June 25, 2024 • 47 mins
Ever had one of those mornings where everything seems to be in chaos? We kick off this episode of the Towing Life Podcast with our usual banter, diving into the quirks of morning recordings and poking fun at our bad habits like smoking and caffeine. Join us for a laugh as we debate the merits of Asian fast food and recount the smelly saga of my dog Sasha's skunk encounter, complete with midnight scrubbing sessions. This episode promises a mix of humor and relatable moments that will have you nodding along and chuckling at our misadventures.
Next, we tackle the saying "if it fits, it ships" with a real-world example that will leave you shaking your head. Hear about a hotshot trailer operator's attempt to load a 40-foot container onto a 25-foot gooseneck trailer. We discuss the intelligence and audacity behind securing such a load, while emphasizing the importance of safety and proper equipment. This segment is a must-listen for anyone in the towing industry, highlighting why just because something fits doesn't mean it should hit the road.
We then shift gears to discuss road etiquette and safe driving, particularly in rural areas. Discover how driving behaviors vary between urban and rural settings and the unique challenges that come with each. We share personal anecdotes, including a run-in with a persistent complainer upset about jake brakes near his home. This episode underscores the importance of cautious and courteous driving, the responsibilities of tow truck drivers, and the need for direct communication in handling complaints. Tune in for insights that will resonate with both city and country drivers alike, reminding everyone of the importance of road safety and respect.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey everyone, I'm Brad from Calgary.
This is Sean from CambridgeOntario.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm Terry from Cornwall, Ontario, hey this is
Larry from Pit Metals, BritishColumbia, and you're listening
to the Towing Life Podcastwelcome to the towing life
(00:32):
podcast, where the ditches aredeep, the trucks are loaded, but
the drivers are not.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I am your host, towman g, and, as usual, I'm
joined by my co-host, friend andformer co-worker, a man with
very strong opinions, mr plainguy what is going on?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
g.
What is going on?
It looked like you choked onyour coffee when I was doing the
intro no, I realized that I hada little bit of phlegm built up
that I was trying to clear outbefore I actually had to speak
and it's still slightly sittingthere.
Um, I find that's the thingabout first thing in the morning
when we do recordings is thatstill phlegmed up from the
morning the night before?
Welcome the joy of being asmoker.
(01:04):
It happens, we've all beenthere.
If you haven't, congrats on you.
Good for you.
Got to love the bad habits,exactly so.
Caffeine, nicotine my two bestfriends.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Fast food preferably.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Asian fast food.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Don't know what it is about Asian fast food.
I love Asian fast food.
What is Asian fast food?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Don't know what it is about Asian fast food.
I love Asian fast food.
What is Asian?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
fast food.
What do you mean?
I've never had Asian fast foodLike a Thai Express or a Walkbox
or like I'm an uncultured swine.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I guess you are.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
No one's ever denied that fact.
That is 100% a true thing.
So, as G said, welcome toepisode 141 of the Towing Life
podcast.
We've got some great stuff onceagain on top.
Before we get into it, it is agood time to mention your
questions.
Comments, concerns everything,are always appreciated on the
show.
So where can you find it?
(01:58):
You can head over tothetowinglifeatgmailcom is where
you can email us.
Thetowinglifeatgmailcom.
Visit our website atwwwtowinglifeca or find us over
on Facebook at the Towing LifePodcast.
If you're watching over on theYouTube side, you can always
comment down below.
Be sure, while you're there, tohit that like, hit that
subscribe, hit the little bellso you get notified when new
(02:20):
episodes come out.
You guys are what make the showworthwhile worthwhile whether
it be us doing it for you oryour input into the show.
So don't forget to do all that.
Have your say on the show and,uh, keep it.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Keep our continuing, continuing efforts relevant, um
you could be like joe and lastweek and just take up half our
podcast.
Yeah, exactly thank, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you, joe.
So I had a fun little weekbefore we get into the deep
downs of towing.
My dog, for the first time insix years, has found out why you
don't play with the stinkykitties with the white stripe.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yep, wonderful, it still lingers slightly.
We've almost gotten it all out.
It uh 11 o'clock at night.
I let my dog out to go to thewashroom before we go to bed and
she is.
So I have a German shepherd andshe is down off the patio and
(03:19):
she is nose to the ground.
She has a scent of somethingand so I'm kind of ignoring it,
scrolling on my phone, notreally paying attention.
All of a sudden I I can stillhear it going, chasing, you know
, looking around the yard, andI'm like what is going on?
And all of a sudden I smellskunk and I go, okay, sasha, in
(03:40):
the house, now let's go.
And so she like runs peace,which is what she was out there
to do in the first place andcome and comes running in and
I'm like, oh man, there's askunk out there somewhere and I
closed the door when I get herinside and all of a sudden I can
smell the skunk and I'm like,oh, you got it.
So it wasn't a direct I don'tbelieve spray.
(04:07):
I don't think she ever actuallyseen the skunk.
Yeah, it was where it snuck outof our yard.
It's a fenced in yard.
Where it snuck out, there'sleaves and all that and I I
think it's sprayed when it wasrunning and and then she rubbed
her face.
It was in the leaves rubbed upall on it and she absolutely
stunk and it is.
Have you, have you ever had theencounter?
Have you ever had a dog sprayed?
(04:28):
not a dog, but I've been aroundskunks that have sprayed, yeah
it's almost impossible to getoff in the first shot, like my
wife and I had some concoctionof baking powder, because they
say don't get them wet like, donot just take a hose to it right
away.
It's the worst thing you can do.
It spreads it.
So we've got a concoction ofdish soap and baking soda and
(04:49):
and you make that, you rub thewhole dog in it and we're doing
that in our living room orkitchen at 11 30 at night and
then like gotta get the dog intothe bathtub after you gotta let
it sit for half an hour, getthe dog into the bathtub and
then start grabbing the anythingthat she touched when she came
in, because she went right toher bed because she thought she
was in trouble.
So her bed stunk and and youclean it all and it smells like
(05:14):
like skunk is one smell.
Skunk is not a great smell, butwhen they get sprayed it smells
like burnt skunk.
Yeah, like that's how I candescribe it.
It's very burnt and it'samazing because you do all this
cleaning okay, I think we got itall you go to work the next day
.
You come back, you walk in thedoor and you're like, no, it's
still in the house.
You know, we're changingfilters on our furnace.
(05:34):
We're, you know, just doingeverything to try and get that
smell out.
Bother, that's yeah.
Yeah, it was a late.
It was a late, unexpected night, that's for sure that.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
That makes me worried because I don't have a bathtub.
I got a stand-up shower right,so like that instance would be
definitely hard, because the oldwives tale that you used to be
told was fill the bathtub upwith tomato soup like tomato
juice.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, I've heard that like wash them in
tomato juice, yeah yeah, andthat gets the stink out
apparently.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I think it just kind of masks the smell of tomato
juice.
No, there's something with theacid.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
There's something with the acid in the tomato.
Uh, because it's an oil likethe.
The spray is like an oil and sono for anyone that ever.
Because my wife was sure toyell at me when I told her this
happened.
Do not get, not get them wet.
You take a, you make a paste ofbaking, baking powder, baking
soda I don't know what thedifference is, baking soda and
(06:33):
that Arm Hammer stuff you leavein your fridge forever, baking
soda and dish soap, and you makelike a paste with it and rub
them all down with that, let itsit for about 30 minutes in
their fur and then give them.
You know, in your case, takethe, the hose to them right.
And and don't forget your, yourdog's got a shorter haired dog
(06:53):
right.
Mine with the german shepherd,with the fluffy like she's a
shorter, short-haired germanshepherd, but they're still.
It's like a husky right, likeit's getting under there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And yeah, so it was a very unexpected night.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, you didn't need a coffee when you got home,
because the smell would wake youup.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh man, did it ever hit you and it stuck in your
nose that night when you go tobed and it was terrible.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I wonder what the dogs smell like.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I wonder if it's a pigeon, it's got to be terrible.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, but they're going after the smell yeah, yeah
, but that's.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I think they're going after the smell because
instinct is this is my yard,I've got to get.
You know what I mean.
Like I don't think it's.
Oh, this smells nice, let mesee what it is.
Like.
I don't think that theoryapplies, um, but, uh, yeah, no,
not her, um, not her smartestmoment, like I said, first time
in six years.
Um, it's always bound to happen.
I think it's something that Iknow people that their dog gets
(07:50):
sprayed every year, right, so Imean, or multiple times a year,
so they just don't learn.
No, no, 100, I think my dog haslearned.
She was the saddest lookingthing.
I should have posted a pictureup while we were giving her the
bath that night.
She was not happy about this.
So, um, that, and the otherthing I wanted to touch in um,
mrs plan or mrs plane guy and I,who we had on the show, right,
(08:14):
my wife celebrated, as ofyesterday actually, our 10 year
anniversary.
Nice, six years, married, fouryears together.
I was smart gentleman.
I married my wife on ouranniversary.
That way I didn't have toremember a new one.
Smart, yeah.
That is smart.
It's very easy to remember.
So congratulations to her onhaving the pleasure of being my
(08:38):
partner for 10 years.
Lord knows that.
You know that's a gift in itsown.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah um, lord knows that you know that's a gift in
its own.
Yeah, yeah, congratulations toher to be able to put up with
you for 10 whole years it's uh,she's got it pretty easy.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Let me put it that way she's got it pretty easy.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Uh-huh, she doesn't think so, but okay, no no, I
don't think anyone who listensto this show thinks that being
with you for 10 years would bean easy task gee, we've known
each other almost 10 years andit's been an absolute treat for
you as well yeah, because I'velived like 600 kilometers away
from you for the majority of it.
(09:17):
I have to see you once a weekthat's true, that is true.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So all right.
That being said, it's time toactually get into towing related
content for our wonderfullisteners who are here for that.
Um, first thing we'll talkabout, we'll get to the older
stuff, kind of first well it'solder to us, it's not.
It's new to you regardless yeah,it's new content for you, but
(09:43):
it it's older on us.
It's stuff that we wanted totalk about last week that we
didn't get to.
Thanks Joe, thanks Joe, sowe'll get to it this week.
Everyone has heard the sayingacross the towing industry and I
hate the saying, but it's trueis, if it fits, it ships Right.
That has been a joking subjectthat has been put along in the
(10:04):
towing industry for years.
That has been a joking subjectthat has been put along in the
towing industry for years andthis hotshot trailer guy posted
above decided to put that to thetest.
So I'm not sure if he'sactually a towing company or
related to any towing companies,but he's obviously heard the
saying and said if they can doit, so can I.
Out in BC, if I'm not mistakenthis, or somewhere on the west
(10:25):
coast I think it was bc, thougha gentleman decided he's got a
dovetail gooseneck tandem axletrailer looks about 25 feet long
.
Give or take yep, yeah, and hedecided that he was going to
load a 40 foot C container ontosaid trailer.
