Ep:147 This is our Story!

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Ever wondered how a Ford F-150 stacks up against a Tesla Cybertruck in a durability showdown? You're in for a treat as we dissect the wild mechanical mishaps and amusing failures in a WhistlinDiesel video. Alongside the chaos, we'll share personal stories of battling extreme humidity and a bonfire adventure, breaking down the quirks of Canadian holidays and the novel idea of renting goats for lawn maintenance.

Get ready for big news about our Towing Life Podcast Live 3.0 on Sunday, August 25th! We're thrilled to connect with you through giveaways, trivia contests, and potential guest appearances. We’ll also dive into Joe's privacy battle with a major roadside assistance company and Derek's innovative document organization for law enforcement, emphasizing the importance of keeping digital copies of your credentials.

Join us as we recount our unique journeys into the towing industry, from being a mobile DJ to a snowplow operator, and ultimately finding our true calling. We discuss the significance of obtaining additional licenses, the cultural shocks of changing companies, and the emotional impact of working in family-oriented businesses. Hear our stories of resilience, personal growth, and career satisfaction, offering a humorous yet insightful look at life in the towing profession.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
whistling diesel video where they back the cyber
truck off the flatbed.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
No, I keep seeing screenshot posts, but I haven't
actually watched the video.
And then they did the samething with the ford f-150 like
were they trying to back it offthe flatbed to see if it would
like?
What was the concept?

Speaker 1 (00:17):
well, it's the um durability test whistling
diesel's doing.
He's doing a durability testbetween an f-150 and the cyber
truck so two pieces of junk?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
okay, two pieces of junk.
Let's see which is the biggerpiece of junk yes.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
So all right, man, they back the trucks off of the
flatbed and of course, the driveshaft got all pinched on the
f-150 so they couldn't even dothe test, so they had to put a
new drive shaft in.
It makes sense.
The one test was they'redriving up a dirt ramp over some
big, uh concrete conduit, right.
So they're going like this andcoming off cyber truck, did it?

(00:51):
The f-150, since it's got alonger wheelbase, got up and got
stuck and hung up centered onit, right?
So then they hooked the cybertruck up to the back to pull it
off and it ripped the whole rearbumper off, the cyber truck
frame and all, just ripped theframe pinch welds right off, and
they weren't pulling hard.
Yeah, it pulled off after itwas already snuck, which is kind

(01:13):
of concerning, since that thinghas like an 11 000 pound toe
rating or some damn thing.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Clearly they were over it yeah I guess, yeah, I
guess.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Hey everyone, I'm Brad from Calgary.
This is Sean from CambridgeOntario.
I'm Terry from Cornwall Ontario.
Hey, this is Larry from PitMetals, British Columbia, and
you're listening to the towinglife podcast, where the ditches
are deep, the trucks are loadedbut the drivers are not.

(01:50):
I am your host, tome Angie, andas usual, I am joined by my
co-host, friend and formerco-worker man with very strong
opinions, mr Plain Guy.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
What is going on?
G.
What is going on?

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Oh, I had a couple drinky poos last night around a
bonfire burning some brush, sonice it was a nice night.
And uh, now it's pouring downrain, so I'm glad I didn't try
to do that today yeah, no, we.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Uh.
You sent me that photo.
I thought it was pretty coolhaving a nice little bonfire on
a on a 40 degree humidex day.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Um, probably a great idea I made it a white man fire
too.
The planes were like eight feetnine feet tall.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
At some point I don't know if I'd refer.
I'm not going to reference thatterm again, um, but hey, you
know what?
No, it's, it's a Canadian longweekend.
Uh, not really, it's a civicholiday in Canada.
Fun fact, um, we have what'scalled family day, cause I don't
know if family day iscelebrated in the U S?
Um, there's the family day inthe August long weekend.

(02:48):
Um, as a company, you have topay vacation pay for one or the
other.
You do not have to pay for both?
Um, so a lot of companies willchoose to either pay the August
long weekend or they'll pay theum family day long weekend,
which falls somewhere inFebruary, I think.
Which who needs a holiday inFebruary?
Yeah, um, when there's nothingto do, when it's cold, it's

(03:09):
meant to go tobogganing andeverything else, I guess skating
with the family, yeah, so weare on a long weekend.
We are in the midst.
In Ontario, at least of you know, we had quite the heat, the
heat all week.
Uh, you know, when you'retalking like 99 to a hundred
percent humidity and and plus 30weather, without the humidity,

(03:29):
it got hot, you, you walkedoutside and you started sweating
.
You didn't have to do anything,and that's not just because I'm
fat.
That was just the effect ofhumidity overall.
Like the grass was dampconstantly because of the
humidity I've been waiting tomow my lawn for, like, dry up a
little bit, make it easier onthe mower, and then it's pouring
rain today, so my poor, my poormower and my poor lawn is going

(03:52):
to have to suffer when Ieventually get to cutting down
the hayfield.
I'm honestly inquiring aboutgoats.
If you have any goats for sale,please contact me directly.
I'd love to buy them.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
No, you don't buy goats for that, you just rent
them.
You can rent goats, you canrent goats, yeah you can get a
lot of customers, however manygoats you need for a certain
acreage and they'll drop thegoats off and for say, okay,
you're gonna have eight goats todo this, two acre per plot of
land.
You're probably gonna needthree, four days and then, as

(04:25):
long as it's fenced in, theycome in, scout the area you,
they'll graze everything andthen they'll come pick up their
goats no way.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, I'm okay.
I need to find me a goat rentalcompany.
Um, I feel like with a lot ofmy clientele it shouldn't be
very hard.
Um, I did not know that was athing.
Yeah, now how, what's the limit?
Like I don't have acreage, I'vegot like yardage.
Is there like a minimumrequirement of yardage?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
or acreage.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
That would be a company to company thing.
But isn't it one of thosethings where, like isn't the
whole point of buying thesethings that they walk and they
graze and then by the timethey're done they start back
over again and like it's not thewhole point of owning goats?

Speaker 1 (05:05):
well, you I mean there's other areas so you can
do rotational grazing right,which is you got one field, you
put them on there, they graze itall down, move to the next
right.
So that's what these companiesare set up to do.
Is they have people thatthey've got a lot of overgrown
brush, not very desired ordesirable grasses or legumes?

(05:26):
They'll send the goats in there, they'll clean up all your shit
and then they take the goatsand send them over to some other
guy's property that'll pay themto feed their goats for free,
type thing, right jesus, it's agenius business model.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I thought towing was a great idea, but grazing or
grazing goat rental, um, I mean,I could see our next business
venture highland cattle isactually a little bit better.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Uh, they're a bit bigger, they'll eat a little bit
more, but they got a lot ofhigher reach.
So if you got like low hangingbranches, they'll pick stuff off
the branches and, since theycame from, the highlands is kind
of wasteland, especiallyyespecially in the wintertime.
They got pretty good at eatingsticks and twigs and stuff too.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Hmm, they'll have to pick those up before mowing the
lawn.
Exactly.
They mow the lawn and take upall the brush at the same time.
I'm worried that they'll eat mydog's toys that are all in the
yard.
Well, you've got to watch outfor the horns.
Yeah, yeah, my dog doesn't playfriendly with others.
I don't think it'd be.
I think a goat she could messwith.
I don't think she's messingwith a Highland cattle.

(06:29):
No, I think it's a bad idea.
So telling stuff, yes, beforewe get too far off pace if we
haven't already, it's a goodtime to mention your questions.
Comments concerns everything forthe show, opinions, especially
moving forward with the bigannouncement coming this episode
.
Where can you send them?

(06:50):
Where can you reach us?
It's very simple.
You can head over to ourwebsite at wwwtowinglifeca.
You can email us directly atthetowinglife at gmailcom.
So thetowinglife at gmailcom.
Or you can find us over onFacebook at the towing life
podcast.
If you are watching over on theYouTube side, do not forget to
hit the like and subscribe.
There's also an option tocomment down below.

(07:12):
Every bit of input that youguys give really helps us push
forward the show, whether itcomes to new ideas, topics for
the show and whatnot.
We always do appreciate it.
You are the true, the truereason why the show continues,
um, into episode 147, uh,currently today.

(07:32):
So quite the milestone coming,um.
That being said, great time toannounce we have decided that we
will be doing a live for our150th episode.
As you know, 150 normally comesup.
It's right for our 150thepisode.
As you know, 150 normally comesup.
It's right about our three-yearanniversary.
We normally aim for about 50episodes a year.
I got to remember when thefirst one is.

