Can't Fix Stupid (JB Hunt edition)

[RowdyRebel]

So I pull into a Home Depot for a delivery and I'm greeted by a JB Hunt driver asking if I could help her find an air leak on the trailer when she steps on the brakes. Like any good hand, I agree, and as soon as I drop off my paperwork I start heading back to where they'll be unloading me. I stopped next to the docks, though, and walk up to her truck. She's sitting in the driver's seat and proceeds to tell me that the air leak sounds like it is at the rear of the tractor behind the cab. I tell her to step on the brakes, and it didn't take 2 seconds to discover the problem. The service line was still hooked to the plastic doohicky on the back of the cab, and air was rushing out when she stepped on the brakes. She flat out refused to accept the reality of the situation, claiming the red line is for the trailer brakes and she's been driving 10 years and she "knows what she's doing". After explaining twice that the red line only releases the parking brakes, and that the blue line is what supplies air for the service brakes, I gave up and pulled forward to where I needed to be. I understand that she had dropped her loaded trailer to hook to this empty and pull it out of the dock so she could hook back up to her loaded trailer to put it in the door before hooking back up to the empty again to leave...and she was being lazy by not hooking up the blue line...but to think the trailer has a service line leak when the service line ain't connected, and then ARGUE with the person who you asked to help when he points out where the "leak" is...Ron White is right...can't fix stupid. scary thing is, we share the roads with idiots like that who don't know the first thing about how these trucks work, have no desire to learn anything beyond memorizing a list of parts and the phrase "cracked, broken, or missing" in order to pass a pretrip "inspection" during their skills test. I suppose that's why there are people who think we need more mandated BS...elogs, speed limiters, stability control, traction control, adaptive cruise control, automatic transmissions, lane departure warnings, driver-facing cameras, and now self-driving trucks and wireless vehicle inspections. It's getting to the point where a trained monkey could do the job...and the pay seems to reflect that at a lot of the ATA carriers who are pushing for all of this technology to be mandated industry-wide. Hire folks who need babysitters, but babysitting them costs money. Take it out of what you'd otherwise pay the driver to maintain profitability, but now your drivers don't stick around long because there are better paying jobs. So how do you reduce turnover at your crappy ATA company? Get your buddies in government to mandate babysitting industry-wide and now you can continue hiring idiots and reduce turnover because there are no "greener pastures". Damn...didn't mean to go off on a rant like that, but hell, it had to be said. Sadly, my days in this industry are numbered if the ATA gets their way. I just can't allow myself to be pulled down to their level.

[gearhead204]

should have called the local C.V.E.O. and said, now do the industry a favor and remove her from service! claims she been running that way for 10 years and none of you guys have caught her?

[RowdyRebel]

If she's just doing a double-drop, the laziness really isn't that big of a deal moving trailers a few feet in a private lot. Hell, a lot of the yard dog tractors I've seen don't even have a blue line or electric...just the red so they can move it. My problem with her is the fact that she didn't understand WHY the air was "leaking" when she stepped on the brakes, or the fact that she thought her trailer COULD leak air when she steps on the brakes if that line isn't hooked up. Private lot, not a safety concern...and I'd expect the desk jockey at the company to stand behind the driver in that regard. However, the lack of understanding in HOW the system works and the unwillingness to LEARN is where the stupid factor hit high gear...

[tjc transport]

i always was under the understanding that "stupid" and j b hunt went hand in hand.

the same way if you put a 1 foot square patch of ice on the road surface, 6 swift drivers will find it and slide off the road.

[david wild]

Just elect Hillary and you won't have to worry about it.

[41chevy]

Just elect Hillary and you won't have to worry about it.

[j hancock]

Sad.....very sad.

Should have told the driver to call her dispatch to get a mechanic out there pronto to adjust the lash in the tractor protection valve.

[mowerman]

incredible,,,hard to believe she has been out there ten years wow,,,,aaaaahhh ( JB SWIFT DRIVERS) gotta lovem.lol.bob

[Apple dog]

I had a driver ask me one nite. Said he was 200 lbs over gross and wanted to know if he let the air out of 2 tires would that be enough to make him legal. Being the nice kind considerate professional I said sure that is all you need to do.