So he has this trailer, if youcan imagine, um, flat, with the
(10:54):
dovetail section of the trailer,coming straight up over the
flat deck, over, sitting restingon the goose neck and
overhanging the entire cab ofhis uh, f two, 50, f three, 50,
single rear wheel, maybe, um.
Hey clear, clear entire cab ofhis f-250, f-350, single rear
wheel maybe um a clear, clearviolation.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Like I'm, I'm, I appreciate I always look at
these things and go god, that'sdumb, but god, I appreciate the
effort the effort it would havetaken to get it on that angle,
like to rest it on the gooseneckand to get it and get, get the
ramps up.
The reason why this guyprobably just didn't butt it
(11:33):
right up to the gooseneck andlet it overhang was the ramps
wouldn't come off.
He probably didn't want to tryto strap up the ramps.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Maybe I, I guess.
I don't know all the details toit, I just know that it's dumb.
But what's crazy about it beingdumb is that it took some
intelligence to secure it.
You know, I mean like to get itrigged up like it is 100 stupid
.
I don't know what his height is, but you know bc's got a
history of people hittingoverpasses.
I feel like this guy might havebeen next on that list.
(12:01):
It's hard to tell when you usethe truck as a scale right, like
if you put that truck at sevenfeet tall, like a truck six, you
know, a truck like that'sprobably six foot at least,
right, most 1500s or or over sixfoot tall yeah so you can
double.
Let's say, let's say, six and ahalf, you double that.
(12:22):
He's at.
Yeah, there's still anothercouple of feet above that Right,
like again we're we're guessingat numbers.
But if you double the height ofthat truck, I think there's
still another foot or two abovethat.
Yeah.
And I don't know what theheight laws are in BC.
I know that in Ontario it is13,.
Six is your max height.
(12:46):
You can run up to 14 foot with apermit and oversize and all
that kind of stuff which thisguy has none of.
But I'm going to say this guy'severything good at 15 feet, oh
yeah.
So just because it fits, justbecause you find a way to make
it on a platform and and securedagain, I see straps, I see
(13:11):
extra wood rails that he's kindof put in like I see some, like
some thought that went into this.
But just because you candoesn't mean you should.
Just because it fits doesn'tmean it should ship.
It's my advice for the dayplaying guys, advice of the week
just because it fits doesn'tmean it should ship.
I think that's pretty solid.
(13:34):
I think that's pretty solid.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Anything else you want to add to this couldn't
fuckery well, I mean, the heightthing is something that you
always got to watch out forWreckers, flatbeds, hauling shit
on decks like this but I thinkit's easier to have the mindset
of if it fits, it ships towardsweight on flatbeds or on
(13:55):
trailers like this, on wheellifts.
If you're overweight, you canfeel it because your front tires
come up off the ground andyou're SOL.
Right, if you're overweight,but on decks it's a lot easier
just to be like ah, it fits,I'll just hammer down the road.
Your rear axle could be wayoverweight, your tires could be
way overweight, but it's up onthe deck, so why do you care?
(14:17):
Right, as long as the deckfolds up, you're going down the
road fuck it right.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I have to look at this depending on if that C can
is empty.
Like weight isn't really anissue on this one, no, it's not
like wait, it might be again.
I'd have to, you know, see thespecs and and go over it and,
you know, see if there'sanything in that can, whatever.
but like C cans are empty C that40 foot can maybe 8 000 pounds
(14:44):
yeah, 85, 85 around there, let'ssay um, so yeah, and like a,
you know, if that was actually,if I was 8 500 pounds on that
trailer, he's perfectly fine.
But yeah, no, weight is.
At least the dimensions alittle bit come into play.
Um, no, 100, like I don't knowhow many guys carry um, if they,
(15:04):
if they don't, they should Um,there's some people that don't
carry like height sticks.
Like that was one thing that weput in all of our floats, not
our light duty stuff, becauseour light duty stuff is just
doing cars and vans and like youcan measure a cube truck and
you and you know, we know whatour set height is, that it has
to be under and all that kind ofstuff, but has to be under and
all that kind of stuff.
But when you start to get intothese, like weird pieces of
equipment, like the one I sentyou the other day with the
(15:26):
telehandler, um and all thatlike height sticks are hugely
important.
Like I remember there was a, aload that came into our yard
from a wreck and what was?
The highway tractor?
Yeah, it was the highwaytractor.
The highway tractor was tall.
We brought it into our yard.
Um, um, on a low boy.
Mm.
And we were everything of justunder 14 feet.
(15:49):
Yeah Right, so we, we havepermit, we were running on
permit, everything was legit.
We brought it back to our yardafter a wreck, no-transcript,
and he loads it up onto a land,all right.
And so I'm looking at it and Igo buddy, I think you're over
height.
And he goes, no, no, I havepermit.
(16:11):
I'm like so do I, and I knowwhat your permit is good for and
it is not good.
I'm like if I was everything of14 on my low boy, you're at
least a foot higher.
Okay, let me talk to the boss.
Okay, this is, after this guystruggled to get this thing on,
(16:33):
like this was an adventure,getting this truck on.
Yeah.
Calls his boss, I go in theoffice.
Two minutes later I look outhe's honking to get let out of
the yard.
Good luck to you, sir.
Enjoy those power lines on theway down the road, because can't
you can't you get like ageneric over height permit in
(16:54):
ontario yeah, so you're, you'reover, you're over dimension that
you're allowed.
Um is up to 14 feet yeah andthen anything past that.
You're starting to get intoescorts and and you know there's
a lot more to it.
It's not just a.
You know you can just oh, Ihave this permit.
No, with permit, because youshouldn't hit anything under 14
feet yeah power lines arenowhere near 14 feet, like 13.6
(17:17):
is your max height.
But unless marked there'snothing.
Like you know, you get bridgesthat are marked well yeah, 13.8
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, yeah.
So you got nothing.
Like you know, you get bridgesthat are marked.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, 13.8 or whatever, yeah, yeah.
So you got to have some, youknow, and there are different
areas.
Again, this is Ontario.
I don't know how the stateswork for permits for the
oversize and stuff, but yeah,you can get permits for that.
This guy was definitely wayoverweight or way over height, I
think we ended up hearing,because I think one of the guys
went out with a measuring stick,and I think he was 15 too, and
I was like you don't want to,like I don't know what you're
(17:45):
gonna do with it, because youknow, short of knocking the, the
fairing off the top of thehighway, tractor right, you're
not gonna gain a foot, no matterwhat you do.
But, uh, or I guess 14 inchesin that case.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
But no, he was dead set and he sent the goddamn
thing and you didn't hearanything on the news about a
tractor hitting an overpass oranything.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So I guess whatever route he took was good.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Was the right one.
Yeah, I don't know what he did.
He finally he figured it out.
So, yeah, no, so just becauseit fits doesn't mean it's a chip
.
Moral of the story yeah, alittle bit sad.
Oh, not really sadder news, Iguess it's still.
We hate to see it, but myunderstanding was there was no
injuries or fatalities in it.
(18:32):
There was a tow truck flop thathit down in Illinois.
To my understanding it was abeautiful tandem with a lift
orange flatbed that looks like atransport ran over it taking
out the cab.
Um, I'm not sure if that's annrc deck, but if it is, it looks
like it withstood it prettysure it is an nrc deck.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think I've seen that truck in nrc facebook pages
before okay, very possible,very possible.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, so, um, loading up, it looks like on the side
of an interstate.
Again, slow down, move overright.
We can't talk about it enough.
There were some minor injuries,I think, to some vehicles, some
people on some vehicles, likemaybe the transport driver.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well, yeah, we've got two cars up on yeah, two
vehicles up on their lids, semion its side.
The flatbed has no cab left.
They hazard that deck and theyripped the winch right off.
That's a strong hydraulic cable, because hydraulic, yeah, and
the winch just dangling off theside of the truck yeah, yeah, no
(19:31):
, it was.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Uh, it was definitely a hard hit.
I don't know what.
I'm assuming he was loading oneof these vehicles.
Um, we never did figure outwhich one.
If I had to guess, I would saythe white one on the opposite
side of the barrier yeah if Iwas, if I was playing my best
traffic cop inter, you know, uhversion, I would say that white
(19:53):
vehicle was being loaded got hitat the angle which sent it off
the bed that way and thetransport and the other car just
barely hitting the bed, or I'mguessing maybe the transport
landed on the car hit the car.
However, the hell it worked.
I don't know that part isrelevant.
I'm just saying the white car,uh, that's on its roof on the
other side of the barrier ismore than likely the car that
that was being loaded, thedisabled casualty at the time.
(20:15):
Um, what a traffic nightmarethat would create.
I love there's no cones oranything up yet.
It must have just happened likefires got the whole other side
blocked off for the one car yeahand then this side, they're
just like single filing itaround the shoulder.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, there's like four or five different pictures
in this group and in eachpicture you can see more
emergency equipment arriving onscene and blocking off more
things.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So like these pictures were fresh yeah, yeah,
they were like in progression ofthis incident happening.
So, no, we hate to see it.
We're glad to hear theoperators Okay and nobody was
hurt or killed in this, becauseI mean it can happen that fast
and yeah, there's sometimes.
Sometimes you get away with one, and I think that driver and
(20:59):
operator got away with one.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So now let me ask you this If that was you in that
position, you were running thattruck.
Would you stay in the towingindustry after that?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I don't know, I don't think that's a fair question.
I I mean that in the sense thatI don't think, until you're in
that situation, you can, you canmake that I mean.
I've had my trauma that youwould have after that, yeah yeah
, like, I've had my fair shareof close calls and problems in
the towing industry throughout.
You know the whatever years I'mat now, um, so I'd like to say
(21:35):
that, yes, I'd like to say thatit would.
You know, the only thing thatmight get me out is being in
that cab when the guy hit it.
But I don't know, I and I thinka lot of people, you know our
industry is full of macho, machomen.
Right, that would be like, youknow, that's just nothing,
that's a Monday around here.
(21:56):
And then you get the realistthat would go like, no, it's, I
think so, like, I think thatcould be something that would,
would push me out of theindustry for good, and I don't
think anyone would blame someonefor getting pushed out of the
industry because of that.
No, like, I think, if you, youknow, you dodge that bullet and
that's that's dodging a bullet,that's not just, I had a close
(22:18):
call, I got, you know, I gotwinged by a car.
Um, that's happened, that was,was, like that was, you weren't
going to be able to identify thebody very easily, kind of kind
of stuff.
Yeah, and it happened and yeah,I don't think you blame anyone
for it, but I don't think anyonecan really say, unless they
were involved in that directly,whether they would want to
(22:39):
continue in the towing industryor not.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I wonder if the operator bought a lottery ticket
that morning I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
You already got, you already got your win man.
No, I mean like before this.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So let's say that guy bought the winning lottery
ticket in the morning and usedup all his luck on buying that
lottery ticket when that wouldhave happened later on in the
day you don't buy it after,because you've already won yeah
you know, people always say thatyou're lucky.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You know you should buy a lottery ticket.
