Told To Drive When It's Obvious You're Too Tired.

Brett,

I was thinking the same thing as I watched that video. But, I have never been out there yet so I did not feel I could be credible in saying what you did. How many times in life have any of us had a bad night sleep? Stress of work, family problems, illness, financial problems have kept everyone of us up a night before. The next day, did we call out sick? I guess some people would. I would not. But, then again, if he can't stay awake, he can't stay awake. Shut it down! The cameras tell me he had planned this all day because he was not happy about what he was being assigned and was finding a way to fight back and try to make himself look good. He said in the video he had talked about the back to back 10 hour breaks with management in the past. He has had an issue with this and used it to try and make the company look bad. Hell, I want to work for a company that guarantees me 2500 miles a week and then gives me 20 hours off for 20 minutes of work. I am betting if he actually did the load assigned, he would not have been close to 2500 miles for the week. Why? Because a set up like that allows drivers like this to milk the load they have been assigned. He can show up right on time and not have to worry about getting creative to get unloaded. He does not have to turn and burn because he is getting paid. He has no incentive to arrive early except personal pride in his work.

PRIDE... that's right i said it. Money is important but it is second to PRIDE. I take pride that I do my job to the best of my ability. I may fall short sometimes but it is not from the lack of effort.

I agree with this poster, trucking is something I am considering but since I am not yet a part of it and don't know the ropes or how things go I didn't feel I could discredit the video. I too feel it seems like a setup to me. I also believe he has probably used the I'm too tired thing on several occasions from just watching a few other videos of his. I can't say anything for sure cuz I am not him nor have I been in his shoes and obviously we are not going to see the part he may have played in all this if it were anything negative in any way. I do appreciate this website and the fact that you can get pretty good info on here and I think most of the people here want to be genuinely helpful. There are a few eternal pessimists, but I think the majority are good guys and gals and I thank you all for contributing to this and Brett for making it happen.

I'm going to find out tomorrow if he still has a job with this company and if they know about this video. I'm also going to invite him to join this conversation and see if he would like to defend himself against drivers like myself who are willing to call him out on his tactics. If he's brave enough we'll certainly give him his day in court. Guys like that tend to get themselves in a hole and they just keep digging and digging and digging.

If I'm wrong about him I'll certainly apologize to him. But that's not a concern. I've been in this game for waaaaaaaaaay too long. I know a true professional when I see one and I know a clown when I see one. A lot of people think they're really clever. He's one of em. To me he looks like that legendary three year old child with chocolate all over his facing saying, "I didn't eat any cookies. I swear!"

Sure ya didn't.

That would be cool just to see how it plays out. Go for it, I'm curious now haha.

That would be cool just to see how it plays out. Go for it, I'm curious now haha.

I've been trying relentlessly since Saturday to have a real debate with anyone that takes his side, especially Abe himself, but I've never gotten the first genuine response to any of my questions or concerns. Check out his YouTube page for this video and you'll see a bunch of my comments on there. Nobody, including Abe, would say anything legitimate at all.

In fact, they all did exactly what I expected them to do - called me names and tried to discredit my experience and character.

Here's an especially fun exchange. Look at this comment on person who calls himself "JoJo" left in defense of this guy:

BUT it is clear that the intent of K&B was to run him after he got loaded, this is a form of collusion and extortion on the part of K&B. Collusion because K&B as per the video expects their drivers "not to fail". Extortion because if Abe refuses to play ball they will fire him."

Here's my response:

Now wait a minute. Maybe you guys are right. JoJo, thank God you're here. I think you've really opened my eyes to this whole situation.

So you're saying that K&B told him to take a second 10 hour break in a row because secretly they intended to RUN HIM??? And by "run him" you're saying they were setting him up to DRIVE???

Holy SH*T!

I never thought of that! It never once crossed my mind that these companies are conspiring against drivers by sending them to pick up freight and then DRIVE IT SOMEWHERE!!!! That's MADNESS!

JoJo you're right. Those SOB's were going to try to get him to drive that truck and do work for them weren't they. But not only that. Now I see just how devious they are. Your second point was the real eye-opener. They weren't going to just sucker him into doing 20 minutes of work like the first time. No, it's waaay worse than that. They got greedy and downright nasty. This time they expected 2 1/2 hours of work!!!! Wow!!!! That is criminal!!!!

And the idea that the company expects Abe "not to fail" is INSANE!!! I mean, seriously, who the h*ll goes to work and expects to succeed??? That is just totally unreasonable. I mean, what did they think he was going to do.....his JOB???? HAHAHA!!! That's outrageous!

Now I see my thinking was way off. I was thinking that since Abe accepted the load, had the full compliment of logbook hours, and had 20 hours of rest that it would be ok if he was expected to drive the truck, and possibly even haul freight with it!!! (the madness!!!!) But now that I've taken a step back and I can see the big picture I can't believe I was so blind.

And to think all those years the companies I worked for totally suckered me into driving their truck. And not only that, most of the time (I'm really embarrassed to say this) it was WITH freight in the trailer!!! And stupid me I overachieved and even succeeded at it!

Wow do I have egg on my face.

JoJo, nobody knows truckin like you know truckin. I too enjoy these debates, especially when they open my eyes like this.

God I wish I could get all those years back. I feel so stupid for being suckered into successfully hauling freight for so many companies all over the country all those years. Well what can I say? I thought that's what I was supposed to do!

Well, you live and you learn.

But I'm on the Abe and JoJo bandwagon now. I'm gettin me a video camera. I'll never be suckered into working hard and being successful ever again!

