Unless we are already sitting right there at The Yard, there is no fathomable, comprehensible reason to require us to report to Safety in order to be informed that we have been selected for a Random and then to be told where to go to have the testing done.
I delivered a load at the crack of dawn Thursday morning to the Warren Truck Assembly plant and then went about 3 miles north of there, near the GM Technical Center, to park and go to sleep. Later that day, at 14:12, I get a call from dispatch not about a load, but informing me that I need to report to Mork (not her real name) in Safety to pick up some paperwork she has for me.
Sounds important, otherwise dispatch wouldn't be calling me about it. No time frame was given, so I had to assume it meant that day, ASAP, now. I mean, I have a really good idea what such a ridiculous call from Dispatch really means, because, you know, I'm not stupid, but still somewhere in the back of my mind I keep telling myself this couldn't really be for a Random, because no one would so blatantly telegraph such an action. So, this must be, really and truly, to pick up some important and critical paperwork that I needed to have.
So, I get myself good and awake, get dressed and get moving. I start off on the 40 mile trek down to The Yard, through all the construction and insane stop and go traffic that was mostly stop and not a lot of go. An hour and 50 minutes later I finally arrive at The Yard and go into the Safety building. First thing I did was sign off on the cell phone and seat belt policy, and then picked up the all-important seat belt cover that will protect me from getting run over by a fork lift. I then report to Mork (still not her real name) and state that I was informed by Dispatch that I need to pick up some paperwork.
A few minutes go by, click, click, click, printer spits out a piece of paper, and she tells me in surprise, surprise, surprise Gomer Pyle fashion that I have been selected for a Random Drug Test and that I need to take this piece of paper over to the testing location. I politely but firmly and purposefully inform her not to ever again enlist Dispatch to call me up and lie to me. Now, she's still new, so I don't want to go off on her too badly, so I go off on her supervisor, politely but just as firmly.
Her supervisor tells me that "picking up paperwork" isn't technically a lie, because I do in fact have to pick up paperwork. Two problems with that. One, a lie of omission is still a lie, the primary purpose of me being summoned was not to pick up paperwork, but to present myself to be informed of the Random. Two, no, I don't actually have to pick up that paperwork at all. I don 't even need to see it. The only reason that I would be required to pick up that paperwork is if the Safety Department does not have a FAX machine or if no one in Safety knows how to operate one. If that is the case, I will, at my own expense, provide the department with a FAX machine, and I will donate as many as two days of my time showing everyone in that building how to operate it.
I was told they need to enlist Dispatch to aid them in their ruse because Dispatch knows about timing and location. Well, the only things that matter with timing is whether someone is in or out of service, and to a lesser but practical extent, whether or not someone is dispatched on a load. Nothing else matters. The only thing that matters about location is whether they are within a reasonable distance of a testing facility.
I understand that you don't want to give anyone advanced notice about being selected for a Random, therefor the invention of the ruse, but having dispatch call someone up with some BS about paperwork is, in effect, giving advance notice. Dispatch isn't allowed to tell us why they're really calling, because all they have is The List of people who have been selected, but they (allegedly) aren't told what The List is for, and apparently someone thinks they are far too stupid to be able to figure it out. That, or Dispatch knows precisely what The List is and are instructed to withhold information about it over the phone in order to carry out the cleverly designed ruse. Employers are required, "by law" as was pointed out to me, to keep testing in strict confidence and to limit the number of people having knowledge of the selection list. I suppose everyone in Dispatch having The List could be considered as "limited," but I have to wonder what the relative comparison might be.
I was told we can't be informed over the phone that we have been selected, thus the "paperwork" ruse. That makes no sense what.so.ever because it's not true. With my previous carrier, every Random I ever had was communicated to me over the phone, so I know that we can, in fact, be informed over the phone of a Random. Plus, even with Load One, last fall I had to get my DOT physical while I was in Laredo, and I found a place down there to get it done. It's a place the police uses for their physicals and randoms and other things. I e-mailed the resulting paperwork into Safety and then I was asked where I got it done. The next day, as if by magic, I got a phone call informing me that I had been randomly selected for a Random, and lo and behold I was to report immediately to the same facility that had just given me the physical. I'll set aside for the moment the "randomness" of that Random, and just say that I didn't have to first drive up to The Yard to be informed of the Random, or pick up paperwork or anything like that.
At the end of our conversation he agreed that I shouldn't have been summoned to The Yard all the way from Warren, but I got the distinct impression that he also didn't think I should have simply been tested in Warren and that they should have waited until I was at The yard or at least closer to The Yard. And that's precisely why I don't hang out at The Yard very often and it's why when I drop off paperwork to Admin it's usually in the middle of the night or on the weekends - because the randomness of always or nearly always being at The Yard when you get called for a Random isn't random at all, regardless of how the names are actually chosen. I've been parked at The Yard during the day during the week five times. Two of those times I've been randomly selected for a Random. What are the chances of that happening? Well, it's 40 percent, exactly.