No, because you've already usedup your luck yeah you know, I
don't think luck is uh, you know, luck is kind of a weird thing,
but at the same time, no,you've definitely used up your
luck, so do not.
Uh, yeah, we don't wish thatupon anybody, um, but hey, the
fact that everyone walked awayis probably the godsend.
(23:25):
And you know what?
It's crazy because photos likethat photo just because the
scale of it isn't something thatwill just circulate within our
echo chamber, as we call it thatis more likely to get out into
the public, and I don't think ithas an effect on the public the
way that it should, but I thinkit's a good.
(23:45):
You know, the an operator hitand killed, as terrible as it is
.
We've talked with people youknow that have had family
members and and co-workers thathave had it happen or or that
have been hit themselves, right,or uh, mr bush, that we had way
back.
You gotta go check that episodeout.
Who was hit on the side of theroad and one of those viral
videos that we had way back.
You got to go check thatepisode out.
Who was hit on the side of theroad and one of those viral
videos that we seen all over thetowing industry.
(24:06):
We see it and go, oh my God,and, and I open her and wake up
the public season.
It goes, oh, I guess, like, yeah, maybe you should move over,
but then it's gone, yeah, thenit's onto the, the huck to a
(24:27):
girl or the.
You know what I mean.
Like it, it, it lives veryquickly in their minds for a
very short period of time.
It doesn't have any longlasting effect.
Where us it has a longerlasting effect, don't get me
wrong.
I still see those videos andthen I still see the huck to a
girl.
But, um, it's, it's.
You know it lives a little morerent free, a little longer in
my mind than I think it does inthe general public or in your
mind or in the towing industry.
Anyone in the industry's mind.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It all comes down to a basic road etiquette, right,
like?
I'm not sure about where youthe listener is, but for me, the
further I get away from thecity, the more courteous drivers
are.
That could just because they'renot so much in a rush drivers
are that could.
Just because they're not somuch in a rush they're more
willing to say, hey, that guy'sanother person over there and
(25:10):
maybe I should give him somespace.
You can see it very easily.
Just like in the two lanehighway roads, like the four
lane divided highways, everyonepretty much drives in the right
lane, they get into the leftlane to pass and then they get
back into the right lane andthen you see that one guy from
the city just driving in theleft lane the whole time and
once you get down into the cityit's a free-for-all anyways.
Um, so you have that type ofroadway etiquette.
(25:33):
I want to call it just becausethat's it's kind of sort of the
law, but it's also just helpingout your fellow motorists.
And there is situations.
So let's say you're behind a 53foot van trailer and you can't
quite, you can't see around it.
You're coming through a set oflights.
You can't see the light becauseyou're behind the van or van
(25:53):
trailer, you can't see what's onthe side of the road.
The good thing to realize ifyou are coming around a corner
and you are following a semi iswas there anything in front of
that semi?
No, so as soon as you see thatleft turn signal, come on to get
into the other lane.
You should be thinking aboutdoing the same.
If he can see, but you can't,you should just kind of
(26:16):
automatically follow the personin front of you's direction,
because by the time thatgentleman or lady, whoever
driving that rig in front of you, gets over, you might already
be upon someone working on theside of the road right yeah, I
know 100, and I think the trickis to not be that far up, a 53
foot to us that you can't see,right, because that is a scary
(26:39):
thing.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And we've seen that wreck happen, right, we have all
seen videos of that wreck wherea you know a car moves over and
then you know, because there'ssomething stopped at the last
second, and the car behind it,because they're just focused on
their taillights, just driveinto it, whether it be a car, a
truck or any of the whatnot.
So now road etiquette is slowly, I don't know.
(27:01):
I see flashes like theamericans, no offense are
actually no offense meant at all.
I will take a drive down the 81every day of the week, over a
drive down the 401.
Yep, I've driven the 81.
Their, their trucks can drive,they're not limited.
Don't forget that too, rightthere.
So you don't have this daytona500 of the, uh, you know,
(27:30):
passing each other at onekilometer an hour over, exactly,
I don't know.
The drivers seem to be justoverall better quality.
I mean, they've got some wildroads and every time I look
there's not random marks throughthe, the median, or you know,
sections of guardrail the needreplacing yep so there is
something said there.
Now I recently took a drive upto um.
Where was it?
Where'd I go?
(27:51):
Smooth rock falls, cochrane,ontario.
So it's a, it's a hike, it'snorthern I.
I think you can consider thatnorthern ontario, I'm not sure
yeah right, ontario goes prettygoddamn far north.
Yeah, I'm not sure where thatthreshold exactly, uh lies, but
anyways, they've got to figureit out, because they're a
two-lane highway, um, for themajority part of that now.
(28:14):
The nice thing is, though, isthat they have constant passing
zones, and the passing zones are90 on the uphill yep which
makes the most sense.
Right, because that's where yourloaded transports are going to
struggle yep right, it does suckwhen you can't get you know up
past one and then you knowyou're stuck for the next
(28:35):
because they'll tell you nextone's like 10 kilometers yep
then they also have the oncomingones, like the oncoming passing
sections, where you actuallycan use the middle lane yep, you
have to yield it to them butit's like, yeah, no, but it's
like using a regular checkered,uh, passing, you know, section
um, as long as it's clear andsafe to do so, and it is really
well structured, right, becauseevery time you get, because you
(28:57):
get some hills up there, youknow you're not going to be
stuck behind a guy for 50, 60,70 kilometers, which means
you're less likely to make astupid move.
Yeah, right, you're less likelyto try and make a pass in a bad
area if you know there's onecoming in two kilometers.
Don't get me wrong, there'salways going to be some city, it
who is going to, you know,still do the stupid move when
(29:20):
right before the passing zone,right, like, you're still going
to see that, but it was, it wasreally nice.
Um, the only part of that tripthat was scary to me is they had
a section, probably about 30kilometers give or take, um, so
I'm not doing the conversion forour american listeners but um,
about 30 kilometers of freshasphalt.
(29:41):
So black, black, black, nomarkings that I can see on it,
or little squares, yeah, littledots at night, and it was
raining.
Yep, there's constructionbarrels on both sides and you
were using those kind of as aguide to know where your side is
(30:03):
.
And you've got if anyone knowsthis term, I'm a big fan of it
Mississauga Missiles coming headon at you at 105.
And you're hoping that theyknow where the lane is, because
a lot of times they don't knowwhere the lane is on a clearly
marked highway, let alone in thedark, in the curves up and down
the hills, for that length oftime.
(30:25):
So that was definitely asketchy time.
But road etiquette kicked in.
And it's true, guys stayedbehind each other like no one
was passing, because it is aconstruction zone.
We knew no one was working inthe construction zone.
It was pouring rain.
It was pouring rain at night.
No one's working there, but no,the road etiquette is
definitely something that I feellike.
You see flashes of improvementand then you see just absolute
(30:49):
terrible drivers out there thatmake you question it all.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, even off the highway.
So like I've grown up in afairly rural area, so I grew up
on dirt and gravel roads, andthere is people out there that
have never been down a dirt orgravel road before in their life
and the speed limit is 80kilometers an hour normally.
These are fairly tight roads.
a lot of times there can bebushes overgrowing mailboxes too
(31:15):
close to the road, so younormally drive in the center of
the road when there's no onecoming yeah, exactly, and when
there you do see someoneoncoming, the appropriate thing
to do would be to slow down alittle bit, whether that's 60,
drop down to 60, drop down to 54, whatever, and pull over to the
right.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, and to make sure that you guys go by each
other, and then you canreaccelerate, correct?
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Exactly Because I don't know if you've ever been
driving down a gravel road andthe guy oncoming is doing 95
because he's doing his 15 overand kicks up a piece of gravel
and that hits your windshield.
That's not pleasant, it's notpleasant at all.
It can cause stone chips, itcan scratch your paint and it
(31:59):
can also disorient the driver.
If he gets a piece of gravelbang into his windshield, that's
what the hell is happening tome.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well, not to mention the dust trail that's normally
thrown up behind you, thatyou're going to have to slow
down anyways because theoncoming car, like as the
oncoming car, you can't see pastthe guy because of the dust
trail he's got behind him.
Like, yeah, there's somecourtesies that apply, but again
, city, it's right.
City, again city-its, right,city-its 90% of it's city-its I
hate to pick on them, butabsolute city-its Like that,
just again, have never driven ona dirt road and just go, bah
(32:27):
Like these are the people thatjust know to put it in drive,
that's all they know.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
The same thing is you're on the same gravel road
and there's a couple of peoplewalking going the opposite
direction.
You slow down.
I normally slow down to like 30, 40.
And how much time does it takeout of my day?
I might waste 40 seconds in thetime.
I slow down, pass them andre-accelerate.
Ooh, 40 seconds out of my dayJust to make sure those people
(32:56):
are in a safer environment,because I am in control of their
environment at that moment intime.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I am in control of their environment at that moment
in time, 40 seconds in a daythat you will not be able to
recruit those people to yourconvent because you slowed down
to go buy them.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, now, if I took two minutes out of my day, I
could have stopped and had aconversation and maybe got them
in the back of my truck and backto the convent.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You're doing it wrong , See when you're passing people
walking down the side of agravel road, you are not to slow
down and what you are to stop.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, ask if they believe in our lord and savior,
jesus christ, and ask them ifthey want to take a ride in your
pickup truck back to the, theholy land, um, where they where
they will be accepted for whothey are and abandoned of all
their sins.
Sorry, if there's any Biblethumpers listening that I offend
, but no, it's 100% true,especially when you're in a
(33:56):
4,000, 5,000 pound piece ofsteel rolling down the road.
You have responsibilities and Ithink that's what a lot of it
comes down to is people don'trealize the responsibilities.
The same way the drivers don'trealize the responsibilities
they have in their tow trucks.
You are not driving a Hondacivic, you know.
You are driving an upwards of10, 20, 30, 40, 50.
(34:17):
You can continue on and on andon.
Thousands of pounds of units.
Um, um, you have a lot ofresponsibility in your hands.
The etiquette is you know, guys, oh, it was 50, I was only
doing 60.
If you're doing 60 in a loadedtow truck like that, like that
is where the speed limit moreapplies to you you want to do 90
(34:38):
and then 80 loaded, I'm okaywith it.
60 and a 50 loaded, no, no,there's no need for it.
No extra braking, extraeverything.
You're in the town, like youknow, there's, there's things
that come into it.
We we recently had it was reallyfunny we have a guy who called
a little while back um to ourcompany and complained because
(34:59):
our drivers went by with jakebrakes on and he's a former
trucker as a truck, I don't knowand he, uh, he knows that we
don't need Jake brakes and it'sa residential zone.
First of all, it's not aresidential zone.
It's a 70 kilometer an hoursection leading out of the city
where there's like four houses.
The rest is all farmland and itcomes up to a light.
(35:20):
So 70 kilometer an hour road upto the light.
Guys use the jakes.
Hey, you get into these biggerrotators and stuff these things
weigh 80 90 000 pounds loaded or, uh, empty, right.
