Find your outlet

We all need to stop and enjoy each day, tough to do when we are caught up with the stress of work and bills and bringing up a family but the days do fly by and in the end you need to be at peace with yourself that you did your best.

What or where is your spot where your worries disappear?

What do you enjoy?
Music, camping, watching your kids run around in the backyard?

Identify your spot and go there, physically or even just in your head.

Work so you can live.....do not live so you can work.

Self guilt can destroy you, don't allow it too. If you enjoy it -then relax and enjoy it.

 Work toward it , think basics, you do not need bigger or better to enjoy.

 Most of life's real pleasuers are simple.

The smile of a loved one, the sound of the wind through the trees in your back deck or just taking the time to grill a burger and have a beer with a friend.

Keep it simple, STOP, LOOK and LISTEN......find your outlook.

Constantly pulling

Their are some people in the work place that you constantly feel you are pulling.

They really do not like their job or they have problems in their personal life that they allow to spill over into their business life's.

Either way you are constantly having to pull them along.
It completely stresses you out.

Then their are those people around you that join in and help and are trying to be one step in front of it.
Those people you need to embrace and you need to give them the support and tools they need to stay charged up and moving forward.

They will always be those that resist and prefer to do as little as possible. They will not pick up that box right in front of them unless you ask them too.
Best we can do is to try to identify those people and try as best we can to bring them into the light. To encourage them to think on their own.

Some just will not want to, your position then is to decide they they still serve a purpose and are they more destructive then constructive.

Unfortunately those people that continue to pull will never get ahead , they will never really get to feel the positives feeling of team work or accomplishments.
They have already predetermined their future, you need to decide are you better of moving on without them because they are pulling you down too.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

In Her Own Words: Madeleine Albright Keynote Address to the Class of 2012

"Live each day with the knowledge that your actions and choices truly do count"

To the parents who are here, I suspect that your emotions are a little bit mixed. You feel both incredibly proud that this moment has finally arrived and yet also astonished at how brief the interval can seem between diapers and diplomas. To the alumni, today’s ceremony will in fact bring back memories of your own college years, which in my case took place about halfway between the invention of the iPod and the discovery of fire.

Now the theory behind a Commencement address is that an older person will share the wisdom of his or her generation with the young based on the older generation’s superior insight into life. I’m not sure that there’s a young person alive who actually subscribes to this theory. In fact if I were sitting where you are today, I might well have some very serious questions.

For example, if older people are so smart, why haven’t we done more to create good jobs so that this year’s graduating class could look forward with less anxiety and more opportunity? Why have we stood by and allowed such an unconscionable gap to grow between rich and poor in our own country and overseas? Why in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence have we done so little to safeguard the environmental health of our planet? Why do our politicians so often remind us of kindergartners who refuse to share the swings? And why are older people in general so clueless about wireless communications?

It would be natural then, if in addition to the excitement of this graduation day, you’re feeling a little sorry for yourselves because the world you’re about to inherit is a troubled one. But to those who see this imperfect request as unfair, in the words of Bradley [Bermont, RWU Student Commencement Speaker], get over it! Every generation has its burdens
It used to be that when coming of age most people had a fair idea of where they would live and what careers they would pursue, many following their parents’ footsteps or finding a niche in a stable profession. However, today stability is an alien concept. In the past decade alone, many of the brand names that flourished when you were younger – from Toys ‘R Us to Blockbuster and MySpace – have fallen under hard times. Meanwhile, such fields as law, business, engineering, healthcare, journalism and education are being transformed.
So as you look ahead, you realize that the demands of the workplace will continue to change and that maintaining a certain level of knowledge is no longer enough. Whether your primary goal is personal success, community service or a combination of the two, you will have to keep learning because there’s always more to know. For this you should be grateful because the quest to learn more is a vital part of what it means to be alive.
It is what prompts us to look at an ocean and want to find ways to preserve the miracle of life within it. To create an innovative work of art that will excite experts and non-experts alike; to design a building in a style not previously attempted; or to develop fresh strategies for taking on the international axis of evil – poverty, ignorance and disease. The desire to do everything you can with the time you have will, if you let it, enable you to reach new frontiers no matter how far from home you actually travel. But as you explore the world in this era of constant change, I advise you also to bear in mind what does not change.

