ABF | Retirement Doubles

Any dispatcher that tells you to make 28 stops and 3 pickups with a 45' in downtown Pittsburgh, PA then complains you brought back 16 stops, should be stood up against a wall. von.
In my early casual days with Roadway, one day I brought back about 10 deliveries. The city dispatcher ( and he was a good person) told me ( laughing all the time) that John ( the terminal manager) told him that he could do anything that he wanted with me. He could fire me, or he could even beat my ass. That was Roadway in the early eighties. And I just loved it. I retired after 28 years.
 
What chu talkin' bout?
Down jacket pillow on a bench seat, zzzzz ad infinitum!

Naw.......You gotta have the right type of cheekbones to keep your head from slipping between the spokes............Fire dept. said my head was misshapen even before they had to cut the steering wheel............

Down jacket pillow on a bench seat in that type of cab......is good if you're only 4'6'' or less...........
 
Any dispatcher that tells you to make 28 stops and 3 pickups with a 45' in downtown Pittsburgh, PA then complains you brought back 16 stops, should be stood up against a wall. von.

Apparently, Bro.Von,......the problem with that would be finding a dispatcher with a stiff enough spine to allow him to remain upright while the firing squad aims it's guns..............
 
In my early casual days with Roadway, one day I brought back about 10 deliveries. The city dispatcher ( and he was a good person) told me ( laughing all the time) that John ( the terminal manager) told him that he could do anything that he wanted with me. He could fire me, or he could even beat my ass. That was Roadway in the early eighties. And I just loved it. I retired after 28 years.

There was,.......and you know it, Bro. Mud,........at one time an almost competitive idea about work,.....about who was the most efficient with the least effort.......I can remember a guy,....Tommy Dolby,.......who worked for Gateway in the '70's, and came to work every day in knit pants and a clean, fancy button-down shirt..........all that was missing was a necktie,..........and he was an absolute fury peddling the Northside of Pgh.....

In an old GMC Astro "china closet" style cab...( which he found the time to keep spotless....),.......he would toss off stops and hoover up pickups like he was leisurely strolling through the park....

And,.......at the end of the day,.......when everyone else was clustered around the dispatch window sweaty, dirty, flustered and furious,........here would come Tommy strolling in with a smile and nary a smudge on his shirt,...........and a larger stack of BOLs than anyone else.......

How did he do it?..........The perennial question every day.........

All I know is that he impressed the heck out of this young 20-something..........especially as I was coming in more flustered and dirty than anyone else,.....and I was more impressed with the grudging respect all the older (than me..) guys gave Tommy about his freight handling skills and his ability to make a seemingly rough job appear as a minor inconvenience in his daily life.......

Most impressive was how his smooth, suave attitude got under the dispatcher's skin far, far more than any sweaty bluff'n'bluster by the other guys in the barn.......

I wanted to be like Tommy Dolby!.........Don't know if I made it but I like to think after 41 years I came pretty close.........
 
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I remember a Roadway line haul driver that would show up for his dispatch, wearing a white shirt and tie.
There still is an ABF road driver out of Carlisle that wears a tie. Good guy, I've known him for years,...........and as luck would have it, he showed up at our terminal on the day I retired. I always appreciated his idea of professionalism..........

Go to a truckstop now and see dirty and obscene muscle shirts, baggy shorts, flip-flops and unfortunate sartorial "experiments".......and you wonder why hardly anyone takes this occupation seriously.....
 
Go to a truckstop now and see dirty and obscene muscle shirts, baggy shorts, flip-flops and unfortunate sartorial "experiments"
I have done so recently, a truckstop formerly known as White's. Most road drivers that I know know (knew) of it. Now a Petro, English is a second language and service sucks. Logic would dictate that lack of pay (tips) would result in a drop in quality of servers. It is embarrassing to be a member of that 'class'.
 
There still is an ABF road driver out of Carlisle that wears a tie. Good guy, I've known him for years,...........and as luck would have it, he showed up at our terminal on the day I retired. I always appreciated his idea of professionalism..........

Go to a truckstop now and see dirty and obscene muscle shirts, baggy shorts, flip-flops and unfortunate sartorial "experiments".......and you wonder why hardly anyone takes this occupation seriously.....

We also had a guy sharp as a drill sergeant , always wore a uniform, tie and hat, don't recall ever seeing him out of his uniform until the day he retired.
He still came to union meetings years later, still in uniform.
Like you say, go to a truckstop, you don't wonder why trucking lost it's respect.
 
I have done so recently, a truckstop formerly known as White's. Most road drivers that I know know (knew) of it. Now a Petro, English is a second language and service sucks. Logic would dictate that lack of pay (tips) would result in a drop in quality of servers. It is embarrassing to be a member of that 'class'.

If you are referring to the one in Raphine Va, I think he sold that place years ago.
Had a big gun collection, I traded a few guns with him, guess this was in the seventies.
MAN, I'm not getting old, I'm already there!
 
If you are referring to the one in Raphine Va, I think he sold that place years ago.
Had a big gun collection, I traded a few guns with him, guess this was in the seventies.
MAN, I'm not getting old, I'm already there!

Not just an exclusive driver dining area, a separate dining room, 'professional drivers ONLY!'
 
Taking pride in the job sure ain't what it used to be, that's for sure. Being a professional driver used to be something to be proud of.