So calls the one day, complainsum, my dispatch gives him my
number, um, he leaves me avoicemail.
Hey, you know he's a bitarrogant about it, but not too
(35:42):
bad right I'm tired of you guys.
Jake breaks and blah, blah, blah.
All it's used for is to pumpout your chest.
And so, listening to thevoicemail, I didn't feel that
there was a need to respond tohim.
It didn't look like he waslooking for a response, he just
wanted somebody to yell at.
No problem, he calls back againone day.
Driver using j breaks.
(36:02):
Okay, I'm gonna follow up withthis guy.
Get busy, don't get a chance tofollow up with him.
That day yesterday, guy callsand says I'd like a rotator.
What?
Yeah, I want a rotator up inthis town.
Okay, well, what do you got?
What are you like?
What name?
No, I'm not giving you my name.
(36:22):
My name is Fucky McFuckface.
That's what he said.
I quote Um, and he goes.
He's like well, I can't justsend you a rotator.
Like, I need to know what'sgoing on, I need photos.
Whatever he's like.
Oh well, you guys can drivearound with your jig brakes all
day and my dispatch hmm, and hegoes yeah, and this guy goes on
a, on a tangent, and so he callsme and he lets me know, and I'm
(36:45):
like, okay.
So I did a little research,went back to my voicemail, found
the guy's name, found out wherehe lived, um, and I said I'm
gonna go over there and I'mgonna have a conversation, not a
dick, you cannot approach it,as I'm gonna show up at your
house and be a dick yeahespecially because he, you know
he doesn't want to leave hisname.
We have his phone number, hiscaller id.
Um, he left the name the firsttime.
(37:05):
A google search showed that heworked for a crane company,
which I think is where maybe theproblem comes from.
I'm guessing we might have hurthis feelings with a rotator at
one point in our lives.
Yep, and I just showed up athis house.
I knew about where he livedbecause of the traffic
complaints like the, the jakebreaking there's only like four
houses there.
There's only four houses there.
But, like now, I got theaddress and I pull into his
driveway or park out on the road, sorry, in front and, uh, he
(37:29):
comes up in a vehicle behind me.
I'm like, hey, you must be mr.
You know, jake break yeah andwe had a conversation about it
and he goes.
Oh, you know, I'm sorry, it'sjust, it's a lot like and this
house is set back like a good200 feet from the road and our
trucks are like.
We have a couple of trucks thatare loud.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
But like they do sound good though but they're
not waking you up.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
You know, like they're not, and like today it
was.
It was seven, 30 in the morning, the day that he complained.
There's never, it's not 2am,like we don't run these things
at 2am coming down, coming downthere, but like, yeah, three
o'clock in the afternoon, sure.
And so I had a conversation.
I said, look, here's what I'mgonna do.
Here's my personal cell phonenumber.
Next time you have a problem,you call me.
Right, you call me.
(38:11):
I will have a talk with my guys.
Yeah, sure, but my dispatchdoes not need your shit yeah
like that part.
I made very clear.
My staff does not need your,your abuse.
You have a problem?
You can talk to me, we can havea conversation about it, yep.
But to just keep calling overand over again and just
absolutely getting a chance totear a strip and it's funny
because he tore a strip on thephone and my dispatcher I'm not
(38:32):
gonna lie gave it right back tohim, good right, like it was not
his best customer serviceexperience, was nowhere near it,
yeah, but my dispatch gave itback to him, because sometimes
you have to sometimes on peoplelike that.
But what I, what I enjoyed aboutthis guy is when I showed up
now again, I'm a big enough guy.
I didn't show up in you know anintimidating way or anything
(38:55):
like that, but people, I lovepeople like him because they
just shut up when you show up.
You know he was very apologeticfrom the beginning.
He never swore once.
You know what I mean.
It was like very like.
You know I'm going to watchwhat I say, because now this
person is in my face, like nowthis person is here, I can't be
(39:15):
a tough guy.
And so that was the part it waslike.
You know, you can complain,that's fine, I'll hear you.
But it was like you know youcan.
You know you can complain,that's fine, I'll hear you.
But you talk to my staff likethat.
I'm very much one of thosepeople.
You can talk to me however youwant.
I don't, I don't.
You don't hurt my feelings, butyou abuse my staff.
Yeah, we're going to have anissue, right, abuse me all you
(39:36):
want.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
That's one thing I noticed and so, like when I was
towing, my tow truck wasidentical to my pickup.
Only my pickups are 3500, towtrucks 5500 right interior
identical.
So jumping from my pickup,where I can drive a little bit
more like a dick, and fly underthe radar into a tow truck it's
(39:59):
very easy to get complacent ofI'm just driving a truck but
everyone else sees that it's atow truck and it's got the name
on the door and I feel like whenyou scale up in vehicle size
it's still.
It's a little harder to getinto that mentality and
especially with some of the newtrucks out there that drive like
(40:20):
go-karts, they can be verynimble feeling.
It's easy to.
Oh well, I'm gonna do 10, 15over the speed limit.
I don't have to maintain thegood following distance because
I'm in control of this vehicle.
I know my stopping distance.
I I could leave 200 feet, but Iknow I only need about 80 feet
to get this rig to stop in thiscircumstance and you get
(40:43):
complacent.
But the general motoring publicjust sees a big truck flying
down the road, being an asshole,yeah, but from your eyes you're
like I'm in control of thisvehicle so you always got to
stop.
Well, not stop, but slow downand realize that you always have
to worry about the other people, not so much yourself.
So you should drive accordingto what's going on around you,
(41:06):
not just because you feel likeyou're in control.
The guy in front of you mightjust decide to make a lane
change into the car that'sdriving next to him and crash in
front of you Like you justdon't know, and I think that's
one of the issues, especiallyonce guys get into this industry
and start driving these rigsfor an extended period of time.
Always the first month you getinto a new vehicle, you're very
(41:30):
cautious I think it's a learningcurve for you and you're very
polite on the road.
Giving away your right away toyou know to be courteous After
that time you start, there's afake level of confidence that
comes out like a complacency,like you said.
Yeah yeah, and that's when thesethings can happen.
(41:52):
Now, in your instance, thedriver using his jakes
whoop-dee-doo-dah-day.
Yeah, like it's, it's, it's afeature on the vehicle.
It's not like he's goingthrough a 40-kilometer-an-hour
subdivision, shoving it down ina second to get down to 5
kilometers an hour using hisjakes, like that's just not what
(42:14):
he's doing.
So in that instance, can youblame the driver?
Not really, not really.
But if I don't know like,should he really like be blowing
down that road, going that fast?
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Who knows If he knows he's supposed to, but if he's
going at 70 and like this light,the way it's set up, like, yeah
, you have to have your brakeson for that light.
Like that light is it's a quickcity light because it's a
70-kilometer-hour road.
It's not a long light, yeah, soyou know what I mean.
Like if you see it farther back, yeah, I'm not going to
(42:49):
encourage my guy to to ride hisbrakes because this guy you know
.
Again, it's not a residentialarea, it's trucks.
Like this route is a main truckroute yeah right.
So I mean our tow trucks mightbe a little louder than you know
most of the automatic freightliners you're seeing out there
nowadays, but it's not you knowit, I don't know.
The guy's looking for a reasonand now that he's latched on to
something he is just going tocontinue.
So hopefully our in-personvisit, you know, has an effect
(43:14):
where it's.
You know what I mean.
Okay, well, you know, he cameout, he talked to me, he's gonna
try.
Okay, if I hear once or twiceI'll let it go, kind of thing,
and maybe it might be enough toget this guy onto some new
target that he's got, some newhate that he has towards
something, um, we don't know,only time will tell.
Um, that being said, before wego, I wanted to move on to one
of the last things that we didhave on.
(43:35):
Have you ever had an instanceand I have, because I do a lot
of quiet price quoting, right,you get a call from a customer.
I mean sheds, god, I hate sheds, especially when it's like
sheds moved on property.
Hate those jobs yep you ever?
you know you get customer callsand hey, I need this shed moved
on my property, it's only going30 feet.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blahand you know it's been sitting
(43:57):
there for 20 years, whatever thecase is, and you come up and
you give them a, a price andthey go, you know, and that
price is your, your fuck offprice Right, I've definitely
been there, where I've been,like it's going to be like $600.
Yeah.
And they're like okay, can webook that for tomorrow?
And you're like son of a andnow you have to do it, yeah,
(44:25):
because a you you priced it andb it's normally financially
rewarding.
But it's like you kind of gavethat price.
It wasn't to try and screwsomebody, it wasn't to whatever.
You pretty much gave them thatprice, thinking they would go.
I'm gonna call the next guy,yeah, and you're like that's
fine, cause the next guy canhave it.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, let me get a few other quotes.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, exactly.
And instead they just go, no,that's fine, and I'm like, oh,
no, I've had a couple of thosewith sheds.
I have definitely sheds havebeen my killer.
For that one where it's like,all right, don't want to do it,
I'm gonna like up it this muchand, you know, make it somewhat
ridiculous, yeah.
And then they go, yeah, okay,we'll take it.
(45:07):
And they're like what?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
what?
Yeah, no, the flatbed fee isgoing to be 125.
Should add an extra 75 for abullshit fee.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Add an extra hundred dollars for labor, and then I'm
just gonna double it and that'sthe fuck off price pretty much,
which, again, it's not.
You know, when prices areexplained ahead of time like
this, it's not, I don't believeit's taking advantage of anyone,
it's it's doing the job, andthen giving them a fucking
ridiculous price is crazy, yeah.
But if you come up with a priceand they go okay and you're
like huh, it's probably one ofthe worst I I've.
(45:42):
I've been guilty of it manytimes.
I've probably gotten screwed onthat like three or four times
in the last but are you gettingscrewed because you're making
yourself in the cup?
Oh, you are but you go and yousaid, yeah, you're making good
money for the work you're doingand you know you might have to
do a bit of slugging, but it'smainly like when it's like my
brain doesn't want to work thathard to figure this out, to do
this one out, and then I go takeit and I'm like now my brain
(46:04):
needs to work a lot harder tofigure out how I'm going to do
this.
So yeah, I know Like I want tohear.
I'm sure everyone in the towingindustry who has ever priced a
job has a customer accepts yourfuck off price story.
It has to.
I'm not the only one who getsone a year, right, it has to.
I'm not the only one who getsone a year, right.
(46:26):
So if you do have a great storyof a, you know a fuck off price
that a customer is absolutelyaccepted, put it down below in
the YouTube comments or email usat the towing life at gmailcom.
Visit our website,wwwtowinglifeca, or visit our
Facebook page where you canleave usa message as well at the
towing life podcast on Facebook.
While you're on the YouTube side, if that's where you are, do
(46:47):
not forget to like, comment andsubscribe and all that good
stuff If you're listening overon any of the other audio
listening sites Spotify, applemusic, uh, everywhere there's.
There's like 20 of them.
I can't remember all of them.
Um, be sure, if there is a rateand review option, leave us a
review on there.