I actually cut her speech up a bit, to see her speech in it's entirety click on this link...

http://pdq.rwu.edu/news/Albright-Keynote-Address

THANK YOU

Today, on Memorial Day , we honor the memory of the Courageous and Patriotic Members of the U.S Armed Forces, who have given their lives for our freedom and our country.

Background on Memorial Day

Background

Memorial Day started as an event to honor Union soldiers, who had died during the American Civil War. It was inspired by the way people in the Southern states honored their dead. After World War I, it was extended to include all men and women, who died in any war or military action.
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day. The current name for this day did not come into use until after World War II. Decoration Day and then Memorial Day used to be held on May 30, regardless of the day of the week, on which it fell. In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed as part of a move to use federal holidays to create three-day weekends. This meant that that, from 1971, Memorial Day holiday has been officially observed on the last Monday in May. However, it took a longer period for all American states to recognize the new date.

Memorial Day

Many of us have a long weekend this coming up with BBQ'S and beaches and gatherings with friends and loved ones.

It's the official start of summer and a time to exhale and relax.

Somewhere in there try to take the time to remember what the holiday is also about, Monday is Memorial Day. A day to salute all those that have served and are serving in our military.

Many have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. And make no mistake about it with all it's false we still are the best Country on the planet. If you do not realize that or understand it just travel abroad and look around.

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE...

To all those have worn and are wearing our uniforms we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

FROM DRIVER SKIP...

Ok..I ' m going to post a good memory....so funny I still laugh. A long time ago ( maybe 5 or 6 years ago). While working  nights...I got a call...someone wanting to apply for...the supposedly open advertised....job of hauling......you ready?....cadavers!!!!0( I sure hope I spelled that right) you know dead bodies! Ha anyhow I said something like that must stink...and they...being very serious said oh no....its a refrigerated trailer! Ha....I was on my knees laughing by myself...because no one else there...I had more fun...but none of the day crew saw it that way....Whoever played that prank on me...it was so good! Thanks for all the memories! Never a dull moment on nights dispatching.

EACH DAY....

Each day on the way to work I thank GOD for all that I have and ask for the strength to talk and the wisdom to listen.

I ask to forgive myself when I am out of line or say something that may hurt someone and ask to allow me to forgive those that do so to me.

It simply is not worth carrying that weight around.

I ask to allow me to make the right decisions, for the good and the positive and not the negative or vengeful.

I ask to use me to try to make a difference in some one's life and not be ruled by the almighty dollar.

Most of all I am thankful for what I have and who I have in my life and for the opportunities that I have.

It soooooo easy to get caught up in the day to day, I find by saying these things out loud daily I help remind myself of what is important and to try to stay grounded.

Hang on to the raft

Here we go again....hang on to the raft.

That is what the summer feels like, Memorial Day is next Monday but we are already in full swing.

Hopefully what we have discussed about with Time Management, Stress Management and Team work will help us all.

We certainly need all components to make it through and to do a good job.

We will all have those days when we are at our peak and feel like it is starting to envelope us but take a deep breath and if you have to go take a walk and clear your head......this too will pass.

Keep your prospective on things and think positive....count your blessings and hang on.

A nice email from one of our customers...

Good Day,

I just wanted to take a moment to express my satisfaction with Mr. Bird, the mover assigned to me.

The Pick Up

This was my first professional move and this was such a great experience.  The process was explained to me and I saw how my belongings were handled with care.  Things that may have been an issue was quickly brought to my attention.  Mr. Bird made me feel very comfortable and confident with him moving “my life” to another state.

Mr. Bird and his men were very professional and courteous.

