I finally had to ask you for money again. Korena says her account is negative after I got the last of my truck sale money, and the carrier has suspended me so I can't get cash advances.
I closed out my best pass account, which had a positive balance. I'm guessing I might get 140 there and a 100.00 balance some time after they get their device back (can't mail it from here). But I can't count on that money. The guy in the finance dept said I didn't return a device from 2009. I don't know what he's talking about. But they might deduct that.
I called the Salvation Army and two other charities. On referrals, I called a local church. Community Action Center.
I got some homeless shelters that I can't get to and would require me to leave what's left of my belongings.
The timeline on my truck is fuzzy. I could get it tomorrow. More likely it will become available then and I won't get it til next week.
I haven't gone to the bar at all, so I can still eat today and make one more deposit tomorrow, at which point I'll be utterly destitute.
I could have waited a little longer to ask you, but couldn't stand the uncertainty and fear any longer. That's why I said I need 200 but asked for 400 if you could do it.
I spent 40 hours in this room just now. There's nothing else for me to do. I had bought a 4.50 foot long the day before and had peanuts left over so I didn't have to make a food run.
My budget is tomorrow's 45.00 deposit and 10.00 (maybe 12.50 with change).
If you help me out one last time, I can pay through Tuesday and indulge myself to the first half of Thursday night football at the bar. Then I can sleep.
I haven't been able to sleep. I try to distract myself from my worries with this kindle and tv. I'm watching a season of falling skies I missed most of on the kindle. I tried to watch this "earth fall" movie Amazon produced, but it was indescribably horrifically bad.
I am doing fantasy, but only a few quarters and the free tournaments (I can win tickets to real contests that way).
Right now I'll go get some tea at the truck stop. I brought my teabags with me so it's free. And ill get another bag of peanuts.
Those are 2.00 for a big bag, in the shell. I eat some of the shells to scrub my guts, and like cracking them open.
I've become addicted to that cop series where Tom sellick is the police commissioner and the other walberg brother is his son and a detective and stuff, but I'm hitting reruns now.
Anyhow I hope you realize I'm not bullshooting about my changed situation here. That is, that I won't have to pay for any repairs from now on, so you can quit worrying about safes dropping on me again.
You'll still have to be patient about my debt. I have to take care of Korena, my Corporate filing, my next phone bill, my mailbox rental, George (who has his own problems), build up a modest war chest, then I can pay you in large chunks.
I remember, when I bought my first truck. I had been with USA as a company driver for two years, then doing lease-to-own at Central Hauling for one.
Because I didn't have to pay my massive maintenance account deficit at central, I had 40,000.00 to buy the truck and APU right there.
As a company driver now, I can save that kind of money again.
But right now...HEEELLLPPPP!
Well here it is Monday and no 200. They dragged it out til Friday, with Mac the hotel guy accepting deposits on the weekly from me til I ran out of money.
On Friday Korri's husband had a heart attack (not his first) and went into surgery. She dropped everything to be with him. Kate was on the road to attend a funeral.
I couldn't exactly keep pestering Korri with that going on, and I'm worried about the guy myself.
Kate said she couldn't do anything til she got back in the office.
Based on their most recent bashing of me, neither of them think I give a damn about anybody but myself despite my well-intended email.
Plus, Korena is making me a company driver for her. She was expecting me to argue with her, as she had a sort of sales presentation prepared, but it's ok with me.
I half expected it, since she has to pay for my plates whether it's a loan or not, refile everything with the carrier, etc.
I believe she pays tolls, and she does pay maintenance. I'm not sure about my per-mile rate, but it should be decent. She will also pay fuel and truck washes.
I won't gross anywhere near what I did before, but my net will be decent. I can't get any deeper in the hole. Ill run the same loads.
I don't know if my volvo 670 will have an i-shift, but it's got 405,000 miles so it should be around 350,000 miles away from serious troubles, and the tires look new.
I owe att, plus my resident Nevada corp. agent, plus my mailbox rental--all way overdue, and the fiscal year will end in a couple weeks. The rent will keep me til wednesday.
When she called (before the heart attack) she wasn't angry anymore. That was Thursday night, and she said at that time that Kate would get me the 200 Friday.
As I predicted, it got dragged out. Kate just forgot or something. She texted she was sorry she'd been working on my truck.
