Question:
It’s that time again!
I have been asked to contact drivers for a special feature article.
For those of you who might not already know, I work and write for carer’s Connection Magazine. I am looking for drivers, dispatchers, and carriers who would like to be a part of our special Christmas article. Any stories given to me in this post might be selected to be included in the article. By posting your story in this thread, you are giving me permission to use it in the article. Because it is such a special article, I would prefer to have real names along with your story, so include your name at the end of your story. If you do not wish to have your name on it, a screen name will be ok. I really hope to get some help with this one.
car.net will be given proper credit to any stories taken from the thread.
Here at carer’s Connection, we like to involve our readers when writing special features. We care about the readers, so we like to show our gratitude by including them in our most important features of the year.
For this year’s December issue, we want to send a warm, uplifting message to the drivers by including holiday stories. This is going to be the best issue of the whole year, and we would like you to be involved.
Here’s what we’re looking for: exceptional and unique stories from drivers, dispatchers and carriers. Did you make any special sacrifices during the holiday season; deliver an extra special load? Did your company do something really amazing to help out a driver or their family during Christmas or do something that goes beyond the typical fundraising event? We want to know about it.
We want this to be an exceptional feature article for the drivers to read this holiday season; one that is not only uplifting but will showcase a very positive side of the caring industry.
You can post your response on this thread, or email it to me at .

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Just don't use any of PP's funky pics.
Big

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are totally fictional stories ok. or do you want real life stuff

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My wife would complain I went shooting to much.
So I bought my wife a shotgun for christmas.
She was somewhat less than happy.
When I told her It was a Browning single barrel trap gun,
she gave the "I don't really care look".
I then gave her the CYA line: Now we can spen time at the trap club togeather.
And it worked. We spent many an afternoon shooting clay pigeons!

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Well, it goes like this.... One Christmas I happened to be stuck down at the Laredo Border for 3 days. Feeling quite lonely even though I could care less to around my family, I stumbled across the border on Christmas Eve night. Didn't see much happening around the nightjoints like I normally do... made me think that the Mexicans must enjoy the holidays as we do. After paying a few bucks for a ride, I wasn't just going to leave and go back to my car! So I hung around long enough was able to find a young lady to spend an hour with me. She was a decent price along with a drink. Afterwards, I stayed around the area for a little while til' I headed back to my car and watched a few dvds. On Christmas day.. the process was repeated. Thank God there's still a few of our friends South of the border looking to make money during the holidays!

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So in other words, your looking for another cut and paste thread that will be turned around into an article in which you claim you dont get paid to write?
Well, stands to reason, you didnt write it, you cut and pasted it, so I guess I can see why there is no compensation.....

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Officegirl. I usually stay out during the holidays. Since I am single and no kids I believe it is best to just let the ones who does have family go home and they still need freight run. I just go home soon after. The only cool time I had during Christmas was a load I took to Las Vegas and I saw Santa driving a Big car and Mrs. Claus was in a bikini. Exciting huh?

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I stay pretty busy during the last four months of the year, sometimes even staying out over Thanksgiving (like I've done the last two years), but I take at least two weeks off for Christmas & New Years Eve !

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I don't know if this is up lifting, but it might be wise for companies who don't want to lose drivers to read.
I was running team for my first company I ever worked for and I won't mention thier name (they are out of Cedar Rapids) and my partner and I came in just before Christmas and dispatch ask if we would take one more run to the west coast and that if we did there would be a load waiting for us in West Sac drop yard. So we had enough time to get out there and back by Christmas Eve.
We took the load and when we got to the 76 in West Sac I woke my partner up and told him we are going to be screwed!!! Look at all those baby poop brown cars in the parking lot. So we called in after fueling and told them we were heading over to the drop yard with the load of Mother Cookies bound for Oakland, CA.
We were told we would have to deliver it and then come back for our other load. That wasn't the deal. Well the other load wasn't going to be ready until we got back. So dispatch told us everything would be A OK!
We delivered in Oakland and then went to the little fuel stop (cant remember the name, right down from the colisium) and called in. Well driver's seem they have given that load away and freight insn't looking good. So they tell us hang out. We played the call back every two hours game. Well there was an O/O sitting next to us and heard we were having a hard time finding a load. He advised us that Sunsweet had several loads and gave us the number. I then called dispatch and they hooked me up with someone in the back ((edited)) who advised me of what my postion in the company was (if you get the picture).
We were told to go get a hotel room and they would find us something. Well it was getting late into the next day so I called and told them I was going to fly home if they didn't have any freight by the end of the day. DRIVER YOU WILL NOT DO THAT AND IF YOU DO YOU WILL NEVER WORK IN carING AGAIN! I told them that my co-driver was going also. By the end of the day you will never guess where they sent to us to pick up SUNSWEET!
Well I was more than pissed off because I knew now that we would never make it by Christmas Eve which is when the family does our thing and then on Christmas Day we go to the relatives. So sure enough we come limping in on CHRISTMAS DAY (still had a four to five hour ride home) and I walked in to the dispatch office and handed them all of their company items and turned to walk away and the on-duty dispatch asked what I was doing................
I QUIT!!!
Well why driver? Ask my dispatcher when you see him!
They then called me back later and tried to get me to come back to work and when I siad no, they threatend me with the big fine for the schooling and the fact that I could work for anybody else for a year...............
I had a job on the 2nd of January!
PK

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Max, interesting story, and sorry you had to go through that mess to get home!
I tend to lose trust in dispatchers, especially when the holidays are approaching.
When I drove a company car, if I had trouble getting home when I needed to be, I would ask the dispatcher "Where do you want me to park your car? I'm renting a car to go home". At that point, they would work just a little bit harder for me .
Oh, Officegirl, I just remembered a scenario in which I was trying to get home for Thanksgiving, and my car broke down in New Orleans the Wednesday night before.
The company car I was driving had a pinion bearing failure, and had to be towed to their shop down there. They didn't have a spare car on the yard for me to get into and run the load home that I had. In this case, my dispatcher turned out to be a hero and found another car that was going to Houston. He had that driver stop at the shop and pick me up. He also offered to reimburse me for a rental car, and the cab fare to be picked up at the Houston yard to the airport to grab the rental car once I got there. I accepted, and although I was tired as hell, I made it home by 11:00 AM on Thanksgiving Day.

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That company still uses that ignorant threat to this day, as well as the phoney school money threat.
. Both are lies, but there are morons out there who believe it.
Good for you; that's a positive story they should run for sure.

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PK...interesting story,to bad you had to stumble onto that little dive out there in Oakland,I was there last winter to use thier trip pak box,thats one nasty place,the surroundings are worse alot of trashy folks there.

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C'mon....nobody has an enlightening story about how they got home for Christmas, or something extra special they did for someone out on the road or something that was done for you while out on the road for Christmas???