I'm steppin into twilight-destination unknown.
Double-crossed messenger, all alone...
Got to Van Buren on wednesday to get my data transferred to my new computer and pick up my long-overdue corporate debit card and checkbook from Mailboxes etc.
These weren't there. I called E-Trade and managed to remain semi-calm as I demanded they be sent immediately. I was told that my card would be Fed-Exed, and get there within 2-4 business days.
Can't get no connection--can't get through, where are you?
I remained out of service at a hotel, and yesterday--monday--the Fed-Ex had arrived. Yay! I can finally get back on the road and stop losing my freaking shirt.
The new card was under my social security number, and the address on it was an address I haven't used for three years. In fact, the address before the address before this one.
So I call in apoplexy, and it takes a few minutes for me to calm down enough to bring the INDIAN guy on the phone up to speed. Ok goody they'll fix the error and it will only take merely 7-10 business days!!!
(Note: E-Trade sat on the account application for two months, and I had to raise hell to get it set up. After it was set up, the debit card and checkbook was supposed to be there in 7-10 business days. That was about five weeks ago. They also belatedly informed me that my corporate and private accounts could not be linked; that I can't PAY myself. Which is why I'm moving my private account and the bulk of my funds to another institution).
Well, I guess I have to keep bleeding into the margin of my personal account and go out on the road. I've already lost a ton of money.
So on the way to pick up my load, my ten day old alternator goes out.
..............I take it to Kenworth. They say they can't honor the warrantee. And that TA listed the wrong alternator number on the invoice.
They helped me out. I called the TA, and they said the invoice was not alterable. I had that guy call the Kenworth parts guy and they worked out that they could get the new alternator from Freightliner and the warrantee would be good.
So now I'm in another hotel room with my alternator-less truck in the shop and Matt no doubt thinking I've got to be making all this crap up because it's so unbelievable.
Well Feightliner and TA are open now so I've got to start making more phone calls and try to get the hell out of here so I can come BACK later to get my debit card.
What next?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Screwed
It's 1120 sunday in Rockwall, TX. Had an emergency on friday. The alternator went out, and I managed to get it here, to the TA, for repairs. When this happens, we're taken out-of-service, and off the load board.
When we get out of the shop, we send what's called a macro 15--saying we're back. The computer puts us back on the board at this time, and we get in-line for a load. I put mine in at around 8:15 pm friday.
After midnight sunday morning, a dispatcher told me to put in a mac 15 when my truck was out of the shop. I told him that I had, over 26 hours earlier. He simply told me to put in another one. He's a rather unsympathetic bastard.
Anyway, this morning I called to ask where I was in line. A less bastardly dispatcher started counting, and I started raising hell. She couldn't figure out why on earth I had been taken off the board in the first place, but did tell me that it had to have been a person, and not the computer. And no, whe couldn't override the computer and put me atop the list, where I should have been well over a DAY ago.
She's trying to hustle me up a load now, which I appreciate, but this has cost me about a thousand bucks. When I get back to Van Buren for the TIME OFF I have scheduled (losing more money), I'm going to see some people about this.
WHY was I taken off the board, and WHO did this to me? It was malicious.
I've got to say this, because it's relevant: I'm one of the best truckers in the industry, let alone this company. I'm almost always early and never late, am extremely productive, go above and beyond what's expected of mere mortals as a matter of course, and am good with customers. I solve most of my own problems--a dispatcher's dream.
WHY THE HELL DID I GET SCREWED LIKE THIS? WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?
I bet I can't even nail the culprit down. Unless they have set stations with sign-in codes or something, it could be any one of 2-4 people working that shift. But I'll tell you, if I can find this bastard (or bastardette), I'll do all I can to get them fired.
Dammit.
When we get out of the shop, we send what's called a macro 15--saying we're back. The computer puts us back on the board at this time, and we get in-line for a load. I put mine in at around 8:15 pm friday.
After midnight sunday morning, a dispatcher told me to put in a mac 15 when my truck was out of the shop. I told him that I had, over 26 hours earlier. He simply told me to put in another one. He's a rather unsympathetic bastard.