It's always like this, for whatever reason. I'm rarely allowed to feel secure or comfortable. There is always something overdue, and something else I'm waiting for and have to keep begging for and worrying about. I sold the truck over 2 weeks ago, and I'm still trying to get the last 200 of the thousand I asked for! Always. Every time.
As a company driver I won't have to go through that any more. Korena will probably put me on a 500/week limit until she has her own money back.
She's not as bad as Kate, and knows I've got a bunch of overdue bills to pay. She'll be paying my corporation, which will be paying those bills. I as an individual will work for free until those bills are paid.
I will still hit hotels when I can, and that will be on me unless I'm down for repairs. I don't know if Korri will pay then.
I get the railroad meal allotment deduction of around 50.00/day...getting in the weeds here.
A little later, ill send an email suggesting she take over my existing Best pass (toll) account. I have a positive balance with them, and she could deduct that off what I owe her.
But for now, I'm still biting my nails to the quick and sleeping only intermittently and worrying and stressing over unpaid rent and my next meal and Korri's husband and once that bill is paid ill go to the bar to watch the first half of Monday night football to see if the few fantasy lottery tickets I have left alive will salvage anything from my disastrous weekend.
My apologies to Andy Dalton for his mangled thumb. That was THEM.
I will be an owner-operator again, but it might take a long time. This truck won't have a refrigerator or APU. She won't let me modify it in any significant way. If it doesn't have an i-shift, I won't want to buy it anyway.
Pressed for time, I left a lot of stuff in the truck. I forgot some important tools. I got my clothes and bedding and electronic devices, but I'll have to buy some stuff as soon as I have two nickels to rub together.
But the future looks somewhat better for now as a company driver. I will certainly make a lot more than I did with old leaky cranky old mantruck, and when I do need repairs she won't waste time paying for those and getting me out of there, and I won't owe her for them.
For you, it means I'm ok. It's not my truck. I can't get in big trouble.
Now it's time to wait for Mac to knock on my door asking why he hasn't been paid yet.
Update: My phone is cut off for nonpayment. I emailed Korena/Kate using hotel WiFi. "Call your brother. I'm at the hospital and I'm not leaving. Kate is at her father in law's funeral."
So I emailed our brother G again. Asked for the 97.00 past due for att and 100 for the hotel (so I could get some money back in my pocket-- Mac would give me part of the cash I'd paid back).
What a ridiculous situation. As the girls keep telling me over and over and over again I should be grateful and they don't owe me anything. Why couldn't they have just got the whole thousand to me, or at least the last 200 of it, by Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday? Why do they always do this to me?
Now you have company. I've stuck G behind the 8-ball, and assuming he helps it will hurt him now, as Christmas approaches.
I can't stand this. This is hell. Why why why?
I never got the last 300 of the 1000 I stipulated. I was hoping to just let Korri keep it, but the new truck is taking longer than we'd hoped.
A couple nights ago, I knew it would bleed into next week, so I emailed, and made the mistake of putting "I'm a person too" in the subject line.
I was trying to walk on eggshells, and be diplomatic about it. I explained that I had hoped not to ask for anything more, but now needed it for a weekly rent which would save me over 100.00. I said I'd need it by yesterday, when I was due to get kicked out again.
They both blasted me. I was trying to make Korena feel guilty. I was a crybaby. I should be grateful.
See I made the additional mistake of wallowing in empathy and gratitude in the email, since all I hear from them is "because of you" and "I don't think you do" so I got all sappy.
It doesn't matter , what I say or do or try to do. Kate literally despises me. I've never experienced that much hatred from another human being, including my boxing days and my 2.5 years as a c.o.
So yesterday I got 100.00. Korena said that Kate would take care of me today.
Didn't happen. And as I predicted in my email, I had to beg for the remaining 200 again today.
And I KNEW it would be like this when I didn't get the whole 1000 last week. Getting the rest would be like pulling teeth, and it would come down to 2 more days of Raman noodles followed by a near eviction before I...
Crap this has been my life. Yeah ok I'm whining again and I owe her and she's doing a ton of stuff for me but what do I do Rob a bank? What choice do I have huh? I'm at the food and shelter level and have to fight for even the crumbs left over from my truck.
She needs me to get her money back, and when my truck was running I was probably her best producer/financial asset. If I ever suggested that to her she'd tell me I was average, just out of reflex-just to keep me in my place.
She said she'd get the 200 put on my card tomorrow morning. I said "ok tx". She responded "sure", instead of "welcome". Like I'm not really grateful. Jesus (not a curse-an appeal).
