Reversed Into A Car, Don't Want To Go Back To Work
Discussion
So today I did something incredible stupid and reversed my truck into a car. I drove past one of my collections (it was on a country lane) and instead of just going half a mile down the road to turn around, I made the snap decision and reversed back. I checked my mirrors and started to reverse, unfortunately in my blind spot there was a car and I reversed right into it. The damage wasn't actually that bad, just a few scratches to their bumper but I'm more pissed off at myself more than anything. I mean I know it's stupid when you can't see what's behind you, so why the f
k did I do it anyway??? I know the road of God's sake, I knew there was a perfect place to turn around just a bit further on!
Anyway the long and short of it is that I really don't feel like going back to work tomorrow. Tomorrow is my last day and then I have 3 days off. Has anyone been in this position before, I mean what is my employer likely to think if I did take the day off? I'm pretty sure they don't have any spare staff to cover my shift.
Do I just need to man up and stop being a pussy? Anyway, needed a rant so thanks for reading.
k did I do it anyway??? I know the road of God's sake, I knew there was a perfect place to turn around just a bit further on!Anyway the long and short of it is that I really don't feel like going back to work tomorrow. Tomorrow is my last day and then I have 3 days off. Has anyone been in this position before, I mean what is my employer likely to think if I did take the day off? I'm pretty sure they don't have any spare staff to cover my shift.
Do I just need to man up and stop being a pussy? Anyway, needed a rant so thanks for reading.
You need to man up.
Whenever I used to scrape or damage stuff with my truck the manager just brushed it off as a regular occurrence.
Any commercial vehicle fleet that never damages anything is a myth.
I once returned to the yard with half a tree stuck to the roof of the cab as I had to reverse a 26T lorry about 1/2 a mile
up a single track road ,almost blind, as the bushes were obscuring both side mirrors.
Whenever I used to scrape or damage stuff with my truck the manager just brushed it off as a regular occurrence.
Any commercial vehicle fleet that never damages anything is a myth.
I once returned to the yard with half a tree stuck to the roof of the cab as I had to reverse a 26T lorry about 1/2 a mile
up a single track road ,almost blind, as the bushes were obscuring both side mirrors.
As others have said man up. Its not the end of the world, everyone will have done it at some point. I am not a cpmmercial truck driver but have pranged a company car in my time. Its embarrassing, guys will take the piss, but they are generally thinking "there but for the grace of god go i"
I'm sorry OP but what exactly is wrong with the world today, you have had a bump in a vehicle, No one was hurt and the damage was not even enough to take either vehicle off the road by what you said but instead of taking it on the chin , standing up and saying yeah I made a mistake, you considered running away and hiding, probably leaving your boss and colleagues in the lurch
I tell all my employees, "If you fk something up tell me, don't try to fix it, hide it or pretend it didn't happen. You will probably get the piss ripped out of you but then we will sort it out. If you fail to do this, I will find out & you may end up out of a job"
Honesty is always the best policy.
k something up tell me, don't try to fix it, hide it or pretend it didn't happen. You will probably get the piss ripped out of you but then we will sort it out. If you fail to do this, I will find out & you may end up out of a job"Honesty is always the best policy.
It seems some people are getting the idea that I'm trying to hide the accident, I just want to make it clear that this isn't the case. I rang my manager as soon as it happened and filled out an accident form as soon as I got back.
I'm feeling a lot better about the whole thing to be honest and I agree I just needed to man up.
Like I said on my original post, I was just really annoyed ar myself, more than anything else. I've gone so long without any type of accident and this has been a real dent to my ego and professional competence. I really thought that maybe I was becoming one of those drivers that say they haven't hit anything in decades. Mind you, they all seem very close to retirement and I'm only in my 30s, so I have a lot of experience to go.
Driving is always a learning curve and nobody is perfect. Maybe a slight knock back to reality is what I needed. I tell you one thing, I won't be making this same mistake again, if I know i can turn around I'll turn around, if I have no choice but to reverse, then I'll be getting out to look.
Funny thing is, when I reverse on site I always do it very slowly and I do get out and look, if I'm ever unsure, maybe this is just a kick up the backside to take the same approach when reversing on a road.
ETA: I also didn't mean to leave my employment permanently. I do actually like the job and have no intentions of leaving it for the foreseeable future. All I meant was just having the 1 day off tomorrow, so that along with my 3 I already have off, I would have 4 in total. I was pretty sure 4 days would have been enough to self evaluate myself.
