I think maybe I should clarify what set me off about Ray. We pick up from a customer on Thursday afternoons around 16:00. This customer has never had their order ready early. Therefore, we have never been able to pick up early. But Ray told Mara that the last team he had who picked up at that customer always arrived there around 08:00 in the morning (meaning that he thinks we should, as well, and implying that our job performance could be better). When Mara got quiet (because she knew that Ray was trolling), he said something to the effect of "Oh, I forgot. You have a problem with authority." This was unnecessary, and it was certainly uncalled for.

Ray doesn't know anything about our end of this. He's never driven a truck. He's a yuppie who works mostly out of his home. He doesn't know what it's like to drive over 600 miles in one shift, sitting on a broken seat that feels like a church pew, being battered around by a truck that is ill-suited to a team, and he certainly doesn't seem to realize what "drop and hook" means. No one is waiting for us on either end of our runs. Our loads are pre-loaded. And when we deliver, we drop the loaded trailer, grab an empty and leave. Our run doesn't work on the same principles that it would if we were expected to deliver within a certain time-frame because someone was waiting to offload our freight.

We're about to go pick up our truck from Freightliner in Charlotte. There were about six things wrong with it. When Mara told Ray that we were waiting for them to repair the windshield (the last thing they have to do), Ray said "Shit." At this point, Ray and U.S. Xpress are lucky we don't leave the truck at Freightliner and go somewhere where we'd be more appreciated.