Question:
I am about to leave the restuarant industry. I am a assistant manager and it blows big time. I make $7 a hour and have been there for 3 years(go figure, I should have had a major raise when I got up to this level). I get no respect what so ever, by anyone and do 150% more than everyone else there (basically I carry everyones weight, cuz their lazy and I have no ability to fire them, just report them).
This is the main reason I am going into trucking. Atleast, I might not get the respect I deserve but, I will make more money and see my work everyday benifet me and the company I will represent in this industry.
So, What job did you leave and how long ago? -->

Answer:
Previous to getting into trucking i worked as a security guard at a large marina for $8.00 an hour. BIG change getting into trucking but im glad i did it. When i got out of school last year i was hired on by schneider but stayed there a VERY short time (3 days actually) before i realized they were not for me. I came home and started looking again and went to cannon express where i was quite happy except that i had some serious problems with the equipment so this past march i left them came home and got a "normal" job in a glass factory. Now im very seriously thinking about getting back into trucking.

Answer:
As per Midnightrunner;
What Kind Of Job Did You Leave When You Went Trucking?
I worked for a small (7 employees) local road construction company. Pulled a lowboy (with a 87 Freightliner FLC w/ 425hp 3406B CAT, 15 sp), hauling excavators (CAT325), scrappers (CAT 637), dozers (CAT D-7's & 8's), backhoes (CAT 416), graders (CAT H14), front-end loaders (CAT D966), etc... even pulled a 34' Ranco Tri-axle end dump too. Ran a tandem axle dump truck (Ford L9000) every so often too.
Got tired of it, bought my own truck and got lucky by signing on with a company that didn't require a sh*tload of miles under the belt to sign on. Paid my dues and moved on. -->
Since then I've been "Doin' it to it, like Pruitt used to do it...............to it." --> -->
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"I've always been different with one foot over the line.
Winding up somewhere, one step ahead or behind.
It ain't been so easy, but I guess I shouldn't complain.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." (from Waylon Jennings)
[This message was edited by Hoss on August 05, 2003 at 2:19.]

Answer:
I was VP, General Manager of a professional photo lab. Got tired of trying to please the owners, the customers and the employees. So, here I am.
Time's fun when you're having flies - Kermit The Frog

Answer:
I was a construction superintendent for national homebuilder(Centex/Fox&Jacobs)I supervised sub-contractors in all of the building trades from the dirt to the finished product.I followed my father into the business after I left the Marine Corps and just got burnt out after twenty years.I may live in a little house(my truck) but the backyard is huge!! --> --> -->
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Arguing with a truck driver is like wrestling with a pig in the mud;Sooner or later you figure out the pig enjoys it.

Answer:
Many years ago, I worked in a restaruant. I started as a part time dishwasher on the weekends, then full time days, then to the kitchen and finally manager. I know full well how the deal works. They give you the title, the responsibility, but you soon figure out that you are nothing more than a glorified fill in person for anything that needs to be done for less money than if you stayed on the clock rather than drawing a salery!
I ran my own construction company doing mostly remodeling and rebuilding wooden rail road bridges for 14 years before this stint in the trucking industry. (I've been involved in one way shape or form all my life. Even with the construction company I owned two flatbeds.)
«"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers."»

Answer:
I own a couple of retail stores. It's a family business that's been in operation since 1911. After working here for a meager paycheck for 10 years, I bought my father out in 1997 and took over. Since then life has been hell.
I put in triple digit hours each week, the stress of worrying about bills, payroll, inventory, service work, and even basic housekeeping in immense. It killed my wife off three years ago!
I like nothing about being in business for myself now. Sales are up but profits are down. I've trimmed every superfluous item from our budget, yet there is still just not enough cash to go around. Everyone else gets paid well, but me... I haven't taken a paycheck since March. In 1998 I made 84K, last year I made $305 and this year to date I have lost $1300.
I'm just sick of it... It's not worth it. The stress took out my wife in just a few years, and lately I have noticed that it is working on me the same way. It's time for me to step away now and let someone else deal with it.
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Save the trees, eat more beavers.

