You check in at the front gate using a telephone system, get weighed on their scale, then head around back to get in line for a dock. There are bales of paper everywhere, and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. For a newer driver like myself, this is a recipe for ego disaster: a difficult back, no choice of spot to back to, and doing it in front of other professional drivers.
 |
| View all Paper reprocessing plant pics |
Would you believe I nailed it the first time? This is the end result, click here for a number of pictures I took to give you an idea what it was like. I had to make a wide right turn, about 220 degrees worth then angle the truck back into the spot -- and I did it better than anyone else at the dock! I had to work at keeping a self-satisfied grin off of my face as I went in with the paperwork.
After several hours of waiting I was unloaded so I pulled forward, got my trailer doors shut then headed off of the lot to await my next dispatch. Still basking in the afterglow of my newfound backing mastery, I decided to reorganize the upper bunk area of my truck so I can raise the bunk at night to give myself more room to relax in. I won't disgust the gentle reader with a picture or two; suffice it to say I had work to do.
After an hour or so there was progress made and I was ready to take a few items and put them into my driver's sidebox. A sidebox is a locked storage compartment you can access from outside your truck, so I grabbed my keys. Then I realized I had made a major boo-boo back in the plant.
Before I had backed into the dock I had taken off my load lock (think a very imposing hasp lock -- almost impossible to open without the key) and placed it on the back bumper of my trailer. When I left, I was in a bit of a hurry to free up the dock and neglected to ensure it was still in my possession. Did I mention the dock was about 1/4 mile inside the plant, behind chain link fence and a now-imposing line of about a dozen big rigs waiting to unload?
If you lose your lock the company will replace it, and you're out $40. Being relatively frugal, I wouldn't leave it without a struggle so I drove back to the front gate, parked my truck and asked security if I could walk to the dock to look for my lock. They agreed.
I scanned every inch of ground for a quarter mile as I walked to the dock, to no effect. I went in and talked with the dock workers to see if someone had turned it in; no joy. I looked under the truck that was now occupying that slot, but nothing was there but some trash. Crap, I thought: now I'm out the lock and a long walk back.
There was a small pile of trash behind the truck right up against the dock and I decided I wasn't above sorting through it when I caught a glimpse of something shiny... my load lock! I let out a triumphant cry and held it above like the father of Kunta Kinte in Roots, dancing a little jig. Then walked back to my truck.
So remember: pride goeth before the fall.
