Spin the Wheel of Personality Disorders

We had, it seems, a million questions when we started our expediting journey. We researched and read and talked to people in the know, and in time, the majority of our questions were answered. As contractors planning to sign on with an owner, the most important remaining question was "How do you know if a potential owner is honest?"

A half-hearted internet search will turn up hundreds of stories of lousy owners. A few offer suggestions and tips to consider before you sign a contract with someone, many of them common sense - talk to current employees, ask about settlement issues and equipment maintenance, ask the owner how long s/he has been in the business, and choose an owner with a solid reputation in the field.

We are proof that you can do all of those things and still end up in a nightmare.

Mindi had been an expediter and a fleet owner for over ten years. She was well known and respected, as an owner and as a friend, by many of the employees and management of Company X (I'll refrain from using the actual expediting company's name, as they can't and shouldn't be judged by the events I'm about to report here). She had been selected by Company X to develop a program to match new expediters with experienced ones, and she spent a great deal of time at their offices near Toledo. In addition, Mindi was a moderator on a very active forum devoted to the industry, and was equally popular and respected there. She was friendly, knowledgable, helpful, and seemed to be exactly the type of owner we were looking for.

Several phone calls took place with her through the holiday season as we planned for orientation and getting started as drivers. During one very early call, Mindi briefly mentioned personal issues that were taking a lot of her time and attention. With each subsequent call, she disclosed a bit more. Was that unusual? Yes. But the context for this disclosure was that she felt these events were affecting her ability to respond quickly to her fleet and manage it properly; she looked forward to the conclusion of these issues and a return to her normal life.

The abbreviated version of her story: After years in an abusive marriage, hubby beat her nearly to death. She spent a week in intensive care and was taking meds to dissolve a blood clot in her brain. Hubby had been arrested and charged with attempted murder and rape, but he'd been sprung via a $50k bond. Her life, therefore, was in danger, and she was under constant police protection through the trial end, which was expected to occur in February. We listened and offered encouragement.

The night before our first orientation class, we met a team of drivers that had been working for her for over a year. They were friendly and shared a lot of good information, and had nothing but good things to say about her. The next morning, we arrived early at orientation to meet her and review our contract. Mindi is a friendly, bouncy, 4'10" ball of energy. She answered all of our questions and pledged support. "You'll like working for me," she said. "I take good care of my drivers."

Indeed, when Helga required nearly a week in the shop for repairs, Mindi immediately drove from New York to Ohio to allow us the use of her car to drive home. When we found ourselves stuck in freight-slow Orlando, she arranged for bonus miles to the more freight-friendly Atlanta. And when Helga was subsequently booted in Atlanta, she calmly called in a Comcheck to cover the fee.

But overall, Mindi was reactive rather than proactive, and that tendency drove us nuts. A 2010 IFTA sticker wasn't purchased until March, after we'd incurred a sizable fine in Virginia. An annual DOT inspection wasn't arranged until - two days before expiration - we were loaded for Miami and Hoss insisted that it be done before we hit the road. A missing license plate was replaced with a cardboard mock-up for several months. Emailed and texted questions regarding $1,600 in pay deductions were ignored, and voiced questions on the subject were met with promises for settlement paperwork. Despite being told the paperwork would be mailed to our home, not a single document pertaining to our earnings was received.

As the weeks passed and the beginning of the trial approached, Mindi began to broadcast text messages to her fleet (and presumably, friends and family) pertaining to the day's court events. The texts were very detailed descriptions of who was scheduled to testify, their performance, the jury's reaction, her attorney's synopsis of the day, her reactions and feelings and thoughts, husband's reactions, and the like. At one point, she reported that her mother fell ill in her hometown 100 miles away and had to be rushed to the hospital, resulting in a trial delay; these texts included descriptions of the logistics involved in the temporary relocation via her "handlers". Each text usually ended with a thank you for all of the expressions of support and prayers.

After a few weeks, the trial concluded with guilty verdicts. Husband was released prior to sentencing to "get his things in order". She remained under protection and was terrified he would come after her. Since husband was forbidden to leave the state, Mindi spent as much time as she could in Ohio, away from him and from her protective "handlers". By this time, we had learned that she was "sorta dating" an employee of Company X, and coincidentally, was planning to permanently relocate to Ohio in the near future. Sentencing was scheduled a few weeks away.

We were then quite surprised to receive a call from Greg (the husband) one day shortly after the trial concluded. After introducing himself, he said that we would be working for him starting the next Monday.

Huh?

Steve called Mindi, who set about making her own phone calls. After a short while, she reported that Greg had pulled a power of attorney that granted her the legal ability to manage the fleet - most of which was in his name. She said her attorney was working on the problem, but her major concern was that Greg would try to take the trucks. She was distrustful of Company X's sudden apparent alliance with Greg, and asked us to pull the fuse that enabled the Qualcomm unit so they could no longer track us. Don't message them, don't call them, just deadhead back to New York, as soon as possible.

Umm... hold on there, Sparky.

By this time, we had suspicions that things just weren't right, somehow. There had been a few statements made that contradicted things said earlier. We were losing patience with the reactive maintenance and administration, as well as the lack of settlement statements. And despite spending many hours searching public and courthouse records, police blotters, district attorney sites, and newspapers, there was not a single mention of an arrest or a trial remotely similar to what she claimed. Hmm.

We simply didn't have enough information to decide whom to trust. We concluded that we had signed a contract with Mindi, and we were obligated to return the truck to her. But we were done working for her. If she somehow pulled off a miracle and managed to keep her fleet, we would break our contract and find another owner. We liked expediting and we liked working for Company X, so maintaining that relationship was important. We decided to call our fleet manager and let him know that we wanted to be considered for another truck.