Anyway, this morning I called to ask where I was in line. A less bastardly dispatcher started counting, and I started raising hell. She couldn't figure out why on earth I had been taken off the board in the first place, but did tell me that it had to have been a person, and not the computer. And no, whe couldn't override the computer and put me atop the list, where I should have been well over a DAY ago.
She's trying to hustle me up a load now, which I appreciate, but this has cost me about a thousand bucks. When I get back to Van Buren for the TIME OFF I have scheduled (losing more money), I'm going to see some people about this.
WHY was I taken off the board, and WHO did this to me? It was malicious.
I've got to say this, because it's relevant: I'm one of the best truckers in the industry, let alone this company. I'm almost always early and never late, am extremely productive, go above and beyond what's expected of mere mortals as a matter of course, and am good with customers. I solve most of my own problems--a dispatcher's dream.
WHY THE HELL DID I GET SCREWED LIKE THIS? WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?
I bet I can't even nail the culprit down. Unless they have set stations with sign-in codes or something, it could be any one of 2-4 people working that shift. But I'll tell you, if I can find this bastard (or bastardette), I'll do all I can to get them fired.
Dammit.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Business and Lawyers
I incorporated in Nevada and set up a corporate account with E-Trade in order to avoid paying SEVENTEEN PERCENT SSI taxes. (Thank you FDR and the rest of you damn socialists.)
An S-Corp is a "flow-through" entity. My intent was to recieve my pay from my leasing company as the Corporation, and then, via electronic transfers, pay myself a salary as the driver--and also my SEP IRA if applicable, or 401k if not.
After MONTHS of foot-dragging and red tape, at long last everything is set up. I sent in a notarized letter stating that I'm the sole owner or officer in the Corp. and directing them to link the accounts.
THEY CAN'T. I have a separate tax ID for the corporation, and their software won't even allow it. Thank you lawyers--I know it was you. Somebody somewhere used an S-corp to rip off a feloow shareholder and now I'm all messed up.
So I went hunting for a new Broker. Found one that enables me to trade commodities as well as stocks--cool. I get a debit card and checking--critical. Commissions a little high, but not too bad. Self-directed SEP IRA check.
Finally, at long last, my first paycheck has appeared in the corporate account. For the last three weeks, while it was being set up, it defaulted to my comcheck account (a service set up for us truckers. I leave it there and use my debot card to withdraw from ATMs while my other accounts grow...sometimes...unmolested).
Provided the new broker doesn't for some lawyerly reason prevent it, I will move my SEP IRA and personal accounts to the new broker. This is the vast majority of my assets--I hope it makes E-Trade happy.
The Corporation (Bat Owtahel Inc.) will get my weekly pay. Then, weekly or bi-weekly or whatever, it will send over half of this money to me, the driver, and my SEP IRA or 401k or whatever.
The Corporation will invest less aggressively and pay for hotel rooms, repairs, computer stuff, and all other deductables. It is (so far) taxed at 15% in addition to capital gains, so I won't skimp on the expenses and stuff. for instance, for now I had to use my personal account to buy my new laptop. I went for the best I could get, and paid more for it. I'm going to get a data-transfer, and a lighter/cheaper backup computer with an identical transfer, and the Corp., which is now funded, will pay for it all.
Obama wants to jack me up to 25%, and I can't move overseas. To bad when the pinkos chase everybody else out, the freight will drop. They don't care--they'll blame Bush and tax cuts haha!
...but I digress. Here's the microcosm:
Because of liability (ie lawsuits), E-Trade has gummed up my plans, so I'm moving most of my funds elsewhere. The analogy is excessive regulation and rediculous litigation. The metaphore is Toyota or someone else moving out of the US, along with the jobs, tax revenues, etc.
Because of SSI, I've incorporated, and am doing everything I can to avoid taxes of every kind--and I will succeed. If not for this socialist program, and politicians even TALKING about robbing me some more, I would have preferred to remain an individual and pay REASONABLE taxes. They got too greedy. See "Laffer Curve".
Another reason I want to avoid taxes: I don't want my money used to bail out people who made mistakes in real estate. I was wiped out twice in the markets, and own the responsibility for it. Preposterous things happened, but the only place I aimed my finger was at the mirror. That is being an american. That is what we used to be. Not children needing nurturing by a parent who breaks my more responsible siblings' piggy banks and gives me their pennies because I screwed up.
