Dan would always bitch (not complain--BITCH) about the trucking industry. How his time was eaten by slow "lumpers" (guys who load and unload a truck), how he had to pay for load tickets (truck loaded improperly for weight per axle), how he had to run over his time limits to make deliveries. How he missed concerts and performances, graduations, and birthdays. All of it.
He often threatened to leave the truck and mail in the keys when he was so very, very frustrated.
I thought I understood where he was coming from, that I had a good handle on his day-to-day life.
Piffle.
Take a look at what he was talking about: (Jed sent me this and I bless him for it)
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/126619568.html#.TjliGe_CsCo.reddit
That was Dan's story. That was his life.
Please...Remember how your food gets to that grocery store, how your computer got to you, how the chair you sit in came to you. It comes by truck. Driven by a trucker. Who just wants to make a living and see his sister once in a while.
Don't flip him/her off. Give them a wave. And give them room.
The link is borked, but someone else on FB posted the link and I think it's the same story.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people THINK when they're behind the wheel. I know they don't think twice about the dangers they present me when I'm on a bike. Sheesh, a little while ago some old guy in a sedan cut me off--he was at a stop, I had the right of way--when I was *leaned over in a turn.* If I was still a newby biker, I probably would have dumped the bike in the intersection.
I think about the dangers of being near a semi long before I'm near one. I KNOW he can't see me for most of the length of the truck and I KNOW he might *have* to get over. I look for my outs before I'm there and a couple of times I've had to take them...I know the truck driver didn't see me there. That's not his fault. I sure as heck wouldn't flip him off.
If people would think about where they are relative to the trucks they're trying to pass, I think they'd be less irritated. And always, always...the truck is gonna win. Even if you want to try to blow past them...that truck is gonna win. Don't be the statistic that haunts that driver for the rest of his life because you were wrong in how fast you could get past him and you hung in his blind spot...
Ooh. You'd think I'd been holding that in or something...