(07:54):
That might be trivia for thenight of the show.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I think it was trivia for our last live too.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
It might be trivia for the next live.
The longer it gets behind.
I don't even know what it is,so we will have to have it ready
.
Um, but yes, we are going to belive um august, sunday, august
25th, 6 pm.
Eastern time est.
So that's 3 pm over on the westcoast.
Uh, g, didn't know the timebefore this.

(08:20):
Uh, probably thought we weredoing about seven o'clock, but I
decided we're doing six.
Okay, um 6 pm, eastern 3 pm onthe west coast.
Uh, you can check in.
We're going to reach out toa lotof our supporters of the show,
like we've done in the past.
Look about giveaways and prizesfor you guys.
Um, you know, have some littleuh trivia contests, maybe have a
little live interaction withthe show.

(08:40):
We've had great success.
This would be.
This is our third live.
This would be our third live.
Um, every, every one of themhas been has been awesome with
you guys.
You guys have really shown upand come out and, uh, you know,
help deliver the content, helphave a conversation.
We'll see about, maybe, if wecan book a couple like, maybe,
random guests that we can get onfor that show as well.

(09:01):
Um, you know, know, come on andtalk with the people and
everything else.
So mark your calendars now.
Sunday, august 25th, 6 pm.
Eastern the towing life podcastlive 3.0 for 150 episodes.
It's uh, it's our way tocelebrate and have some fun with
you guys yeah, we do have acouple of youtube comments.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
We got one from toll pappy first.
Like and view.
Love you guys watch weekly fromthe seat of the f-550 and west
ga.
Thanks, tolpappy westerngeorgia yeah, yeah, uh.
Joe came back and says he'scurrently in a battle with the
big three-letter roadside in theus about having our first and

(09:41):
last names and picturesdisplayed to the member.
His, his picture is a 1976photograph which they have
requested he remove and he toldthem no effing way.
I told them to remove my lastname and they still have not.
I told my area rep I willlawyer up because I never gave
you permission and I don't workfor you guys.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
It's a, it's a fair right.
We've talked about that, the,the, the roadsides, you know,
kind of making decisions withouteven talking with operators.
I don't know if that's what the, the three letter down the
states did, but in canada,that's 100 what happened?
It was not a conversation, itwas not.
It was, I think, like a weekafter they started doing it.
Hey, by the way, you know.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
No, I don't even think they told us.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
I think a member was, I think there was something
yeah, I think there was, but itwas well after it this program
had already started that theystarted doing these changes.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
So no, it's like when you get a job, especially being
contracted to one of theseroadsides.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
when you get a job, you don't sign any paperwork for
this roadside and in for thisroadside and in the fine print
it says it's somewhere in there,like there's nothing, like no,
but your employer might.
And and then your employer issupposed to pass off that
information which is verypossible, even in our case when
we work together that that justdidn't happen no right, we never

(10:58):
you know, they were never oneto discuss any conversations
they had with any of their whichand and part of it is is
they're right.
Right, like we don't need toknow the inner workings of your
business, but when it affectsdrivers directly, like something
like using our full name andphotos, it's a little, it can be
a little, uh, uneasy for someyeah, and we also have uh derek

(11:20):
here, exclusively for opp calls.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
I prepared two small slips of paper with all the
relevant information that a coprequires.
Of course, I still have abinder for law and safety
enforcement officers.
The slips of paper are the samesize as ownership slash
insurance slip and I laminatedthem to keep them in a typical
wallet size insurance folder.
That's a good idea.
I arranged the two slips ofpaper so when the folder is

(11:47):
flipped open the information isfull display for on both slips.
In most cases the officer willsimply use their cell phones
take a picture of it, making iteasier to process an incident
report in their car rather thanwrestling with the 11 inch three
ring binder with multiple pages.
I operate one of two trucks,depending on the shift, so I

(12:07):
prepare to slip for each oneseparately and I alternate the
folder as required.
The officers of Dettla seem toappreciate the convenience of my
method.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
No, it is true.
Right, we were talking aboutthe SEA requirements and the
paperwork that you've got tokeep on board.
I've heard of companies doingthat where they the back page of
a binder is every differentemployees, operator, like on a
full sheet, and then justlaminate the full sheet and put
it in.
The only problem I have withthat is every time you make a
hire you need to make sureyou've gone through all the

(12:38):
binders and added it again.
I've really put the onus on myoperators now that we do know
that we can provide thatelectronically.
So here's what you do when youget it, take a screenshot of it,
saving an album on your phonethat's available offline.
Yep, available at all times.
When the cop comes, show themthat.
There you go.
Here's my tow operatorcertificate.

(12:59):
As for the company side ofthings, of course it's in all
the binders, right.
So, handling the binder, I likemaking it easier for the
officers at the same time.
I didn't build this program,you did.
Yeah, so you get theinformation of how I'm going to
give it to you.
I know that's not the rightapproach to take with law
enforcement, because anyonewho's worked with law

(13:20):
enforcement knows that if youmake their job more difficult.
They are not going to makeyours easier yeah right like
that is the understanding.
So there is a respect thing.
I've tried reaching out to anofficers.
I have a simple app that I hadbuilt for my drivers.
They pull up on scene, they getthe incident number and the uh
email of the officer.
15 seconds type that in selecttheir truck, select the driver,

(13:44):
send.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
The officer gets an email, all the information, pdf
copies of everything done nowthat might not be so great if
they're in a bad cell servicearea 100.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
so that's why, like I said, the photo is to me the
ideal, because here is the photoI mean.
Nowadays, with cloud drop, youdon't need to like you know, you
don't need to be in a good cellphone area, right, you can send
files via Bluetooth or they cantake a picture of it.
Here's my screen.
Take a picture.
Here's my information.
Have a good day.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
But I do kind of like the idea of every truck has a
binder and it's got all thedriver's information that could
potentially drive that truck.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, yeah, it's just like I said.
The hard part is whenever youmake a change.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
It's easy for smaller operations with two, three
drivers in a truck, very easy todo when you start Well, even if
the binder has like thelaminated slips and you just put
in a new piece of paper everytime.
You get a new driver and justput it in another slip, right?
So then each truck has all theinformation.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
But again, until you get like I've got 15, 16
different drivers, yeah, I needto all be there in every in in,
you know 15 16 trucks, yeah, andthe one that you miss is the
time that you know what I mean.
They go out, they don't have itwith them and and that's when
you're asking for it.
I mean, I'm all for at the timeof dispatch giving me an

(14:59):
officer's email, and dispatchknows what truck and driver's
going boom, it's gone, it'sthere before the truck even gets
there.
Yeah, right, I I think in the,the age of technology that we're
in again, this applies to ourarea, not so much in the
northern rural areas where again, cell phone reception is is,
you know, spotty at times.
Um, but I mean, if I send itright to the comm center, who's

(15:22):
requesting me for the call,surely that would be acceptable
here.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Boom, boom, the officer just got to confirm
that's who showed up so then,why can't we just send all this
information over to the comcenter and they just have it on
file and you tell them whatdriver's showing up?
Exactly right, like we have?
We had that?
Why can't they just have adatabase of all the tow truck
drivers and whoever shows uplike hey, I'm billy, bob joe,
I'm tome ang.
You should have all mypaperwork already.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Just there it is before, to see when there was
tso.
Um, a lot of officers in ourarea had exactly that.
Once they would get ours, oncethey would put a list together,
we would send it off to thedetachment.
Sometimes it wouldn't get tothe on-road officers but, like a
lot of the on-road officersespecially, especially the
traffic enforcement, so onesthat would be more likely to
call us.
Yep.
Had a list of all our guys andthey knew so as soon as I showed

(16:10):
up.
Hey, you know.
Hey, plan guy.
Okay, got your stuff, noproblem.
Like they know who I am,they've got all my my numbers
that they need.
They've got all my information,all my information.
The only thing they would takeis the plate number off the
truck, because from the platenumber they can get the cvor
number.
You know that that thoserequirements that they had right
.
Like they don't need you toshow you their cvor.