Freaking Chinese water torture.
Well once I get running again Korena will like me again, and Kate will downgrade her hatred to disdain eventually.
The hotel guy accepted a deposit and will work with me. I hope that tomorrow come 11:00 I don't have to beg and get insulted again, but reckon I will. And it will probably be only 100, so I get to look forward to some more of that Monday.
Yeah try to sleep at night with that shit.
Korena said she'd get me a truck "by the end of the week". Kate paid 300 of the hotel bill and they got me 400. I prepaid for a weeks rent, so he won't kick me out.
I loaded up on nuts and chips. The gas station next door has 1.00 hot dogs and Arthur Treachers has a 2.00 fish and chip deal.
Our younger brother, who I called when I thought I was getting evicted (for a ride or something...I don't know I'd just been stomped on for telling them they blew the wire transfer and I was screwed).
I got his machine but he texted me back. I told him what was up, but that I was now out of immediate danger of homelessness.
But damn if he didn't pay 200.00 of my 290.00 AT&T bill!
They gave me til the 10th for the balance, but I think I can push that back later.
Since a truck might have to be brought to me, perhaps from hundreds of miles away, I'm not asking for the other 300.00 yet.
It will occur to Korena, I know, to use it and break the news to her dumbass selfish driver who never thinks about anybody but himself and is ungrateful and has caused her all kinds of problems.
She will steel herself for a big fight, be surprised when she doesn't get one, and promptly forget the entire exchange.
Yesterday I paid zero for food. If I was willing to live on peanuts, Fritos, and cookies I could go 2 more days, but I'll get 2 Chile dogs or some fish and chips later.
I'm not going to behave, though. I'm going to a bar to watch maybe the first half of Thursday night football.
I've been treading water in fantasy, and have some guys playing tonight.
I never spend over 20 bucks. It's the one bad thing I do, maybe every second or third day. I meet some nice people. I stay sane.
"By the end of the week" often means Monday. Korena owns some trucks, and might put me in one of hers temporarily. But there's all sorts of paperwork to do thanks to oppressive regulations.
I hooked her back up with Chris at National Leasing, and hope he can pull off another near miracle and lease her a truck I'll actually want to keep and eventually rebuild.
She'd have to lease to own it, since my name is mud thanks to the Nazis, and I'd have to sign a separate contract with her obliging me to make the payments etc. (And of course to take the title once it's paid off).
Korena is a good person and doesn't really hate me. But she also needs me.
Until I've repaid the carrier, all her commissions are being withheld. She hasn't been paid for several weeks. This is over and above the money I still personally owe her, which by this time is insignificant in comparison.
As Kate keeps telling me, that's not fair. But it is what it is, and she will get me rolling as soon as she can.
But Ryder and Penske want big deposits, then 500+/week, then mileage pay, and she can't do that.
Chris, I believe, can. But he'll need her credit and banking information, and have to wade through the same swamp of bullshit, and then the carrier bullshit for ifta, insurance, etc. And I haven't paid my road taxes yet (another reason I'm playing dumb. I CAN'T pay them! She'll have to! Unless...I'm not certain-the plates could be from another state, so maybe I could pay them later. Not sure how that works. Just that if I got new Ohio plates I'd have to pay first...)
Either way, it's 550.00 I must pay. Plus late penalties. I just hope I can wait a month or so while running under somebody else's plates.
Oh yeah, well see when you lease to own the plates are often in the name of the leasing company. The costs of them and road taxes are part of the lease payments, so the lessee does pay over time.
Well if you happen to read this root for Chris and the last truck I'll need.
Read this:
First of all let's get one thing straight. YOU'RE AN ADULT AND IT''S NOT KORENA RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF YOU! SHE HAS GONE WAY ABOVE HER DUTY. THE MONEY WAS TRANSFER. YOU OWE KORENA A LOT OF MONEY. AS SOON AS I KNOW MORE FROM TD BANK I WILL LET YOU KNOW.
KATE
Nothing I say or do matters. Not the 3,000.00. Not the fact that they wired the money to the wrong account and put me in this jam.
Over and over again, I'm told I'm an ingrate, it's all my fault, I don't understand (call me Corky), and an itemized list (long since seared indelibly onto my brain) of all the trouble I have so selfishly and thoughtlessly caused.
Below is what Kate was responded to. I wrote it after getting screamed at by Korena for telling her that I was about to get kicked out of the hotel.