As far as Hilly Rodman she is twice as bad as slick Willie ever dared be. The good ole USA can't stand another 8 years of her.

[Gmerrill0516]

It's always a good idea to argue with the guy trying to help you with the situation...WOW! It's even worse that someone figures the pressure in the tires is weight...That's a good one. Dope.

[41chevy]

I always thought that one of the basic requirements for any driver shoulld be to know the basics on how your vehicle systems work, but like Home Depot getting sued (and losing) because of a job requirement to be able to do 4 basic math problems with a calculator !

[RowdyRebel]

There is no requirement to actually know anything to get your CDL, as long as you can memorize a list of parts you are supposed to check so you can recite the list and say you're making sure the part isn't "cracked/broken/missing". You don't have to point to them or even know what they look like, as long as you're standing in the general area of where you might be if you actually knew what you were looking for (don't worry, the list tells you where to stand, too).

On another board, there's a driver complaining that he got written for 393.47© during a roadside inspection, and argued with the officer that "that isn't even pretrippable". If you are under there checking brake drums & linings for wear and/or cracks, and checking slacks to make sure they are adjusted correctly, how could you miss the fact that one is longer than the other? The officer didn't...and it sucks to be you. Sure, the shop that installed the mis-matched slack is incompetent...but it is your job to catch that sort of crap before you're on the road.

Too many people think they know it all...but they haven't a clue just how much they don't know...or how much of what they THINK they know that simply isn't true.

[Timmyb]

Don't get me wrong, I love females.... But am yet to find one who will admit she is wrong.

[fxfymn]

Don't get me wrong, I love females.... But am yet to find one who will admit she is wrong.

You mean your wife has never told you she never should have married you?

[RowdyRebel]

The words "You're right" seem to roll off my wife's tongue quite regularly. However, the phrase "I'm wrong" has never crossed her lips.

[41chevy]

There is no requirement to actually know anything to get your CDL, as long as you can memorize a list of parts you are supposed to check so you can recite the list and say you're making sure the part isn't "cracked/broken/missing". You don't have to point to them or even know what they look like, as long as you're standing in the general area of where you might be if you actually knew what you were looking for (don't worry, the list tells you where to stand, too). On another board, there's a driver complaining that he got written for 393.47© during a roadside inspection, and argued with the officer that "that isn't even pretrippable". If you are under there checking brake drums & linings for wear and/or cracks, and checking slacks to make sure they are adjusted correctly, how could you miss the fact that one is longer than the other? The officer didn't...and it sucks to be you. Sure, the shop that installed the mis-matched slack is incompetent...but it is your job to catch that sort of crap before you're on the road. Too many people think they know it all...but they haven't a clue just how much they don't know...or how much of what they THINK they know that simply isn't true.

I know it's not required for a CDL or even a regular license, but if they work for me they better know sh*t from shinola. I don't expect them to be a mechanic but at least have common sense. Paul

[RowdyRebel]

...which is why I don't have more trucks than I can drive myself. I hold myself to a high standard, and wouldn't expect anything less from an employee. I wouldn't ask an employee to do anything I wouldn't do, and would expect them to do anything I have done. I understand if they haven't yet had the opportunity to learn something...and if that were the case, I'd work with them...but if the reason they don't know something is because they don't care to learn? You're done here. If I bought a second truck, with the "drivers" these days? I doubt I could keep somebody behind the wheel.

[RowdyRebel]

My first job was a camp counselor at a Boy Scout camp. First thing the camp director told us is "You are an employee of the camp. ANYTHING at the camp that needs to be done IS YOUR JOB! I don't care if your job title is 'nature instructor' if we need help at the waterfront with swim checks, THAT is your job! I don't care if you are a 'scoutcraft instructor', if the commissary needs help preparing the food to send out to the units, THAT is your job! If I hear ANYONE utter the words 'that ain't my job', they'll be on the next bus home."

It has stuck with me for all these years...I just get the job done. Don't care what my job title is, it needs to be done so let's do it. Too many with the "I'm a driver, not a _________"...or "I don't get paid to do _________" attitude these days.

[41chevy]

I was taught the same thing. You get a wage, you get the same pay whether doing what "your job title" is, or picking up crap. Too proud to do it? than you can sit tall and proud in the seat for your unemployed ride home.