(16:31):
They know if you have a cvorthat is that is valid.
It takes like a couple beepboops into a computer and they
know that your cvor is valid.
They know that your dl is valid.
They know I imagine they mightnot know if your tow operator
certificate and stuff is validyet, because I'm sure the
systems still aren't fully inplace, because no government
would ever rush a program intointo operation without having

(16:53):
all this set up in thebackground, I'm sure, um, but
yes, they can.
You know they have all thatinformation.
So no, like the ideas, like thecomments, keep them coming.
Uh, they're kind of interesting.
Western Georgia I'll be downyour way, I think, sometime in
November, heading down toLouisiana for a training course.
So I feel, just based on namingstates, I feel like Louisiana

(17:17):
and Georgia are fairly close toeach other.
But I'm not a geographist,geographist, a geographist it
sounds like a real wordGeographist, a geographist.
It sounds like a real word.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
I don't know, what it is it might be.
Hey, Siri is geographist, areal word.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
A cartologist or cartographer or map person, yeah
.
So, anyways, we wanted to getinto a little bit of fun this
episode and go over something alittle, a little bit.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
We wanted to give you ammunition for the live coming
up yeah, 100 percent.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Um, I'm not a big movie person and I'm definitely
not a big superhero person, butone thing that I've always heard
is, um, across all theseuniverses of movies and whatever
is origin stories right, everybad guy, every good guy has
their origin story.
Um, and towman g and I are nodifferent.
Um, we want to go over kind ofa little bit of our history.
Um, as for the show, a littlebit, but mainly where we come

(18:14):
from in the towing industry.
I think it's 147 episodes in.
It is probably pretty good foryou to understand what our
actual experience and time inthe industry and and kind of
have a general idea about whatit is um, who we are, what we do
, um, how long we've been doingit, what our favorite color
crayon is to eat, um, all thatkind of stuff purple yeah yeah,

(18:38):
tasting blueberries.
Yeah, these schnozzle berriestaste like schnozzle berries.
I don't know if you know thatreference from the movie.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm not a superhero movie person, didn't say I wasn't a movie
person.
So, g, we'll start with you.
Where did you start in thetowing industry?
Let's go before you even start.

(18:58):
I don't want to go back to theday your mom met your dad and
crawled into the back of a 69Chevelle.
I don't want to go that farback.
But we can go as far back asmaybe a year or two before you
started in the towing industryand what exactly it was you were
doing.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Well, I'll do you one better.
So I was a mobile DJ.
I got that job when I was inelementary school, carried that
through all of high school andoutside of high school.
In my later years of highschool I started doing tree work
uh, part-time and then whatkind of tree work?
So, like I was removing trees,pruning trees, I was the

(19:36):
groundsman.
I'm too fat to be a climber.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I was gonna say I cannot see you climbing a tree,
okay yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
So stump, grind and that kind of stuff.
Um, I did like an eop programin high school to get an extra
credit.
So every 110, 111 hours you getan extra credit.
Okay, so I graduated with a lotof extra credits because I
worked my ass off, I mean Ifudged the paperwork but and I
did tree work.
For that I was getting paid.
Well, I was 17, 38 an hourstill in high school.

(20:03):
I pissed all that money awayand either food or my truck or
women at the time.
Um, it was a good time.
After that I got into snowplowing, did that off and on,
went to college for heavyequipment operator, spent 12
grand for a 12-week course,playing in a sandbox all summer
long nice, nice.

(20:24):
Outside of college.
I was like well, I know acouple of people in the towing
industry.
I was looking for work and Ididn't really have that many
bills at the time.
Truck was paid off.
So I reached out to one of thetowing pages I think it was
Towing in Canada.
It's like hey, I'm a20-year-old looking to
potentially get into the towingindustry.
Pay me what I'm worth.

(20:45):
I'm fairly mechanicallyinclined, but I I'd like to see
if it's a fit for me.
And a couple people reached outto me.
I went and did a training dayout on the other side of the
lake for a small company, reallylike the truck.
It was a f5 or, yeah, f550.
It was regular cab, five speedwith a 7.3.

(21:07):
Beautiful looking truck but itjust wasn't for me.
And then Mr Plane Guy reachedout to me over Facebook and he
was like yeah, come on down.
And I came on down and did Ieven give you a resume?
I think I did.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think you did.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
I think I did.
And he asked me.
He had a car on the back of histow truck already and he was
like what's the issue with this?
And I was like I think yourchains need to be crossed.
And I learned very quickly youdon't cross your chains on a
wheel lift that's still adebatable fact, but yeah, um,
and it turns out that he didn'thave his rollover pins in on a
vulcan wrecker.
that's the thing that he waspointing out to me, wanting to

(21:45):
see if I'd pick up on it, butobviously I didn't.
Then, a day or two later, Icame in and I actually had a
meeting with the owners of thecompany and they hired me on.
I had to move to town, so thegirlfriend, me and her we
started renting a place together.
Now you got to think I was a 20year old, did the training in

(22:09):
the towing industry, had thisgirlfriend.
We were dating for maybe threeweeks prior to having to move in
together because I needed to bein this town and she needed to
satisfy her police contract, andthat exactly no, I didn't live
overly far away.
I think I was 30, 40 minutesaway, but I was still just too
far Right.
So I moved into this town.

(22:29):
I was paying $1,800 a month inrent for a little three bedroom
because it was the only place Icould find that had a driveway
for a tow truck.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
There's a good little spot.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
It's a perfect little spot.
It was the main intersection oftown, was noisy as hell, but I
was close to everything going onin that town.
Ideal for a tow truck driver,um.
But for me, coming from a farmin rural areas to living in the
main intersection of town, itwas definitely a culture shock.

(22:59):
I lived right next door to agas station and tim horton I'd
like'd like to correct this.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Tomangia is saying he moved into the main center of
town.
It was a town of like 500people.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
No.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Maybe okay, 2,000, 2,000, 3,000 in the actual town
itself.
Yes, it wasn't bigger than2,000, 3,000 people.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
But it's still a big town to me.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Just for context, the culture shock was going from
more cattle to people, the morepeople than cattle, and still
like under two 3000 people.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, so uh, for me it's like a 10, 15 minute drive
into a local Timmy's.
Going to this place where I hada timmy's right next door yeah,
you could walk.
To be fair, it wasn't a fulltimmy's.
They didn't have the wraps andstuff, they had the bagels and
everything, so it was like atimmy's outlet.
Yeah, in a gas station.
You know timmy's gas stationsanyways.

(23:45):
Um, so me being a 20 year old,new job, completely new industry
, not used to the amount ofhours that I'm going to be
working, new house, first timeliving away from home, so that
relationship didn't end well.
I was young and dumb and justso many new things that it just

(24:06):
didn't, it just didn't work out.
I was wanted to be more free, Iguess you could say, and I just
didn't want to be tied down inthat time, because the towing
industry is a freeing job, likeyou're just out doing new things
every day, and it's very easyto bring that lifestyle home
with you of just wanting to goout and do things right, not not

(24:28):
to mention when, when you andthe girl you were with at the
time had gotten together, you,you weren't involved in the
towing industry, and I findthat's harder for most people.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Most people that come into the towing industry with a
partner already in tow no punintended tend to have a harder
time adapting to that lifestyle,like the partner definitely
does, which puts a strain on theoperator themselves, where
meeting a partner when you'realready in this industry tends
to be a little easier, right,because they see it right from

(24:58):
the get go.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, they.
They know what they're signingup for from the get go.
Now we weren't together forvery long, like I said.
So it was we were still gettingto know each other, plus
getting to know this industry,getting to know the town,
because I just moved there.
It was a lot of things.
I don't want to say that itwasn't my fault that we broke up
at 100%, it was.

(25:20):
We are back together now.
We did find each other again.
So that's all's well that endswell.
So, yeah, we split.
And then I was fronting the$1,800 a month in rent myself
and this company that we workedfor.
We were brokers, so that was abig learning curve as well.