It does help push our podcastinto better directions.
Your comments, questions andeverything are always
(47:10):
appreciated on the show, so donot hesitate.
I think it was a fun episode.
I'm happy that we did it.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
I'm now awake and ready.
Could it be a shorter of anepisode?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
this week.
We're sitting at an hour, we'resitting at 50 minutes.
We lost about two minutes onthe.
Don't you worry about it.
Okay, we've got things to do,places to be, people to be,
people to be and places to see.
I think that's what it's called.
What, what, on behalf of myselfand my wonderful co-host, mr
Tomangy we appreciate you comingout again.
(47:41):
We cannot wait to see you againnext week.
Take care, toodles.
Hey everyone, I'm Brad from Calgary.
This is Sean from CambridgeOntario.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm Terry from Cornwall, Ontario, hey this is
Larry from Pit Metals, BritishColumbia, and you're listening
to the Towing Life Podcastwelcome to the towing life
(00:32):
podcast, where the ditches aredeep, the trucks are loaded, but
the drivers are not.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I am your host, towman g, and, as usual, I'm
joined by my co-host, friend andformer co-worker, a man with
very strong opinions, mr plainguy what is going on?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
g.
What is going on?
It looked like you choked onyour coffee when I was doing the
intro no, I realized that I hada little bit of phlegm built up
that I was trying to clear outbefore I actually had to speak
and it's still slightly sittingthere.
Um, I find that's the thingabout first thing in the morning
when we do recordings is thatstill phlegmed up from the
morning the night before?
Welcome the joy of being asmoker.
(01:04):
It happens, we've all beenthere.
If you haven't, congrats on you.
Good for you.
Got to love the bad habits,exactly so.
Caffeine, nicotine my two bestfriends.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Fast food preferably.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Asian fast food.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Don't know what it is about Asian fast food.
I love Asian fast food.
What is Asian fast food?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Don't know what it is about Asian fast food.
I love Asian fast food.
What is Asian?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
fast food.
What do you mean?
I've never had Asian fast foodLike a Thai Express or a Walkbox
or like I'm an uncultured swine.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I guess you are.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
No one's ever denied that fact.
That is 100% a true thing.
So, as G said, welcome toepisode 141 of the Towing Life
podcast.
We've got some great stuff onceagain on top.
Before we get into it, it is agood time to mention your
questions.
Comments, concerns everything,are always appreciated on the
show.
So where can you find it?
(01:58):
You can head over tothetowinglifeatgmailcom is where
you can email us.
Thetowinglifeatgmailcom.
Visit our website atwwwtowinglifeca or find us over
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If you're watching over on theYouTube side, you can always
comment down below.
Be sure, while you're there, tohit that like, hit that
subscribe, hit the little bellso you get notified when new
(02:20):
episodes come out.
You guys are what make the showworthwhile worthwhile whether
it be us doing it for you oryour input into the show.
So don't forget to do all that.
Have your say on the show and,uh, keep it.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Keep our continuing, continuing efforts relevant, um
you could be like joe and lastweek and just take up half our
podcast.
Yeah, exactly thank, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you, joe.
So I had a fun little weekbefore we get into the deep
downs of towing.
My dog, for the first time insix years, has found out why you
don't play with the stinkykitties with the white stripe.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yep, wonderful, it still lingers slightly.
We've almost gotten it all out.
It uh 11 o'clock at night.
I let my dog out to go to thewashroom before we go to bed and
she is.
So I have a German shepherd andshe is down off the patio and
(03:19):
she is nose to the ground.
She has a scent of somethingand so I'm kind of ignoring it,
scrolling on my phone, notreally paying attention.
All of a sudden I I can stillhear it going, chasing, you know
, looking around the yard, andI'm like what is going on?
And all of a sudden I smellskunk and I go, okay, sasha, in
(03:40):
the house, now let's go.
And so she like runs peace,which is what she was out there
to do in the first place andcome and comes running in and
I'm like, oh man, there's askunk out there somewhere and I
closed the door when I get herinside and all of a sudden I can
smell the skunk and I'm like,oh, you got it.
So it wasn't a direct I don'tbelieve spray.
(04:07):
I don't think she ever actuallyseen the skunk.
Yeah, it was where it snuck outof our yard.
It's a fenced in yard.
Where it snuck out, there'sleaves and all that and I I
think it's sprayed when it wasrunning and and then she rubbed
her face.
It was in the leaves rubbed upall on it and she absolutely
stunk and it is.
Have you, have you ever had theencounter?
Have you ever had a dog sprayed?
(04:28):
not a dog, but I've been aroundskunks that have sprayed, yeah
it's almost impossible to getoff in the first shot, like my
wife and I had some concoctionof baking powder, because they
say don't get them wet like, donot just take a hose to it right
away.
It's the worst thing you can do.
It spreads it.
So we've got a concoction ofdish soap and baking soda and
(04:49):
and you make that, you rub thewhole dog in it and we're doing
that in our living room orkitchen at 11 30 at night and
then like gotta get the dog intothe bathtub after you gotta let
it sit for half an hour, getthe dog into the bathtub and
then start grabbing the anythingthat she touched when she came
in, because she went right toher bed because she thought she
was in trouble.
So her bed stunk and and youclean it all and it smells like
(05:14):
like skunk is one smell.
Skunk is not a great smell, butwhen they get sprayed it smells
like burnt skunk.
Yeah, like that's how I candescribe it.
It's very burnt and it'samazing because you do all this
cleaning okay, I think we got itall you go to work the next day
.
You come back, you walk in thedoor and you're like, no, it's
still in the house.
You know, we're changingfilters on our furnace.
(05:34):
We're, you know, just doingeverything to try and get that
smell out.
Bother, that's yeah.
Yeah, it was a late.
It was a late, unexpected night, that's for sure that.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
That makes me worried because I don't have a bathtub.
I got a stand-up shower right,so like that instance would be
definitely hard, because the oldwives tale that you used to be
told was fill the bathtub upwith tomato soup like tomato
juice.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, I've heard that like wash them in
tomato juice, yeah yeah, andthat gets the stink out
apparently.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I think it just kind of masks the smell of tomato
juice.
No, there's something with theacid.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
There's something with the acid in the tomato.
Uh, because it's an oil likethe.
The spray is like an oil and sono for anyone that ever.
Because my wife was sure toyell at me when I told her this
happened.
Do not get, not get them wet.
You take a, you make a paste ofbaking, baking powder, baking
soda I don't know what thedifference is, baking soda and
(06:33):
that Arm Hammer stuff you leavein your fridge forever, baking
soda and dish soap, and you makelike a paste with it and rub
them all down with that, let itsit for about 30 minutes in
their fur and then give them.
You know, in your case, takethe, the hose to them right.
And and don't forget your, yourdog's got a shorter haired dog
(06:53):
right.
Mine with the german shepherd,with the fluffy like she's a
shorter, short-haired germanshepherd, but they're still.
It's like a husky right, likeit's getting under there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And yeah, so it was a very unexpected night.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, you didn't need a coffee when you got home,
because the smell would wake youup.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh man, did it ever hit you and it stuck in your
nose that night when you go tobed and it was terrible.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I wonder what the dogs smell like.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I wonder if it's a pigeon, it's got to be terrible.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, but they're going after the smell yeah, yeah
, but that's.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I think they're going after the smell because
instinct is this is my yard,I've got to get.
You know what I mean.
Like I don't think it's.
Oh, this smells nice, let mesee what it is.
Like.
I don't think that theoryapplies, um, but, uh, yeah, no,
not her, um, not her smartestmoment, like I said, first time
in six years.
Um, it's always bound to happen.
I think it's something that Iknow people that their dog gets
(07:50):
sprayed every year, right, so Imean, or multiple times a year,
so they just don't learn.
No, no, 100, I think my dog haslearned.
She was the saddest lookingthing.
I should have posted a pictureup while we were giving her the
bath that night.
She was not happy about this.
So, um, that, and the otherthing I wanted to touch in um,
mrs plan or mrs plane guy and I,who we had on the show, right,
(08:14):
my wife celebrated, as ofyesterday actually, our 10 year
anniversary.
Nice, six years, married, fouryears together.
I was smart gentleman.
I married my wife on ouranniversary.
That way I didn't have toremember a new one.
Smart, yeah.
That is smart.
It's very easy to remember.
So congratulations to her onhaving the pleasure of being my
(08:38):
partner for 10 years.
Lord knows that.
You know that's a gift in itsown.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah um, lord knows that you know that's a gift in
its own.
Yeah, yeah, congratulations toher to be able to put up with
you for 10 whole years it's uh,she's got it pretty easy.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Let me put it that way she's got it pretty easy.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Uh-huh, she doesn't think so, but okay, no no, I
don't think anyone who listensto this show thinks that being
with you for 10 years would bean easy task gee, we've known
each other almost 10 years andit's been an absolute treat for
you as well yeah, because I'velived like 600 kilometers away
from you for the majority of it.
(09:17):
I have to see you once a weekthat's true, that is true.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So all right.
That being said, it's time toactually get into towing related
content for our wonderfullisteners who are here for that.
Um, first thing we'll talkabout, we'll get to the older
stuff, kind of first well it'solder to us, it's not.
It's new to you regardless yeah,it's new content for you, but
(09:43):
it it's older on us.
It's stuff that we wanted totalk about last week that we
didn't get to.
Thanks Joe, thanks Joe, sowe'll get to it this week.
Everyone has heard the sayingacross the towing industry and I
hate the saying, but it's trueis, if it fits, it ships Right.
That has been a joking subjectthat has been put along in the
(10:04):
towing industry for years.
That has been a joking subjectthat has been put along in the
towing industry for years andthis hotshot trailer guy posted
above decided to put that to thetest.
So I'm not sure if he'sactually a towing company or
related to any towing companies,but he's obviously heard the
saying and said if they can doit, so can I.
Out in BC, if I'm not mistakenthis, or somewhere on the west
(10:25):
coast I think it was bc, thougha gentleman decided he's got a
dovetail gooseneck tandem axletrailer looks about 25 feet long
.
Give or take yep, yeah, and hedecided that he was going to
load a 40 foot C container ontosaid trailer.
So he has this trailer, if youcan imagine, um, flat, with the
(10:54):
dovetail section of the trailer,coming straight up over the
flat deck, over, sitting restingon the goose neck and
overhanging the entire cab ofhis uh, f two, 50, f three, 50,
single rear wheel, maybe, um.
Hey clear, clear entire cab ofhis f-250, f-350, single rear
wheel maybe um a clear, clearviolation.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Like I'm, I'm, I appreciate I always look at
these things and go god, that'sdumb, but god, I appreciate the
effort the effort it would havetaken to get it on that angle,
like to rest it on the gooseneckand to get it and get, get the
ramps up.
The reason why this guyprobably just didn't butt it
(11:33):
right up to the gooseneck andlet it overhang was the ramps
wouldn't come off.
He probably didn't want to tryto strap up the ramps.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Maybe I, I guess.
