About Me
- Shannon
- I'm a slightly mad pagan trucker with an unhealthy obsession with yarn.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Women in Trucking
4:31 PM | 
Posted by
Shannon
Another Twitter inspired post. This time my inspiration is @TruckerDesiree. I know I may get some flak from her supporters over this but I don’t give a fat rats ass. She gives feminists & women truckers both a bad name.
Let me start out by saying I love my job. It’s just the numerous whiners & complainers & people that don’t have the slightest clue that make rethink career choices. Some of those people that don’t have a clue, sad to say, are supposedly smart, intelligent women.
I understood that trucking is part of the ‘old boys club’, as far as professions go when I started 10 years ago. I also understood that I might not be accepted at places & subjected to some crappy, chauvinistic behavior. And I must say as far as that goes I’ve been treated very well for the most part. Actually most of the crap that I have gotten over the years wasn’t necessarily from the older drivers but ones that were in my age range. Yet I have managed to garner their respect, for the most part (some are just total assholes that can’t be dealt with on any level), by standing up for myself. If someone gets in my face, I give it right back. I have also busted my ass working twice as hard as most of the guys out here just to prove that I could do the job & to be taken seriously.
Over the last 10 years I have heard horror stories about what some women have had to go through during training & the way these complaints were dealt with by their respective companies. I have tales of how women were treated by their trainers & the unsafe things that their co-drivers have done. I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of these women are part of the problem. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying anyone deserves to be treated the way any of these drivers have, but it’s obvious that complaining to the companies doesn’t work. Some women don’t even bother reporting these unsafe actions of other drivers. But yet these women continue to work for the same company that treated them so horribly. It’s as though the only empowerment these women get is through their victim status. If you won’t stand up for yourself, no one else will.
If things are so horrible where you’re working, why are you still there? There are thousands of other companies out there at which you could choose to work. But wait, if you did that you’d lose your victim status wouldn’t you?
Do you honestly think posting your “story” on a blog & saying that “nice” people would like to work in the industry but “nice” people won’t play the games required, is going to help your cause? Does calling drivers predators & equating the company you work for to terrorists, really help?
As far as students not being prepared for what to expect from the industry, as far as work hours & things expected from them that is nobodies fault but there own. Granted I had a bit of an advantage before I decided to jump into driving because my ex boyfriend was a driver. All they have to do is go to the closest truck stop & chat up a few drivers. Ask them about what they do & the hours they work. Because even though some people like to portray us as such we are not all psycho predators & will gladly answer a few questions. Never once have I been laughed at or made to feel stupid by asking another driver for advice or help.
So crawl out from under your blankie, put on your big girl panties & be part of the solution & not part of the problem.
Let me start out by saying I love my job. It’s just the numerous whiners & complainers & people that don’t have the slightest clue that make rethink career choices. Some of those people that don’t have a clue, sad to say, are supposedly smart, intelligent women.
I understood that trucking is part of the ‘old boys club’, as far as professions go when I started 10 years ago. I also understood that I might not be accepted at places & subjected to some crappy, chauvinistic behavior. And I must say as far as that goes I’ve been treated very well for the most part. Actually most of the crap that I have gotten over the years wasn’t necessarily from the older drivers but ones that were in my age range. Yet I have managed to garner their respect, for the most part (some are just total assholes that can’t be dealt with on any level), by standing up for myself. If someone gets in my face, I give it right back. I have also busted my ass working twice as hard as most of the guys out here just to prove that I could do the job & to be taken seriously.
Over the last 10 years I have heard horror stories about what some women have had to go through during training & the way these complaints were dealt with by their respective companies. I have tales of how women were treated by their trainers & the unsafe things that their co-drivers have done. I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of these women are part of the problem. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying anyone deserves to be treated the way any of these drivers have, but it’s obvious that complaining to the companies doesn’t work. Some women don’t even bother reporting these unsafe actions of other drivers. But yet these women continue to work for the same company that treated them so horribly. It’s as though the only empowerment these women get is through their victim status. If you won’t stand up for yourself, no one else will.
If things are so horrible where you’re working, why are you still there? There are thousands of other companies out there at which you could choose to work. But wait, if you did that you’d lose your victim status wouldn’t you?
Do you honestly think posting your “story” on a blog & saying that “nice” people would like to work in the industry but “nice” people won’t play the games required, is going to help your cause? Does calling drivers predators & equating the company you work for to terrorists, really help?
As far as students not being prepared for what to expect from the industry, as far as work hours & things expected from them that is nobodies fault but there own. Granted I had a bit of an advantage before I decided to jump into driving because my ex boyfriend was a driver. All they have to do is go to the closest truck stop & chat up a few drivers. Ask them about what they do & the hours they work. Because even though some people like to portray us as such we are not all psycho predators & will gladly answer a few questions. Never once have I been laughed at or made to feel stupid by asking another driver for advice or help.
So crawl out from under your blankie, put on your big girl panties & be part of the solution & not part of the problem.
Labels: crochet, yarn
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4 comments:
Shannon,
Great Post!
These are some of the points I have been trying to get across to people all along, perhaps they will "see" them when a woman makes them, as opposed to a man.
Straight talk is the bane of people like @TruckerDesiree (Desiree Woods) AKA #TTT
Thanks for being you.
t
sorry terence , even when a woman says the very same thing , she will be attacked for it and have her name drug all over the internet too . You see , she was told the very same thing by other women and now we are accused of calling her a "radical feminist" and "girlie" when none of those words were applied to her at all . Good try though shannon . I appreciate what you have said . I won't publish my name as i have also been accused of stalking the TTT and have had her come to boards that I am on and smear my name .
Thanks for posting this, as it was needed. I am tired of the stupid things that are happening around this. And the misinformation being spread,with it all as well.
As a trucker's wife, I just didn't have the teeth like you do to say this. It is about time she settles down, and shuts her left door to drive if that is what she wants.
Thanks guys for the comments. It truly saddens me that their are women out their like Desiree in this industry. Because she isn't only hurting herself, she's also hurting the rest of us as well. I have already been called a hater by one of her brainwashed minions (not that I really give a fat rats ass), but the thing is hate requires effort & energy & I just don't have the time & energy to give her that much time in a day.
She reminds me of some of the people that were in NA when I first got clean. Always wanting to pass the blame onto someone else & constantly feeling persecuted. And I just don't have time for people like that.
I sincerely hopes she reads this & maybe takes a little something away from it, but I won't hold my breath.
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