The Drop off

Mr. Bird stated a date and time and he stuck to his word.  He delivered my household goods just when he said he would! OMG…I was so glad because I was able to start the week off right.

All my goods were delivered in one piece!  It was such a joy and pleasure to work with Mr. Bird.  If any of my family or friends need a referral for a mover, I am going to recommend Mr. Bird.

I’ve heard and read horror stories of moves gone wrong.  I was blessed to have been paired with someone like Mr. Bird for my first experience. 

Thank you Arpin!

TIME MAAGEMENT- TIP #5

5. It takes too much time to become productive.

Belief: I don't have the time to set up a system. I've got too much to do.

Reality: You can save one to two hours a day by implementing a system to manage your information—a significant return on the initial time investment.

According to some statistics, workers typically spend two to three hours a day in email and 60 minutes a day finding and filing information. After setting up an information-management system, they still spend one to two hours a day in email but spend just 10 minutes a day finding and filing information—a savings of nearly two hours a day, or almost 12 weeks a year!

Take a moment and consider the time you spend:

• Finding and filing information.
• Writing a to-do list and then rewriting it a week later on another list, and then another.
• Opening an email, reading it, closing it, and then coming back to the same email to read it again tomorrow.
• Going to the store and realizing you don’t know, for example, the model of the hardware you need to pick up.

These are just a few examples of how we waste time by not having a way to coordinate scheduling, allocate resources, consolidate communication, and store and access information. Take the time to set up your system. You can't afford not to.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP #4

4. There's not enough time in the day!

Belief: I just don't have the time to do all the things I want.

Reality: Time is not the issue. The issue is deciding what you can do given the time you have.

As you know, managing your time with Olympian skill doesn't create more hours in the day. We all have the same 24 hours, so the issue isn't managing time—it's managing what you can do with the time you have. You can't do everything, but you can do anything, as long as it fits into your calendar.

If you keep your to-do lists in multiple locations—in email, on a paper calendar, in a notepad, in an Excel spreadsheet, in addition to in your head—you might want to leverage Outlook to consolidate, centralize, and prioritize these lists. Start by creating tasks, as described in step 3. When you create a task, you can set reminders, set the task to recur at a chosen interval, track its status, and more, so you always know what to do and when to do it. Tasks also appear in the To-Do Bar in Outlook, together with other Outlook items, such as email or contacts, that have been flagged for follow-up. The To-Do Bar appears in all views of Outlook:

TIME MANGEMENT- TIP #3

3. Organization cramps my freedom and creativity.

Belief: Being organized blocks my creativity, and there's nothing spontaneous about it.

Reality: Organization actually fosters and supports creativity and spontaneity. For instance, the non-stop flood of reminders spinning around your head can disrupt your creativity—reminders such as:

• Call Kevin at the VA location and check on Joe's move
• Review Smith's move with driver

Imagine if you could clear your mind of all these lists and transfer them to Microsoft Outlook. You can do this by creating an Outlook task for each item. Storing your tasks in Outlook can create space for new ideas and creative thinking. You can create a task out of any Outlook item, such as an email message, contact, calendar item, or note.

To get control of all the "stuff" in your life, set up a system for storing reference information, turning action information into tasks, and scheduling tasks on your calendar. After you've set up your reference system, you'll find that it supports your creativity and spontaneity. The best result is that you can close your system, knowing that everything is taken care of so you can relax and let go!

---

TIME MANAGEMENT- TIP #2

2. I have to keep everything.

Belief: I have to keep everything. You just never know when you might need it!

Reality: On average, you can throw away 50 percent of stored information—with no ramifications. But if you're a "keeper" (you know who you are), there's nothing quite as satisfying as laying your hands on that file that no one else can find. Locating it justifies all of your filing and storing efforts. You might recognize yourself in one of these statements:

• I got badly burned when I couldn't lay my hands on an important document. Now, I'm afraid to let go of information.
• I want to be able to justify the decisions I make, so I keep everything.
• If my system crashes, I want backup information.
• I felt so good when no one else could find "that document." As a result, I decided to keep everything so I could continue being helpful.

