Women truckers…I need your help!
Posted on Oct 30, 2008 - 1:00am by V. Grumpy in Trucking
Listen ladies, first of all spare me the nasty e-mails, I really need your help. I’m reaching out to all of you. You need to know, right off, that I appreciate all your hard work. I can’t imagine how tough it is being a female trucker. I’ve said many times, in many postings, on this and other blogs that men are jerks. I know that you are very capable, perhaps more so than most men, to do everything that is necessary to operate your rig in a safe, reliable and efficient fashion.
So, with that said, here’s my problem. I’m was in Senatobia, MS at the Kangaroo truck stop right off I-55. About 4pm, I was sitting in the front seat, with my headset on making a call, while typing online. I had the engine running. Both front windows were closed. You could say that I was really into what I was doing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a women with a plastic bag approaching me. Wrong or right, my first thought was – lot lizard. Just like you ladies, I just wanted to be left alone.
She comes right up to the door. I wave her off. She moves her head right to left and back to indicate that she’s saying “no.” She bangs on the door. Persistent – I used the “b” word. Sorry. I was “ticked.” I rolled down the window half way and just looked at her. She said something. I said, “listen, times are tough for all of us, but [please] go away, I’m not interested. ” I started rolling the window up when she motioned her head again saying no. I took my headset off. She asked about my load. I didn’t quite understand the question. She said, “If I go over there now, could I get loaded?” I said “what?” She said “I drive for (our company) and I was wondering?”
Well, I felt like an idiot. I also felt bad for her. But I caught myself. I spoke to her briefly answering her questions and she went back to her truck. But, why should I feel this way. 99% of the time, when any female comes up to my door, she is, in fact a lot lizard or a bum or some weirdly dressed person who doesn’t want a “date” but wants to sit in my truck and sell “herself” over my CB radio. This “encounter” today was extremely rare. I rarely acknowledge any man that comes up to my truck. I don’t care if he works for the same company or not. Sometimes, I even have a bright sign that says – GO AWAY!.
So, what am I supposed to do? Look at the photo. Am I supposed to know if she’s a fellow professional truck driver, or a lot lizard? What if it’s dark outside? What about my safety? What about her safety? Am I missing something? Something that you can tell me to do or say in a future case like this? How can I not be a “jerk?” I would greatly appreciate your input.
The photo is, by the way, a prostitute arrested by the Warren MI – Special Investigation Division. She was “caught” in a “sting” operation conducted by the Warren MI police on October 16th 2008. I spent well over an hour attempting to find a photo of a young woman who looked very much like my fellow company driver who came up to me today. And in all fairness, the Warren PD also published the photos of the “johns.” I’m sorry to report that all of them looked like “typical” drivers you would see at any truck stop.
RSS feed for comments on this post | Trackback URI
We're on Twitter!
Your picture didnt come through, Grumpy-but I can well imagine what it looked like. As a female driver, I’ve always been amazed that some of these gals want to look like a lot lizard and then are mad because they’re mistaken for one. Women dress seductively because they want to be noticed sexually-there’s no other reason for it. I’ve been amazed at women getting out of a long-nose Pete with jeans so tight I know darned well they cant drive comfortably in them. Why? Or do they run back in the bunk and put on the tight jeans after they get parked? Again, why?
Now, I’ll admit there will always be these young bucks who are determined that every woman in a truck is a hooker-that’s their little fantasy and I cant do anything about that. But, I always dressed like I was a working woman, truck-driving style, on the road. . .jeans and a denim shirt. It fit the job, it didnt fit the lot lizard pattern. so, I guess I’d have to say that women who dress the part get taken for hookers-and they damned well know why. And there will always be some guys who will hit on every woman in the place, no matter what. In the south particularly, men-security guards, etc-ALWAYS believe every woman in the truck stop is a lot lizard. There’s no accounting for people’s pre-conceived notions, but there is also no excuse for women who strive to look like hookers being upset when they’re treated like one. I have a suggestion for women drivers who need to approach another truck to ask directions, etc-carry a log book or a pair of dirty work gloves with ya. . .it kind of conveys your position better. No woman who expects to survive long in this business wanders around in a truck stop alone at night-that’s just asking for trouble.
