{"id":5869,"date":"2015-04-01T18:02:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/?p=5869"},"modified":"2015-04-01T19:04:19","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T23:04:19","slug":"lousy-loads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2015\/04\/poetry-in-motion\/lousy-loads\/","title":{"rendered":"Lousy Loads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AprPoem1\"<\/a>We\u2019ve all been there. That ridiculously-hot load from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks that everyone seems to need hauled, yet nobody seems to want to cooperate or do what\u2019s needed to complete the job. Dispatch will tell you to talk to the broker. The broker tells you to contact the shipper. The shipper doesn\u2019t have all the info, and sends you to the dock foreman, and so on… all you really want to do is quit wasting time and get on down the road. Not to mention the fact that their hot-to-trot shipment is not hot enough to work through a lunch break to get it loaded! These are the woes we face, routinely, as drivers. Especially at some of the larger big-name facilities and the shadier, fly-by-night outfits. In any case, it\u2019s best to keep your cool and take responsibility for whatever it is that you agree to haul. However, in this poem, we indulge in the urge to tell the uncooperative fingers-in-the-pot where to stick it when they can\u2019t seem to get their act together long enough to do what is required to earn their cut. The names in this poem are purely fictitious, and do not refer to anyone I know. But, I call this one, \u201cGood Ol\u2019 Tony\u201d \u2013 enjoy!<\/p>\n

GOOD OL\u2019 TONY<\/strong>
\n By Trevor Hardwick<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AprPoem2\"<\/a>Someone told me, long ago, to never pass the buck,
\nAlways be responsible, for what goes on your truck.
\nListen to directions, and double-check your route,
\nBut don\u2019t rely on someone else, to figure something out.<\/p>\n

I took a load, a while back, ol\u2019 Tony hooked me up,
\nTony said a friend of his, was looking for a truck.
\n\u201cCall my buddy Bill,\u201d he said, \u201cBill has lots of freight.
\nHe needs a truck to hurry though, this shipment can\u2019t be late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course! I thought, and dialed the phone, I told him who I am,
\nTony said to talk to Bill, but Bill sent me to Sam.
\nSam knew all about the load, the route, the weight and such,
\nBut when I asked about the rate, he didn\u2019t know as much.<\/p>\n

Sam said, \u201cTalk to Betty, she\u2019s the one who writes the checks,
\nBut Betty isn\u2019t here today, she isn\u2019t at her desk.\u201d
\nBetty\u2019s bigger brother, Bob, is better known as Buck,
\nHe\u2019s the one who runs the dock, and he will load the truck.<\/p>\n

But Buck had better plans today, than coming here to work,
\nAnd God forbid you ask him to, or he might go berserk!
\nBob was barking orders, to a lumper known as Lou,
\nLou was lifting boxes, stacking pallets, but for who?<\/p>\n

All I really needed, was some info for my load,
\nCoordinates and cash up front, and I will hit the road.
\nLou said, \u201cListen closely Mac,\u201d as if he knew my name,
\n\u201cBack \u2018er up to door 15, then check in with Jermaine.\u201d<\/p>\n

I bumped the dock, walked inside, the clock said Five-to-noon,
\nJermaine said, \u201cLunch is noon-to-one, we\u2019ll getcha loaded soon.\u201d
\n\u201cLook Jermaine,\u201d I thought within, \u201cMy name is far from Mac,
\nAnd you go tell ol\u2019 Lou I\u2019m gone, and I ain\u2019t comin\u2019 back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lou can cry to brother Bob, the guy you know as Buck,
\nAnd Buck can make sure Betty, pays \u201cdetention\u201d to my truck.
\nIf Betty\u2019s got a problem, she can take it up with Sam,
\nEven though I\u2019m sure he\u2019s got, a broken give-a-damn.<\/p>\n

But Sam will pass the buck to Bill, and Bill will come unglued,
\nI can almost hear him shout aloud, \u201cNow we\u2019re really screwed!\u201d
\nBill will never understand, he\u2019s working for a phony,
\nAnd that\u2019s the last time I\u2019ll agree, to haul a load for Tony!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all been there. That ridiculously-hot load from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks that everyone seems to need hauled, yet nobody seems to want to cooperate or do what\u2019s needed to complete the job. Dispatch will tell you to talk to the broker. The broker tells you to contact the shipper. The shipper doesn\u2019t have all the info, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5871,"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-5869","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\/5869","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=5869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5873,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions\/5873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}