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So this last week has been a busy one for me, work wise, but it ended with a surprise!
Friday morning started out like every other day for me. Got to work hooked up and went to scale out. I noticed while on the scales that the locking pins didn’t release all the way and lock the tandems in.
So once I got my paperwork I pulled up and to the side to fix them. This ended up taking around 15 minutes or so because I had to get the pins where they were when I scaled out.
This whole time I wasn’t aware of anyone around me. It is not the most lit up area, but it does have light’s. Also it was raining.
I had my flashlight to help see the locking pin’s under the trailer. But I didn’t see anyone around me.
Once I got back into the truck and started filling out my paperwork, that is when it happened!
My arm was resting on the door, I had seen someone come up beside my door, I had automatically assumed that it was just another driver.
But that is when I noticed he had no vest on. This threw up red flag’s right there. So the next thing he does it try to open the door.
So when he tried to open the door it started to open but the lock hit my arm and it locked with the door partially open.
Now I could tell he wasn’t quite with it, either drunk or high or worse, sick! He didn’t look so hot.
I told him repeatedly to step back, he failed to do so. The next thing he done really pushed his luck. He decided to hop on the steps and reach for something in his pocket.
I couldn’t quite see what it was, if anything really. But I decided I wasn’t going to just set there and take my chances. I released the brakes and started rolling, thinking this would enlighten him to hop off. Well he didn’t. He just kept yelling “LET ME IN!”
So I stopped about 10′ from where I was, he finally decided to get off the truck, I could tell that his reactions were slowed so I didn’t worry so much about him pulling a gun because from the time he would have gotten to it and raised it I would have kicked the door open and send him to the ground.
Now remember, the door wasn’t all the way open. It locked when he tried to open the door slightly. Once he got off the truck, he decided to give up and walk to the back of the trailer. Well once he got back there he just fell to the ground. My immediate thought was, “Oh damn he just died”.
He didn’t move for a few minutes. I was on the phone trying to get security out there because they have to get him off the property.
Well he was finally able to get him off the property. The individual kept falling down.
Now there is a decent distance from the road to where I was at. He didn’t just stumble upon my door. My guess is that he was probably passed out on the grass next to the fence beside me the whole time.
He wasn’t a fat guy so he could really hide on the ground, the grass was a bit thick.
Now I work out of Columbus, Oh which is in Franklin County. This is where we have the most cases of the Covid-19 in the state. There are also a lot of people out of work and even though the state has halted all eviction’s some property owner’s are still kicking them out.
Now he could have been homeless, but he didn’t look familiar. I often seen them begging, but I have not seen him before, so who know?
What did I learn from this experience?
I have learned a few thing’s.
The biggest thing would be to have more situational awareness. Had I been more alert to everything around me, I may have seen him there. He could have came up on me when I was out there working on the tandem pin’s.
Now I do have a pocket knife that I always carry and it it pretty easy to grab and get ready, but what would have happened if he just stabbed me in the back?
It would have ruined my day that for sure, maybe even worse.
When I was OTR I was always paying attention to my surrounding’s when at truck stop’s and other places picking up or delivering. I have had issues in the past, but never there.
So I guess you could say I had gotten complacent with my every day task’s.
Another thing I had learned is that I should always keep the doors locked when I’m just setting there. You just never know when someone is going to come up on you. Now had he tried to get in from the passenger side door, he wouldn’t have had any issue getting in.
It was unlocked and I wouldn’t have noticed him in time to hit the lock button,
I also learned that I need to keep more disinfectant wipes with me. I had thought I had another bottle of the wipe’s but I had used up the last one that morning while wiping everything down.
I did however have plenty of hand sanitizer that I had used once I had gotten down the road a bit.
It did rain quite a bit on the drive down the road so I’m sure that helped wash away any germ’s. But I also used the hand sanitizer to wipe down the handle and the door, just in case.
I also learned that during a pandemic, I should have had my mask on when I didn’t have the door’s locked. Now I’m not a fan of wearing the masks but had he gotten the door open and been infected, this could have had a horrible outcome.
Needless to say, I’m glad that it was my Friday and that this week wasn’t my mandatory Saturday. I was done with this week.