Introducing Knight Refrigerated & Philly Streets

I sure hope there isn't a clause in my hiring contract that says I cannot talk about them!  If so, I'm doomed!

No one is paying me to say this, but I seriously love this company!  :-)  I'm so blessed to have found it and then get hired.  The longer I drive, the more stories I hear, and the more I appreciate it!  

They're big, but not too big.  The reefer division seems to have more perks....such as getting a rental car to take home from the terminal in Columbus, OH and back every month, which I understand the dry van side does not have a budget for.  

I can also go home for an entire week each month, which is pretty much unheard of in the industry (unless you're local or dedicated).  Most companies allow their drivers one home day for every week they are out.  I'm out for three weeks, then I'm home for a week (normally).  

I miss everyone when I'm not home, but I DO like the job a lot!

I love the freedom to arrange my day the way I need to or want to.  I am not always free to do as I please, but there is no one looking over my shoulder asking, "Why are you doing that now?"  "WHAT are you doing?"  You know, kinda like what I do to my kids!  lol

The only thing that would be nice is getting paid a little more.  I hear other drivers who get paid more per mile (As a company driver - you can't compare Owner Operators to a Company Driver's pay.  O/O get paid way more cuz they pay to maintain their own vehicles).   

At Knight we have the freedom to say, "No way!  I'm not going THERE".  And yes, I have done this.  Not many other companies give their company drivers this option.  If you're an O/O, you d0, but not as a company driver.  

It's called "No Forced Dispatch".  

I absolutely HATE Maryland (If you've been following my Facebook posts, you know this and you know why).  My Driver Manager (DM), Rob tried to give that crap to me right after taking away my beloved Florida trip....just to add insult to injury I guess.  

Or, I needed to be punished for some infraction I'm not aware of.  

Something.  

I thought he was joking.  

I was like, "Are you freakin' kidding me???"  Uh, no.  Not doing it.  He's like, "But you can just get in and out.  It's already loaded."  Too bad that ISN'T the problem with Maryland.  

I now have a new found hatred for Philly.  Oh yes. Philly.  I agree to go to the dreaded New Jersey that I hear everyone say they hate, because I went there once and it wasn't so bad.  

GETTING there is another story.  

Too bad you can't Beam Me Up Scotty - all the way to Jersey.  

So, here is what happened:  I took a wrong turn.  Happens ALL the time in Philly.  GPS can't keep up with the wacky roads and always seems to steer me wrong.  Plus, the signs just suck!  

So I head right when I needed to go left (a fork in the road) and my GPS is like, "Turn left at the next light"....to get me back on track.  Okay, she didn't say it exactly like that.  Close.

So, I attempt to turn left.  Yeah.  Not gonna make it.  Too tight and my trailer is going to take out some poles on the corner.  The police were already there cuz they were helping some other truck maneuver into somewhere, so they helped me back up onto the road, holding up traffic, so I can now go straight instead.  Yippee!  The fun has just begun.  

I find myself on this side road, sitting behind a VERY slow garbage truck.  

One way street.  Just enough room for cars parked on my left.  Cars parked on my right and for me to sqeeeeeeeze down the center without taking out anyone's mirrors.  It was lovely.  

The garbage guys were SO bad at their job that the residents were flocking around my truck like I was a celebrity - to pick up all the trash that came flying out of the truck and out of the trash they were not-so-eloquently placing in the back of the truck.  Again - lovely.  

So, for about 20 minutes, I'm on the phone with some funny guy (can't remember his name) who is another DM taking the weekend shift.  (His voice reminds me of my brother-in-law Dan.)  We're joking back and forth while he's trying to get me outta Dodge.  My GPS keeps insisting that I turn.  But seriously, the roads it wants me to turn onto are no wider than my truck.  I couldn't get around that corner if God Himself picked me up and put me back down in the other direction, like a kid playing cars.  

So we're both pretty much praying that I actually have somewhere to turn - eventually.  I was coming up on a body of water, so there weren't many more options.  

Funny thing is, there were NO signs prohibiting trucks down in that area!  Later, I saw some.  But they were for roads that looked "ok" to be driving down.  WAY better than what I was just on!  

I guess they figured only a moron would go the way I did, so they didn't feel the need to point it out with a sign.   Fooled ya Philly, didn't I??