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Situation
Etrade does not accept wires from nonlinked accounts so the wire is doa.
I'll need it in an efs check now, I'm out of time. Mac the hotel guy will kick me out at 2:30 I'll be homeless.
I told Att I'd pay them my delinquent and current bills on the second and will probably get shut down.
I understand and appreciate what you've done for me and what I owe you. You don't understand that I am on the verge of homelessness and can't even buy food.
Remember: I had the money wired to her because I knew she was in trouble on my behalf. Kate (her sister) is only a little more impervious to the reason I didn't just direct the whole 4 grand to myself than Korena is, because I get this bashing from both of them.
Just blocked a number. It's Freightliner Toledo. Korena hasn't paid them everything yet, and they're hounding me again.
My truck is gone. I owe 200 in hotel rent. My wire for 1,000.00 hasn't showed up yet.
Korena gave me one of those "because of you" calls about HER problems. She's having trouble finding a truck for me without getting hosed.
The hotel guy has to close out the month tomorrow and no doubt so does Freightliner.
I keep checking my account, waiting for the survival money to show up.
My fingernails are gone. It never stops. I got Korena 3,000.00 and she's still blaming me for everything. My name is on the Freightliner bill and so are they. The hotel guy...
Even when I get the wire and can breathe a little temporarily, 480 of it will be gone for rent and my phone bill, and I still don't have a truck to drive.
When will it end?
God please...help me.
The gut-wrenching stress never stops. The wire transfer hasn't showed up, nor has my truck.
The carrier shut my card down, so Korena can't even use her escrow to send me money through it.
Told Kate this morning im out of money for the hotel. She told me that and left me hanging.
I dealt with the hotel guy. He'll trust me. It helped that I gave him a copy machine and tipped him heavily for picking me up and that he's had time to know I'm a good person.
But this sucks. What if a digit was wrong on the transfer? How long will the wire take?
I deliberately waited for Kate to ask me for my bank info and stuff, but in the back of my mind: What if I'm screwed? What if they took my money and...well they're women, ain't they?
Doubtful. I owe her too much. If she did that to me, she knows I'd never repay her. I need to drive a truck for her to get her her money back, plus with a good truck I'm her best producer.
I mean, I tried 10 days ago to letting me break off and drive a company truck. Offered to sign a contract with her to repay her first, and return to her in better shape in 6 months or so.
She doesn't want to let me go, even temporarily. I haven't processed it all yet, but that's at least partly because she assumes she'll get shafted any time she loses control, even with a contract, and even with me.
See I understand her. But another part of this is she likes me because I produce and solve my own problems usually and with a reliable truck I'm like a commission-generating robot.
That's what all dispatchers want. I knew that when I started. Some drivers complain a lot, or want to talk a lot, or can't make or cover a cheap repair without bugging you about it.
I'm rare, Ed. Some guys are better, because they can replace their own turbos and stuff, but I outrun damn near everybody, am great with customers, and overall am damn near perfect.
...including letting them blame me for stuff that's not my fault and being their "its not fair" shrink and being a pro and not WASTING TIME, WORDS, OR EMOTIONS arguing with or harassing them until ITS URGENT OR AT LEAST NECCESSARY.
That doesn't help me now. I miss being independent. This is why I insisted on 1k out of the 4k price for my truck.
NOW, I can't be absolutely sure of that wired money. I don't know when it will show up. It was sent on the 25th. It's the day after Thanksgiving. It's not there YET. My new truck isn't here. Will it be here Monday?
I emailed Kate at 7 am today: Send the truck to me. If I have to go to it its 2 cab fares and a bus ticket you'll have to pay. The hotel guy will charge me daily to store my stuff and I'll have to come back here first. It will take another day at least and keep at least a trailer and more likely a trailer and load off my first settlement check.
I made SURE not to mention my own difficulties, because Kate, if not Korena, is impervious to that, and would skip past my manipulative "rationalizations" to...
Nevermind but i got a handle on kate too. Kate is an attorney, and she works for the feds. Nuff said?
Nah neither sister is a monster or anything, but Kate is helping her sister out, and has already had to involve her surgeon-husband into bailing me out for repairs, and loaned Korena money to help HER deal with my problems.
Korena took over the family business, and has the longstanding relationship with me. Kate considers me as kind of an adopted child, and I know they've argued about me.
Ed, she's got my records and kept the parasites off me, and through her I'll get serious advocacy when I can pay for it, but she's a good person and a great agent over and above that, and I'm in as good a place as I can be under the circumstances.