(25:41):
It ended up where I did justshy of two years there.
The first year, tax time camearound, I was fine.
The second year, after having afull year worth of taxes built
up, I didn't realize I wouldneed to set away like 14,
$15,000 for the year when 50% ofmy paychecks were going to rent

(26:04):
to begin with.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Young and dumb, and not thinking about the future.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
So then I was like, oh, I can't like, if I worked
the amount of tax that I neededto pay, the amount of rent that
that I paid, plus my insuranceand my gas, I made no money this
year.
I did a breakdown and I think Itechnically made I think it was
7% or 8% for the year that Iworked, after all the tax and

(26:29):
all the rent and my other livingexpenses.
That's not enough.
So I decided you know what,i'm'm gonna move home, uh, back
to the farm, uh, which workedout well, because we had a
situation going on here and wehad some people renting out the
basement and they would stoppaying, right, but if you have
an immediate family member tomove in, you can get you can

(26:51):
evict.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
You can evict much easier than yeah, especially in
canada.
Evictions are not an easyprocess right now they're not,
um.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
So it worked out good .
Because the reserve that was inthe town that I lived in.
I was like you know what, Idon't want to drive the 40
minutes to get my cigarettes,I'm gonna quit smoking.
So I quit smoking when I movedback home and picked up the
stupid vape, yeah, um.
So then once I came home, Istarted working for the local

(27:19):
towing company here.
Uh, in my town it's just asmall owner operator type thing.
I was the second op and at thistime I think I was 22, maybe
going on 23, since I startedwhen I was 20 19, three years
experience ego the size of aboulder on your head.
Um, and here his insurance waspretty bad to begin with.

(27:42):
So for me it costs like anextra almost twenty thousand
dollars a year just to keep meinsured on one truck.
Yeah, so when covid hit in 2020it was I said to said to him I
was like, honestly, man, like Iknow you're not making a lot of
money.
You obviously make more moneygoing out and doing the calls by

(28:02):
yourself.
If you want, I can just be onbackup.
You can take me off the payroll, whatever.
We can figure out payment laterwhen you bring me back on.
I just want to make it easy foryou because I know you're a
small business and the work'spretty well dried up right and
especially since the travelingrestrictions and everything and
we live in a pass-through townfor a lot of tourists in the

(28:24):
summer like it just wasn't agreat thing for the towing
industry in my area, industrybeing a couple companies, but so
a couple did a couple months ofthe ei and everything, and then
a good friend down in thecompany that I ended up working
for said, hey, if you're lookingfor work, we could use an extra

(28:45):
set of hands.
And I was like, well, I can onlydo days I'm like that's fine,
we just need some extra help.
So I went down, did a fullsummer with them, I think I went
and plowed for that winter justto have a bit of a change of
pace and then went back in andtowed with them for another
three years and I got out of theindustry fall of 23 due to

(29:08):
medical reasons and I haven'tgone back.
So I haven't personally had todeal with all these new to see
the regulations and I'm kind ofthankful because I've talked to
a lot of towers on the streetand they aren't very happy about
it.
There's a lot of confusion, Ithink, a lot of not necessarily
misinformation out there, just alot of information that doesn't

(29:29):
get passed through correctly orconcise, especially when one
tower talks to another thebroken telephone thing a lot of
contradicting information, yeah,and no one's really sure what
the true answer is.
And yeah, but, uh, the towingindustry has definitely taught
me a lot over the years about,uh, just a lot of things um,

(29:50):
working as a team and being ableto work in high stress
situations, being able tohopefully manage fatigue in a
good way and like burnout, beingable to pick up on signs of
stuff like that, to be able totake better care of yourself,
and just a lot of people skillsbecause you meet just so many

(30:11):
people and have so manydifferent conversations problem
solving skills and being able tothink outside the box.
And if you're looking at it on aresume of just being a tow
truck driver, you only put likethree or four sentences about it
on there.
But if you actually have aninterview with someone and you
can convey some of the stuffthat you did, and it is a really

(30:34):
good hiring asset if you get tothe interview stage.
But on a resume it's not.
It's not a jump out oh, look atthis, we definitely need this
guy because he's a tow truckdriver.
I'm talking about transferableskills into different yeah, no,
no, of course um, but I I stillhaven't stopped.
I went out and I got my blicense and I'm going for my z
endorsement in a couple weeksweeks because with just a B ooh,

(30:56):
look at you you can drive likea school bus or straight trucks,
but no air brakes.
So even if you're applying todifferent things, if you've got
like a full DZ or BZ or whatever, you can apply for a lot more
jobs.
Hell, I can then even go to mylocal farmers and say I can
drive your trucks and haul grainfor you to the elevator right.
It just makes your resume thatmuch better.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
On a straight truck.
You can't not on a trailer.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, a straight truck I mean, which we got a lot
of straight truck haulersaround here.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, we have some of those agri-mart companies and
that with the straight graintrucks and fuel trucks and
different things like that.
100, a hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah.
So the towing industry I'm notagainst it by any means.
Obviously, I still do thepodcast here and I'm still
invested in the industry.
I've seen a lot of old guys notlike how the industry is going
and I identify as an old man Ialways have, because it's 2024
and I can identify as that nowbut I've always had an old soul

(31:55):
at heart of I just like to takemy time and poke along and, you
know, get it done at my own paceand yeah, it's just the.
The glory days of towing from alot of these old guys are gone
and I'm seeing these regulationsas kind of sort of the same
thing, especially me being outof it from the outside.

(32:16):
Looking in, it's like wow,there's.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
It's very easy to take that approach up.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, if I was in the industry.
It's just you adapt with it,right.
But once you get out and allthese regulations come in, and
especially now with the towinglicense, I didn't grandfather
myself in, which was kind ofstupid, but it's like.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah, you probably should have applied for one.
Well, it should have, becauseit wouldn't cost you anything
and just hoops you got to jumpthrough.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah but now to get back into the industry.
Even though I have six, sevenyears however many years
experience the barrier tobarrier to entry is higher,
because the one thing I alwayssaid is, once you have towing
experience, you could prettymuch move anywhere and you could
get a job in the industry,because they're always hiring.
And now, if you don't have yourtowing license, sure, that

(32:58):
could still be the same, butit's going to cost more, right?

Speaker 2 (33:02):
yeah, no, no, it's very true.
Right, it's very true.
Except I think early on in thephase of it, the more companies
would be willing to helpcompensate that for somebody
with experience, given the theshortage that we have in the
industry.
Um, but anything, it's a riskwhenever you do that to the
company, so not everyone iswilling to do it.
It's 100% true.
I feel like I, you know, and wego back to when you, you know

(33:24):
you, came and seen us at thatsmall company.
Like to point out at that pointI was.
I was nothing more than anemployee at the time.
I was just an invested employeethat was trying to help, um,
whenever I could.
That it kind of makes me thinklike you've bounced around from
companies and I'm not sayingthat in a negative way by any
means, but it's like you neverfound your company yeah you

(33:46):
never found somewhere that youwere like you were invested in
your personal growth at alltimes, like you were always
looking out for yourself andagain I don't mean that in a
negative way, at all times likeyou were always looking out for
yourself, and again, I don'tmean that in a negative way.
But I found, like you neverfound a company like you felt,
like you were.
You know, the where we workedtogether was probably the
closest because that was a veryfamily-oriented company, yeah,

(34:06):
and we did all feel very muchlike a, like a bunch of, uh, you
know, like a little family, um,but that you were you know what
I mean invested in the futureof that company.
Like, at the end of the day, ifthat company didn't succeed,
you weren't hurt yeah, you knowwhat I mean.
Like I can go on and do my thingsomewhere else.
Like I said, if I got my towlicense, I can go work anywhere.
I don't know if that was apersonality of just you overall

(34:28):
or if it was just you never didfind your, your place, your when
we work together.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Uh, one of our co-workers, jeff, left a little
bit before I did, and wheneveryou get to know this team and at
that point I was the newest guyin, but I've worked with this
team for a year and a half andwe all got our relationships
together of, oh, he's the fatass, he's the cranky old man,
he's the man with all knowing,wisdom and knowledge, right, uh,

(34:56):
playing guys, just the poutinefrench man over there, right, we
all had those roles and thestereotypes and we all had our
relationships good, bad andindifferent and one of those
people just drops out because oftheir own life commitments,
it's like, oh, there's like apiece missing and you're like,
will this fill the void of thatgood co-worker?

(35:18):
and I think once one good personleaves a company or for any job
that you have a goodrelationship with it, it makes
it harder to stay rightespecially in those smaller
operations.
Yeah, so then jeff left andthen I left, and then you left
not long after me, and there's50% of the workforce gone out of

(35:38):
the company of six drivers.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
And the poor guys that did everything they could
to hold on to it, which we didhave right.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Right, and it's unfortunately the company is no
longer there, which is justchanging over time, so it's sad
in a way, but I do have veryfond memories of it, the times
that it's sad in a way, but I dohave very fond memories of it.
Um, however, I think if Istayed with that company and
they did succeed, um, I think Ihad a lot more growing as an
operator to do um that company.