I don't know all the details toit, I just know that it's dumb.
But what's crazy about it beingdumb is that it took some
intelligence to secure it.
You know, I mean like to get itrigged up like it is 100 stupid
.
I don't know what his height is, but you know bc's got a
history of people hittingoverpasses.
I feel like this guy might havebeen next on that list.
(12:01):
It's hard to tell when you usethe truck as a scale right, like
if you put that truck at sevenfeet tall, like a truck six, you
know, a truck like that'sprobably six foot at least,
right, most 1500s or or over sixfoot tall yeah so you can
double.
Let's say, let's say, six and ahalf, you double that.
(12:22):
He's at.
Yeah, there's still anothercouple of feet above that Right,
like again we're we're guessingat numbers.
But if you double the height ofthat truck, I think there's
still another foot or two abovethat.
Yeah.
And I don't know what theheight laws are in BC.
I know that in Ontario it is13,.
Six is your max height.
(12:46):
You can run up to 14 foot with apermit and oversize and all
that kind of stuff which thisguy has none of.
But I'm going to say this guy'severything good at 15 feet, oh
yeah.
So just because it fits, justbecause you find a way to make
it on a platform and and securedagain, I see straps, I see
(13:11):
extra wood rails that he's kindof put in like I see some, like
some thought that went into this.
But just because you candoesn't mean you should.
Just because it fits doesn'tmean it should ship.
It's my advice for the dayplaying guys, advice of the week
just because it fits doesn'tmean it should ship.
I think that's pretty solid.
(13:34):
I think that's pretty solid.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Anything else you want to add to this couldn't
fuckery well, I mean, the heightthing is something that you
always got to watch out forWreckers, flatbeds, hauling shit
on decks like this but I thinkit's easier to have the mindset
of if it fits, it ships towardsweight on flatbeds or on
(13:55):
trailers like this, on wheellifts.
If you're overweight, you canfeel it because your front tires
come up off the ground andyou're SOL.
Right, if you're overweight,but on decks it's a lot easier
just to be like ah, it fits,I'll just hammer down the road.
Your rear axle could be wayoverweight, your tires could be
way overweight, but it's up onthe deck, so why do you care?
(14:17):
Right, as long as the deckfolds up, you're going down the
road fuck it right.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I have to look at this depending on if that C can
is empty.
Like weight isn't really anissue on this one, no, it's not
like wait, it might be again.
I'd have to, you know, see thespecs and and go over it and,
you know, see if there'sanything in that can, whatever.
but like C cans are empty C that40 foot can maybe 8 000 pounds
(14:44):
yeah, 85, 85 around there, let'ssay um, so yeah, and like a,
you know, if that was actually,if I was 8 500 pounds on that
trailer, he's perfectly fine.
But yeah, no, weight is.
At least the dimensions alittle bit come into play.
Um, no, 100, like I don't knowhow many guys carry um, if they,
(15:04):
if they don't, they should Um,there's some people that don't
carry like height sticks.
Like that was one thing that weput in all of our floats, not
our light duty stuff, becauseour light duty stuff is just
doing cars and vans and like youcan measure a cube truck and
you and you know, we know whatour set height is, that it has
to be under and all that kind ofstuff, but has to be under and
all that kind of stuff.
But when you start to get intothese, like weird pieces of
equipment, like the one I sentyou the other day with the
(15:26):
telehandler, um and all thatlike height sticks are hugely
important.
Like I remember there was a, aload that came into our yard
from a wreck and what was?
The highway tractor?
Yeah, it was the highwaytractor.
The highway tractor was tall.
We brought it into our yard.
Um, um, on a low boy.
Mm.
And we were everything of justunder 14 feet.
(15:49):
Yeah Right, so we, we havepermit, we were running on
permit, everything was legit.
We brought it back to our yardafter a wreck, no-transcript,
and he loads it up onto a land,all right.
And so I'm looking at it and Igo buddy, I think you're over
height.
And he goes, no, no, I havepermit.
(16:11):
I'm like so do I, and I knowwhat your permit is good for and
it is not good.
I'm like if I was everything of14 on my low boy, you're at
least a foot higher.
Okay, let me talk to the boss.
Okay, this is, after this guystruggled to get this thing on,
(16:33):
like this was an adventure,getting this truck on.
Yeah.
Calls his boss, I go in theoffice.
Two minutes later I look outhe's honking to get let out of
the yard.
Good luck to you, sir.
Enjoy those power lines on theway down the road, because can't
you can't you get like ageneric over height permit in
(16:54):
ontario yeah, so you're, you'reover, you're over dimension that
you're allowed.
Um is up to 14 feet yeah andthen anything past that.
You're starting to get intoescorts and and you know there's
a lot more to it.
It's not just a.
You know you can just oh, Ihave this permit.
No, with permit, because youshouldn't hit anything under 14
feet yeah power lines arenowhere near 14 feet, like 13.6
(17:17):
is your max height.
But unless marked there'snothing.
Like you know, you get bridgesthat are marked well yeah, 13.8
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, yeah.
So you got nothing.
Like you know, you get bridgesthat are marked.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, 13.8 or whatever, yeah, yeah.
So you got to have some, youknow, and there are different
areas.
Again, this is Ontario.
I don't know how the stateswork for permits for the
oversize and stuff, but yeah,you can get permits for that.
This guy was definitely wayoverweight or way over height, I
think we ended up hearing,because I think one of the guys
went out with a measuring stick,and I think he was 15 too, and
I was like you don't want to,like I don't know what you're
(17:45):
gonna do with it, because youknow, short of knocking the, the
fairing off the top of thehighway, tractor right, you're
not gonna gain a foot, no matterwhat you do.
But, uh, or I guess 14 inchesin that case.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
But no, he was dead set and he sent the goddamn
thing and you didn't hearanything on the news about a
tractor hitting an overpass oranything.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
So I guess whatever route he took was good.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Was the right one.
Yeah, I don't know what he did.
He finally he figured it out.
So, yeah, no, so just becauseit fits doesn't mean it's a chip
.
Moral of the story yeah, alittle bit sad.
Oh, not really sadder news, Iguess it's still.
We hate to see it, but myunderstanding was there was no
injuries or fatalities in it.
(18:32):
There was a tow truck flop thathit down in Illinois.
To my understanding it was abeautiful tandem with a lift
orange flatbed that looks like atransport ran over it taking
out the cab.
Um, I'm not sure if that's annrc deck, but if it is, it looks
like it withstood it prettysure it is an nrc deck.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think I've seen that truck in nrc facebook pages
before okay, very possible,very possible.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, so, um, loading up, it looks like on the side
of an interstate.
Again, slow down, move overright.
We can't talk about it enough.
There were some minor injuries,I think, to some vehicles, some
people on some vehicles, likemaybe the transport driver.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well, yeah, we've got two cars up on yeah, two
vehicles up on their lids, semion its side.
The flatbed has no cab left.
They hazard that deck and theyripped the winch right off.
That's a strong hydraulic cable, because hydraulic, yeah, and
the winch just dangling off theside of the truck yeah, yeah, no
(19:31):
, it was.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Uh, it was definitely a hard hit.
I don't know what.
I'm assuming he was loading oneof these vehicles.
Um, we never did figure outwhich one.
If I had to guess, I would saythe white one on the opposite
side of the barrier yeah if Iwas, if I was playing my best
traffic cop inter, you know, uhversion, I would say that white
(19:53):
vehicle was being loaded got hitat the angle which sent it off
the bed that way and thetransport and the other car just
barely hitting the bed, or I'mguessing maybe the transport
landed on the car hit the car.
However, the hell it worked.
I don't know that part isrelevant.
I'm just saying the white car,uh, that's on its roof on the
other side of the barrier ismore than likely the car that
that was being loaded, thedisabled casualty at the time.
(20:15):
Um, what a traffic nightmarethat would create.
I love there's no cones oranything up yet.
It must have just happened likefires got the whole other side
blocked off for the one car yeahand then this side, they're
just like single filing itaround the shoulder.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, there's like four or five different pictures
in this group and in eachpicture you can see more
emergency equipment arriving onscene and blocking off more
things.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So like these pictures were fresh yeah, yeah,
they were like in progression ofthis incident happening.
So, no, we hate to see it.
We're glad to hear theoperators Okay and nobody was
hurt or killed in this, becauseI mean it can happen that fast
and yeah, there's sometimes.
Sometimes you get away with one, and I think that driver and
(20:59):
operator got away with one.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So now let me ask you this If that was you in that
position, you were running thattruck.
Would you stay in the towingindustry after that?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I don't know, I don't think that's a fair question.
I I mean that in the sense thatI don't think, until you're in
that situation, you can, you canmake that I mean.
I've had my trauma that youwould have after that, yeah yeah
, like, I've had my fair shareof close calls and problems in
the towing industry throughout.
You know the whatever years I'mat now, um, so I'd like to say
(21:35):
that, yes, I'd like to say thatit would.
You know, the only thing thatmight get me out is being in
that cab when the guy hit it.
But I don't know, I and I thinka lot of people, you know our
industry is full of macho, machomen.
Right, that would be like, youknow, that's just nothing,
that's a Monday around here.
(21:56):
And then you get the realistthat would go like, no, it's, I
think so, like, I think thatcould be something that would,
would push me out of theindustry for good, and I don't
think anyone would blame someonefor getting pushed out of the
industry because of that.
No, like, I think, if you, youknow, you dodge that bullet and
that's that's dodging a bullet,that's not just, I had a close
(22:18):
call, I got, you know, I gotwinged by a car.
Um, that's happened, that was,was, like that was, you weren't
going to be able to identify thebody very easily, kind of kind
of stuff.
Yeah, and it happened and yeah,I don't think you blame anyone
for it, but I don't think anyonecan really say, unless they
were involved in that directly,whether they would want to
(22:39):
continue in the towing industryor not.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I wonder if the operator bought a lottery ticket
that morning I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
You already got, you already got your win man.
No, I mean like before this.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So let's say that guy bought the winning lottery
ticket in the morning and usedup all his luck on buying that
lottery ticket when that wouldhave happened later on in the
day you don't buy it after,because you've already won yeah
you know, people always say thatyou're lucky.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You know you should buy a lottery ticket.
No, because you've already usedup your luck yeah you know, I
don't think luck is uh, you know, luck is kind of a weird thing,
but at the same time, no,you've definitely used up your
luck, so do not.
Uh, yeah, we don't wish thatupon anybody, um, but hey, the
fact that everyone walked awayis probably the godsend.
(23:25):
And you know what?
It's crazy because photos likethat photo just because the
scale of it isn't something thatwill just circulate within our
echo chamber, as we call it thatis more likely to get out into
the public, and I don't think ithas an effect on the public the
way that it should, but I thinkit's a good.
(23:45):
You know, the an operator hitand killed, as terrible as it is
.
We've talked with people youknow that have had family
members and and co-workers thathave had it happen or or that
have been hit themselves, right,or uh, mr bush, that we had way
back.
