Thanks for the welcome! I certainly agree with your signature about being the best father possible as the payoffs are the wonderful grandchildren that are arriving.
Regarding PYA/Monarch; I was working casual linehaul for Sysco and rarely getting 40 hours per week - using a driver temp service to fill the balance. PYA was running an ad in the local paper - drove over, did the app and was interviewed and hired on the spot (clean DAC and DVR forever).
The spiel was they were 'creating a new division dedicated to handle specific accounts', 'excellent ground floor opportunity' etc. Pay was good, guaranteed hours plus over time. Line haul shuttle between Charlotte, NC, Lexington, SC and Walterboro, SC. Although based out of Charlotte, we were considered employees of the Walterboro facility. Looking good, best opportunity I've had since leaving Florida.
A long story short:
This was the 'diversity division' meant to attract 'gay males' already employed in Charlotte PYA but few took advantage or bothered to apply for transfer.
A number of non gay PYA employees transferred and promptly quit once they found out what the situation was. A stipulation for transfer was you couldn't return!
Walterboro had been slated to close but the state stepped in with 'incentives'.
Specific accounts had been transferred to Walterboro: military bases and Subway were to two largest and a couple of smaller accounts.
Management of the Charlotte driver's group and the Walterboro warehouse were gay but the overwhelming majority of the Charlotte and Walterboro drivers were non-gay. I'm a people person - just a paycheck.
Walterboro warehouse completely dysfunctional as the majority of the experienced employees had left at the beginning of the 'transformation'. This facility was the original Coastal Food Services facility before PYA bought'em out several years previous.
Only one Coastal employee remained - a maintenance man and truck mechanic who loved motorcycles - my favorite employee! Otherwise, it was a mix of completely dysfunctional employees who consistently impeded the warehouse operation. Within a few months of the new division startup, we were moved from our 'cubicle' at the regular Charlotte operation to our own 'space' at the old SEFL terminal in Rock Hill, SC.
Those of us with 'experience' who might 'cause a problem' were given consistent negative reviews backed up by false and/or altered CADEC records. It was almost funny to view a CADEC report that showed consistent speeding, excessive braking and starting when the entire route was run on interstate highways with the cruise set at 55mph.
The 'diversity people' who were consistently late, 'lost in action', living in the pickle parks/ truck stops and speeding past you on the highway trying to make up time were getting perfect reviews/CADEC reports. We just laughed and most of us 'problem drivers' did a good job of documenting the nonsense. All of the 'problem drivers' finally moved on to greener pastures but being the stubborn person I can be, I wanted to stick this out to its ultimate conclusion. U.S. Foods had already announced they were rolling the PYA/Rock Hill operation into their much larger, existing operation just a few miles away.
Within a month of the purchase of PYA by the parent co. of U.S. Foods I received a phone call from Charlotte operations to come to Charlotte and turn in my keys, gear, paperwork, etc. and I was not to step foot on the Rock Hill SEFL-operation or I could be arrested for tresspassing? Interesting, as I hadn't made any kind of threat, overt or otherwise.
I went to the Rock Hill facility in question after dark on the following weekend, when no one was around, and left everything inside the key/document box - nothing had been rekeyed or changed - and left a polite note stating to the effect 'It's been real - wishing the best'.
The shoestring Rock Hill terminal was indeed closed shortly afterwards with the Walterboro facility closed later at an undetermined time. I went by the Walterboro facility last year and the building is now home to a boat manufacturer.
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Within a week, I answered an ad for a driver delivering medical supplies and equipment. Again, I was interviewed and hired on the spot. Lasted nearly 4 years and I was escorted off of the property by the Police but not arrested. That story is outlined in another thread on this site.
Experience builds character.