The Job

Your job must be your hobby!

I have to apologize that I started with a title that should actually be the last sentence of this post, the conclusion. But it is so important that it must be the first and last you see.

So many people struggle to make a living in a job they at least dislike or even hate.

Just think about it. You spend at least a third of the day at work, a third of your life preparing for work, get to work, work and leave work. Yes, work. You see others at work more than you see your own family members awake.

And as a trucker? You are away for days or weeks at a time, you drive for 12-14 hours a day, load, unload, wait for the load, try to find your way in residential areas, you sleep when you can, where you can, try to find a decent truck stop to clean yourself, and I won't even mention finding decent washrooms. You sit all the time, follow no proper sleep patterns. So you see it must be really hard for someone to do this job without any passion for it.

Now there is my Trucker. He can't imagine doing anything else. He loves being on the road. The freedom, being his own boss, the puzzle of finding the routes, making the best of each day for himself, for us, for the company. He maximizes his hours, optimizes his time. He follows his own routine despite the fact he doesn't know where he goes next. He can sleep anytime!

So what's in it for him? I mentioned the freedom, the love of driving. He listens to his truck and tries to predict its needs. He even takes the challenge to back up in places only a few dare to. For him it is a decent job for decent pay. His personality is adjusted to his job. Even when he drives our van he starts slowly at the green light, takes time to speed up, there is no hurry, we'll get there. He loves his cab-home where he knows where everything is and stays clean because he takes care of it and there is nobody else to mess it up.

It is true that we don't see him during the week. We are missing out on hurrying home, cooking, eating, cleaning, preparing for the next day, trying to squeeze in some "me" or "us" time and maybe getting some sleep. Sounds exhausting. Instead we see him for almost two whole days a week, quickly do what we have to do and enjoy the time together. We eliminate the small debates of what to cook, who does the dishes, what to watch on tv, who uses the washroom next. It works for us.

He trusts us and we trust him. Everybody does what they have to so when we are together we enjoy that time - most of the time. And that's important.

So: Your job must be your hobby... no other way around it.

The Only Negative Talk I am Giving

Worst case scenario, it's not about our precious truckers.

God save us from those truckers that tailgate us and hold us up in the fast lane or push us over just because they are bigger.

There are people in life that take any job just as seriously as they owned it. These are the entrepreneur minded people either they are working for someone else or on their own. On the opposite side are the employee minded people that only care about going through the day and getting paid for it. In their minds everybody else is responsible for the work and the conditions except for them. They are keeping the heat or the air conditioning on all day all night in the truck because they are not the ones paying for it and couldn't care less for our air quality. I guess they are forgetting that they are paying higher prices for everything they buy as well. They will complain endlessly if it is one way or the other. More work? Complain. No work? Complain. Delay, truck problems, regulation, no regulation.

Some wear the same clothes almost all week, bother to clean themselves once or twice a week if, sweaty, smokey, unshaven, fat.

Oh, and I have to know what kind of underwear they are wearing because it shows! I could have lived without that info.

Their truck is full of dirt and garbage, smells and they still invite women in.

They eat at fast food places, I would say spend half of their pay on the road, drinking coffee and spending on cigarettes and else. When have some time, still sitting and watching TV.

They are the ones couldn't care less about the environment, causes, creating garbage by the tones, either on the ground or in the air.

Well, we cannot help them, unless the truck companies will finally not hire them. We are not going to waste any more words on those people.

I hope their species will eventually become extinct.

Amen.