(36:06):
They were small, they wanted tostay small.
The growth potential they had alot of potential.
They just didn't want to pursueit.
Right, and to no fault of theirown.
However, they're not aroundanymore, right, they're not
around anymore, so can you blamethat way of thinking on it?
Maybe I don't know, right?

(36:27):
Yeah, but then when I moved upto the local towing company to
me, I really liked the guy.
I'm still friends with theowner of it, but he had a lot of
older rundown equipment androbbing from.
Peter to pay Paul for truckparts and motor parts, and
that's just the way it is in asmall company.
You got to do that because themoney's just not there.

(36:47):
And working 12 out of 14 dayson call every night, that's just
how it was and that wasn'treally the thing for me.
I loved it because it was closeand I'd probably still be there
because the money was decent.
Um, and it's close to me, right?
Um, then, when I move or Ididn't move, but I worked with

(37:09):
the company out of town, I wasdriving there every day I would
show up at seven or eighto'clock in the morning,
depending on my schedule, and Iwould be there for 12, 14 hours
sometimes, or 10 to 12 hours,and if there was no calls being
on commission, I would just sitthere in the parking lot not
make any money.
Or I'd show up to work at seveno'clock in the morning and just

(37:29):
sit around for two hours.
Well, that's not really goodmotivation, right?
I love the company.
I'm still friends with thecompany, love all the guys that
are there um, great dudes butfor me, just being an
out-of-towner, it makes itharder to actually grow and
thrive in that end in thisindustry, especially with the
commission side of things right,definitely made it tougher if

(37:51):
there was an hourly side of it.
There were some days where Ilost money just in my fuel and
food.
It weren't very often, but therisk is always there.
When you're going to workthinking there's a risk of me
not making any money today, it'sharder to be motivated.
That's one thing in thisindustry is you've got to have
that motivation in yourself,because the growth potential in

(38:13):
the industry isn't always there.
You can be a bang up gooddriver and you can maybe become
a manager, an operations manager, one day, but unless you're
going to buy the company off ofthe owners, the growth potential
just isn't really there,depending on the companies you
could become again mostcompanies, yeah, most companies
like most companies, I want tosay, are 12 drivers or less

(38:37):
really, in the grand scheme ofthings, and the growth in those
companies, just, oh, you can towa box truck now because they
got a 5500 instead of a 3500right.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, that was like your upgrade, that was your yeah
, being able to go a little bitbigger.
No, it's true.
No, it's true.
No, it's it's.
I mean, it makes sense.
It's hard to stay motivated inthe industry.
Um, it's definitely.
A great point is that it's veryhard to stay motivated in the
industry and when you come inand you just sit around and
stuff like that, it's eveneasier to become unmotivated.
And once you become unmotivated, you become your own worst

(39:17):
enemy.
Um, some I've noticed over theyears and experience I've had
with different operators anddifferent people.
Yeah, my story isn't I don'twant to say it's much different,
it's very different, but verymuch the same in a lot of ways I
was growing up one of thoseguys that if I didn't love what
I did, I wouldn't do it, and soit took me a long time to figure
out what I like to do.
Right, I moved around.
I was one of those guys thatwork here a year.
I'd leave work here a year.

(39:38):
I'd leave work here a year, I'dleave Right.
At least you're given it a yearthough, yeah, trying to find
what it was that I waspassionate right through high
school.
Um, I was very much involved inthe trades I was one of the
first groups in our province togo through.
While I was in high school Iactually attended college for my
universe or for my, myapprenticeship first level

(40:01):
program, while still in highschool it was a program.
It was the first year we haddone it.
Send, send a 17 year old off tocollege in a in a town with a
border next to that it's 18, todrink and to do everything else
and what do you think is goingto happen?
It was the best time I ever had.
I'm 17 years old in high school, off in college, living out of

(40:24):
town, going to class when Iwanted to, um, you know, and
then spending time at the casinoand going out drinking.
But you know, the college had abar and, of course, you would
get let in with a student ID forthe most part, because it
wasn't very hard to get fake IDsback then.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
And college students are all over the age of 18.
Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
So anyways, definitely did not take full
advantage of the situation.
The opportunity I was givenback then Ended up failing my
program.
It was one of those programsunless you pass everything, you
pass nothing, and I failed in adrafting class of all things.
So I was taking my plumbingapprenticeship.
Like I said, I had a very goodinterest in the trades.
I had done plenty of co-op.

(41:07):
My dad actually at the time itwas an inspector with the
Ministry of labor, so a healthand safety inspector in the in
the construction field.
So it was very tough for mefinding work in that field
because either a company wantedme hoping that it would keep my
dad off their back, or theywouldn't touch me with a 10-foot

(41:28):
pole because they were worried.
You know, your dad would comearound 100%.
My dad would come around moreIf I ever said something like.
There was a lot of I very muchwas at that point in my career
and very young career we'retalking 18, 19 years old here
was very much in his shadow andI did not like that.

(41:49):
I've never been one to be inanybody's shadow.
I hate the idea.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Has that caused a bit of resentment?

Speaker 2 (41:56):
no, no, no not at all , not at all because hindsight I
didn't want to be in.
Um, I love new construction,like especially in plumbing.
I was love new construction.
Hated, you know, service callsand repairs and dealing with the
pipes full of shit already,exactly, exactly right.
So no, it was.
Uh, it was good.

(42:16):
You know, it taught me a lot ofwork ethic even as a kid, 12, 13
years old, before my father wasinvolved in the government.
Um, he worked, uh, you know heworked a bit in the trades and
I'd always go to work with him.
You know I remember him payingme like 325 an hour, uh, and
he'd round down um, whatever thetotal was for the day he'd
round down.
Yeah, I never knew by how much,it was always random depending
on the day, but I'd put in 12,13 hour days at.

(42:38):
You know, 13 years old, 14years old in the summertime.
Uh, really helped me build thatwork ethic.
So, uh, coming out of the tradesand everything coming out of
high school, didn't know what Iwanted to do, right, the trades
was kind of a failure thing.
Didn't really want to get intoit.
Um, ended up getting in.
I think at the time it was autoparts.
I want to get into automotivesomewhere.

(42:59):
So I sold auto parts.
I worked in auto parts as acounter guy like a like a Napa
or an O'Reilly's or whatever,but it was a smaller chain.
Um spent a couple of years there, built up some automotive
knowledge between that worked atlike a, an active green and
ross at one point doing like asa lube tech.
Walmart is a lube tech kind ofthing, doing tires and oil

(43:20):
changes, getting some, you know,very, very minor automotive
experience, but perfectprerequisites for the towing
industry.
Right, it wasn't that I had.
No, you know, I didn't knowwhat a tie rod was, a control
arm was all that stuff it was.
You were gaining the basic.
Um, tried my hand at sellingcars.
I was a car salesman for abouta year and a half and I was a

(43:43):
terrible car salesman.
Um, again, this was part of theI'd try this.
I did auto parts for a coupleyears.
Then I did, you know, thewalmart lube thing for a year or
so.
Then I and at this point justtrying to find work to keep me
busy, um, and in fields that Iliked, um, so, yeah, bouncing
around like crazy.
And so, yeah, I, I sold cars.

(44:04):
For a year I worked at a toyotadealership.
I sold cars.
Um, I was bad.
Like I said, I was very bad atit.
Toyota back then too was, if youremember, the older Camrys.
This was about 2011, I guess2010.
There was nothing to write homeabout on them.
They're very old people carsand I'm like 20 years old yeah

(44:24):
Right, like I'm like 20 yearsold trying to sell you know what
I mean this grandpa Camry to a70-year-old who's looking at me
like what do you know?
Like what?
What possible common ground canI find with these people?
So sold a couple cars, never didreally too great.
Um met a lot of cool peopledoing it.
Definitely like I have friendsfrom this day from that.

(44:45):
I'd sold vehicles to um try.
They moved me into the servicedepartment to try and like save
my working there.
That went worse.
You want me to charge how muchto change a cabin air filter.
I know what these cabin airfilters are worth.
I sold auto parts for yearslike I did not believe in
screwing people and I'm notsaying that dealerships screw
people.
There's a value for theirservice.