To be honest I don't actually know why this particular bump has got to me so much. I've had bumps in my previous jobs but they never really bothered me to be honest. I think it may be because I do actually like my current employer (unlike the previous one) and I believe they hold me in high regard too. I just hope that this hasn't tainted their opinion of me by too much.
I'm feeling a lot better about the whole thing to be honest and I agree I just needed to man up.
Like I said on my original post, I was just really annoyed ar myself, more than anything else. I've gone so long without any type of accident and this has been a real dent to my ego and professional competence. I really thought that maybe I was becoming one of those drivers that say they haven't hit anything in decades. Mind you, they all seem very close to retirement and I'm only in my 30s, so I have a lot of experience to go.
Driving is always a learning curve and nobody is perfect. Maybe a slight knock back to reality is what I needed. I tell you one thing, I won't be making this same mistake again, if I know i can turn around I'll turn around, if I have no choice but to reverse, then I'll be getting out to look.
Funny thing is, when I reverse on site I always do it very slowly and I do get out and look, if I'm ever unsure, maybe this is just a kick up the backside to take the same approach when reversing on a road.
ETA: I also didn't mean to leave my employment permanently. I do actually like the job and have no intentions of leaving it for the foreseeable future. All I meant was just having the 1 day off tomorrow, so that along with my 3 I already have off, I would have 4 in total. I was pretty sure 4 days would have been enough to self evaluate myself.
To be honest I don't actually know why this particular bump has got to me so much. I've had bumps in my previous jobs but they never really bothered me to be honest. I think it may be because I do actually like my current employer (unlike the previous one) and I believe they hold me in high regard too. I just hope that this hasn't tainted their opinion of me by too much.
Edited by The Turbonator on Saturday 10th November 21:33
Edited by The Turbonator on Saturday 10th November 21:34
OP it's how people react to situations like this that matter. In my first transport manager role I had a small team of traditional drivers who all took pride in what they did.
The lead driver accidently reversed his outfit into a stand trailer one night - he was literally in tears as his pride was hurt so much and felt too embarrassed to show his face in the office.
I never considered taking any action as nothing would benefit from it - he was never going to do it again. I never mentioned it and simply got the trailer repaired - he still works there now and this was 1996!
Sounds like you feel much the same.
The lead driver accidently reversed his outfit into a stand trailer one night - he was literally in tears as his pride was hurt so much and felt too embarrassed to show his face in the office.
I never considered taking any action as nothing would benefit from it - he was never going to do it again. I never mentioned it and simply got the trailer repaired - he still works there now and this was 1996!
Sounds like you feel much the same.
You need to own up and just end up following what ever procedure your employer has for accidents .
I'm a postie and we're off driving straight away for 6 months while they investigate then we have a 4 hour 1 to 1 driving assessment before we're allowed back driving , for me it would make no difference but for those that do overtime then that's gone becasue they can't drive.
Pisses me off there draconian post accident but won't spend out and get vans with reversing cameras , dash cams to prevent the accidents happening in the 1st place .
One other thing you'd be surprised how many people have cctv , so you might end up going back into work and the person who's car you hit has already been in armed with the footage of you hitting the car.
I'm a postie and we're off driving straight away for 6 months while they investigate then we have a 4 hour 1 to 1 driving assessment before we're allowed back driving , for me it would make no difference but for those that do overtime then that's gone becasue they can't drive.
Pisses me off there draconian post accident but won't spend out and get vans with reversing cameras , dash cams to prevent the accidents happening in the 1st place .
One other thing you'd be surprised how many people have cctv , so you might end up going back into work and the person who's car you hit has already been in armed with the footage of you hitting the car.
Eyersey1234 said:
Sorry to hear about your bump OP, I'm a bus driver and there's not a day goes by when one of our buses has a bump somewhere within the company. As others have said your colleagues will take the Mick until someone else makes a mistake. All you can do is learn from it.
What's the procedure at your place ? are you able to carry on driving or do you have to get assessed ?It happens, I ripped the top off a nice shiny alloy tank 3 days after it was fitted whilst screwing the truck around about 4-5 years ago. I just called the boss straight up and told him what I had done. He called me a stupid twunt, I agreed. He then took the piss out of me when I got back the yard and had it repaired. We all make mistakes, the boss will have made mistakes.
It does feel bad and you do feel incredibly guilty about it, but being a boss now myself (although not in transport) the employees screwing up and costing money is something you have to learn to budget for. No one can be as perfect as us bosses all the time.
It does feel bad and you do feel incredibly guilty about it, but being a boss now myself (although not in transport) the employees screwing up and costing money is something you have to learn to budget for. No one can be as perfect as us bosses all the time.
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