Meanwhile, I'm focusing on draftkings, TV, beer, free amazon videos,blogging, and anything else I can find to avoid this ongoing oppressive crushing worry and stress.
Since the start of the season I've put 75 bucks into draft kings. At this moment I got 25 bucks alive. I resent that you resent this, because all the research and stuff I do keeps me SANE, OK?
Congrats on paying off your house and happy T-day. Buy silver, guns, and nonperishable food. We are at war and are importing enemies.
I'm not crazy. I told you. I knew. I know. Reality is what it is. If you wait for the two by four, you're dead.
Well no truck today. Might get it Friday. This place is closed tomorrow so no bars dammit.
Hope you guys have fun but stay safe on the road.
Kate said she wired the 1k out of 4 she made me insist on. My bank will put a hold on it.
I'm down to (after deducting my bar tab/tip/dinner) about 105 cash and 27.00 in my secondary account. And some quarters I piled up for laundry.
"Friday" often means Monday for me, so with the hold on the wire I could get in trouble. But the girls have trained me to sandbag and lie a lot, so BEFORE I get in trouble paying rent I'll tell them I'm already getting kicked out in order to get 50 bucks.
It's like pulling teeth. But again, I get it. Korena covered ALL of my repair bills. The 3k she got off the truck sale left around 2700.00 outstanding.
She wouldn't tell me, but I know: she caught me up with the carrier to get her back commissions; essentially buying my note to clear it. That's what I would have done.
When I get 50.00 advances, they're from her, out of her escrow. Kate keeps reminding me, along with how unfair it is to her.
I resent being implicitly blamed for it, and being reminded as if I'm mentally challenged, but check myself because being underestimated has often been my one and only edge.
Indulge my ego here: I used it as a boxer. A LOT.
The towtruck driver was the greatest. He brought the truck here for me to get the most important stuff out of it. If I'd had a gun I would have shot Herbie in the head.
Theyll take him apart and get over 14k out of the parts, but I'm still just grateful to get 2.5k more than the crook would have paid me, and don't begrudge the guys who bailed me out their profit margin.
I truly am glad to get out from under my dying truck. My new lease truck will be a volvo t670. Repairs will be covered. Payments can't total much more than the oil I've been adding to my gusher (net-net a lot less if its an i-shift I can get 9mpgs out of).
If I can run unfettered for 3 weeks, I'll be in decent shape again. Another 3, and I'll have my new laptop and fuel additive (add .2 mpg) and some savings.
I can't leave my current carrier, but Korena can stay with me even though all her other drivers will have moved to the new company.
The reason I can't go with them is because of my csa score. While with Northern Steel over 2 years ago, an airbag on a trailer I was hauling popped...
You don't feel or know this when it happens, ok? (Well NOW I might, because in retrospect I recall subtle symptoms that didn't register at the time).
Anyway, I crossed a Michigan scale that caught me overweight on one axle because of this, and was pulled in back.
A complete inspection is automatic here. The storm troopers duty is to screw you as severely as possible...
OK so the trailer brakes' slack adjusters were all bad, and of course they did the old reliable let's stick him with the brake lights thing on my tractor, and I was shut down pending repair, see?
There were csa points attached to each and every one of these actions, and I instantly became public enemy number one OK?
Less than 2 weeks later, something similar but not quite as bad happened at the same Michigan scale. I got out my cellphone and told one of them to go push the brake pedal this time, so I at least avoided the brake light bullshit that time...
But I'm uncontractable AGAIN!!! I've put off rereading that csa travesty these assholes designed, but assume these points will fall off eventually...
Inexplicably, they stay on the driver's record longer than on the carriers, despite the fact that the carrier owns and maintains the equipment.
Anyway, I hope you're safe, since you are related to and consort with a dangerous menace to society like me.
BULLSHIT.
Anyway the good news: this place makes you buy food to get more than 3 drinks, but I found out the meatball sub and mashed potatoes delivers 2 meals for me, and that I can open the bathroom window to refrigerate stuff, and that this is cheaper than anything else I can buy here, and was able to talk the bartender into a to-go order, so I got that goin for me...
The critical stuff I recovered included my memory foam mattress cover, my 12v heating pad, my as-seen-on-tv magic pillow, and the cannon printer I gave the hotel guy in case I needed some slack........
