My Jobs: Knight #2

Knight Transportation,
Phoenix, AZ
is a 48 state carrier that operates regionally with terminals and drop yards, all over the country. The main terminal, and my base was in Phoenix AZ.

Knight has over 2,000 power units and over 5,000 trailers. They haul only dry freight, in 53 foot dry van trailers.

j11a.gif (6030 bytes) Knight Transportation

Getting the job
A few months after I left Knight the first time, I recieved a letter from them asking me to come back to work for them. It said that they would credit my time of service and would make it as if I never left. They would give me the pay I left with, first day health benefits, and my seniority.

I got let go due to a work slow down at the contruction company, and went to work for a few outfits around here but they didn't work out so I called Knight back and said here I am. Do you want me to come back to work? They said sure, and sent me a plane ticket. I flew in on a Friday at 10am and I was in a truck by 4pm heading out to get a load.

My Job Description
When I first came back, I wanted to run solo for a little while. After 2 weeks, they were asking me to help training students again. I wasn't happy with the money running by myself, so I did. I ran with or without a trainee all over the country. I had a bad run of trainees. They would quit after only a few days in the truck. They would just get out and leave. I would have to deliver the load myself.

The Good Points
It was a good job. I did make money but not as much as I could have. My new dispatcher "JOE" was a real piece of "CRAP". "JOE CRAP"

The Bad Points
They gave me a loser named Joe to be my dispatcher. At first, I cut him some slack, but after a while I got down right upset that he would be aloud to cost the company, and me so much money. When I worked for Dave, I was getting 18,000 to 20,000 miles a month. With this guy, I was getting 13,000 to 16,000 and working harder for it.

Dave would give me lots of drop and hooks. Not much waiting time at customers. Joe made me spend all kinds of time at customers. On some days I would put in 7-12 hours making pick ups and deliveries. We get paid by the mile. If the wheels aren't turning, we aren't getting paid. It is as simple as that. As OTR drivers we want to minimize the amount of time we have to put in for free.

Also, I was always looking for empty trailers, so we could go to a customer to load. Empty trailers are hard to find, and we have to look for free. There are so many things wrong with the company now, I don't know where to start, but the reason that I did leave was because Knight weasled out of their contract with me.

I begged Bengee for a new guy, but he wouldn't change me to another dispatcher's board. He could have snapped his fingers and made it happen, but he chose not to. I am not going to fill up this page ragging on this loser, but I hope you get the idea.

Why I Stopped Working There.
You might think that "JOE CRAP" would be enough of a reason to leave, but it wasn't. He was a big part but not the reason at all.

On the paper they sent me, asking me to come back to work, they stated that they would give me the time I had before and if I was up for a raise I would get it. Well, I had put in one year and eight months before. I came back and worked for four months. I had a total of two years in and went into the office and said that I had been there for two years and wanted my raise, bonus, and vacation.

Mr. Knight told me that I don't get vacation, or a bonus because of the split in time served, and as for your raise, here is a half of a cent. (1/2 cent) I told him that he should reconsider that raise and look at my record working for you and you will see that I am a valuable associate. I had 100% on time with no service failures, no tickets and no accidents. I felt I was worth more. He said "Yes, you are. but a half of a cent is all I can give you."

The invitation letter to come back to work was written by one of the company attorney's to mislead former drivers to come back under these false pretenses. This really upset me. I don't like to be disrespected.

I gave my notice to him right on the spot, and found another job. On my last adventure with Knight I found a set of bolt cutters and used them to cut a penny into two equal pieces. When I got back to the yard on my last day, I threw the keys on the desk and half of the penny that I had cut in half, and told him that he needed that half cent more than I did and left.

As a manager, working his way up the ladder, he forgot about the little guys that work for him and primarily thought about his future rather than getting us home more, or tossing us a little extra money here and there. Basically, he looked after his own interests more than mine and that does not make a good working relationship.

This time around he was a real pain in the neck. He only looked after his own interests. Keeping his numbers up and forgetting about the drivers needs.

My good service to him, and the company didn't seem to buy me any favors.

Bengee

What can I say about Joe? Well, to say he is lacking as a dispatcher would be an under statement. I am trying really hard not to slam the guy right now but, he cost me allot of money while I worked for him. He did just about everything wrong you can do.

I will say that, at times, he did pull his head out from under the sand and did take care of business once in a while.

I begged Bengee to give me another dispatcher but he would not do it. Joe is one of the major reasons I left Knight. They would rather lose a good driver than change partnerships. Go figure.

"JOE CRAP"

	Charlie is the head of the Training Department at Knight. When I came back to work for them in June 2002 I found myself working for him instead of Mike. Charlie was very cool and easy going. I enjoyed working for him.
Charlie


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