Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Seems we’re all a little "testy" these days. As far as people in the spotlight, last week it was Joe Wilson, this weekend it was one of the world’s greatest athlete’s, Serena Williams. And Kanye West didn’t seem to happy last night that my fav girl Taylor Swift won an award for best video.

You’ve got to admit there is an strong under-current of anger everywhere you go these days. You can see it in the way people drive, in their interaction with other people and an overwhelming prevailing feeling of apathy in almost all aspects of our lives. A CNN poll the other day claims 90% of the poll respondents said that society in general is becoming less civil.

You know it’s funny that as truck driver this whole state of anger was pretty much the norm in my life on the road. It was expected, I learned to manage it as best I could – then I would come home, detox a few days and then go out into the normal "happy" world. I’d relish in everyone treating me with a modicum of respect before having to go back out to an environment of whining, complaining. rudeness and abuse.

But that is not the case anymore. There is no "escaping" what we used to deal with on the road. People are correctly angry about things that deserve being angry about. I was in a restaurant this weekend and three tables of "guys" were angry about our troops in Afghanistan not having the proper equipment and manpower to prevent getting killed by IED’s and RPG’s. The news was showing film of our soldiers walking into mine fields because Afghan troops refused.

I was in Wal-Mart. An older couple was angry at an assistant manager in the tire department because they felt they were over-charged for repair service. A man was not too happy with the paint mixer guy for some reason. I went in Lowe’s for a simple purchase and had to dress down some supervisor because of his reluctance to apologize over an unnecessary pricing error. The day ended with my paying $40 to a dog groomer who was incompetent and more focused on everything but her job. My 14 year old terri-poo loves everybody, but before leaving this place actually stopped, turned and growled at her. Oooo. Even our pets are angry.

It’s hard to enjoy television these days without yelling at what’s on. At a family supper, folks were angry at car commercials because they don’t stress the vehicle’s MPG. The feeling is that they’re stuck in the past still trying and failing to sell cars on their GPS, Bluetooth ability or the amount of cup holders. Everything these days is fuel economy – not how long your family has been in the car business and what a great deal you’ll get. And during a series of football games, I don’t want to repeat what was said when receivers being paid millions of dollars drop passes. Whew, talk about angry.

Listen, I’m no expert by any means and far be it for me to tell anybody what is or is not acceptable. But, these days, with all the crap going on – especially with jobs – I think it’s OK to be angry. Now my gal Serena, well, she was fined $10,500 this weekend for unsportsmanlike conduct and smashing her racket. She got a little out of control – who hasn’t? She lost the singles semifinal match to her opponent (Kim Clijsters??) after being called for a code violation for verbally abusing a line judge on match point.

Serena on the internet says: "I’m a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I’m wrong. I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it’s not the way to act – win or lose, good call or bad call, in any sport, in any manner. I like to lead by example. We all learn from experiences both good and bad. I will learn and grow from this, and be a better person as a result.

I forgive you Serena. Been there done that. You’re not John McEnroe. And you’re not a truck driver. But, it’s OK to be angry.

Photo credit: http://www.groovymap.com/blog/wp-content/themes/default/images/2008/07/angry-dog.jpg