A Trucker's Tale – Characters I Have Known

Apr 15, 2026 - 2 months ago

There were several interesting folks I have worked with over the years.

A Trucker's Tale - Characters I Have Known — *Did you...forget something, Grady?*

Big Daddy

One of WMTS’s drivers, Big Daddy, was one of the good guys and everyone liked him. Extremely mannered and polite, he was a happy family man with a kind heart. Befitting his nickname, he was one of the drivers Frank utilized to stand on the rear of the forklift, since Big Daddy tipped the scales at well-over 300 pounds. Strong as an ox, I had seen him sling heavy canvas tarps around as though they were cardboard.

Polite though he was, even Big Daddy had his breaking point. Most of us never saw him get angry, but several other drivers later verified this story. Big Daddy arrived before daylight at a building supply distributor located on Long Island. Having delivered to this customer many times, he knew by arriving early, he could remove his tarps and chains from his load of plywood, and then he would be ready for the unloading crew when they got to work at 0700. When the forklift driver arrived for work, he promptly unloaded two bundles off Big Daddy’s trailer, and then informed Big Daddy that he had to go load an outbound company truck, but he would return as soon as he was finished. Big Daddy watched, and waited, while the forklift driver loaded the company truck.

Close to 0900, Big Daddy began fuming when he saw the forklift driver begin to unload another trucker’s flatbed load, which had arrived over an hour after Big Daddy had arrived. Big Daddy set out to find the shipping and receiving supervisor. Upon locating the supervisor, Big Daddy explained what was taking place. The supervisor told Big Daddy he didn’t know the answer to his question, although he was sure that the wait would not be much longer. Big Daddy looked at the supervisor and asked, “Buddy, what do you think you would do if a mad gorilla came after you?”

Not having a clue why Big Daddy would ask such a question, he replied something like, “I don’t guess I would like it too well, and I would probably run.”

Stepping up close to the supervisor’s face, Big Daddy declared, “Well then, what do you think you would do if a mad, 350-pound n-word got ahold of your ass?”

Some drivers reported that it seemed like every forklift on Long Island descended upon Big Daddy’s flatbed, because it was only minutes before he was completely unloaded. Big Daddy’s choice of words surprised everyone, especially the supervisor, because it was totally out of his character using the n-word, because he was very proud to be African American.

Maybe Big Daddy knew what he was doing. We never received a complaint from that consignee and, after each future delivery to the Long Island location, Big Daddy would make his “empty call” even before the company officially opened at 0700.

Over the next couple of years, this gentle giant, Big Daddy, helped me overcome my woefully inadequate knowledge of African American culture. He took me to my first soul food restaurant in Dundalk, MD, a place I then frequented for over 20 years. I poked fun at him by saying the good-tasting food was the reason he was so damned big. He couldn’t deny it!

Big Daddy informed me on a Wednesday that his grandmother had passed and that he needed to be off to “funeralize” her. After offering my condolences, of course I approved his days off, and I told him I would see him back at work the following Monday. He quickly replied, “Uh, no. It takes us black folks at least a week to put ‘em in the ground!” We saw Big Daddy back to work a week and a half later, and I never made that mistake again.

Big Daddy’s large appetite finally did him in when he suffered a fatal heart attack when he was 55 years old. I still recall his smiles and laughs as though they happened yesterday. His passing is another example of only the good dying young. RIP Big Daddy.

Randy

All trucking company employees, whether drivers or office personnel, have always been known as hard working men and women who usually don’t quit work just because the clock shows 5:00 PM. Along with the many men and women of every profession, those working in trucking company offices have also been known to be hard drinkers. (I am not referring to drivers drinking while driving, although, unfortunately, this behavior still exists to some extent.)

One of WMTS’s drivers certainly enjoyed his alcohol, but never while he drove. When he was sober, he was a driver you could usually count upon to deliver and pick-up on time, but every several months, Randy would tie-one-on and go AWOL. Each time this happened, we knew exactly where to find him, so we would put two drivers in a truck headed south from Baltimore. These drivers would find Randy’s tractor and trailer in a parking lot on Highway 301, just south of La Plata, MD. Randy would be found across the highway in a motel, better known as his “drunken home away from home.” Sometimes, the motel owner would call our office to let us know Randy was a guest, and that Randy had given the owner the keys to his truck. The owner always assured us the rig would be safe. Several days later, after achieving sobriety, Randy would call for someone to come get him. We would ask a northbound driver to pick him up and take him to Baltimore to get his truck. Randy would stay sober for another couple of months before the bottle lured him back to his motel room.

Grady

It is a helluva thing to remember someone because of their stupidity, but that is the reason I still recall Grady’s story. Grady was an elderly driver who had been there, done that twice, and he had plenty of T-shirts to prove it. I don’t care how many miles a person has driven, or how many places one has seen, if you had asked Grady, he has driven and seen many more of them than you will ever see! I don’t remember why, if I ever knew, but one of Grady’s legs was quite a bit shorter than the other, which made his gait more up-and-down than forward. I remember him saying, “they better not try putting me on a flatbed because of this leg,” although no dispatcher would have even considered doing so. Grady was highly opinionated and, as Obie would have said, “Grady would have argued with a stop sign!”

Grady arrived at the terminal on a Sunday afternoon to begin his trip His load was 43,000 pounds of paper stock consigned to a print shop in New York City. Grady talked with several other drivers as each filled their trucks with fuel, and I am certain the audience had caused Grady to be “holding court.” When the other drivers finally said they were leaving the yard, Grady told them to wait long enough for him to hook to his trailer, and then he would run with them up I-95.

When Grady arrived at his destination in Manhattan the next morning, he climbed out of the cab to open the trailer doors before he backed up to the dock. Well, Grady opened the doors to find an empty trailer. His first declarations were that someone was trying to screw with him, although as he later stated, the trailer number, to which he had hooked, was “awfully close” to the trailer number to which he should have hooked, that being the trailer containing the paper.

Grady had pulled an empty trailer for 500 miles, rather than a load of paper weighing 43,000 pounds. He had been running his mouth so much, and because he was in such a big hurry to catch the other drivers, he had failed to open the trailer doors to look inside. He did say he thought the truck was pulling well, and that this was because he told the shop it needed to be worked-on, and that the maintenance shop had done such a good job. Grady kept to himself for a few days due to all the ribbing he received. He also never questioned why he did not get paid for those 500 miles.

Ed Miller ([email protected]) has more than 40 years of management and ownership experience in the trucking industry. Today, he is a part-time tour bus driver, published author of “A Trucker’s Tale”, and regular contributor to Supply Post. He is a father of three and a grandfather of two, and lives with his wife in Rising Sun, Maryland.