Fuel for Thought

That's Not My Job

“That's Not My Job” or “ I Don't Get Paid To Do That”

 We have all heard it. Maybe it was you who said it. For many it may be true.

 As an owner-operator, while it may be technically true in some instances, it may a be part of my job at this moment.

 No one wants to do their job for nothing, or someone else's job for that matter, but are you really? When situations arise in the course of your work day that are thrust upon you as one of your new duties, how do you react?

 Treat these opportunities for what they are, opportunities. Recently I was at a shipper and the forklift driver was overwhelmed with trucks coming in to be loaded. He was shorthanded for whatever reason, I didn't ask. He was running around trying to help everyone, but getting behind. It was going to be a long while before he got it all done. And there were a few trucks ahead of me that had already been waiting. I had an appointment, but there was nothing he could do to speed things up. Since he already showed me where my freight was located, I asked if I could load it myself with a pallet jack. He looked a little surprised, and then allowed me to load my own truck. It was only a few pieces. All of the other drivers there were standing near their trucks just waiting for him to do his job and load their trucks. I loaded mine in just a few minutes, found the forklift driver, got my documents signed and was on my way. One of the other drivers there waiting asked me “ So he's making you load your own truck? Hope you're getting paid for it”. To which I replied “I am.”

  From this brief interaction, I'm pretty sure he thought I was getting paid directly, in dollars. When in fact, there was no monetary compensation for it at all. I was paid however, indirectly. I was able to leave from the shipper earlier, which allowed me to get ahead of traffic, my customer was happy, and I have received other loads because of this.

 I could have waited around for a couple of hours to get loaded and maybe got paid for some detention time. It might have been ¼ or ½ hour detention pay.  What does 15 minutes of driver assist or detention pay you?

 In this case, mine paid zero at the time, but I am still getting dividends on my 15 minute investment.

 Not my job, maybe, but in order to do my job, sometimes you have to take a detour.

  Will you “Go the extra mile” or just wait?

  What do you do when you are told to wait?

See ya down the road.

Greg

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

- Benjamin Franklin