That heating pad has saved me at least 500.00 in fuel, ya no? As long as I'm covered up good when I fall asleep, I never have to fire up the engine, and it barely dents my batteries.
But right now? I'm in a bar drinking beer, c? I also added 2500 more to my draftkings account recently, c? I just ordered the meatball sub...
Hey I'm at this steakhouse in Bedford pa only like 270 miles from you hurry up!
Anyway maybe you, my intended recipient, finally found me off my strong suggestions and links I sent by now, so I hope you actually read this before tday:
I hope all of you have a good warm/fuzzy time because you all deserve it. I can't think of anybody there that I don't absolutely love...
Well OK maybe Matt...I dunno...but he's above my Donald Trump line and I get that Bev was his mom okok--
I hope you miss me drilling down into the browns until you change the subject or just avoid me til I do.
Oh yeah I forgot David. Well he's a good person, which matters most, and which I hope you remember should I go bad before my own expiration date.
I think I could take him too. I know how to exploit my reach advantage and keep him off me, c? But if he got close I'd rassle him and stuff too...
Don't matter, just screwin around here. This part was mainly for Bev, in case you read this.
Yeah Bev seems to like watering my ego down a lot. Not sure why, but I guess it's good for me. Anyway tell her I said I could take David and also I used to look different but just as good as Matt and that Sarah Palin is great and that she is a poopy-face OK?
I'm all kerflempt talk amongst yourselves...
I have a 248k tax lien. I didn't file because I LOST money, and eventually they decided I owed them half of my gross.
You know the story. Korena and her people got them off me, but I guess what they did was prove I couldn't pay their extortion money. Down the road I'll have to pay to have it cleared up.
Anyway, this bullcrap nixed my truck purchase. I'll have to get a rental.
But wait--there's more! My dac and csa numbers (long story) render me unhireable.
From over two years ago, Northern Steel apparently put a bunch of bullcrap on my record.
It doesn't help that Michigan mugged me twice for all sorts of stuff.
Ok ok the air bags on their trailer popped, causing me to be overweight on one axle. They pulled me around and worked me over. Slack adjusters on the trailer etc. It's the carrier's equipment, but I still get bullshit points for all this stuff.
But Northern Steel said stuff like I didn't do my pretrip inspections, probably to shift the blame (they had a low safety rating).
Listen man: to inspect slack adjusters you need one guy under the truck and trailer with calipers and another to press and release the brakes several times, and an air bag can go flat at any time as you drive.
That's something else I can clean up somewhat, sooner and for less money...
For now, I'm screwed out of the move to the new company. Korena will just keep me on with Falcon though, so THEY haven't yet succeeded in destroying my career.
Oh I'm no Angel. I had two fenderbenders in the last 9 months! Guilty! But those aren't even the issue. It's a whole bunch of lies that is.
The last THREE TIMES the dot inspected me, I got cited for brake lights out. You know why? Because I'm the one in the cab pressing the pedal so I can't SEE it!
Paranoid? Really? How come two out of three times I tried to fix my brake lights the techs said they were fine?
Crap and I have to prove I fixed them. I have to dictate to the service writer: "inspected brake lights-found no issues." Then pay them 75.00.
And it doesn't matter. The csa points are on my record. Guilty til proven innocent.
God I'm sick of getting fkd over by EVERYBODY, ya know?
Anyway I got the guy from this hotel to pick me up at the service plaza. He had to take the turnpike east for 16 miles, exit, turn around in breezewood (you have to drive 4 miles before you can turn around), then come back 14 miles to my westbound travel plaza.
"Mac" isn't dumb but is Indian (or Pakistani) with a thick accent. So despite my carefully enunciated instructions, he calls me to say "ok I'm here by the gas pumps." After going back and forth for like two minutes, I look across at the eastbound (south) plaza and say "do you see that purple bus" etc...
Ok so there he is. "Turn around. I'm waving at you."
He wants me to come across the turnpike with my suitcase and over three 4' high barriers!
But pretty soon he got it: he has to go to the Greenwood exit and turn around anyway, so just pick me up then.
Ok so then I get in my room and soak in the tub til I wrinkle up, temporarily ignoring the text-bleeps and email tones which kept flooding in as usual.
By the way, I don't think I got all the oil out of my hair yet. I think some of it is Lucas. That stuff is tenacious, ya know? Bet Katy could explain why, but I'm afraid to ask.