You gotta go check that episodeout.
Who was hit on the side of theroad and one of those viral
videos that we had way back.
You got to go check thatepisode out.
Who was hit on the side of theroad and one of those viral
videos that we seen all over thetowing industry.
(24:06):
We see it and go, oh my God,and, and I open her and wake up
the public season.
It goes, oh, I guess, like, yeah, maybe you should move over,
but then it's gone, yeah, thenit's onto the, the huck to a
(24:27):
girl or the.
You know what I mean.
Like it, it, it lives veryquickly in their minds for a
very short period of time.
It doesn't have any longlasting effect.
Where us it has a longerlasting effect, don't get me
wrong.
I still see those videos andthen I still see the huck to a
girl.
But, um, it's, it's.
You know it lives a little morerent free, a little longer in
my mind than I think it does inthe general public or in your
mind or in the towing industry.
Anyone in the industry's mind.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It all comes down to a basic road etiquette, right,
like?
I'm not sure about where youthe listener is, but for me, the
further I get away from thecity, the more courteous drivers
are.
That could just because they'renot so much in a rush drivers
are that could.
Just because they're not somuch in a rush they're more
willing to say, hey, that guy'sanother person over there and
(25:10):
maybe I should give him somespace.
You can see it very easily.
Just like in the two lanehighway roads, like the four
lane divided highways, everyonepretty much drives in the right
lane, they get into the leftlane to pass and then they get
back into the right lane andthen you see that one guy from
the city just driving in theleft lane the whole time and
once you get down into the cityit's a free-for-all anyways.
Um, so you have that type ofroadway etiquette.
(25:33):
I want to call it just becausethat's it's kind of sort of the
law, but it's also just helpingout your fellow motorists.
And there is situations.
So let's say you're behind a 53foot van trailer and you can't
quite, you can't see around it.
You're coming through a set oflights.
You can't see the light becauseyou're behind the van or van
(25:53):
trailer, you can't see what's onthe side of the road.
The good thing to realize ifyou are coming around a corner
and you are following a semi iswas there anything in front of
that semi?
No, so as soon as you see thatleft turn signal, come on to get
into the other lane.
You should be thinking aboutdoing the same.
If he can see, but you can't,you should just kind of
(26:16):
automatically follow the personin front of you's direction,
because by the time thatgentleman or lady, whoever
driving that rig in front of you, gets over, you might already
be upon someone working on theside of the road right yeah, I
know 100, and I think the trickis to not be that far up, a 53
foot to us that you can't see,right, because that is a scary
(26:39):
thing.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And we've seen that wreck happen, right, we have all
seen videos of that wreck wherea you know a car moves over and
then you know, because there'ssomething stopped at the last
second, and the car behind it,because they're just focused on
their taillights, just driveinto it, whether it be a car, a
truck or any of the whatnot.
So now road etiquette is slowly, I don't know.
(27:01):
I see flashes like theamericans, no offense are
actually no offense meant at all.
I will take a drive down the 81every day of the week, over a
drive down the 401.
Yep, I've driven the 81.
Their, their trucks can drive,they're not limited.
Don't forget that too, rightthere.
So you don't have this daytona500 of the, uh, you know,
(27:30):
passing each other at onekilometer an hour over, exactly,
I don't know.
The drivers seem to be justoverall better quality.
I mean, they've got some wildroads and every time I look
there's not random marks throughthe, the median, or you know,
sections of guardrail the needreplacing yep so there is
something said there.
Now I recently took a drive upto um.
Where was it?
Where'd I go?
(27:51):
Smooth rock falls, cochrane,ontario.
So it's a, it's a hike, it'snorthern I.
I think you can consider thatnorthern ontario, I'm not sure
yeah right, ontario goes prettygoddamn far north.
Yeah, I'm not sure where thatthreshold exactly, uh lies, but
anyways, they've got to figureit out, because they're a
two-lane highway, um, for themajority part of that now.
(28:14):
The nice thing is, though, isthat they have constant passing
zones, and the passing zones are90 on the uphill yep which
makes the most sense.
Right, because that's where yourloaded transports are going to
struggle yep right, it does suckwhen you can't get you know up
past one and then you knowyou're stuck for the next
(28:35):
because they'll tell you nextone's like 10 kilometers yep
then they also have the oncomingones, like the oncoming passing
sections, where you actuallycan use the middle lane yep, you
have to yield it to them butit's like, yeah, no, but it's
like using a regular checkered,uh, passing, you know, section
um, as long as it's clear andsafe to do so, and it is really
well structured, right, becauseevery time you get, because you
(28:57):
get some hills up there, youknow you're not going to be
stuck behind a guy for 50, 60,70 kilometers, which means
you're less likely to make astupid move.
Yeah, right, you're less likelyto try and make a pass in a bad
area if you know there's onecoming in two kilometers.
Don't get me wrong, there'salways going to be some city, it
who is going to, you know,still do the stupid move when
(29:20):
right before the passing zone,right, like, you're still going
to see that, but it was, it wasreally nice.
Um, the only part of that tripthat was scary to me is they had
a section, probably about 30kilometers give or take, um, so
I'm not doing the conversion forour american listeners but um,
about 30 kilometers of freshasphalt.
(29:41):
So black, black, black, nomarkings that I can see on it,
or little squares, yeah, littledots at night, and it was
raining.
Yep, there's constructionbarrels on both sides and you
were using those kind of as aguide to know where your side is
(30:03):
.
And you've got if anyone knowsthis term, I'm a big fan of it
Mississauga Missiles coming headon at you at 105.
And you're hoping that theyknow where the lane is, because
a lot of times they don't knowwhere the lane is on a clearly
marked highway, let alone in thedark, in the curves up and down
the hills, for that length oftime.
(30:25):
So that was definitely asketchy time.
But road etiquette kicked in.
And it's true, guys stayedbehind each other like no one
was passing, because it is aconstruction zone.
We knew no one was working inthe construction zone.
It was pouring rain.
It was pouring rain at night.
No one's working there, but no,the road etiquette is
definitely something that I feellike.
You see flashes of improvementand then you see just absolute
(30:49):
terrible drivers out there thatmake you question it all.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, even off the highway.
So like I've grown up in afairly rural area, so I grew up
on dirt and gravel roads, andthere is people out there that
have never been down a dirt orgravel road before in their life
and the speed limit is 80kilometers an hour normally.
These are fairly tight roads.
a lot of times there can bebushes overgrowing mailboxes too
(31:15):
close to the road, so younormally drive in the center of
the road when there's no onecoming yeah, exactly, and when
there you do see someoneoncoming, the appropriate thing
to do would be to slow down alittle bit, whether that's 60,
drop down to 60, drop down to 54, whatever, and pull over to the
right.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, and to make sure that you guys go by each
other, and then you canreaccelerate, correct?
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Exactly Because I don't know if you've ever been
driving down a gravel road andthe guy oncoming is doing 95
because he's doing his 15 overand kicks up a piece of gravel
and that hits your windshield.
That's not pleasant, it's notpleasant at all.
It can cause stone chips, itcan scratch your paint and it
(31:59):
can also disorient the driver.
If he gets a piece of gravelbang into his windshield, that's
what the hell is happening tome.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well, not to mention the dust trail that's normally
thrown up behind you, thatyou're going to have to slow
down anyways because theoncoming car, like as the
oncoming car, you can't see pastthe guy because of the dust
trail he's got behind him.
Like, yeah, there's somecourtesies that apply, but again
, city, it's right.
City, again city-its, right,city-its 90% of it's city-its I
hate to pick on them, butabsolute city-its Like that,
just again, have never driven ona dirt road and just go, bah
(32:27):
Like these are the people thatjust know to put it in drive,
that's all they know.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
The same thing is you're on the same gravel road
and there's a couple of peoplewalking going the opposite
direction.
You slow down.
I normally slow down to like 30, 40.
And how much time does it takeout of my day?
I might waste 40 seconds in thetime.
I slow down, pass them andre-accelerate.
Ooh, 40 seconds out of my dayJust to make sure those people
(32:56):
are in a safer environment,because I am in control of their
environment at that moment intime.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I am in control of their environment at that moment
in time, 40 seconds in a daythat you will not be able to
recruit those people to yourconvent because you slowed down
to go buy them.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, now, if I took two minutes out of my day, I
could have stopped and had aconversation and maybe got them
in the back of my truck and backto the convent.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You're doing it wrong , See when you're passing people
walking down the side of agravel road, you are not to slow
down and what you are to stop.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, ask if they believe in our lord and savior,
jesus christ, and ask them ifthey want to take a ride in your
pickup truck back to the, theholy land, um, where they where
they will be accepted for whothey are and abandoned of all
their sins.
Sorry, if there's any Biblethumpers listening that I offend
, but no, it's 100% true,especially when you're in a
(33:56):
4,000, 5,000 pound piece ofsteel rolling down the road.
You have responsibilities and Ithink that's what a lot of it
comes down to is people don'trealize the responsibilities.
The same way the drivers don'trealize the responsibilities
they have in their tow trucks.
You are not driving a Hondacivic, you know.
You are driving an upwards of10, 20, 30, 40, 50.
(34:17):
You can continue on and on andon.
Thousands of pounds of units.
Um, um, you have a lot ofresponsibility in your hands.
The etiquette is you know, guys, oh, it was 50, I was only
doing 60.
If you're doing 60 in a loadedtow truck like that, like that
is where the speed limit moreapplies to you you want to do 90
(34:38):
and then 80 loaded, I'm okaywith it.
60 and a 50 loaded, no, no,there's no need for it.
No extra braking, extraeverything.
You're in the town, like youknow, there's, there's things
that come into it.
We we recently had it was reallyfunny we have a guy who called
a little while back um to ourcompany and complained because
(34:59):
our drivers went by with jakebrakes on and he's a former
trucker as a truck, I don't knowand he, uh, he knows that we
don't need Jake brakes and it'sa residential zone.
First of all, it's not aresidential zone.
It's a 70 kilometer an hoursection leading out of the city
where there's like four houses.
The rest is all farmland and itcomes up to a light.
(35:20):
So 70 kilometer an hour road upto the light.
Guys use the jakes.
Hey, you get into these biggerrotators and stuff these things
weigh 80 90 000 pounds loaded or, uh, empty, right.
So calls the one day, complainsum, my dispatch gives him my
number, um, he leaves me avoicemail.
Hey, you know he's a bitarrogant about it, but not too
(35:42):
bad right I'm tired of you guys.
Jake breaks and blah, blah, blah.
All it's used for is to pumpout your chest.
And so, listening to thevoicemail, I didn't feel that
there was a need to respond tohim.
It didn't look like he waslooking for a response, he just
wanted somebody to yell at.
No problem, he calls back againone day.
Driver using j breaks.
(36:02):
Okay, I'm gonna follow up withthis guy.
Get busy, don't get a chance tofollow up with him.
That day yesterday, guy callsand says I'd like a rotator.
What?
