In the trucking profession, you meet a lot of people from different corners of our nation and sometimes even from other countries. Sometimes these chance meetings turn into long time friendships. These friendships can be very rewarding. It’s nice having friends or acquaintances that can be that person you need when things go awry while out on the road.
I try to be this same kind of friend to other drivers when they call needing help. Sometimes it’s a simple call for directions somewhere I have been, technical questions, where to get their equipment repaired, how to load a certain commodity, sharing business strategies, or in some cases sharing personal problems.
It’s funny how just today as I sat down to share my thoughts on this subject of friends an owner-operator who I have known for over a decade just called me to say thank you for putting him in touch with the right people to solve the issue he was having on his truck.
Yet there are long time friends like my best friend Chuck which dates all the way back to when I was seventeen years of age. Chuck is one of those friends where you can not speak to each other for months and when we connect its like we pick up right where we left off.
There are friends like Linda Caffee, who is also a Freightliner Team Run Smart Pro like myself, who I met in 2007 at the Mid America Truck Show in Louisville, KY. Who would have thought that a chance meeting in the Papa Johns parking lot in Louisville would have led to such a long rewarding friendship?
Since then we have helped each other to hone our skills not just in trucking. We have coached each other through public speaking, blogging, social media, leadership, spreadsheets, and so much more. There are times when you get tired just from the monotony of the highway and a quick call has you wide awake and alert as there is a voice to interact with through the headset.
It's also a good idea to have friends like this to check on you when you are ill on the road. Linda is one of those people whom I will share my location with in these kinds of situations. When you are sick and parked at a travel center, it’s a good idea to have someone checking on you who knows the lay of the land. Linda has the numbers of whom to contact for me should things get worse as well.
The best friend a person can have is one who is not afraid to disagree with you and call you out if you are going down the wrong path. It’s a real friendship when you can have a heated debate where there is a massive disagreement and come to an agreement in the end.
Over the years I have been fortunate to have friends from all walks of life which all made my time on this planet enjoyable and rewarding. Over the years my list of close friends has come from truck stop personnel, dock workers, office workers, executives, engineers, other drivers, law enforcement officers and so much more.
There are times when simple acts of kindness from these relationships will warm your heart in what seems like a cold world out there. Some examples are:
- Over time a simple cup of coffee lead to a lifelong partner for life. Coffee is good!
- A waitress who often had her young son with her at the truck stop because she had no one to watch him. I would often play bag toss with him just outside the restaurant window. Well, they found out that I was going to be “hung” up at the travel center on Thanksgiving Day and they brought me turkey and all of the fixings from their meal at home.
- Or the engineer who often calls to get my “grassroots” thoughts.
- The salesman who is constantly challenging me to step up my game.
- The many truck drivers who call to just shoot the breeze and pass time.
- The retired Vice President of a major company who will call and challenge me with stimulating conversation.
- The driver I met many many years ago towards the beginning of my trucking career and when we next met ten years had passed. We started talking and have stayed in touch ever since then. We probably would have stayed in touch earlier but we first met prior to everyone having cell phones or social media.
- The waitress who remembered I liked apple pie better than cake and brought me a piece on my birthday every year.
- The truck safety liaison who constantly challenged me in many ways beyond just writing better.
This list could go on and on, seemingly for an eternity, so let me end this by saying I feel very rich from the number of people I have met during my trucking career which I feel proud to call a friend. Thank you to all who have made an impact on my life.