Answer:
I was in the Marine Corps for 8 years. When I got out, I ran the family business for awhile. This consisted of managing 4 family-owned restaurants, which I enjoed doing immensely. We were making money hand over fist until my parents decided to sell out to some out-of-state investors. We made out pretty well and my parents retired, but then they got bored and decided to buy into a couple of Subway franchises. I invested with them and am currently a 48% partner in 3 Subway francsises in our area. As a matter of fact, if you're in the Cleveland area and stop in at one of our family-owned restaurants, just mention that you are a member of Trucknet and I will give you a free sub!!!
But then I got the itch to hit the road and signed on with CR England for a year, which was probably the worst decision I ever made in my life. Everyday was a pitched battle with those people and I ended up suing them and won a small settlement for backwages owed plus interest. After the England nightmare, I signed on as a casual driver with USF Holland and was eventually promoted to road driver.
Currently, I'm back to casual driver with USF Holland while I finish my Bachelor's degree in Economics. When I finish college, I would like to remain being a driver because I enjoy driving so much!!!
"I told him this is the Queen of my double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the red wood deck.
Sometimes she runs and I've
got to trail her, dang her black heart and her pretty redneck."
-Sammy Kershaw

Answer:
I was a supervisor for the Postal Service. I have to believe that the crustiest Postal Worker could out nasty the crustiest dock worker by 110%.
Listening to those people whine about how $50,000 wasnt enough money to stuff letters in slots or ruin customers packages was killing me. Hope this works out better, at least I can turn the CB off...

Answer:
Started out working on a farm when I was in highschool, and came real close to buying one when I graduated. The only thing my ex ever did for me thats good (other than my 2 mancubs) she told me flat out no. She grew up on a farm, blah blah blah.
So I went to work for one of those quick lube jionts for a year and a half. Boring.....
Beacme a roughing machinist and enjoyed it. One day the bossman comes to me and says that the normal parts delivery guy quit or got fired, and would I mind diong it untill they could find someone else. Sure I said, my first job in trucking, sitting in an Iveco cab-over POS that you didnt need a CDL for.
Worked in a few factories, and hated it after that.
Became a salesman in the auto industry, and was good at it. Then I met stacy and wanted something more stable. WOW was that a mistake.
I guess, to come to a conclusion, I was the jack of all trades in the auto industry. I have at one point or another done everything except mechanic work in a shop.
Loved it when me and a buddy went to a town in WI and took over this dealership. He was the General Sales manager, and I was the lead Finance manager. Man, that was a trip. fun too.
Hey Dude, MY sunglasses are WAY cooler than yours.

Answer:
Network Engineer
Started working with computers in 1989 and networks in 1991.
My last computer gig involved a 500k budget, 2 AS/400's, 2 Novell Servers, 2 RISC Servers in a redundant array, about 100 PC's and 60 dumb terminals, and a NEAX 2400img telephone switch with approximately 250 phones. All interconnected with a 200MB/s fiber backbone and multiple T1's, ethernet switches, etc. etc. blah, blah blah....
My issues always seemed to be with the 200+ end users and not the equipment!!!
I have been driving now for 5 months and am still enjoying it.
I am concerned for the future though. One of the perks of trucking that appeals to me is the unusual sleep schedule. My body does not seem to work on a standard clock. I have always had a rotating sleep schedule, and with trucking I can nap/work as needed, as long as the load gets there on time. With the advent of the new HOS, I will be forced into what is for me an unnatural sleep schedule. The 14 hour window will just kill me.
Sorry, this thread is about previous employment not the new HOS.
I may work 90 hours per week in trucking, but at least the majority of those hours will be time that I don't have to deal directly with other people, and I won't have employees who depend on me.

