I read this article from the New York Times and was saddened. It's a step in the right direction, but it doesn't do enough. I hope there are more articles that are related to the subject of Trucking and Truck Drivers.
NYT interviewed several drivers and showed the Petro at Effingham, Illinois.
Aisha Gomez got into trucking to help her daughter through college to be a social worker. At the end of the interview with her, she literally says she walks with her head down. What?! Be proud. You are doing and have done a job that has destroyed relationships and big, tough men have walked away because it was too hard. It's hard to be away from home, friends, and family.
Women have been doing this job and every other "male dominated" profession since the beginning of time. We pulled together as a huge work force when our men went to war. We fed our families on farms when the fathers and sons left, or passed away. We entered the business world to create a better life for ourselves and those who followed us.
Women rock! Pick your head up. I don't care if 100 men stare. Let 'em. You're beautiful. You're doing something that not everyone can or will do. You stepped up to the plate and took care of business!
In an interview with an older man, he said, "If my grandkids do this I'll kill them." Then, why did you stay in trucking until you retired? Seriously, if a person of any age decides that trucking is what they really want to do, then who are you to make threats. I don't care if you have a budding rock star, poet, or gynecologist; you don't have the right to decide for someone else what their dream is.
The article discussed several topics, including driver pay as well as the lack of social outlets. Truckers are alone. Relationships don't work in the long run for a lot of drivers because their job doesn't leave room for other people. You lose the ability to converse, or your conversations become trucking centric, or you just don't have a frame of reference to make good conversation.
Many drivers choose to stay in trucking, but bring their spouse or significant other into it with them. Others choose to go it alone. Either way, this is not a job that really allows significant interaction with other people. Social media, the internet, and cell phones have changed the dynamic from a few years ago, but even that gets hard. Some companies don't allow you to make calls while you're "working." Even hands-free calling is in the sights for regulations.
This is a hard job and distractions make it unsafe. That's why we're not allowed to text while driving. That's fine. That's better than fine. But, if it ever does come down to not being able to pick up the phone when your family, friends, or work calls it's going to get downright ugly.
Picture, if you will, spending all of your waking hours driving and listening to music, news, or whatever. You stop and get food in a noisy truck stop, get a shower, do some laundry. There's about 6 or 7 hours until you have to get rolling again. I don't know about anybody else, but those hours are important to get my sleep. I am NOT giving up my sleep time for anyone to tell me something they could have communicated during the time I'm awake and alert. I NEED that sleep to be able to drive safely.
Now, if your wife or husband can't reach you for most of the day, what's the reaction going to be? It isn't going to be flowers. It's going to be what were you doing? Where were you? Why didn't you pick up the phone? What do you mean you have to go to bed? Who's with you? I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.
You oldtimers who had to deal with the communication issues before the technology caught up, my hat's off to you. No, I don't want to do the job that way. I like my technology. Thanks.
I guess what I got out of the article in the Times was that somebody is paying attention. But, are they looking at it as a human interest story or are they going to look deeper? Truckers are alone. Okay, that hasn't changed in all the years since it became a regular job. That Petro sure has a nice restaurant, barber shop, laundromat, etc. But what about the hundreds of thousands of truck drivers who run out of hours and have to sleep at a weigh station or a rest area or just a parking area. No barbershops around there.
If you want to see trucking, do a ride-along with a truck driver. Don't just pull into a truck stop and think that's it. It's not. Not even close.
I'm in my company's yard for a reset. The closest bathroom is 200 yards away. The closest shower is 9 miles away. The closest shopping is the gas station 1/2 mile away. Yep, not a barbershop in sight. (I went into a barbershop for a haircut. The man said he wouldn't cut a woman's hair.)
Thanks for keeping up with my ramblings.
Renae - The Truck Driving Woman
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