The Evil Empire

I just sent an application to U.S. Xpress. I can't believe that I'd ever consider going back to that company. I left feeling no regrets. In fact, I left feeling a measure of bitterness over the way some things had worked out and the way we (Mara and I) had been treated through the years. But now that I find myself looking for a job, I have to admit that there's some comfort in going back to a known quantity like U.S. Xpress. Whatever their failings, I know what to expect from them.

I may look at other companies. I certainly shouldn't sit around and wait to see what USX says. But given that one of the last things I want to do is to keep on driving a truck for yet another trucking company, I'm not in a hurry to check out other companies, either.

At least with U.S. Xpress I know I'll see more than a handful of states each and every week. As much as I might not want to see more of Ohio and Illinois, I'm sick of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. Except for the occasional foray in the North-East or a rare trip down into Florida, those are the states I usually run in.

But I can certainly imagine myself at some point walking across the parking lot at a truck stop in El Paso, Texas, thinking to myself, “I volunteered for this shit.”

At least this time I know what I'm getting into.