The Hurry Up and Wait Game

One thing I have noticed, in the trucking industry there is a lot of this "hurry up and wait" business. The company planners, aka Logistics, will often give me a last minute load so that I have to rush around getting prepared for said load. Sometimes, I will have to find a trailer. Or I might have to start driving without really knowing all the details until I reach my first destination. Often, they schedule the load so tight that initially it looks like I can just barely make it, but with the company's regulations on how fast I can drive, along the way, I discover I'm going to be late. But I continue to push my hours and miles to try to get as close as possible to the scheduled appointment, only to be told (usually just before I get there) appointment was rescheduled for two days from now. Great! So, now I'm sitting for two days. Case in point: I was on a load that delivered the next day but it was a drop and I was given to ok to drop it a day early, since I was arriving a day early. I gave them an eta of 15:00. At 13:00-something, they gave me a new load to be picked up at 15:00 located about 2 hours away from where I was dropping. I had to drive thru Portland (OR) 5pm Friday traffic. Needless to say, I didn't arrive at my drop at 15:00. I got there at 16:30. I left there at 17:00. Meanwhile, I called my dispatcher, aka DM, to let her know I was stuck in traffic. No problem, I'm told. If you can't get to the load by 17:00, just park for your break on their property and pick up the trailer in the a.m. (I have to go down for break anyway cuz I'm nearing the end of my 14 hour day.) so, I hook up to the trailer around 07:30 and finally roll before 09:00 the next day. The load delivers in Missouri in three days. I can drive the distance in three days, but it'll take all three days to get near my first delivery, which was scheduled at 11:00. I won't be arriving until around 18:00. Meanwhile, my 70 hour clock has 28 hours left on it, and I need about 25 hours, give or take, to deliver this load. By the way, it's a three stop delivery of live plants. So they reschedule my first stop for the next day at 08:00. I ask for directions on the in-cab computer and follow them .... To nowhere. I circle the area, even driving into a shopping center, but cannot find my destination. I pull over and call the company. Turns out, someone screwed up and wrote the wrong address, therefore getting the wrong directions. I call the nursery and get correct information. Of course, my clock is ticking the whole time and by the time they are done unloading me, I have one hour and change left on my clock. I cannot deliver to the next two stops legally without taking a 34 hour reset. Thank God the last two destinations were understanding and rescheduled my appointments for after my reset. Hurry up and wait. I am learning to like this game.