Was a truck driver. Law says 11 hours driving per day. 14 hour max shift (you can drive 5 hours, have 4 hours waiting to get loaded, drive 5 more hours, 14 hour shift without hitting 11 hours driving). Must have 10 hours off between shifts. That’s the law.
When I started a year ago, I could complete 2 trips in 9 hours total. Not bad for 82k a year. During the Christmas / New year break, the two places I was driving between changed policies. 9 hours turned into 12-14 hours. Paid by the mile, so no pay increase. I drove what’s called a day-cab truck. There’s nowhere to sleep in one of those. It’s designed for you to be done and home every day. At 14 hours, you legally can’t drive any more. Even if you’ve not hit your 11 hour driving limit. I did two 4.5 hour trips per day that had turned into two 6-7 hour trips per day. Back in April, my truck broke down on the first trip. Flat tire. It took 5 hours to get fixed. Now, everyone I worked with was already disgruntled because our shift got extended 3-5 hours with no additional pay. I finished my first trip after the repair and had about 4.5 hours left on the 14 hour clock. My boss says I still need to take my second load. I explain it can’t be done in the 14 hour window. They said that when my clock runs out, pull off the side of the highway and they’ll have the next driver pick me up. Meaning I’d have to ride along on their load. Meaning I’d likely be in a company truck driving or not, for 18-20 hours. I had to be back at work at the end of my 10 hours. If that took 20 hours, I’d have 4 hours to make the 45 min commute home, eat, toilet, shower, sleep, and make the 45 min commute back to be at work on time. Just to work another 12+ hour shift doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the country (google how dangerous truck driving is). I refused. Cut to late June. They call me on my day off and ask if I can work A DOUBLE on my day off. I said no. They said since I’m unreliable and not a team player, they’re just gonna take me off the schedule. Literally said they weren’t gonna fire me because then I could get unemployment. That was in a phone call. I got a different dispatcher to admit in text messages that the first dispatcher had fired me. Looking for a new job. Got approved for unemployment.