numbing pain for about 2 hours. When the nurse came in to start an IV and give me some morphine, I was on the phone with Diann and I asked her if she would give Diann directions to the hospital. I handed her the phone and overheard just enough of the conversation to realize that:
A) I was not waiting for a different Doctor, I was waiting for another ambulance, that was going to drive me to a different hospital.
B) The nurse had told Diann that there was no hurry, I was going to be there a while, so she should turn around and go home and wait until morning to drive to Grand Rapids.
This was the first I realized that I was not going to get a cast and head home.
The story gets even better from there.
Watch this space for the next chapter, scheduled for release soon.
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