Geeziz....that was one of the most enjoyable pieces of irony I've gotten to write in a long time. Thanks for that JoJo! Good times :-)

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that nonsense. But yes indeed, the attitude from truckers toward the companies and the industry in general is certainly one of paranoia to say the least. But this one was new on me. I've heard a million conspiracy theories over the years. But this is certainly the first time I've ever heard someone accuse trucking companies of "colluding by expecting drivers not to fail" and "extortion" because "if the driver refuses to work they will fire him".

So here we are back to the "Modern American Worker Syndrome" where nowadays these guys believe it's extortion and collusion if companies ask you to do your job successfully.

What a world

Bret I read through the comments on his Youtube channel and I found this and thought it explained it perfectly

The dispatcher is wrong a freaking nut! 100% You dont let a trucker drive drunk,stoned or tierd no matter how late the load is! If you were told to do your 20min of work at 7am then at 7:30am told to take off 10 hours it would be 5:30pm when your told to drive then 2 hours later 7:30pm your falling asleep. After a good night sleep plus 10 hours off in the last 24 hours!

I am not a driver but I think that after being up not doing anything for 10 hours that I could muster the strength to drive 2 hours now I know that 7:30 pm is pretty late but I think I could !!

I am not a driver but I think that after being up not doing anything for 10 hours that I could muster the strength to drive 2 hours now I know that 7:30 pm is pretty late but I think I could !!

Well your confidence in yourself inspires my confidence in you! I'm also willing to bet you could stay up well past 7:30 even if you'd been up a whopping 10 hours already that day.

I'll tell ya.....when I saw that video I thought, "Man, this is gonna be a tough one to explain to people." Because I knew exactly what this driver was up to and could see this whole thing was premeditated. The confrontation in front of the camera was totally by design. He could have easily avoided any confrontation and gotten out of driving without being questioned if he wanted to. All he had to do is cut a wire or slice a tire or fake being sick. But he clearly didn't want to. He tried to make it look like he was just an innocent, hard-working, easy-going fella getting mistreated and abused by the evil empire. But I didn't think that for a single moment. I've seen this kind of thing a thousand times. To me it was like the three year old with chocolate all over his face saying, "I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't eat any cookies. I'm a good kid!"

But I knew to the untrained eye this was going to seem like an open and shut case. The dude was tired, he gave it all he had, and the company should respect him for that and take care of the situation so the driver can get some sleep.

Baloney!!!!

That was not the case at all. That's why I've spent an awful lot of time the past few days trying to dig deeper and figure out this guy's story. Let me tell ya, you don't have to dig deep to learn an awful lot. Watch some of his other videos. I also tried having an adult discussion about it with Abe and his mob-mentality cronies but the best they could muster was name-calling and attempts at character assassination. Not one person made one real, logical, well thought out defense of this guy that made an ounce of sense. Even Abe himself was completely unwilling to discuss it with me at all. He called me a loser and a couple of other names and never managed to get out three sentences. I tried but he had no defense at all.

Now those who know me are surely wondering what set me off about this situation. Well it has nothing to do with Abe personally or the company he works for, neither of which I had ever heard of until I saw this video the other day. The reason I care so much is because this industry has a horrible reputation all the way around. Drivers are looked upon as scum of the Earth by most people in our society and the trucking companies are looked upon as scum of the Earth by a fair percentage of drivers. It's really an unfortunate and completely unnecessary situation, but it's real none the less. I want to help people understand the realities of life in the trucking industry so they can make the right decision for themselves about a career as a driver. Then I'd like them to be able to understand what's going on around them as much as possible so their first year as a driver is maybe a little less stressful.

But I'm constantly fighting an uphill battle because of the endless piles of garbage the discontents are spewing all over the Web. It's nearly impossible to figure out what's real and what isn't, what's right and what's wrong, who's lying and who's being honest. That's why I named this site TruckingTruth. Because I wanted to help people understand the way things really are out there - the good and the bad.

This situation gave me a great opportunity to dig into a pile of issues that the people in this industry face day in and day to help people understand the subtleties and the gray areas they're about to face out there. I knew if I could dig through this guy's story, gather some facts, and confront him about it I could reveal just how phony so many people are. I wanted to show you guys that all the conspiracy theories and paranoia and "us against them" attitude that's so prevalent in this industry is completely unnecessary and unhelpful.

Well the fact that I literally couldn't find one person willing to debate my take on this situation for the past several days speaks for itself. Nobody, including Abe himself, was willing to have an adult conversation, discuss my concerns, or answer any of my questions about it. Nobody. Not a single taker. They knew I was right. I saw through that driver's game and picked his story apart. I called the company, I looked through his videos, and dug up a few things on the Web. Every conversation I've tried to have and every piece of information I've found all points to the same thing - this driver is purposely creating confrontation and discord to tout his own agenda. He's lazy, he's looking for YouTube followers like his buddies (who have bigger followings), and more than one person I've spoken with suspects the company itself might have been in on this. But I know for a fact this was not at all what he tried to make it out to be.

I'll bet he wouldn't be too happy if he called 911 while having a heart attack at 3:00 a.m. to have the 911 dispatcher tell him, "Sorry, the firemen only had 20 hours of sleep today. They don't feel rested enough to drive."

Now that would be ironic!

There is now a follow up video if anyone is interested.

There is now a follow up video if anyone is interested.

If it's Abe making more excuses I can do without that. I know Big Cat made a response video which I already posted a link to.

Just watched the followup and why am I not surprised that the video went the way it did. He said this has happened before ,the two back to back 10 hour rest breaks. Would not surprise me if it starts happening alot more now.

Could and if so in what form something like the video become part of Abe's DAC report?

Could and if so in what form something like the video become part of Abe's DAC report?

Many companies have now established social media policys. I believe it could become a part of your DAC if you were terminated for violating that particular policy.