Junior was my best friend at an outfit we both worked with a long time ago.
A combat veteran with PTSD, he wasn't known for suffering fools gladly. For some reason, though, he liked me. It was kind of an honor to be his friend, mainly because he was just as jaded and bitter at the time as yours truly. Back then I thought of Junior, in his late 20s, as a 60-year-old trucker man trapped in a young man's body.
Once, he chanced upon me conversing with a coworker who was wearing flip-flops. When he finally got me off to the side, he chided, “I don’t even know why you talk to that moron!” Junior had standards. Always immaculately dressed and groomed, he relegated anyone who dressed in a substandard way to the status of trucking-industry cancer, or worse.
He finally got his fill of the OTR scene after a conflict regarding the boss' request to cut his scheduled time off short. He complied with the request, but upon reporting to the terminal, he sternly submitted his two-week notice. The boy was livid, but his standards prevented him from leaving without notice.
The next 14 days were hard. He was getting all the worst loads, and he knew it. This kept him in a constant state of turmoil.
A while after he left, someone I trusted told me that he had two wrecks during that time. I've always wondered whether the state of acrimony between Junior and the boss might have contributed. Would it have been better for everyone for him to cut that notice short, given that he was entrusted with commandeering 80,000 lbs. of freight and steel? It certainly would have been cheaper for the company, and easier on the trucker's record.
Many years later, I'm really beginning to wonder whether the two-week notice should even still be a thing.