(45:05):
The difference was is I wasalso 20 some years old and knew
everything yeah, right, you kneweverything exactly right.
I acted like I knew everything,yeah.
So unfortunately that didn'twork.
I was out of work.
I had a friend of mine whosefather was an electrician and he
said hey, do you want to comework with me for a little bit?
You know I'm looking for youknow, maybe we can look at your

(45:27):
apprenticeship, let's.
Let's start you off working andsee where you go.
He's an electrician, so I'mlike I've done the plumbing,
let's try the electrical.
Worked for like a summer withhim, enjoyed it Again.
Wasn't my thing.
So I had some friends that Imet through the speedway Because
I was always active, involvedin the speedway in our town, and
they drove tow truck and Istarted asking around hey, how

(45:50):
hard is it to get into this?
This is what you need, and thisand this and again the bar for
entry, like I said back when, itwas very slim you need a G
license, a valid license and aclean driver's abstract.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Yeah, can you do a?

Speaker 2 (46:04):
background check.
No, back then I don't think Ineeded a background check.
Oh well, so they said, yeah, soyou want to do some part-time
work.
So I got on part-time.
I still remember beingterrified when I was doing.
I was doing my uh abstractonline.
I told them I had a cleanabstract, but I knew I had
tickets, but I think they hadexpired.
And I'm terrified as I'm doingthis online right in front of
them and it pulls up, waiting tosee if there's any tickets on

(46:25):
it.
Um, and it had none.
So, god, after I got the job,started doing it part-time.
So I'm doing electrical workduring the week, working for an
electric electrician, makinggood money, and then doing
towing on the weekends andpart-time and not making good
money.
There's two very different paystructures in those jobs.
Yep.
And at one point I stillremember going to you know the

(46:46):
guy the electrician, and goingI'm not going to do this anymore
, I'm going to get into towing.
And he looked at me like I hadthree heads.
He's like you have theopportunity, because he's ready
to sign me up as an apprenticeto become an electrician, and
you're going to throw that awayto be a tow truck driver.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I went yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Yeah, like that is the you know.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
And he's probably heard the stories of you talking
about all about.
You only made 300 bucks.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the dumb shit.
It doesn't pay worth a.
So that was back.
June 2012 is when I got intothe towing industry.
I worked for this company.
I worked for this company forabout I want to say it was like

(47:30):
three months, and that was notmy choice, that was theirs.
The company ended up actuallybeing bought out by the company
that I currently work for.
So, yeah, they got bought outabout three months in.
Um, so yeah, they got boughtout about three months in.
I remember being, you know, ina bad spot because I went I'm
the least experienced guy herein a company buyout.
There's going to be areshuffling.
I don't know if I'm gonna makethat cut right.

(47:54):
There's much more experiencedoperators than I am now.
The company I worked for had acouple culture issues and
definitely had some some youknow bad stuff going on in the
background.
That is, you know, one of thereasons that they they got
bought out is their managementstructure was lacking and
everything else yeah so I'mthree months in.
Company gets bought out.
I believe I was full time atthat point.
A company gets bought out.

(48:15):
I'm one of the few that getspicked to actually stay on.
So I'm three months in this newcompany comes in, buys brand
new trucks yeah and I'm sittingthere going, wow, this is
awesome.
Yeah, right, like I.
I'm, you know, by the time it'sall said and done, six months
into the industry, driving abrand new tow truck one of a,
one of three or four guys onthis company and and we're doing

(48:38):
like this company is is.
You know, there was a heavyside of it as well.
It was the light duty side thathe bought out.
So you're getting to go to someof these wrecks that they're
doing and you're like your eyesare open to the world, you are
going, holy Jesus.
So I spent there.
I was there from 2012 to 2015.
And in 2015, me and the owner,who were both very young at the

(49:04):
time right, I was.
I don't remember how old I was,but we're, we're in our 20s.
Yeah, he he's operationsmanager for this company and
owner, but you know, familyownership, um, managing this
company he doesn't really have agreat idea what he's doing.
I am the most arrogant 20 someyear old you're ever going to
meet in your life, because,again, you think he's arrogant

(49:24):
now?

Speaker 1 (49:25):
just imagine what he was back then, with all the piss
and I have humbled myself somuch over the year.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Oh yeah, I absolutely knew everything yeah and this
guy that was my boss didn't know.
You know, I mean, I've beentowing for as long as he had,
yeah, and he didn't know snotbecause he was some, you know
just little rich kid, know, youknow, I mean, I've been towing
for as long as he had, yeah, andhe didn't know snot, because he
was some.
You know just little rich kidthat you know, daddy bought him
a towing company and like, ohI'm I'm pretty sure I had said
that to him back then like we,we fell apart.
Yeah, I, I was nowhere nearmature enough to you know, keep

(49:56):
that job.
I was fighting with dispatchers, I was.
I thought my shit didn't stink.
I was.
I was the was the king andanyone would be happy to have me
.
Yeah.
So I left for a couple months toum before I moved away from
town and I went to thecompetition in town and who man,
it did not take me long torealize that organization was

(50:17):
not their strong point and Icame from a very organized
company.
Right, it was a bit of a freefor all shit show, like I
remember you got beef withsomebody, you guys go settle it
off the camera, the winner getshalf a day paid off.
Like, like this kind of stuff,right, like you don't like it
too fucking bad, like it was.
Just, it was just a completeculture shock for me.
I went, wow, this is crazy.

(50:38):
Um.
So around that time, um, while Iwas still working for the first
company, um, I started writingum blog posts.
I had a passion for theindustry and writing different
things, which later on turnedinto writing for toe canada
magazine.
I wrote a couple articles fromthem and you know that was kind

(50:58):
of getting my involvement into,you know, outside, outside of
just being a tow operator.
So one of those articles wasactually read by a gentleman
that lives in the town that wework together.
He's seen this article reachedout, wrote hey, really enjoyed
the article that you wrote.
Da, da, da, da da, my, you knowit.
Really, it was aboutrelationships.
Yep.

(51:19):
And my wife really enjoyed itand we're doing this thing and
would you help us, we're doinglike a scavenger hunt for her.
Would you do a recorded videofor you know a hint for or
something like that.
I said no problem, went and didit.
They loved it.
When I was traveling up throughthere, one time my in-laws or
my sister-in-law lived up there.
We stopped in for a visit, hadlunch, everything like that.

(51:40):
That got fairly close with thisfamily.
So at the time when I moved frommy main company to this company
that I tried out for threemonths and realized it was a
shit show.
Um, we had been talking andthey were looking for an
operator up that way.
Now this is about a four hourmove for me and I know nobody in
this area.

(52:01):
And it got even better.
I was going to live on like acouch and they had an apartment
in their basement that theirparents were moving out of that
I was going to move into.
Like I left on a whim.
Wow, like this was like a monthpreparation, nothing really set
in stone, just kind of flyingby the seat of my pants.
I went away from vacation withmy wife.

(52:21):
When I got back I wasn't goingback to work for the company in
my hometown yep so that was inseptember of 2015.
I moved away on the august longweekend or like the yeah,
whatever it was.
I think it was the august longweekend, so it might have been
august that year showed up, wentto the toe show I remember that
because it was in august andthen, from and on the tuesday or

(52:42):
whatever, started working forthis new company, living on this
guy's couch, um, like a futonin a, in a, not the living room,
but off, like no privacy, no,whatever yeah and started
working for the company whereyou and I worked together and it
was a very familyorientedoriented company.
It was an awesome place.

(53:02):
The original owner, bob, whopassed away, was great.
He had such an attitude on him.
If he didn't like you, you werescrewed, that's for sure.
But it had a bunch of littleBob rules.
I remember Bob always had hisBob rules right no blue pen and
different things like that.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah.
I still follow that today Istill only have black pens.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
That's a bob rule.
Yeah, um, really thriving.
The company really enjoyed it,really had a good time.
It was it was very muchsomething my original company
back home.
Although it was awell-organized company, it
didn't feel as as familiar or asfamily-oriented as it did when
we were together.
Not the company, we weretogether and guys.

