Well, well.

Friday. Two days to a maintenance Sunday. I've got my eye on that carrot!

By the way, hello to Steph and J.R., good to hear from you!

I ran into Midland on a parts search yesterday. Travel trailer and forklift parts were the order of the day. I think I secured everything I was looking for. I made three other supply stores and even managed to stop in at On the Border for some loaded queso and Boderitas. It was good to get away and have a little quiet time. I was mildly shocked when Krl declined my invitation.

While I was away, I missed a call from Jake. He had called to tell me that Martin (my problem driver from Wednesday) was at the gin and had a problem with the muffler on his truck and he couldn't run until it was fixed. I have no idea why these yahoos will drive out of Lubbock, through Lamesa and through Stanton or Big Spring to arrive at our remote location for repairs that require parts we don't have. Go figure!

My bale dock was clear this morning. One of the best mornings we have had since we began. The other end of the complex was another story. We are running behind due to Martin's problem Wednesday and again yesterday.

I missed a call earlier from the driver on Pepa's 23 truck. This is a semi-retired man who had driven for Rian a few years ago. He has always been a challenge to work with because he is never happy, something is always wrong. He is one of these people who have always worked for someone else and does not know or care to understand the struggles businesses have with costs. He was wanting some things for his truck recently and I told him we needed to get his rig out of the red and making money before we spend any more. I suppose in his way of thinking if you throw enough money at something, it will be better (as long as it isn't his money). This driver seems to refuse to accept any information that is not of his own.

To be honest, there have been times this year that I have purposely made myself unavailable, when this man has been around although I have never failed to return his call if I missed it. Sometimes I have enough discord going on around me without this driver's whining! This morning he told me had made a decision. He was resigning his position effective immediately. He would take the truck to his house, get his stuff out, clean it a little and have it at where I wanted it later tonight. He told be he hated to leave me in a lurch (which is B.S. because if he did he would have said I am giving notice that as soon as you can replace me I am quitting). I told him No that tonight wouldn't be good. I wanted the truck there by mid afternoon for another driver to get in it.

Reload. What are the odds the next driver will be worse than the last!

I just asked him about his thought process in making his decision. He said there were a number of things that helped make his decision. The truck pulls to the right. He doesn't like his trailer. He ruined a nine hundred dollar tarp (which he told me to take out a hundred a week to pay for it. This was driver error when he tore it), his truck is trying to heat on hot days (meaning it is running warmer than he thinks it should, and the trailer license tags have not ever come in.

I swear, this man can be anal about some of the most petty things.

I was very blunt in a very nice way. I told him that I had made available to him the easiest program possible. I told him I wanted two loads per day and he could sleep at night. Actually I had even told him he could sleep at home but he chose to sleep on site at the plant. I went on to tell him that if he was at this point this early in a year that is going to be very long, I thought he needed to quit. (I don't say resign, I tell it like it is).

Hasta la vista baby! (I wonder if Martin has a brother). I won't miss when we need to rush and the driver who is quitting decides to prepare his meal or spend forty-five minutes in the bathroom for his morning constitutional.

Crazy thing is, I didn't hire this driver for anything but his being slow and methodical, and in the past dependable. Rian and I both talked before we told Pepa what truck to put him in. I called Rian to tell him his man quit and he was surprised that this man wasn't any more work brittle than he was. Maybe he can get on drive charter buses, just don't ask him to handle the bags.

This wasn't the same man who worked for me before.

Pay cycle begins today! Lots of computer work to be done.

Fuel continues to inch up. My fuel bill last week was over twenty-three thousand dollars! Average fuel cost per gallon has increased seven cents last week, twenty-seven cents per gallon this week. Thank goodness for the variable fuel surcharge!

Have a day.

Pray for our efforts.

FATHER, YOUR love lifts me daily!