By: Denny

We have been walking through a series on boundaries on Wednesday nights at church. It covers personal boundaries, as well as boundaries between your friends, family, spouse, and your job. We have learned the importance of having boundaries and the proper motivation to set them up. Boundaries without gates tend to become walls of isolation and a prison that cannot be penetrated by outsiders. It is healthy to have defensive boundaries that protect yourself and what you value. It is wrong, however, to set offense boundaries with the intent to control or manipulate others to get your way. Your value system is key to setting boundaries and where you draw the line. This last session dealt with boundaries specifically in the workplace. I’m writing this from my perspective as a born-again Christian and follower of Jesus and holding to biblical principles and ideology. When I say Jesus is my Lord, he is my Lord 24/7 and not just for one hour on Sunday morning. He has given me the Holy Spirit who lives inside of me. He goes where I go and that includes my workplace. I retired in 2021, so I’m writing this based on my past experiences both before and after I accepted Christ as savior. Everyone should have a place where they draw the line (boundaries), and mine will be different from yours. In sharing some of my life situations I hope you will be encouraged to reflect on and possibly set or adjust some of your own boundaries concerning your job. If you have read any of my previous blogs you know that I enjoyed a 50-year career as a truck driver. When I say enjoyed, I really mean enjoyed. Even from the age of 10 while riding with my dad in his truck, I decided that’s all I ever wanted to be and do. I think you’d enjoy reading my post, In it for the Long Haul. I feel sorry for people who are stuck in a mundane job they hate or are doing it only because it pays well. I am a truck driver. It’s never been just a way to earn a paycheck. I’ve worked for 11 trucking companies over the years, some paid poorly while I did quite well with others. When I quit one it was for many reasons, but usually not the pay.

My first real job as a driver was working for a company that picked up grade A Guernsey bulk milk in southern Minnesota and northeast Iowa. They had two straight bulk tank trucks and each driver had two farm routes that alternated every other day. Their loads were pumped into a semi tanker which then was taken to Anderson Erickson dairy in Des Moines every night. In high school I got the daily job of climbing inside the tanks and cleaning and sanitizing them for the next day’s milk pickup. Back then you could get a chauffeur’s license to drive trucks at 18. After graduating in 1971 I got my license, and due to an opening, was hired as a driver and given a truck and two routes. The farmers were spread out and I was up at 3:30 every day to be at the first farm by 6:00 AM when they finished milking. There was a relief driver, so we all had two days off every week which varied. I loved that job. It was New Year’s Day and my day off. I was awakened in the middle of the night by a call from the other driver who wanted me to do his route. He had been partying because it was New Year’s Eve and hadn’t gotten any sleep. The relief driver was doing my route. My exact words were, “Too bad, you knew it was your day to work before you went out partying.” “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.” “Do your own route!” He was furious and called me every name in the book, but I held to my boundary line and refused to cover his sorry rear end. Due to other previous and later incidences, he was eventually fired. Sometime later, I got the job of driving the semi tanker to Des Moines. On one occasion I took the boss’s young brat son along. I later learned he told his dad everything and I felt like it was a setup to spy on me by the boss. Then came the day when the kid began to get in the truck when I was getting ready to pull out. I asked him what he thought he was doing. He said his dad said he could ride along. I told him no and he ran home crying. Within minutes the boss came storming to the shop. The conversation was very short. He told me he owned the truck, and his son was going. I told him I’m the driver, and he isn’t going. I got out of the truck and left the door open. I told him I’m a truck driver, not a babysitter. Motioning to the open door, I said, “If you don’t like it, then get in and drive it yourself and take your son with you.” I commenced to walk away, but he stopped me. He told his son to get in the pickup and they left. I drew the line and stood firm. I wasn’t fired and the kid never rode along again.

After getting some miles and a few years driving experience, I joined my dad who was driving for Bray Lines based out of Cushing, Oklahoma. (see picture in my post, Either Fight or Stay Home) We were a two-man team for two years, then they split us up and I got my own truck. I loved those years driving long-haul and seeing the country on my own. I got married in 1976 and agreed to get off the long-haul and got a job with Ruan Transport hauling bulk cement powder locally in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin which allowed me to be home every day. Because I was low on the driver board, I would get laid off during the slow winter months from November to May. In 1980 the trucking industry was deregulated which caused the bottom to fall out of our hauling. From May to October of that year I only made $7000. I quit and reluctantly took a job driving two-man team for a long-haul company. I was the second seat driver and we hauled mostly meat. It was Thanksgiving Day when my partner called and said we had to go. Without asking me he had accepted a load of swinging beef which had to be in Detroit the next morning. My wife was upset, but quickly made a hamburger to eat on the way while I packed some clothes. Our meal and plans were ruined. I told him what I thought about his stupidity and asked if he knew the word NO. We picked up the load from the meat packer at Fort Dodge and headed out with him driving, and it began to snow. We got east of Des Moines on I-80 and he was getting anxious and scared. I told him to get in the sleeper and I would drive because I couldn’t sleep with him driving anyway. I drove all the way to Detroit. When he woke up, we were at the dock being unloaded. He was surprised I drove straight through, and even more surprised when I told him this was my last trip. My exact words were, “Nobody pulls this stunt on me on Thanksgiving Day.” “No load or job is that important and you just crossed my line.” If I had to do it over, I would have quit the minute he called saying we had to go. There is a big difference between getting stuck away from home, which has happened to me, and having to leave home on a holiday. Some boundaries must be a little flexible, but not this one. I only worked there for a month. That was a tough winter, but we got by on my wife’s paycheck and me working for a farmer. In the Spring, out of the blue, a guy called me saying he needed a good driver. A mutual friend had given him my name. He was an owner operator and lived in the same town. He had a brand new Peterbilt 362 with a big 3406B CAT motor, 13 speed, queen-sized bunk, and all decked out with lots of chrome and aluminum. It was my dream truck and job. He was leased to International Transport based in Rochester, Mn. I had promised my wife not to go back to doing long-haul, but she released me to take the job given our current financial situation.