And it was he who told us it was all a lie.

He was as bewildered as we were, and felt just as betrayed. He'd been friends with her for over ten years and was at a complete loss to explain why she would lie for, apparently, nothing more than attention. A co-worker had expressed doubts about her claims, and after a couple of calls to the New York courts, her deception was revealed. He assured us that as far as our future with Company X was concerned, we were golden. "Don't unpack after you return the truck," he said. "You can be back out on the road in just a couple of days, if you want."

With three weeks of settlements outstanding, we decided our best immediate course of action was to play along with her. The long drive from Talladega to Binghamton was spent trying to figure out what would motivate a person to spin such an elaborate and complex fabric of lies.

We haven't come any closer to figuring it out.

Limbo

Due to legal issues, Helga has been called back to the barn and we await word from the owner.

In the meantime, we're catching up on paperwork and taking care of a few things around the house.

We'd rather be out on the road, though. ~sigh~

More Pics

Here's Helga!








Somewhere over the Florida panhandle:




The Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland:




So pretty and peaceful, we wanna move here (Morristown, TN):




A laminated phone pole? Really?




Ah, probably because they don't have trees near Detroit:




It's striking, if nothing else:

Hoss Update

A follow-up appointment with the doc resulted in great news: Hossman's BP is down to 128 over 90. Still somewhat elevated, but definitely an enormous improvement. He is to continue on his current med and keep working on his weight, but he's clear to drive for another year. Yay!

And I'm soooo relieved he's healthier. I want every moment I can with him.

Booted in Atlanta

Literally.

Duluth, GA is one of Atlanta's suburbs that is home to several private "parking management" companies who troll business parking lots at night in search of parked vehicles. As soon as they encounter one, they apply a boot to immobilize it. If the car is abandoned, they'll call a tow truck to have it hauled away. If the owner returns before the tow arrives, or if the vehicle is occupied, as in the case of an RV or truck, they will demand a cash fee to remove the boot. If the owner refuses to do so, or can't come up with the fee in cash, the vehicle is towed and the owner then has to pay both the boot and the towing fees.

Without state laws or local ordinances to rein them in, these businesses are free to operate without a criminal background check, charge whatever fee they choose, use whatever tow service they prefer (likely a sister business), and generally conduct business however they'd like.

Helga was booted two weeks ago in the parking lot of a Walmart Supercenter in Duluth. The thug who booted us at 3:30 am on a Sunday morning demanded $500 in cash to remove the boot. When Hoss told him we don't carry large amounts of cash, he suggested we call our trucking company for a Comcheck - a money transfer system used primarily by trucking companies to advance funds to their drivers for fuel and repairs, etc. If we didn't do so, he would have it towed and we would have to pay a $650 towing fee in addition to the $500 boot removal fee.

All together now, SNL fans: "Welll, how conveeeenient!"

Athough thoroughly steamed about the situation, we wrangled a Comcheck from our owner and Hoss was driven 50 miles roundtrip to a truck stop to have it cashed. The thug removed the boot, gave us a receipt, and went on his merry way.

With more sleep no longer an option, we drove until we found a cup of coffee, then reviewed the receipt, only to find the owner - who apparently sits at home and dispatches and manages his thug employees from there - had chosen to categorize us as a semi, which, of course, incurs the maximum fine.

Even an idiot can see that Helga isn't a semi. Hoss called the owner to point out that despite the fact that Helga clearly has two axles and six wheels, Boss Thug had skipped over the "2 axle 6 wheel" truck category and went straight for "semi". Hoss politely requested a refund. Guess how that went.

So, while we were home for a few days over the weekend, I printed off a letter or two, complete with several attachments, including photos. And mailed them to everyone from Boss Thug to the Georgia Attorney General, local Magistrates to Walmart's corporate headquarters.

We shall see who gets booted in the end. Muahahahaha.

Just WTF is That Thing?

Something told me we'd get a few questions about The Thing. Here's a wider shot:



Liquid carbon dioxide is apparently used widely in manufacturing. Who knew?

And a pic of a similar assembly without the thick layer of frost:



Although this one is refrigerated liquid nitrogen, the steel tubing structure to the right of this tank is - I think - close in shape to what's under The Thing.

But now that you've seen what's under The Thing, the original pic just doesn't hold the same appeal, does it?

The Trucking Version of Begats

A few folks seem to be getting a kick out of asking "So, where are you now?" Most of the time, we can answer in terms of the state and if we're particularly on top, we may be able to say which quadrant of the state we're in. Just don't ask us what day it is.

Yep, we've been busy. That's a good thing, of course - loaded miles are how we make coin. But the extent is somewhat surprising. Here's a list of the loads we've had just in the past two weeks:

Toleldo, OH to Armada, MI to Lansdale, PA
Philadelphia, PA to Waterford, CT
Biddeford, ME to Warren, OH
Cleveland, OH to Morristown, TN
Cookeville, TN to Orlando, FL to Atlanta, GA
Gainesville, GA to Dubuque, IA
Madison, WI to Thomson, GA
Cheraw, SC to Romulus, MI
Napoleon, OH to Maxton, NC
Selma, NC to Fort Wayne, IN
Whitehall, MI to Hampton, VA

Or 7,344 loaded miles. We've delivered medical devices, lawn mower transmissions, industrial lighting, packing foam, steel bearings, printed labels, and forged gears. Among the most interesting sites, we've delivered to a nuclear plant, the Orlando airport, and a Campbell's soup factory. Life is a blur of driving, coffee, naps, sandwiches, paperwork, shipping & receiving docks, and the occasional shower. And it's fun as hell. :)