(53:46):
The only reason we don't namecompanies is just to especially
that company.
They were very private company.
Yeah, they really like they'reout of business now so I really
don't care overall.
Um, but they just that wastheir thing.
They always hated um, you knowwhat I mean their name being
talked about.
So, out of respect, we'vealways done that.
Um, so, uh, yeah, so we workedtogether or sorry, uh, got there

(54:08):
, thrived at it, had a greattime.
Actually, the guy who ended upgetting me in, I remember,
started to have problems at thecompany.
Um, that led to a little coupleproblems between him and I.
I had a certain expectationthat I kind of helped get you in
here.
You should have my back, whichI don't.
I'm a big believer that evenyourself, when I got you in, I

(54:30):
didn't get you into the company.
I opened the door.
Whatever you do with thatopportunity is your business,
not mine.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Saves your ass too, in case I turn out to be
horrible, 100%.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
Anyways, I worked for the company, spent five years
there and I mean it's probablythe best five years I've ever
had.
My wife enjoyed the area.
We weren't married at the time.
We got married while we were upthere and I I remember, because
we were going through, I wastrying to put the timeline
together before the show andwe're going through and I'm
finding like pictures from likea going away party that we had
the night together before theshow and we're going through and
I'm finding like pictures fromlike a going away party that we

(55:05):
had the night that I the, theweek that I was leaving at the
bar right, and like I remember,because I moved my my time frame
up because I had to move um,and even that we had a going
away party.
I'm pretty sure like the ownerspaid for most of the drinks
that night.
We had a good time.
We got a ride home in a towtruck because we were all
drinking and everything else.
It was one of the things, butwhat happened there was burnout.

(55:27):
Hit me hard, right, I'm eightyears into the industry at this
point.
Uh, we're about 2020.
I started in 2012.
I'm eight years into theindustry, five years up in this
town and it was a lot, that townman, we went through some
stretches where it was a lotyeah right and I really hit that
wall.

(55:48):
I hit that wall of do I want tokeep doing this?
And same thing as you, whereyou come in, you do a couple
years of it and then the taxesbecome a problem and then you
know I mean, like you're tryingto find solutions around things,
like it just all it was a lotall at once and I finally said
eight years.
I'm not sure if I want to dothis.
I'm not sure if I want to bejust a driver for the rest of my

(56:09):
life.
First of all, and at thatcompany, that was the only
opportunity there was going tobe, because, you're right, they
had all the potential in theworld but weren't really
interested in it.
Right, I had a couple extraprivileges that I had because I
set up myself, like I worked onrebuilding the schedule with
guys.
I was, you know, very, veryinvolved with the team and
trying to be somebody that couldbring everyone together to for

(56:30):
common goals that we had.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
But what was your?
You got what?
An extra couple of percent onyour paycheck for.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
I think that's what it was.
Yeah, I had an extra couple ofpercentage on it and then know
they'd pay me little bits hereand there to do stuff.
Um, I think there was no.
I had a percentage increase andI also had a flat premium given
to me.
I mean minimal, like a couplehundred bucks or something like
every two weeks I get like 200bucks plus the actual percentage
yeah um for dealing with what Idealt with.

(56:56):
It was nothing crazy.
So I decided in um, yeah, so2020, in february, that you know
I probably I'd sound likeJanuary, december, something
like that.
But I had enough.
At that time, good familyfriend reached out and was
looking to hire at his truckingcompany, and so his town.

(57:18):
So I was four hours away frommy hometown.
This was pretty much dead setin the middle between my
hometown and where I currentlywas.
So I decided to take thatopportunity, take a break from
the towing industry.
This is in the truckingindustry, so still somewhat
relatable.
Yeah, I helped you move.
Yeah, you helped me move withthe CA call, so he offered me

(57:41):
this opportunity and it was avery entry-level position with
the final goal being uh, his,his operations manager was
eventually going to retire.
But he's big believer andyou're not going to start off in
management, you are going tostart as a grunt from the
beginning and that way you canlearn the operation from the
ground up yep fair, no problem.
So moved in, you know, movedback two hours closer to home,

(58:04):
to the hometown, did this.
It did not take me long torealize that there was a reason
that I was in the towingindustry and not in one of these
other industries.
The idea of going to the sameplace every day and doing the
same thing, and and and dealing,and there was some miserable
people in there and, and youknow, it really taught me a lot.
Moving away, four hours away,first of all, help me grow up.

(58:27):
Suddenly, when I moved outthere and and, and family and
everything, just absolutely Istill remember my sister saying
you'll be back in a month,you'll be back to your hometown
in a month.
Yeah.
That was motivation for me tomake it work.
Yeah.
I'm going to go out, I'm goingto make this work and we did,

(58:47):
hmm, so we moved back into the.
You know, it was about a yearand a half I did the trucking
spot.
I was working in a drop yard.
Covid happened while you'rethere, covid happened right as I
moved in.
That was the scariest time inmy life, not because COVID
scared me, but I remember wemoved in, just moved in, and I

(59:08):
remember, um, you know, we werehearing about COVID and
everything else.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
And we came down for a dinner um, me and the
ex-girlfriend at the time,literally like two weeks before
we went into lockdown.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Yeah, well, right, when we had moved in, I was
offered to go on a snowboardingtrip down to mont-ramlin, which
we'd normally do every year, andI was, like we got the move
going on with everything else,like it's a terrible time.
I was like I just go, you'vebeen working hard and
everything's been tough lately,like just go and enjoy yourself.
And the next day was lockdown,like we.

(59:42):
We were on our way to the hillwondering if it was going to be
open.
Well, from the time we left thehill to get home that night, it
had gone into lockdown welllike lockdown started.
They had shut the hill for theyear.
They had whatever everythingwas starting to shut down, it
was.
It was crazy.
So I had a big fear because inthe trucking industry they took
a big hit during that as well.
Right, obviously, with allthese stores closed and

(01:00:05):
everything closed and I wasagain new man on the totem pole,
what is gonna happen got a lotof expenses from all the move
yeah, it was a very scary time.
Um, I remember I remembercalling my mom and I was in
tears because I was like I, Imade this decision to better my

(01:00:25):
life and get out of the towingindustry and and do this.
And then this happens like what?
Like what did I do?
So got through it, luckily,stayed on working the entire
time, got through it, butrealized again this wasn't for
me, this wasn't for me, thiswasn't for me Like the
excitement of.
I remember my wife asked me atthe end of the day, how was your

(01:00:47):
day?
And it would always just be itwas fine or it was bad.
Like what was the worst casescenario that I had?
Oh, my operations manager.
She's a cranky old thing.
You know.
What I mean Was was you know onmy ass about something stupid
that this guy did, like just theoffice drama?
Yeah, that was the biggest youknow thing that I had for that

(01:01:07):
day and I wouldn't call itexcitement because I've always
hated that stuff when the towingindustry was like how was your
day today?
Oh, yo, I did a car down 100foot embankment.
We were doing some like I hadto run twin line.
I was like you know thatexcitement that you got from
doing those calls.
You did not get in an officesetting, so I started looking
around and there was a towingcompany that was hiring a small

(01:01:30):
little towing company in thearea.
So reach out to them, put adeal together with them, got
employed.
They were a company and Ithey're still around to this day
.
I always felt bad because I hadzero commitment to them.
They were literally just a fillgap to figure out what I was
going to do.
Yeah.
Right, Like it was just keep mein towing, keep me working.

(01:01:53):
I had no ties to this company,Like I had zero.
You know, I was that guy that II was not getting connected to
them.
I'd been burned by beingconnected from the company that
we worked together.
That hurt leaving I was notbeing connected to this well,
even how they were structured.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
It was set up to where the drivers couldn't
really get that bond the sameyeah, I remember you telling me
stories where you only have togo to the office every week or
two yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Well, I was a little bit different too, because I was
out like I was like a littlesecond division.
They were running of my ownlittle truck out there, um.
But yeah, I know you went to theoffice like once a week yeah um
, the truck stayed at the houseand then, you know, we worked it
was same thing, commission, butas employees, not as a broker
setup, and it was decent.
I had like a threshold that Iwanted to make every day and you
know they they definitelyaccommod that Like I made the

(01:02:42):
money that I needed to make, butit was just a fill gap.
It was no excitement.
They didn't do police work, itwas all roadside work, it was
all like junk.
You know, the nice thing was Iget to drive an hour Like I was
driving an hour away for servicecalls, paid mileage the whole
way.
Yeah, cause we covered a verybig area, a very big area.
But again, I kind of, like itwas rebuilding my passion into

(01:03:03):
the industry.
And once I got back to it,that's where you and I had
started this show and my passionwas a hundred percent, like it
never really stopped.
Throughout my passion, right, Iwas still trying to write
different things.
I was, you know, doingdifferent ideas here and there
once.
So I, you know this is back in-2021 that I started back in june

(01:03:28):
for this little company andthen my wife and I started to
question what are we doing?
We've been in this town for acouple years.
You know the first job, theidea that brought us there,
didn't really work out, um.
And then the um, you know the,the towing side that I'm at is
just kind of she knew it wasjust, it was just a stop, like
it was just a fill.
And now I love my wife throughall this because, don't forget,

(01:03:48):
my wife is moving at all thesetimes and she's starting new
jobs and everything else.
And every one of these moveshas been to chase my dream, yep,
to chase my passion.
They have never been aboutchasing something she wanted
yeah, ever.
As never been about chasingsomething she wanted yeah, um,
ever as selfish as that is, butno one.
No one that knows me will besurprised by that.
Yeah, so then we get a call um,and it was from the original

(01:04:12):
company from my hometown, whereme and my owner, you know,
disagreed and, and this is, youknow, seven years later yeah
almost we had always.
We had always maintainedcontact here and throughout it.
Right, we were better friendswhen we didn't work together
than when we did he's a bigfigure in the towing industry
now what's that?