If you still can't see what's happening to us, and why, you are blind.
PS The oil companies made 8%. In 2004 they made about 618 billion, and paid OVER FIVE BILLION IN TAXES. That's before at-the-pump taxes. 40% of the population is invested in them. They aren't allowed in Alaska or offshore--meanwhile China is drilling off the coast of Cuba.
Was it Lenin, or Lerner? "Blame the burgoise. The ignorant masses will fall for it every time!" (I'm paraphrasing. Came from flyers I read 30 years ago in the intelligence library).
More mud for your brain! Wake up.
An S-Corp is a "flow-through" entity. My intent was to recieve my pay from my leasing company as the Corporation, and then, via electronic transfers, pay myself a salary as the driver--and also my SEP IRA if applicable, or 401k if not.
After MONTHS of foot-dragging and red tape, at long last everything is set up. I sent in a notarized letter stating that I'm the sole owner or officer in the Corp. and directing them to link the accounts.
THEY CAN'T. I have a separate tax ID for the corporation, and their software won't even allow it. Thank you lawyers--I know it was you. Somebody somewhere used an S-corp to rip off a feloow shareholder and now I'm all messed up.
So I went hunting for a new Broker. Found one that enables me to trade commodities as well as stocks--cool. I get a debit card and checking--critical. Commissions a little high, but not too bad. Self-directed SEP IRA check.
Finally, at long last, my first paycheck has appeared in the corporate account. For the last three weeks, while it was being set up, it defaulted to my comcheck account (a service set up for us truckers. I leave it there and use my debot card to withdraw from ATMs while my other accounts grow...sometimes...unmolested).
Provided the new broker doesn't for some lawyerly reason prevent it, I will move my SEP IRA and personal accounts to the new broker. This is the vast majority of my assets--I hope it makes E-Trade happy.
The Corporation (Bat Owtahel Inc.) will get my weekly pay. Then, weekly or bi-weekly or whatever, it will send over half of this money to me, the driver, and my SEP IRA or 401k or whatever.
The Corporation will invest less aggressively and pay for hotel rooms, repairs, computer stuff, and all other deductables. It is (so far) taxed at 15% in addition to capital gains, so I won't skimp on the expenses and stuff. for instance, for now I had to use my personal account to buy my new laptop. I went for the best I could get, and paid more for it. I'm going to get a data-transfer, and a lighter/cheaper backup computer with an identical transfer, and the Corp., which is now funded, will pay for it all.
Obama wants to jack me up to 25%, and I can't move overseas. To bad when the pinkos chase everybody else out, the freight will drop. They don't care--they'll blame Bush and tax cuts haha!
...but I digress. Here's the microcosm:
Because of liability (ie lawsuits), E-Trade has gummed up my plans, so I'm moving most of my funds elsewhere. The analogy is excessive regulation and rediculous litigation. The metaphore is Toyota or someone else moving out of the US, along with the jobs, tax revenues, etc.
Because of SSI, I've incorporated, and am doing everything I can to avoid taxes of every kind--and I will succeed. If not for this socialist program, and politicians even TALKING about robbing me some more, I would have preferred to remain an individual and pay REASONABLE taxes. They got too greedy. See "Laffer Curve".
Another reason I want to avoid taxes: I don't want my money used to bail out people who made mistakes in real estate. I was wiped out twice in the markets, and own the responsibility for it. Preposterous things happened, but the only place I aimed my finger was at the mirror. That is being an american. That is what we used to be. Not children needing nurturing by a parent who breaks my more responsible siblings' piggy banks and gives me their pennies because I screwed up.
If you still can't see what's happening to us, and why, you are blind.
PS The oil companies made 8%. In 2004 they made about 618 billion, and paid OVER FIVE BILLION IN TAXES. That's before at-the-pump taxes. 40% of the population is invested in them. They aren't allowed in Alaska or offshore--meanwhile China is drilling off the coast of Cuba.
Was it Lenin, or Lerner? "Blame the burgoise. The ignorant masses will fall for it every time!" (I'm paraphrasing. Came from flyers I read 30 years ago in the intelligence library).
More mud for your brain! Wake up.
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