The next three years were some of the best driving years I’ve had. It was during that time (September 30th, 1983) that I accepted Jesus Christ as savior and was born-again. For more details I invite you to read my post entitled: Lessons from the Garage. My whole life and value system did a complete 180. We were getting ahead financially, but our marriage was crumbling. She left me and divorced me for reasons you wouldn’t expect. Please read my post entitled: Though None Go with Me. Quitting that job was hard for me. I returned to trucking after taking a short break to try to save our marriage. Some driver friends of mine had started their own company and I went to work driving for them. They had a fleet of 35 trucks. After a couple years they offered me an office job. I was Safety Director, Owner/Driver Recruiter, Freight Sales Rep., and occasional driver when needed. I was given a company car and free reign to travel with all expenses paid. There was one problem, I was Safety Director in name only but had no authority. They would hire guys and buddies and expect me to qualify them. One driver was disqualified for being blind in one eye, another had too many DWI’s, and the one boss’s son wasn’t old enough so they told him to lie on his application. I was instructed to hide the files, which I did not do. A few years passed and our insurance company came to do an audit to determine if we were operating according to DOT regulations. The results would determine the amount of the next premium. He went through all my files and asked me a lot of questions. There was one question concerning the dispatching of drivers who were out of hours to legally drive. The owners did all the dispatching, and I knew they would tell the drivers to use a second false log and just keep driving. I told the auditor to go ask them, and upon his return to my office he was told to ask me because I’m the Safety Director. I was not going to cross my boundary and lie for them. The auditor realized what they were doing and said he had his answer. One week later the bosses came into my office and told me I was no longer needed. It seems their insurance premium went up $10,000 because I wouldn’t lie and cover for them. I felt honored that I was fired for my integrity and for upholding my boundary. That was the only job I’ve ever been fired from, and I shed no tears. The next day I applied for and was hired again by Ruan Transport, and I was back doing what I loved, driving. I worked there for the next 15 years and was #4 driver on the board of 40 drivers when they closed the terminal.

The last company I drove for was Rost Transport. They are based in Missouri, but they brought five trucks up here to Iowa to haul out of the Lehigh Cement plant. I became the terminal manager and also drove every day. My job was to get the business, hire drivers, monitor and implement safety and maintenance of trucks and trailers. I soon learned about boundaries from an employer’s perspective. I had hired a young man with not much experience, but was willing to give him a chance. He did okay until he got in too big of a hurry and forgot to raise the brand-new hydraulic loading platform at Lehigh that is used to access the top of the trailer to open the hatch lid. He pulled away and brought it crashing to the ground. It cost us $18,000 plus put our trailer out of service until repaired. On another occasion he was scheduled to haul two loads to Mpls., but wanted off after the first load to go play golf with his friends. I told him that’s what weekends are for. I later fired him when he asked off to apply for another job on company time. Unfortunately, I had to fire two other drivers. One guy simply refused to follow instructions and wanted to do whatever he wanted, and it nearly cost us our best customer’s business. He got a ticket for not wearing his seat belt which is a major DOT violation. The home office said he’s done, fire him. The other driver claimed he hit a deer, but there was no blood or hair evidence on the truck or at the scene and no dead deer. He had fallen asleep and took out 100ft of guard railing and nearly totaled the truck costing $25,000 in repairs. The worst part was he drove it 30 more miles leaking oil and air, one whole fender and headlight gone, and parked it, then called me in the morning. I won’t even mention another driver who dropped a loaded trailer without lowering the dollies and drove off and kept going without looking back. Amateurs!  

I’m sure if I thought about it there were many other incidences that my job boundaries were challenged over the years. However, if you’re going to be a truck driver, you must understand and go into it with the attitude that this is not a 9-5 job. You are on the job from the time you leave until the time you get home. That can be 14 hours, several days, or weeks. Two more related readings on this subject I think you’d enjoy are my posts, The Last of the Last at Last and Love Wife Hate Shopping.  I want to conclude this one with this short verse, Matthew 5:37 Let your “Yes” be “Yes”, and your “No”, “No”.