My fault on the picture. Somethings didn’t make it through the outage and restore process. But I’m sure everyone knows the type.
And then there are the truckers that parade their girlfriends/wives around the truckstop dressed like hookers. Call me old fashioned but I would advise (not tell, I don’t TELL my wife anything!), my wife to not to wear trashy hot pants walking through a truck stop.
As a female partner of a driver, I agree with John in not TELLING his wife how to dress. If a woman is secure and respects herself, she will convey this in her body language. In contrast to “Lot lizards” who obviously have issues in that department. A woman should never feel she has to give up her femininity to fit in to a male dominated work place. Yes, there are safety issues, and those should never be negated. Women have been thriving in the military and law enforcement for years.
I was in the military with women and I’ve been trucking with women and my wife. Trust me, if your walking around the truck stop dressed like a hooker, trust me on this – no one is paying attention to your body language. Sorry, men aren’t that deep.
Dress like one, get looked at like one and get treated like one.
Did I mention men aren’t that deep?
My wife and I have been running team for 9 years now and she has frequently been mistaken for a lizard and she does NOT dress provocatively. She wears decent shirts, usually a size too big, and never low cut or unbuttoned, and jeans that are not too tight, she likes those big shirts that cover her rear end. She has waist length hair and it’s usually braided when we’re on the road, and she sometimes wears a ball cap. She doesn’t wear trashy makeup or anything like that either, in fact she rarely wears more than some powder and lip stuff (not lipstick, that other stuff).
Once while we were walking (holding hands) from our truck to a wal-mart next to a truckstop in IL, we were stopped by police and made to get into 2 different police cars while the cops verified our id’s and jobs because they thought she was a hooker. She was in the cop car crying and asking the officer why he thought she was a hooker and he said “most women at truckstops are”. I had to go to our truck and get our logbooks for them to look at while they ran our id’s, and I was escorted to the truck and back to the cop car, too.
It doesn’t matter if she’s trashy or not, if she’s in or near a truckstop people think badly of her. Been married to her 25 years, she’s never been trashy, but she has to put up with this bs because of her job. She buys her clothes with this in mind and no matter how conservatively she dresses it doesn’t make a difference. She’s had to show her cdl at truckstops to prove shes a driver in order to use a shower, she’s been asked to leave drivers lounges, once while waiting for me to come out of the bathroom, and was told “this is drivers only, no loitering or soliciting”. She’s been proposition by drivers who make the mistake also. This woman is a grandmother, she’s not trashy, she’s a driver, but she is an attractive woman no matter what, so she gets this…
Its really sad that a woman – even thought she dresses conservatively – still gets treated like a hooker, JUST because she is attractive.
…. men….
I get exactly what your saying, even if the pic wasn’t there. If you think about it though, just treat everyone they way you would like to be treated regardless of their appearance. That doesn’t mean you can’t process your thoughts, just don’t act on them.
Frankly, I’ve always half figured the guys trolling through the stops with women dressed like that were either to moronically idiotic to communicate the nature of the environment adequately or at all. The other half… well I figure some of them are just looking to get the lady to help pad the income. If I observe that half in any other public situation, I have the same view.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat them they way you would wish to be treated, an observation can only be offensive… if you try to prove the observation correct.
But heck, where I come from, not too far from where that pic you used came from, a person not wearing a badge walks up to my door… I may crack the window just they aren’t trying to raise a legitimate concern “theres a bomb threat, you might want to move your tanker”, but I’ll do it with my right hand because my left is occupied with my tire thumper. Don’t matter if I’m in Big Springs, Ontario, or Fargo… same practice.
Reciprocity is always a good idea.
Jimi