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
he's a big figure in the towing industry.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
He was even then, but he was a shadow.
Then too, he was in a shadow,yeah, um, so he reached out to
me one day and he called me andhe said hey, would you ever
consider coming back to work forme?
And my answer was no, legit.
My first thing that I said wasno, I would not.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
And he says okay, but I said I'm also not one to
close doors.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
So what do you got in mind?
And I'll see if I'm interested,and he goes well, I'm not going
to put together anything ifyou're not going to be
interested.
And I'm like, well, well, youdon't know if I'll be interested
until you put it together,right?
It's kind of a reply to give achicken here.
We've known each other for manyyears throughout all this, you
know, we've gone to toe showstogether.
We had, you know he'd stay tomy place, whatever.
Um, and he said I'm looking fora manager, you know, and this is

(01:05:16):
what I'm offering.
And and I talked to my wife, Isaid, hey, it's an opportunity
to go back to our hometown,which is probably one of the
best things I ever did was moveaway from the hometown.
I'm not talking shit on thehometown, but it was such a
growth and maturing prod time.
It was one of the best things Iever did.
And then getting away from allthe drama that you had back when
, from everybody, knowingeverybody, in a small town, and

(01:05:37):
you come back and you'resuddenly like not involved in it
, it's great, yeah.
So he said I'm looking for amanager.
And I said, well, let's putsome numbers.
And we went back and forth fora couple months and we finally
made a deal that, okay, I'llcome back.
Um, I remember I came back innovember of 2021 and I still

(01:05:57):
remember the joke was is I wassupposed to be light duty
manager and the day that we'resigning the paperwork, he was
missing a spot to put the titlein, because we this whole time
we had agreed on light dutymanager and he goes screw
operations manager and I'm likeit's kind of a different thing,
but whatever it was, just to meit's, I don't care about title
yeah right.

(01:06:18):
So um, I came back in november.
My wife stayed up in um ouroriginal town all the way until
February, until we securehousing.
He needed me in for November tocome in for the winter time.
Yep.
But I hadn't set up a place, soI stayed at an apartment in my
you know, my mother's basementfor a couple months, while my
wife and I figured out where wewere going to actually move to

(01:06:39):
in the town.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Yeah, if you go back to watch previous episodes,
there's a few laptop podcasts,100 with the gold chairs in my
background.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Yeah, that was 100 during that time and if you
watch, if you go back and watchthe towing life podcast, you
will see every one of thesemoves that I've talked about and
you can base the year on thelast three years over it,
because it started in the towntwo hours away and then you see
from there, and then you seefrom there to the my mom's
basement and then you see to theplace that we're currently at

(01:07:08):
now, so you can actually watchand just even thumbnails of
every episode to spot reallyquick when it was my biggest
move was from the kitchen intohere, yeah, exactly your kitchen
with your big bay windowsbehind you.
So, no, I came back here um, gotinvolved in management
operations and it was definitelya, a re, um, like, a, like a

(01:07:32):
reinvestment in the industryYou're seeing it a little bit of
a different side of theindustry.
It re re-energized me too.
Right, it gave me something Ialways said I didn't want to
just drive my entire life, Iwanted to do something with my
passion, which I've been giventhat opportunity to do with here
.
Given that opportunity with acompany with a great reputation,
a company that I never wouldhave thought back in the day,

(01:07:54):
being a family owned operation,would give control to an
individual that wasn't theirfamily.
Like you know what I mean, Ialways believed that there was
no point never met being amanager with this company
because, at the end of the day,you weren't a manager, you were
a puppet for their structure andtheir beliefs.
It's not at all the case.
You are allowed to come in andmake your decisions and make

(01:08:15):
your mistakes and, and and makeyou know what I mean, find
things that are going to workand learn from things that are
not going to work.
Yep, the company has alwaysgiven me that.
You know, and I've always, I'vealways held a soft spot for
this company.
Even through all the years thatI was gone and everything like
that, I always kept a spot forthat company.
Yep.
And I mean I left burning it tothe ground.

(01:08:35):
Yep.
Right, you know they say don'tburn your bridges.
I didn't just take out thebridge, I took out the railway
that went to it.
I took out the like, I took outthe river.
Yep.
Like I, you know, and for a lackof maturity and and getting
that opportunity to step away.
Grow up, move away.
You know, see what life isactually about, live.

(01:08:56):
You know what I mean Like awayfrom from that small town and
all that bullshit and grow upinto an operator that you know
becomes the man with very strongopinions.
The industry has granted methat Right now.
Again, how is your day?
Hey, we operated a tractortrailer that was rolled over
fully loaded on a 400 highway.
You know we pulled an excavatorout with 13 lines to load

(01:09:19):
because it was so buried downinto the dirt.
You know we did all these jobs.
Um, you know, I've I've gottento grow and hire and nurture and
watch operators with thatpassion that I had when I first
started.
Right, like seeing them go, andyou know what I mean Watching
the burnout come in because theydon't know better than to go
home.
Um, you know, and trying towork on that kind of kind of

(01:09:42):
stuff and truly buildingsomething, the way that somebody
gave me that opportunity andeverything, it's been a humbling
experience.
I still need to work on mydealing with people, I still am
learning new tricks and tips onall that good stuff, but but
that is it.
So, you know, starting lookingback now at where I started in

(01:10:03):
2012 and being in 2024, um, thechanges that have happened in
the industry, the you know whatI mean the my views of the
industry, how eyes wide shut Iwas when I was younger, thinking
that I knew everything right Iwon't go on to, like you did,
and and you know the importanceon the lessons that you learned

(01:10:23):
in the industry.
What I'd rather give is isadvice to somebody that's
starting off Um, and that is,you don't have a clue yet, and I
don't mean that in acondescending way.
I do not mean that these two,three year operators have no
idea what they're talking about.
They've obviously seen somestuff and put in their time, but
there is so much more that ifyou stick with this industry and

(01:10:45):
find the right place to landthat you you have the potential
to to see some wild stuff inthis industry.
But it's all about findingfinding your spot.
Mine was finding my spot backhome in my hometown.
Yeah.
You got to find the spot that'sgoing to give you every
opportunity to advance in thetowing industry.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
And make sure to tune in next week because we're
going to go through childhoodtrauma of what sends people into
the towing industry.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
What makes people want to join the towing industry
, short of lack of medicationfor their disorders.
But yeah, so.
Anyways, I hope that was alittle enlightening.
I hope it wasn't too boring andlong drawn out.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
If you have any questions, put them in the
comments down below or save themfor the live stream coming up
at the end of the month.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Absolutely.
If you want to know, you knowanything that we didn't cover on
our story.
If you actually care about it,I think some people will.
Some people will enjoy it.
It's nice to know, like this iswhere we're regular operators
who went through a lot of thesame struggles that you guys
have at the end of the day.
So if you do want to reach outto us, like you said, you can
leave a comment down below ifyou're watching over on the

(01:11:50):
youtube side.
If not, head over to thewebsite wwwtowinglifeca, email
us directly at thetowinglife atgmailcom, or find us over on
facebook at the toowing LifePodcast.
Do not forget Sunday, august25th, 6 pm Eastern, for our live
episode for Celebrating Episode150, live 3.0.

(01:12:11):
We will be there.
We hope to see you there aswell.
Until then, we'll see you againnext week.
Take care, toodles, you.