At some point you made a decision about keeping all your information. That decision has been driving you ever since, but it may not be appropriate in your current situation.

The truth is that most people use only 15 percent of what they file, and this makes filing the other 85 percent ineffective. By clarifying what is useful and letting go of the rest, you can develop a streamlined, functional filing system, make it easier to find what you do keep, and save valuable time and energy that you can direct to more meaningful tasks.

TIME MANAGEMENT- 5 TIPS AND BELIEFS-

Time management tips: 5 beliefs that limit productivity

Productivity—both at home and at work—depends on multiple factors, not the least of which are time management and organization.

1. There's too much information coming at me too fast.

Belief: My email is overwhelming me. I can't keep up with it.

Reality: The volume of email isn't the issue. How you process and organize the volume is the issue, and if you're not careful, the quantity of data might drive you rather than vice versa. If you flex your organizational muscle, though, you can get a handle on the ever-increasing influx of data and information and transform this belief.

More this week......

Solid advise for anyone ....

Advise to the graduation class at Roger Williams University from their International Admissions Counselor, Michael Vieira,...but advise we can all live by....

Here at Roger Williams University, Graduation for the class of 2012 is fast approaching and to all of the graduating seniors, I can say without hesitation that the message I’ve heard repeatedly from all offices on campus is that you will be missed. To all of the seniors that I have come in contact with and especially those that have worked here in the admission office, it is truly sad to see you go but I know you will all continue to do great things after graduation. It is important to me to note that I said “after graduation” and not “in the real world” because that is an expression that has always bothered me, when people refer to graduating as entering the “real world”. I assure you that as you move forward in life nothing will be more “real” than the friends, contacts, experiences and lessons that you have accumulated throughout your college years, both inside and outside of the classroom.
With that in mind, my advice to the graduating class of 2012 is stay in touch. It will seem easy at first and grow harder over time but it is a pursuit that is well worth the effort. Put aside time during your week to call or text friends, to hear their stories and catch up on what is happening in each other’s lives. Write thank you letters and email updates to the university faculty and staff who have worked with you and who will continue to work with you as job references and advisors for the decisions that lie ahead. Don’t let yourself lose touch as you move forward, because the network you have built during your college years will be instrumental in your life both personally and professionally, and have an impact on the amazing places I am sure you will all go. In the wise words of Dr. Seuss:

“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

TEAMWORK

Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.
Teamwork is working together — even when apart.
Coming together, sharing together, working together, succeeding together.

Teamwork doesn't tolerate the inconvenience of distance.
Teamwork represents a set of values that encourage behaviors such as listening and constructively responding to points of view expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support to those who need it, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others.

No problem is insurmountable. With a little courage, teamwork and determination a person can overcome anything.

Sucked in again

Even after over 30 years in business and writing blogs on stress and how to handle situations I still get sucked in.
I guess the biggest difference now is at least I do identify it earlier (not handling situations correctly) and then I try applying all I have wrote or read about and get it back in check.

It certainly can happen to all us, if the moment is right and someone pushes the right button even with all the training in the world we can still handle it wrong.

The other day I had a driver pretty much stare me down and he caught me at the absolute best time for me - not- to handle the situation correctly.

Our initial reaction is to get defensive, and that is what I did.
I do not handle threats well. I do not threaten people and I do like being threatened or like it when someone gives me ultimatums.
I truly believe that in business we are partners. Rather it's is an agent, employee, driver or any third parties that we work with. Neither should feel the need nor the right to stare a person down or threaten.
If you do that what you do is break that trust and partnership and even if you are able to pull it together and get by it you really never feel the same.
It is no different in your personnel relationships, when someone lies or cheats or threatens you may forgive but it is really hard to forget.

I try to bring it back to the surface, literally take a deep breath and put things in perspective.

It is not easy but if you stay sucked in it will only defeat you and take over.

