{"id":2525,"date":"2012-09-01T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T15:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/?p=2525"},"modified":"2012-09-01T11:00:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-01T15:00:56","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2012\/09\/poetry-in-motion\/the-other-side-of-the-window\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Side Of The Window"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There are so many things about driving a truck that can be stressful \u2013 deadlines, troubles at home, breakdowns, and so on. But one thing that commonly stresses many drivers out is rolling across an open scale and wondering if the man or woman on the other side of the window might see something wrong with the truck or want to take a closer look at some paperwork. I admit, even when I feel confident that everything is fine on the truck and my paperwork is neat and up to date, I still get a nervous feeling that a Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer could find something I may have overlooked. The misconception is that it is \u201cus against them\u201d \u2013 but that\u2019s not really true. The men and women in the scale house are trained to keep a level playing field for all drivers. It is their job to find the outfits that run out of compliance and hold them accountable so they don\u2019t cost the rest of the industry to suffer for their non-compliance. Many of them have previously had long careers behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer, as well. I spoke with a woman who works in the Oregon Port of Entry who is very safety conscious and also appreciates a nice, well-kept, fancy truck as much as anyone else. She is very much in favor of educating drivers about what it means to be compliant and, in her opinion, if she doesn\u2019t find a driver or their truck to be out of compliance, that\u2019s a good thing (as opposed to the common belief that these officers are just trying to find something to write a ticket for). My point is, it is not \u201cus against them\u201d \u2013 we should all be in favor of weeding out the unsafe guys that cause the rest of us to suffer. This month, I tried my best to put myself in the shoes of a CMV enforcement officer, and write a poem from what I believe may be how one might think from the other side of the \u201cChicken Coop\u201d window!<\/p>\n

THE CHICKEN COOP
\nBy Trevor Hardwick<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m sittin\u2019 in this scale house,
\nWatching as the wheels go rollin\u2019 by.
\nLooking at the weights and measures,
\nLicense plates & lengths & widths & heights.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the one behind the window,
\nGiving you the green light, or the red.
\nYou better not be rolling by me,
\nWhen your logbook says that you\u2019re in bed.<\/p>\n

I could hear your engine brake,
\nA mile before you rolled across my pad.
\nI could hear your brakes were squealin\u2019
\nBoy, you must\u2019ve cooked \u2018em pretty bad!<\/p>\n

I can see your colored lights,
\nTucked up underneath your fender well.
\nAnd if you haven\u2019t done your pre-trip,
\nYou can bet your tail, that I can tell.<\/p>\n

I can see your puppy dog,
\nHe\u2019s happy just to be there by your side.
\nAnd I appreciate the drivers,
\nTaking time to show a little pride.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I ain\u2019t here to make your day,
\nAnd I ain\u2019t here to make your day go bad.
\nSafety is my main concern,
\nRegardless of the kind of day you\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

I have respect for those of you,
\nWho make your living out there on the road.
\nThe elements you must endure,
\nTo bring another customer their load.<\/p>\n

I like to see the fancy trucks,
\nI like to hear you drivers tell your tales.
\nI choose to think professionals,
\nControl the wheels that roll across my scales.<\/p>\n

Consider that I\u2019m on your side,
\nI know the thankless job that it can be.
\nI know, because of you, I have,
\nThings I may provide my family.<\/p>\n

You work out on the open road,
\nRunning by yourself, or in a group.
\nMy work is in this little shack,
\nThat you prefer to call a \u201cchicken coop\u201d.<\/p>\n

Driver, keep it safe out there,
\nTrucks were made to roll, but not to fly.
\nAnd I\u2019m sittin\u2019 in this scale house,
\nWatching as the wheels go rolling by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are so many things about driving a truck that can be stressful \u2013 deadlines, troubles at home, breakdowns, and so on. But one thing that commonly stresses many drivers out is rolling across an open scale and wondering if the man or woman on the other side of the window might see something wrong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry-in-motion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2525"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}