08/13/2026
Got me teary eyed! ā¹ļøš§š
I missed my delivery by 47 minutes.
After 28 years of trucking, that was apparently enough for my company to tell me I had a āperformance problem.ā
My name is Raymond. Iām 61, and Iāve spent nearly three decades hauling freight across the country.
That morning, I had been driving since before sunrise. Traffic had already cost me almost an hour, and when I finally found a truck stop, I had a decision to make.
Keep moving and make the appointmentāor stop for a shower and something decent to eat.
I hadnāt showered in five days.
I hadnāt eaten anything except crackers and gas-station coffee since the night before.
So I stopped.
Twenty minutes for a shower. Ten minutes to grab some food. Then I got straight back on the highway.
By the time I reached the receiver, I was 47 minutes late.
Before I even backed into the dock, dispatch was calling.
They wanted to know why I had stopped when they could see I was already behind schedule.
I told them the truth.
āI needed to eat, and I needed a shower.ā
There was silence for a few seconds.
Then the dispatcher said something Iāll never forget:
āYou couldāve done that after delivery.ā
That sentence told me everything I needed to know.
Some people see a truck moving down the interstate and think the driver is just sitting there listening to music and watching the country go by.
They donāt see the missed meals.
They donāt see you searching for parking at midnight.
They donāt see the days without a proper shower or the pressure of watching a delivery clock while traffic isnāt moving.
I eventually left that company.
I still drive, but now I work somewhere that understands something my old company apparently forgot:
Thereās a human being behind that steering wheel.
A load can be rescheduled.
Your health and safety arenāt as easy to replace.