It just is not worth it.......I am still learning.......breathe grasshopper...breathe.

Stress Management Stratergy #4

Stress management strategy #4: Accept the things you can’t change

Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.

• Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control— particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to problems.
• Look for the upside. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth. If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn from your mistakes.
• Share your feelings. Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a therapist. Expressing what you’re going through can be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation.
• Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.

Stress Management Stratergy #3

Stress management strategy #3: Adapt to the stressor

If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.

• Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.
• Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.
• Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
• Focus on the positive. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.

Stress Management Stratergy #2

Stress management strategy #2: Alter the situation

If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you can do to change things so the problem doesn’t present itself in the future. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.

• Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your feelings, resentment will build and the situation will likely remain the same.
• Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground.
• Be more assertive. Don’t take a backseat in your own life. Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. If you’ve got an exam to study for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only have five minutes to talk.
• Manage your time better. Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When you’re stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and focused. But if you plan ahead and make sure you don’t overextend yourself, you can alter the amount of stress you’re under.

Stress management Stratergy #1

Stress management strategy #1: Avoid unnecessary stress

Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.

• Learn how to say “no” – Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal or professional life, refuse to accept added responsibilities when you’re close to reaching them. Taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress.
• Avoid people who stress you out – If someone consistently causes stress in your life and you can’t turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend with that person or end the relationship entirely.
• Take control of your environment – If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off. If traffic’s got you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, do your grocery shopping online.
• Avoid hot-button topics – If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your conversation list. If you repeatedly argue about the same subject with the same people, stop bringing it up or excuse yourself when it’s the topic of discussion.
• Pare down your to-do list – Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you’ve got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts.” Drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely.

STRESS

Identify the sources of stress in your life

Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Your true sources of stress aren’t always obvious, and it’s all too easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines. But maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that leads to deadline stress.

To identify your true sources of stress, look closely at your habits, attitude, and excuses:

• Do you explain away stress as temporary (“I just have a million things going on right now”) even though you can’t remember the last time you took a breather?
• Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life (“Things are always crazy around here”) or as a part of your personality (“I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all”).
• Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view it as entirely normal and unexceptional?

Until you accept responsibility for the role you play in creating or maintaining it, your stress level will remain outside your control.

Stress in our lifes

We all have stress.

With our busy season on us once again this week our subject is "Stress Management".

How to identify it and some ideas and suggestions on how to manage it.

Like I said we all have it, work, finances, personnel relationships, health issues with yourself or a loved one.
It all can stress you out and if you allow it it will effect your mood and attitude and in return it will just add more stress.
One day carries over to the next and the next and without even knowing it you become "that guy".
The guy that others point to and whisper about and the one that people start to avoid so not to hear all of your troubles and negativity.

First and foremost understand that we all have it.
Just because we don't wear it on our sleeves and share it with everyone does not mean we do have stress also.

Take the time to read the blog this week as we try to discuss - Stress Management and do your friends and loved ones a favor and send them this link so they can join in. Maybe someting will be said to help them too.

And please feel free to share your stories.

Connect the dots...

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
Steve Jobs

Shhhhhhh...do you hear that ...?

Do you hear that.....it's the theme from Jaws......the busy season in the moving buisness it once again upon us.
This week our registrations and offers heated up for moves wanting to load in May, June and even some July.
I can feel the tention and the felling of being overwhelmed in operations already.
It is always difficult to adjust our minds and our daily routines when the gun goes off.

More and more , especially with our military moves, it is like flicking on a light switch. One day we are slow and the next day we have problems trying to get jobs covered.

For the past few years May has been the month that it begins and it looks like this year will be the same.

Drivers and agent dispatch are also adjusting and getting prepared, if that's possible.

With that drivers always start to get wondering eyes and want to know what the other guy is doing in fear that they will not get that "fat" load .
Paul Arpin would always say it is not always what you do in the 3-4 months of the busy season that counts, it's what you do the rest of the year.

