I’ve been a FedEx Ground driver for nearly 5 years now. If you know the FedEx business model you know the drivers aren’t employees, they’re subcontractors. I work for a small business and truthfully I like the bosses a lot. They’ve always been fair to me and the pay is good. For years I had my little industrial route in the city, I loved it, I loved my customers, there were rough days, and winters sucked, but otherwise it was great. It was a route I felt like I’d be working that route for ten more years. Then we lost our contract in that service area, I should’ve just gone out with my head high and gotten on unemployment for the rest of the winter and been 90 days into a new job by now.
I fucked up majorly, I stayed on and just asked the contractor to put me wherever there was an opening. I’m not a strong guy, I’m short, stocky, nearing 40, and I’ve been through two bouts of Covid and a broken shoulder that never healed properly. I can do a lot but I can’t do these mega routes, I can’t run stop to stop like the kids right out of high school. Now, I’m struggling, I’m getting home late every night, exhausted, burnt out and just done.
So I decided to look for new work and applied to Cintas, I got a call back immediately, I did a phone interview, this sounded like the perfect job for me, something I could excel at and maybe even move up. I’d get to focus more on customer service and sales and not break my back nearly as much. I took a day off to go to the in person interview, it went great, they thought I’d be a perfect fit. I went back to work the next day rejuvenated because there was some hope on the horizon.
A week went by… two weeks went by… what was going on? Was it just meticulous hiring, or did I overrate myself? Three weeks go by, so I get antsy and call them, no answer. Same the next day. Then I get a call from someone else in the HR department wanting to me interview. I say this is a mistake, I’ve interviewed twice now, but I’m still very interested. We do a little phone interview right then and there, and she says she’ll speak to the HR person I originally spoke to and get back first thing in the morning. That comes and goes. So I text her “hey did you get the chance to talk to them?”, she calls back immediately and says unfortunately cintas has a policy that they won’t hire their clients employees.
I’m just in shock, what do you mean, I don’t work for FedEx I work for such and such. We’re just a FedEx vender, they don’t pay me, I don’t work for them. That didn’t matter. But it said this on my resume, you must have my resume, you guys called me, I’ve done three interviews. What if I just quit my job tomorrow? Doesn’t matter.
Cintas is everywhere, everyone is their client. How do they hire any qualified drivers if they never worked for any of the big companies? I’m a driver, this is all I’m qualified to do and I’ve paid my dues, and now I’ve had no-compete clauses imposed upon me. I asked around and apparently this has become more common with the worker shortage to “not steal your friend’s girlfriend”.
I know I’m not going to last much longer where I am, this is the slow season, it’ll pick up in a September, I’m fucked and the future does not look bright. Super depressed. Nobody to vent to. Sorry for the novel. Feel free to make fun of me. I would.