Answer:
at 19 I applied for a delivery job at the chevy dealer,worked my way down to stock boy and than they demoted me to waiting on customers -->
5 phone lines,lines of people at the counter and me and Tony to try and keep it under control,days flew by.
People are compete idiots.
Can I help you
"yeh I need a part for my car"
your kidding,is that why your at the parts counter,what kind of car
"it's a chevy"
wow is that why your at a chevy dealer
"it's a ford"
um your in the wrong place
Than the day came that I knew I had to get out,Tony gets this 50 something guy who wants something to do with the doors,he preceeds to tell Tony how long ago he bought the car from the dealer,like this matters somehow and than Tony asks him if it's a 2 or 4 door,he says he will go look,after something like 7 or so years of driving the car he has to go outside and see if it has back doors or not -->
It paid good,something like 20k back in the early 80's 8 to 5 M/F,but once you learned the trade is was no longer a challange,just annoying pulling info out of people and listening to them babble while the phones rang nonstop.Get to the point a-hole,what do you want,year make and model,I could care less about every detail of your fender bender or breakdown.
They stood at the counter and complained we ignored them while answering the phones and than when you said can I help you,the first thing they said was "I called"and you just felt like saying I guess we answered the phone a-hole because you are now standing here to pickup whatever you are looking for.
One idiot called looking for his seat swivel.Mid 70's monte carlo's had swivel seats and I saw it come in and couldn't find it,one of the mechanics heard me asking somebody what happened to it and told me to give him the phone,he asks this idiot if it's a white monte carlo with say the dented right fender,the guy says yeh.He had brought his car in and it had been replaced and he forgot somehow
One guy I worked with used to work at a Napa type place,Henry's auto parts est. 1908 or something like that.
A guy drives about 100 miles for a distributer cap for a like 60 year old car,he tells him $20.00,it's probably the only one in the world and the guy calls him a thief,he throws it out in the middle of the 4 lane road and a bus runs over it and he tells the guy he can have it for nothing now.
A woman pays something like $80.00 for a head gasket and folds it up and puts it in her pocket book,can you say domestic violence -->
I noticed to many people that did car parts drank a lot and kicked the bucket before 65,another 40 years wasn't for me.
Most of the car nuts where cool to deal with,repeat customers that knew what they wanted.
One guy ran a thriving business hot rodding salesmans company type cars,they do miles like truckers and wanted something that handled and went.The middle aged salesman type in his caprice or malibu that wanted to make time paid him lots of money to make them run.
Alexandria, VA, June 8, 2003 - Robert Hirsch, president of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) today expressed disappointment that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rejected a pilot program aimed at the trucking industry's critical and growing driver shortage.
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TruckNets Jobs.Truck.Net Online Application Click here

Answer:
Originally posted by zigzag:
People are compete idiots.
Can I help you
"yeh I need a part for my car"
your kidding,is that why your at the parts counter,what kind of car
"it's a chevy"
wow is that why your at a chevy dealer
"it's a ford"
um your in the wrong place
I get that every single day. Retail customers are the worst. The thing is that the majority of my income comes from commercial customers. Retail only makes up 13% of my annual gross each year. If I was making more money off of my commercial customers I would just not do retail at all anymore.
Retail customers think that you owe them your life because they are spending $3 in your store. It's so aggravating that I'd like to spit on them. I don't though, because they'll go and tell everyone. I wish I had a device on my door that would make everyone forget what just happened as soon as they passed under it.
Right now we have 313 service jobs on the schedule. About 40 of them are from walk in retail customers and all the rest are either from commercial accounts, or work that we've been contracted to do by stores without service departments. People come in here and think that I am going to be familiar with every last job in the store. Yeah right, I need your last name and last four digits of your phone number or you can go home and wait for us to call. You'd be surprised how many people don't know their own phone number too. And about that claim check they got when they dropped it off... Forget about it, because they did. It's been thrown away, eaten by the dog, stolen by claim check bandits, you name it.
Yesterday I ran out of claim checks. Lady brings a piece of crap Oreck Vacuum in for repair. Things are junk right out of the box, it should have been thrown into the garbage the day she bought it, let alone a year later after she sucked up some nails. She refuses to leave it because it is so valuable (It's worth $6 core) and says "I'll take it over to your competitor". Well little did the dumb dumb know but my "competitor" uses my service shop. So now she's going to have a slight annoyance fee added to her bill, plus pay him whatever he charges on top of my fees.
People that want to try everything annoy me too. As if the service techs didn't test their equipment when they completed the work. This guy brought in a Makita 9227C variable speed buffer in. He had somehow caught up the cord and ripped it right out of the unit. I had to replace the trigger switch and rewire it. He comes in to pick it up, pays me, then before he leaves he wants to plug it in and try it. He plugs it in, and proceeds to catch the cord in it again, and do the same thing to it. Not only that he expected me to fix it for free!!!!!!! I didn't charge him labor again but he paid for parts and left angry.
This stuff used to get to me alot. I used to get mad and go in the back and throw things. It seems that I have outgrown temper tantrums now as I just laugh it off.
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Save the trees, eat more beavers.

Answer:
31+ years, U.S. Navy. Seaman Recruit (E-1) to Chief Warrant Officer Elec Tech (CWO-3) via Senior Chief Electronic Warfare Tech, EWCS, (E-. BOL