Unsafe Driving All Too Common

Unsafe Driving... - A funny movie is a click away

This video is not for the faint of heart, but watching it could save your life...

Cracked Seats and Drunken Loaders...Must be New York

The day before yesterday was interesting from where I was sitting, but very trying for poor Matt.

I remember we got up very early and drove to NE New Jersey where we waited and waited to be unloaded, and hearing Matt complaining about having to use a broken litter box seat. I don't know why he can't just aim-and-drop like me, but he has to sit down sometimes. Here's the picture on the left. Hey, at least they scoop out the litter between usages, right?

Then we had to drive through New York City on the big bridge, and then take another big bridge to a long island called Long Island to deliver more stuff. But then Matt cussed and swore and got angry when they sent him a message for him to go to Brooklyn to pick up a load. Traffic was horrible and we showed up 3 minutes late, so no detention pay for the upcoming 5 hour ordeal.

It was every-cat-for-himself as far as backing into a dock. Matt had to move his truck 4 times before he could check in at the shipping office because the street was so crowded with busses and cars and trucks. We were next to some kind of bus turn-around and it was BUSY.

2 hours later when Matt finally backed in, the guys who were loading trucks already started drinking beer. Matt's loader was drunk and stumbling before he was even half way done loading our trailer, and the idiot started falling down and tipping over pallets full of boxes instead of loading them up. At one point the guy got into such a giggle-fit that he pulled down his pants and exposed himself to his giggling buddies. But the worst part is that when the boss came down and saw all of this he simply threw up his arms and said, "I can't control this guy!" But he did nothing.

It didn't take long before Matt was running out of hours on the 14 hour rule thingy. That means that 14 hours after starting work, ie, driving or loading like at 5am,...he would have to park for the day before 7pm even if he sat and rested for a few hours. The 14 hour clock never stops. And if Matt were to drive anyway and get caught, he would face a stiff fine and possible imprisonment. Nice, huh? The drunkard got done loading at 6:45pm and Matt had to make a mad dash for New Jersey where the truck parking was. We certainly couldn't park for the night in this particular area of Brooklyn. We would get towed if we were lucky. So Matt enacted the safe-haven rule that, according to his safety department, says he can drive over hours only if searching for a safe haven at which to park. Fortunately it only took a half hour to cross two other bridges and get to the Vince Lombardi service plaza on the turnpike in NJ. And all of it is logged for the D.O.T..

As for the loader,... the safety department suggested phoning 9-1-1 with regards to the "exposure" incident; but if Matt had done that we never would have gotten out of there. And Matt is too nice a guy to "clock" the guy, though I would have scratched his thing right off if he'd flashed me and giggled. And that was our day, Thursday.

Making Progress

It would appear that Matt has created a way to limit my chances of escape! He has instituted some sort of force-field, blocking my access to the button thingy that makes the see-through-wall-thingy go up and down. This vexes me an awful friggin' lot, and causes my teeth to strike together fiercely. But I am reassured that due to the bubble, tape, and velcro, he won't have to put me in the kennel in those all-too-frequent cases when the batteries run low at 4am and he has to start the truck to recharge them. The truck has been off at night because of some new human technolo-thingy that heats or cools the truck interior not requiring idling of the engine-like-object called the engine.

That white thing is just there to make my litter box smell better to Matt and any mechanics that sniff around looking for an excuse to have me removed for stinking up the truck.

It's nice not being stuck inside the little prison cell every night. But those batteries must be getting shot or going bad or something. Matt will check on that after I give him other work to do, like cleaning the poop out of my litter box, and cleaning up my vomit from mere moments ago, and taking the sticky-roller and going after my loose hair on the rug and seats and bed and his pillow. Since it got hotter I am shedding more.