Two cups of coffee and a shower later Dave stood in his bedroom preparing for his day. Being a truck driver, he had to ensure that muscles were stretched, vitamins were consumed, food was packed, and the mental tools that prevented road rage and vehicular manslaughter were all in place and functioning. That last one may or may not always work too well, but so far he hasn’t flown off the handle yet and turned some four wheeler into a hood ornament. As preparations were coming to a close his phone started ringing. The opening lines of Weird Al’s Dare to be Stupid filling the air. This ring tone was setup for only 1 person and as he reached for his phone the caller ID indeed confirmed a call from Lord Dumbass IV.

Lord Dumbass IV, also known as Henry, was Dave’s drive dispatcher. His fourth dispatcher since being hired on with his current company. Henry was only marginally less dumb than dumbasses one through three, but only marginally. Taking a deep breath and preparing his customer service voice he answered the call, “Hello Henry! What can do for you today?” Henry replied in his slightly nasal voice “Hey Dave. Umm, we had to cancel your loads for this week. We have a special load that we need you on. Pays a dollar fifty per mile plus a thousand dollar bonus upon completion. I just need you to stop into my office once you get here to the yard.”. Dave mentally sighed. He was supposed to have two local deliveries and one regional run this week and now had to change gears for whatever this run was.

While Dave wanted to complain about the utter nonsense it was to change last minute he instead said, “Alright Henry, be there in about thirty minutes”. Henry, being the oh so personable soul he has always been, simply hung up. “Twat waffle” Dave muttered into the phone only slightly hoping that Henry was somehow still on the line and had heard him. Putting his phone in his pocket, he grabbed his go bag and headed out the door. As he got in his car he uttered a silent prayer for Murphy and his law to stay away today.

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Upon arriving at the yard he parked his car next to his truck and threw his bag inside then headed inside for Henry’s office. Henry was on the phone with a driver who recently got his CDL and was giving the absolutely wrong advice to address a situation involving sliding the tandems on an older trailer. Dave resisted the face palm urge this time. But only just. After henry finished his call he pulled a packet of papers out of his desk and handed it to Dave. “I need you to sign this.”. Confused, Dave took the packet and looked to see the words “NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT” across the top. “I’ve never had to sign an NDA for a load before, Henry. I don’t know how comfortable I am with this.” Dave stated. Henry, not paying much attention, said “Oh they just want to make sure you don’t talk about this load. Not where you picked up, or delivered. No trailer number. Not a big deal.”

Dave raised an eyebrow so high he thought it may be floating above his head. “It could be a very big deal if I get pulled over or pulled in at a weigh station for an inspection.”, he said. Henry looked as though he was having acid reflux just then, but calmly replied “I’ve been assured you don’t have to worry about any of that”. While something didn’t feel quite right about all of this, Dave couldn’t deny that the pay was probably worth keeping his mouth shut. Of course Dave didn’t talk about work with anyone as it was so in the end he didn’t see an issue. He inwardly wondered what it was Henry had gotten himself into. After signing the NDA Henry handed over the load information.