Places I Hated Going

I'm willing to bet that every delivery truck driver has a list of places he'd prefer not to go. That was certainly the case for me in Dallas back in the summer of 1972.

The first was Texas Instruments in Richardson. Now you'd think that a military contractor (especially during the Vietnam war) would have tight security, but not TI... They had guards at all the gates but I honestly don't know what their job was. I never saw them stop anyone going in or out and they didn't seem to have a clue where anything was... I had to make deliveries to six different locations on the campus and the only way I managed to find them was by driving around and asking random people for directions.
The other issue was finding someone to sign the paperwork... It wasn't unusual to show up at a loading dock and find it completely unmanned. Sometimes you had to sit there for 5 or 10 minutes before anyone wandered by... The insane part is that there were pallets of high tech equipment all over the place. I could've loaded up and taken off and I doubt anyone would have noticed.

I had the opposite problem at Vought Aircraft in Grand Prairie. (Another military contractor.) They made you wait outside the gate for 20 or 30 minutes while they checked your truck and verified your identity. Then they'd give you a map marked with the exact route and travel times and they told you that if you deviated you could be shot. (I'm not making that up)... And when you arrived at the destination they would not sign the invoice until they'd measured every piece of plastic with precision instruments. And (of course) they searched your truck again on the way out...  It was definitely a "schedule killing" stop...

Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas wasn't much better (but for a different reason). Their loading dock was only big enough for two trucks and they would not sign your paperwork until a "gofer" from whatever department ordered the goods came down and removed them from the area. There was always a long line of trucks waiting to get in (and blocking traffic)... I used to schedule at least 50 minutes for that stop.

Next on my "hit list" was the DFW airport. Back in those days it was under construction and out in the middle of nowhere. (We didn't have another customer within 10 miles.) Furthermore, all the roads on the construction site were gravel and you couldn't go over 25 MPH... I had to schedule about an hour for that stop. (All that to deliver a few gallons of epoxy mastic...)
 Aside: One of my most frightening experiences was heading south on Belt Line after a stop at the airport... I was hit by a sudden squall coming from the north. The visibility dropped to almost zero and the truck was being propelled forward by a 50 MPH tailwind. I could barely see the road and was literally standing on the brake pedal and couldn't slow down... I don't know how long that went on (time almost stood still) but eventually the wind let up a bit, and then the hail started. It was so heavy I was afraid it was going to break the windshield. Luckily, I spotted an old gas station (the only building in the area) and got under cover... The whole thing lasted less than 15 minutes but it really scared the heck out of me.

Another place I preferred not to go was the warehouse where we got our rolls of plastic sheet. (Most of our suppliers delivered. They didn't)... I remember one day in August when it was over 100 degrees and I had to load 3000 lbs of the sheeting (in cardboard boxes weighing between 30 and 70 lbs) into my truck. Their dock was uncovered (exposed to the sun) and the boxes were stacked on pallets about 20 feet away. I asked if someone could please grab a forklift and move them closer to my truck but they claimed they were "too busy" (translation: they were total a**holes). And I don't even want to talk about how hot it was in the back of my truck... I managed to load it all in less than 15 minutes but I was shaky for hours afterward...

And finally, there was the "house of rednecks"... I no longer recall which business it was, but their warehouse guys would invariably give me a bunch of crap - calling me "girlie" and asking me why I wasn't wearing lipstick or a dress, etc... (Yes, my hair was a bit long - but not that long...)
The thing is, by the summer of 1972 the whole hysteria over "hippies" had passed. At that point a lot of country singers (like Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings) had hair longer than mine. But apparently the bozos at "redneck central" hadn't gotten the memo... Unfortunately, they were customers so I had no choice but to take it - but I still hated going there.

The point of all these stories (except for the last one) is that a good delivery driver has to be obsessed with time. You stop, unload, get the invoice signed and go. If you manage to exchange a few pleasantries that's great, but don't spend any extra time on it because a few minutes at each stop can cost you 2 or 3 deliveries by the end of the day...

The funny thing is that I never realized (at the time) just how much I'd learned (and how good I'd gotten) in those few months working for A-1. Sigh... when it came to "self-image" problems the worst was yet to come...