Ok Korena thinks she has a rental for me "you're not getting an automatic" told her the automatic would save me 150/week in fuel, let her hopefully fill in the blanks (she's smart, but so busy she only skims texts or emails and...ok well you get this: She's not deliberate. To be deliberate, you have to slow down.
She's thinking "best deal", but not thinking it through thoroughly. Like...if Robert's truck costs 30 bucks more per week, but he saves 150/week, he will be out of the hole sooner (getting me my back-commissions) sooner, etc.
I guess I'm lucky in a way. I'm down now. Nothing I can do. So I found the nearest bar which is where I am drinking beer. I have escaped. I can be deliberate and methodical, and think things through.
For Korena, who has twelve drivers, there is no such escape, ever.
Kate, her sister, is helping her a lot, but all the big stuff is on her.
Preconceptions also cloud both their thinking sometimes: Robert wants an automatic because as he admitted he is "spoiled". Now, when Robert says "I can get 9mpg and save 150/week", he is trying to manipulate us.
I'm ok with another manual. It's fun, in a way. Makes me feel like "one udda boys" old-school "real" truckers.
The hell with it.
Anyway somebody called the cops on my truck at the service plaza despite my telling them what was up and leaving them a written note and stuff.
Korena calls and says "You've got me in trouble again! There's a state trooper by your truck. You're not parked where you should be. They're going to call me any second now but you need to get there".
SHUT you remember how the hotel guy had to...
This shit is typical for me, including doing everything right and getting blamed for bullshit cubed anyway. Including dire emergencies all the fucking time, and desperation all the fucking time.
Now Mac can't leave so it's a cab driver. I'm gonna have him drop me off 3 miles down this road and run 400 yards to the service plaza across a farm or something so I can move the truck.
It's stuck in (I think) 9th gear. I can nurse it with the clutch, but it disengaged, forcing me to stop and start. The last time I put it in reverse, it locked me there. I had to shut down for 4 minutes and start up again. The first time that doesn't work, I'm dead. That's WHY I didn't move the thing from where it was!!!
Right before the cabbie arrived, Korena calls and says "I took care of it".
Well not really. A good Samaritan called because they thought I might be dead in my truck, not because of where I'd parked. I've already been there two days, and probably some trucker came back through and saw me still there. Probably banged on my truck. Getting no response, he probably thought I had died in there and called the cops.
Nothing I wouldn't have done.
But I'm wondering how Korena knew the state police were going to call her before they called her...
Well anyhow I gave the cabbie 5 bucks and thanked God it was a false alarm.
And now I'm here. I prepaid Mac the Indian hotel guy through Monday with money I discovered in my etrade account which corporate lodging hadn't charged me for yet (their bad) and also discovered 57 bucks in my Huntington account.
Monday, Korena can get me money.
Listen: One reason why I directed all the money to her, stipulating my 1k, was to test her. I'm waiting to see if she does it all at once, or if she gets stingy now that she's in control.
You know I lack assertiveness and avoid responsibility and am too trusting and have (or at least used to have) passive/aggressive tendencies, but give me credit for being perceptive and sneaky, ok?
Honestly, I KNOW that Korena "massages" the facts with me sometimes, and don't trust her...sort of.
But she's a good person. She does care about me. She hasn't screwed me, ever...well except for not clearing up this tax bullshit (but then I don't have ten or fifteen grand laying around to pay for that ya know?)
The money itself isn't critical. I mean, I DO owe her well over 3k. Sooner or later, I have to pay her.
What I really want to see here is if she understands that letting me have my 1k right now, all at once, is best for both of us--or if she thinks she should micromanage me like I'm one of her children.
As for the tax stuff, I will put my foot down when I need to. But this will be some time after I go after my mostly bullshit dac report and csa scores, am at least paying down my next truck (after the rental), have upgraded that truck for fuel efficiency, mostly-but also a fridge and cooking thing and other tax deductibles), have paid you back, and have 15k in the bank.
I suspect you don't fully grasp my reality sometimes. You busted ass and earned everything you have. True enough, but you've never been beaten down like me.
I might be better at this than you would be.
Ya know, I hear these truckers talk, and about 2 out of 3 are full of shit. I said this. I told them that. For most of us old vets, they're like 15 year olds, but many of the old vets are just as bad.
YOU think I should confront Korena with specific questions, demanding specific answers, right now.
You are wrong.
I can't alienate her because she has all my receipts and records. Her husband doesn't physically intimidate me, but is scary (that's all I can say).