I don't have to wear a uniform. As a linehaul driver, I'm not expected to. But I have always made the effort to look professional because I refuse to be one of those truck stop slobs. I wear a monogrammed golf shirt while at work, along with cargo shorts or cargo pants. As I'm at work all week, I keep a bag full of fresh clothes in the truck so I always look presentable.

This job may not be what it used to be, but I'll be damned if I give up my own sense of pride.
 
There was,.......and you know it, Bro. Mud,........at one time an almost competitive idea about work,.....about who was the most efficient with the least effort.......I can remember a guy,....Tommy Dolby,.......who worked for Gateway in the '70's, and came to work every day in knit pants and a clean, fancy button-down shirt..........all that was missing was a necktie,..........and he was an absolute fury peddling the Northside of Pgh.....

In an old GMC Astro "china closet" style cab...( which he found the time to keep spotless....),.......he would toss off stops and hoover up pickups like he was leisurely strolling through the park....

And,.......at the end of the day,.......when everyone else was clustered around the dispatch window sweaty, dirty, flustered and furious,........here would come Tommy strolling in with a smile and nary a smudge on his shirt,...........and a larger stack of BOLs than anyone else.......

How did he do it?..........The perennial question every day.........

All I know is that he impressed the heck out of this young 20-something..........especially as I was coming in more flustered and dirty than anyone else,.....and I was more impressed with the grudging respect all the older (than me..) guys gave Tommy about his freight handling skills and his ability to make a seemingly rough job appear as a minor inconvenience in his daily life.......

Most impressive was how his smooth, suave attitude got under the dispatcher's skin far, far more than any sweaty bluff'n'bluster by the other guys in the barn.......

I wanted to be like Tommy Dolby!.........Don't know if I made it but I like to think after 41 years I came pretty close.........

I have known some men in the shop who could go home almost as clean as they came to work with shined shoes that never got scuffed. Some managed to dodge the dirty jobs by being in the foreman's office more than on the shop floor. I remember one who could do a clutch job on a two stroke Detroit with oil dripping off the tail lights & manage to keep his clothes wrinkle free & clean.
 
If you are referring to the one in Raphine Va, I think he sold that place years ago.
Had a big gun collection, I traded a few guns with him, guess this was in the seventies.
MAN, I'm not getting old, I'm already there!
Dat's de place. I thought he had some motorcycles too but everyone I talk to refers to the gun museum.
 
Dat's de place. I thought he had some motorcycles too but everyone I talk to refers to the gun museum.

I didn't run up that way after around 1980, Don't know if I qualified to eat in Professonial Drivers Dining area.
Shop guys called me " the mechanism between the seat and steering wheel"
Don't ever remember being called "Professional"
 
I remember a Roadway line haul driver that would show up for his dispatch, wearing a white shirt and tie.
When my father in law drove for the Big R retired in 1992 he always wore a Big R shirt (no tie) no blue jeans hated the "cowboy" pockets shined boots and no they weren't cowboy boots never saw him go to work any other way just had the "look" of the professional driver about him just saying not much like back in the day when the good guys looked like the good guys
 
When my father in law drove for the Big R retired in 1992 he always wore a Big R shirt (no tie) no blue jeans hated the "cowboy" pockets shined boots and no they weren't cowboy boots never saw him go to work any other way just had the "look" of the professional driver about him just saying not much like back in the day when the good guys looked like the good guys

u2ViLMY.jpg
 
There was,.......and you know it, Bro. Mud,........at one time an almost competitive idea about work,.....about who was the most efficient with the least effort.......I can remember a guy,....Tommy Dolby,.......who worked for Gateway in the '70's, and came to work every day in knit pants and a clean, fancy button-down shirt..........all that was missing was a necktie,..........and he was an absolute fury peddling the Northside of Pgh.....

In an old GMC Astro "china closet" style cab...( which he found the time to keep spotless....),.......he would toss off stops and hoover up pickups like he was leisurely strolling through the park....

And,.......at the end of the day,.......when everyone else was clustered around the dispatch window sweaty, dirty, flustered and furious,........here would come Tommy strolling in with a smile and nary a smudge on his shirt,...........and a larger stack of BOLs than anyone else.......

How did he do it?..........The perennial question every day.........

All I know is that he impressed the heck out of this young 20-something..........especially as I was coming in more flustered and dirty than anyone else,.....and I was more impressed with the grudging respect all the older (than me..) guys gave Tommy about his freight handling skills and his ability to make a seemingly rough job appear as a minor inconvenience in his daily life.......

Most impressive was how his smooth, suave attitude got under the dispatcher's skin far, far more than any sweaty bluff'n'bluster by the other guys in the barn.......

I wanted to be like Tommy Dolby!.........Don't know if I made it but I like to think after 41 years I came pretty close.........
Sounds like Mr. Dolby 'Blinded you with (delivery) Science'.
 
When my father in law drove for the Big R retired in 1992 he always wore a Big R shirt (no tie) no blue jeans hated the "cowboy" pockets shined boots and no they weren't cowboy boots never saw him go to work any other way just had the "look" of the professional driver about him just saying not much like back in the day when the good guys looked like the good guys

I always wore a Little R hat, much smaller than BD's (ball cap) but my wife always dressed me so I was (neat), I'm
just naturally handsome.
 
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