Yeah, I want a rotator up inthis town.
Okay, well, what do you got?
What are you like?
What name?
No, I'm not giving you my name.
(36:22):
My name is Fucky McFuckface.
That's what he said.
I quote Um, and he goes.
He's like well, I can't justsend you a rotator.
Like, I need to know what'sgoing on, I need photos.
Whatever he's like.
Oh well, you guys can drivearound with your jig brakes all
day and my dispatch hmm, and hegoes yeah, and this guy goes on
a, on a tangent, and so he callsme and he lets me know, and I'm
(36:45):
like, okay.
So I did a little research,went back to my voicemail, found
the guy's name, found out wherehe lived, um, and I said I'm
gonna go over there and I'mgonna have a conversation, not a
dick, you cannot approach it,as I'm gonna show up at your
house and be a dick yeahespecially because he, you know
he doesn't want to leave hisname.
We have his phone number, hiscaller id.
Um, he left the name the firsttime.
(37:05):
A google search showed that heworked for a crane company,
which I think is where maybe theproblem comes from.
I'm guessing we might have hurthis feelings with a rotator at
one point in our lives.
Yep, and I just showed up athis house.
I knew about where he livedbecause of the traffic
complaints like the, the jakebreaking there's only like four
houses there.
There's only four houses there.
But, like now, I got theaddress and I pull into his
driveway or park out on the road, sorry, in front and, uh, he
(37:29):
comes up in a vehicle behind me.
I'm like, hey, you must be mr.
You know, jake break yeah andwe had a conversation about it
and he goes.
Oh, you know, I'm sorry, it'sjust, it's a lot like and this
house is set back like a good200 feet from the road and our
trucks are like.
We have a couple of trucks thatare loud.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
But like they do sound good though but they're
not waking you up.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
You know, like they're not, and like today it
was.
It was seven, 30 in the morning, the day that he complained.
There's never, it's not 2am,like we don't run these things
at 2am coming down, coming downthere, but like, yeah, three
o'clock in the afternoon, sure.
And so I had a conversation.
I said, look, here's what I'mgonna do.
Here's my personal cell phonenumber.
Next time you have a problem,you call me.
Right, you call me.
(38:11):
I will have a talk with my guys.
Yeah, sure, but my dispatchdoes not need your shit yeah
like that part.
I made very clear.
My staff does not need your,your abuse.
You have a problem?
You can talk to me, we can havea conversation about it, yep.
But to just keep calling overand over again and just
absolutely getting a chance totear a strip and it's funny
because he tore a strip on thephone and my dispatcher I'm not
(38:32):
gonna lie gave it right back tohim, good right, like it was not
his best customer serviceexperience, was nowhere near it,
yeah, but my dispatch gave itback to him, because sometimes
you have to sometimes on peoplelike that.
But what I, what I enjoyed aboutthis guy is when I showed up
now again, I'm a big enough guy.
I didn't show up in you know anintimidating way or anything
(38:55):
like that, but people, I lovepeople like him because they
just shut up when you show up.
You know he was very apologeticfrom the beginning.
He never swore once.
You know what I mean.
It was like very like.
You know I'm going to watchwhat I say, because now this
person is in my face, like nowthis person is here, I can't be
(39:15):
a tough guy.
And so that was the part it waslike.
You know, you can complain,that's fine, I'll hear you.
But it was like you know youcan.
You know you can complain,that's fine, I'll hear you.
But you talk to my staff likethat.
I'm very much one of thosepeople.
You can talk to me however youwant.
I don't, I don't.
You don't hurt my feelings, butyou abuse my staff.
Yeah, we're going to have anissue, right, abuse me all you
(39:36):
want.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
That's one thing I noticed and so, like when I was
towing, my tow truck wasidentical to my pickup.
Only my pickups are 3500, towtrucks 5500 right interior
identical.
So jumping from my pickup,where I can drive a little bit
more like a dick, and fly underthe radar into a tow truck it's
(39:59):
very easy to get complacent ofI'm just driving a truck but
everyone else sees that it's atow truck and it's got the name
on the door and I feel like whenyou scale up in vehicle size
it's still.
It's a little harder to getinto that mentality and
especially with some of the newtrucks out there that drive like
(40:20):
go-karts, they can be verynimble feeling.
It's easy to.
Oh well, I'm gonna do 10, 15over the speed limit.
I don't have to maintain thegood following distance because
I'm in control of this vehicle.
I know my stopping distance.
I I could leave 200 feet, but Iknow I only need about 80 feet
to get this rig to stop in thiscircumstance and you get
(40:43):
complacent.
But the general motoring publicjust sees a big truck flying
down the road, being an asshole,yeah, but from your eyes you're
like I'm in control of thisvehicle so you always got to
stop.
Well, not stop, but slow downand realize that you always have
to worry about the other people, not so much yourself.
So you should drive accordingto what's going on around you,
(41:06):
not just because you feel likeyou're in control.
The guy in front of you mightjust decide to make a lane
change into the car that'sdriving next to him and crash in
front of you Like you justdon't know, and I think that's
one of the issues, especiallyonce guys get into this industry
and start driving these rigsfor an extended period of time.
Always the first month you getinto a new vehicle, you're very
(41:30):
cautious I think it's a learningcurve for you and you're very
polite on the road.
Giving away your right away toyou know to be courteous After
that time you start, there's afake level of confidence that
comes out like a complacency,like you said.
Yeah yeah, and that's when thesethings can happen.
(41:52):
Now, in your instance, thedriver using his jakes
whoop-dee-doo-dah-day.
Yeah, like it's, it's, it's afeature on the vehicle.
It's not like he's goingthrough a 40-kilometer-an-hour
subdivision, shoving it down ina second to get down to 5
kilometers an hour using hisjakes, like that's just not what
(42:14):
he's doing.
So in that instance, can youblame the driver?
Not really, not really.
But if I don't know like,should he really like be blowing
down that road, going that fast?
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Who knows If he knows he's supposed to, but if he's
going at 70 and like this light,the way it's set up, like, yeah
, you have to have your brakeson for that light.
Like that light is it's a quickcity light because it's a
70-kilometer-hour road.
It's not a long light, yeah, soyou know what I mean.
Like if you see it farther back, yeah, I'm not going to
(42:49):
encourage my guy to to ride hisbrakes because this guy you know
.
Again, it's not a residentialarea, it's trucks.
Like this route is a main truckroute yeah right.
So I mean our tow trucks mightbe a little louder than you know
most of the automatic freightliners you're seeing out there
nowadays, but it's not you knowit, I don't know.
The guy's looking for a reasonand now that he's latched on to
something he is just going tocontinue.
So hopefully our in-personvisit, you know, has an effect
(43:14):
where it's.
You know what I mean.
Okay, well, you know, he cameout, he talked to me, he's gonna
try.
Okay, if I hear once or twiceI'll let it go, kind of thing,
and maybe it might be enough toget this guy onto some new
target that he's got, some newhate that he has towards
something, um, we don't know,only time will tell.
Um, that being said, before wego, I wanted to move on to one
of the last things that we didhave on.
(43:35):
Have you ever had an instanceand I have, because I do a lot
of quiet price quoting, right,you get a call from a customer.
I mean sheds, god, I hate sheds, especially when it's like
sheds moved on property.
Hate those jobs yep you ever?
you know you get customer callsand hey, I need this shed moved
on my property, it's only going30 feet.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blahand you know it's been sitting
(43:57):
there for 20 years, whatever thecase is, and you come up and
you give them a, a price andthey go, you know, and that
price is your, your fuck offprice Right, I've definitely
been there, where I've been,like it's going to be like $600.
Yeah.
And they're like okay, can webook that for tomorrow?
And you're like son of a andnow you have to do it, yeah,
(44:25):
because a you you priced it andb it's normally financially
rewarding.
But it's like you kind of gavethat price.
It wasn't to try and screwsomebody, it wasn't to whatever.
You pretty much gave them thatprice, thinking they would go.
I'm gonna call the next guy,yeah, and you're like that's
fine, cause the next guy canhave it.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, let me get a few other quotes.
Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, exactly.
And instead they just go, no,that's fine, and I'm like, oh,
no, I've had a couple of thosewith sheds.
I have definitely sheds havebeen my killer.
For that one where it's like,all right, don't want to do it,
I'm gonna like up it this muchand, you know, make it somewhat
ridiculous, yeah.
And then they go, yeah, okay,we'll take it.
(45:07):
And they're like what?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
what?
Yeah, no, the flatbed fee isgoing to be 125.
Should add an extra 75 for abullshit fee.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Add an extra hundred dollars for labor, and then I'm
just gonna double it and that'sthe fuck off price pretty much,
which, again, it's not.
You know, when prices areexplained ahead of time like
this, it's not, I don't believeit's taking advantage of anyone,
it's it's doing the job, andthen giving them a fucking
ridiculous price is crazy, yeah.
But if you come up with a priceand they go okay and you're
like huh, it's probably one ofthe worst I I've.
(45:42):
I've been guilty of it manytimes.
I've probably gotten screwed onthat like three or four times
in the last but are you gettingscrewed because you're making
yourself in the cup?
Oh, you are but you go and yousaid, yeah, you're making good
money for the work you're doingand you know you might have to
do a bit of slugging, but it'smainly like when it's like my
brain doesn't want to work thathard to figure this out, to do
this one out, and then I go takeit and I'm like now my brain
(46:04):
needs to work a lot harder tofigure out how I'm going to do
this.
So yeah, I know Like I want tohear.
I'm sure everyone in the towingindustry who has ever priced a
job has a customer accepts yourfuck off price story.
It has to.
I'm not the only one who getsone a year, right, it has to.
I'm not the only one who getsone a year, right.
(46:26):
So if you do have a great storyof a, you know a fuck off price
that a customer is absolutelyaccepted, put it down below in
the YouTube comments or email usat the towing life at gmailcom.
Visit our website,wwwtowinglifeca, or visit our
Facebook page where you canleave usa message as well at the
towing life podcast on Facebook.
While you're on the YouTube side, if that's where you are, do
(46:47):
not forget to like, comment andsubscribe and all that good
stuff If you're listening overon any of the other audio
listening sites Spotify, applemusic, uh, everywhere there's.
There's like 20 of them.
I can't remember all of them.
Um, be sure, if there is a rateand review option, leave us a
review on there.
It does help push our podcastinto better directions.
Your comments, questions andeverything are always
(47:10):
appreciated on the show, so donot hesitate.
I think it was a fun episode.
I'm happy that we did it.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
I'm now awake and ready.
Could it be a shorter of anepisode?
Speaker 3 (47:20):
this week.
We're sitting at an hour, we'resitting at 50 minutes.
We lost about two minutes onthe.
Don't you worry about it.
Okay, we've got things to do,places to be, people to be,
people to be and places to see.
I think that's what it's called.
What, what, on behalf of myselfand my wonderful co-host, mr
Tomangy we appreciate you comingout again.
(47:41):
We cannot wait to see you againnext week.
Take care, toodles.
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