Agent operations start to fill their bag as quick as they can because they have been slow and they want to assure their business.
Be wise and watch what you take and who you take it from.

More people think that they can just always take jobs from any carrier, they look at the discounts and for a few percentage points they jump around.
Again it is not what you all do in the next few months that will matter in the long run. Who will feed you year round? Who do you trust will be there when you need them?
In order for us to keep good scores and our alliances with our top accounts we need to be there for them year round. If so they will reward us all with that tonnage that we all need in the off season.

Take a breath...take one day at a time and keep your partners and your alliances in check, you will need them. Any business is all about working with each other and knowing that the other guy has your back.

At Arpin we still have Paul Arpin's philosophy with our drivers. He grew this company knowing that our drivers are our most important partners. Having been a driver himself he knew first hand.

For all you dispatchers out there hang on to the raft once again and work together.
For all our drivers, thank you and understand that you have a building full of people at Headquarters that are working for you- year round.
For our agent operations out there please communicate with all of us and assist our drivers when they roll into your town.

Remember we are family -and if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.

RUN WITH IT

I have worked with a lot of people that are very good employees and will do what ever is asked of them.
What separates the good and the best is the ones that do not wait to be asked to do something, the anticipate what needs to be done and they DO IT.....THEY RUN WITH IT.

Understand that to separate yourself from the crowd you only need to be in front of it.

There is always a place for those employees that follow instructions well and do what is required and if all goes well you may even be able exist in that position for a good amount of time.

Do you want security? Are you satisfied with just having a job, or do you want a career ?

You want to be the person who is the " go to person " the person who not only does what is asked of them but sees how to make it better it goes after it.
Comes up with ideas and follow your heart, believe in yourself.
Do not want to step forward in fear of making a mistake, everybody makes mistakes.

It does not matter what you do or what title you may hold, always give your best and do not settle,
RUN WITH IT

Really??

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from the head of our agent advisory board, he has said that another agent called him pitching a fit over having to pick a job up. According to the the chairman of the AAB the agent was actually yelling, he said that it was 12,000 lbs and March and could not understand why dispatch had called him to pick up 12,000 lbs.
(He does not call and ask dispatch why)

Well, after further investigation the move was planned on a driver who lived in the area of the origin agent and days before the load the driver called with some very sad news, his wife had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. He of coarse needed to be home to help support his wife and help her with her visits to the doctor's.

Dispatch had just found this out started to look for a plan "B" to load his jobs. They also noticed that the 12,000 lbs was registered as a shuttle so the dispatcher called the origin agent only to ask if it would be possible under the circumstances to shuttle the job back to their warehouse if we came up short in finding another driver.
From there the agent owner calls the chairman of the AAB yelling.......REALLY??

As it turns out the original driver planned actually helped us load it and we transferred it.

As I have said many times before there are always reasons and stories, our job is to move past them and to try to solve problems- together- the best we can.

This is a people business and in it real life things happen, people get sick, emergencies arise , accidents occur.....it happens on a local basis as well as the long haul fleet.


We have had drivers and employees do the same thing, when something happens negatively it is a knee jerk reaction that we all have to point and blame.
Slow down, worry about your house and thank GOD that whatever occurred to cause the situation did not happen to you.

Be part of the solution..

SPEAK UP

Below is an excerpt from a book, Rolling Pennies in the Dark" written by Douglas MacKinnon.

As I see it, one of the major problems facing our nation, and especially the poor of our nation, is that nobody wants to get involved. NOBODY.
And because nobody wants to get involved, mostly bad things happen. Very bad things. And these bad things happen because good people choose to ignore the evil before them and purposefully look the other way.
I have always been struck by the quote by Pastor Martin Niemoller with the United States Congress in 1968:

They came first for the Communist,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionist,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one left to speak up.

Our country and the world in general are on a collision course with this indifference and selfishness. Every day we spiral down further into the abyss of ignoring those who need our help, while running and hiding from the trouble.

"We are our brother's keeper"

SPEAK UP