I know I'm lazy and disorganized and irresponsible and all that shit, but you just need to get this for now:
Beggars can't be choosers.
Now: I'm moderately impaired, exploring the delicate balance between optimal impairment and puking.
Next on my agenda will be my FANTASY FOOTBALL how you like them apples?
Since week one, I've squandered 5000 (pennies), and am down to 1600.
I got slaughtered at first, but I came back from the brink. Stay tuned, but if I lose my ass this week l'll put 2500 more in there how bout that?
I think I'm adequately impaired. Okbye
They can't get a tow truck to me until Monday, but Korena had all my stuff and the sale is going through. The money will be wired to her, I hope early, so I can get some money.
I actually found a cheap hotel that--if I he really did understand that I'm at the rest area on the turnpike and would need a ride--i can get to tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Korena has filled out my credit application and the same guy is actually trying to find me my next truck!
I can't believe it! It still might not work out because I have to roll asap, and this is a commitment.
But a rental is one thing--i need a condo sleeper and an automatic. And under 500,000 miles.
He had me take pics of this inside and out from every angle (how embarrassing you've seen the inside).
I'll get a similar view from this seller. I can't inspect it. Odds are, however, that it's a fleet truck, meaning its been maintained. As long as they change the oil and stuff its not a big risk.
This would be ideal since I'd only have to "move" once and could install my inverter as soon as I have the time.
Can't get ahead of myself though. Things don't often work out that way for me.
Hope I get money tomorrow. I can't cash an efs check in town. Hope there's a bar around.
Update there's a bar and a place that cashes efs checks! I don't have to wait here tomorrow. I got 80 bucks. Enough to get the room and get sloshed!
He got me an offer for 4,000 and I jumped on it.
Then he said the title copy I sent him had northern steel as a lien holder.
It's an old title. They collateralized my truck to guarantee repairs. They signed off on it when they got their money back, and I went to the title office. I gave that to Korena...thank God.
And she has power of attorney. Thank God, because I can't send or receive faxes or even print emails here.
So she'll have to sign the bill of sale for me anyway. I told him to write the cashiers check to her as well.
My total non-bank of ed debt is 4900, and I owe a good part of that to her.
Plus, my bank puts 4-day holds even on cashiers checks. Korena can get money into my hands instantly via the efs system:
From your efs account, you call and use touchpad input to register an allotment/payout. Efs gives you an express code. You then give the payee that express code.
In this case, that's me. I go to a truck stop and demand ma munnah. If I don't have a check they print one out for me. To cash out efs requires a check and check number. Efs approves the express code and registers the check, which the truck stop takes to the bank, where it's processed like a normal check.
The same express code can be used repeatedly in any sized increments until the allotment is used up.
I have to cash out before I go to the bank. The cash is immediately available for me to pay my bills and stuff.
Anyway Korena is already being hounded by freightliner, as she wasn't able to pay the whole repair bill--even had a balance left over from the previous repair.
Because I, one of her drivers, went into the red, all her commissions are being withheld by the carrier.
So it's my moral responsibility to help her out now.
Well I'm waiting for them to sort it out when she gets back to her office at 1:00. Then a tow truck will come from who knows where and I'll wait who knows how much longer.
As usual, I'm under the gun. I need to show 30 days running before we can move, and I need a truck and load asap.
This is a bitch. I'm going to leave what amounts to a storage locker full of stuff those guys on storage wars would fight over. I'm sorting out what I absolutely need and leaving the rest.
Good, I guess. I needed to do that anyway. Ill have to buy an electric cooler and a 12v cooking thing to replace my fridge and oven. I got a 12v inverter that I hope will power my sirius radio. If the rental doesn't have a real inverter, I can't be drilling holes to install mine, so I have to adapt.
I should get towed tomorrow. I don't know how I'll get the rental, but assume I'll hitch a ride with my truck and stash my stuff wherever they take it.
I don't think they can bring the truck to me, so Korena might come get me, or else I'll have to take a bus or something and come back...jeez I hope she comes and gets me...I LIVE here, and even leaving the bulk of my hoard behind I've got a ton of stuff I need to keep.
Enough to fill up her little car.
The ideal thing would be if the rental came to me right here, but noooo!
Tom will set up a wire transfer cool. Thank God I didn't settle for that crook's offer. Thank God some smart capitalists saw a need and filled it. Nobody gets screwed (much) and all parties get what they want.
That's capitalism. The guy that offered me 1500? That's extortion.