So, after I said my piece I left the Safety building, along with my all-important and highly critical paperwork, and proceeded immediately to the testing facility to which I was directed. I emptied my pockets, removed my cap, and dutifully peed in a cup up the prescribed line. I then waited while they prepared the paperwork I was to take back to Safety. I went back to The Yard and dropped the envelope into the Black Box.
Time from the "paperwork" phone call to the Black Box: 4 hours, 14 minutes
40 miles to The Yard, 10 miles each way to the Woodhaven testing facility. That's a lot of miles, expense, aggravation, and time (time unavailable for a load), especially when you consider that where I was parked in Warren, I could see out of my windshield, in direct line of sight, a Concentra testing facility less than a block away, and that I was within about 8 miles of the facility where the test specimen actually gets sent. What took more than 4 hours to complete should have taken, well, a lot less.
Someone in Safety, not Dispatch, picks up the phone and says, "You have been selected for a Random Drug Screen. Go to such and such address. You need to proceed immediately to the testing facility. Do not shower, eat or do anything else that doesn't lead to an immediate specimen collection. Call me when you arrive, then call me when you're done so that I can put you back in-service." Easy peasy, no fuss no muss, honest and direct, expedient.
It's certainly preferable to enlisting Dispatch to lie to and play games with drivers, I can tell you that. I don't know that those are the kinds of actions and attitudes we want to promote and endorse as normal and necessary.
I delivered a load at the crack of dawn Thursday morning to the Warren Truck Assembly plant and then went about 3 miles north of there, near the GM Technical Center, to park and go to sleep. Later that day, at 14:12, I get a call from dispatch not about a load, but informing me that I need to report to Mork (not her real name) in Safety to pick up some paperwork she has for me.
Sounds important, otherwise dispatch wouldn't be calling me about it. No time frame was given, so I had to assume it meant that day, ASAP, now. I mean, I have a really good idea what such a ridiculous call from Dispatch really means, because, you know, I'm not stupid, but still somewhere in the back of my mind I keep telling myself this couldn't really be for a Random, because no one would so blatantly telegraph such an action. So, this must be, really and truly, to pick up some important and critical paperwork that I needed to have.
So, I get myself good and awake, get dressed and get moving. I start off on the 40 mile trek down to The Yard, through all the construction and insane stop and go traffic that was mostly stop and not a lot of go. An hour and 50 minutes later I finally arrive at The Yard and go into the Safety building. First thing I did was sign off on the cell phone and seat belt policy, and then picked up the all-important seat belt cover that will protect me from getting run over by a fork lift. I then report to Mork (still not her real name) and state that I was informed by Dispatch that I need to pick up some paperwork.
A few minutes go by, click, click, click, printer spits out a piece of paper, and she tells me in surprise, surprise, surprise Gomer Pyle fashion that I have been selected for a Random Drug Test and that I need to take this piece of paper over to the testing location. I politely but firmly and purposefully inform her not to ever again enlist Dispatch to call me up and lie to me. Now, she's still new, so I don't want to go off on her too badly, so I go off on her supervisor, politely but just as firmly.
Her supervisor tells me that "picking up paperwork" isn't technically a lie, because I do in fact have to pick up paperwork. Two problems with that. One, a lie of omission is still a lie, the primary purpose of me being summoned was not to pick up paperwork, but to present myself to be informed of the Random. Two, no, I don't actually have to pick up that paperwork at all. I don 't even need to see it. The only reason that I would be required to pick up that paperwork is if the Safety Department does not have a FAX machine or if no one in Safety knows how to operate one. If that is the case, I will, at my own expense, provide the department with a FAX machine, and I will donate as many as two days of my time showing everyone in that building how to operate it.
I was told they need to enlist Dispatch to aid them in their ruse because Dispatch knows about timing and location. Well, the only things that matter with timing is whether someone is in or out of service, and to a lesser but practical extent, whether or not someone is dispatched on a load. Nothing else matters. The only thing that matters about location is whether they are within a reasonable distance of a testing facility.
I understand that you don't want to give anyone advanced notice about being selected for a Random, therefor the invention of the ruse, but having dispatch call someone up with some BS about paperwork is, in effect, giving advance notice. Dispatch isn't allowed to tell us why they're really calling, because all they have is The List of people who have been selected, but they (allegedly) aren't told what The List is for, and apparently someone thinks they are far too stupid to be able to figure it out. That, or Dispatch knows precisely what The List is and are instructed to withhold information about it over the phone in order to carry out the cleverly designed ruse. Employers are required, "by law" as was pointed out to me, to keep testing in strict confidence and to limit the number of people having knowledge of the selection list. I suppose everyone in Dispatch having The List could be considered as "limited," but I have to wonder what the relative comparison might be.
I was told we can't be informed over the phone that we have been selected, thus the "paperwork" ruse. That makes no sense what.so.ever because it's not true. With my previous carrier, every Random I ever had was communicated to me over the phone, so I know that we can, in fact, be informed over the phone of a Random. Plus, even with Load One, last fall I had to get my DOT physical while I was in Laredo, and I found a place down there to get it done. It's a place the police uses for their physicals and randoms and other things. I e-mailed the resulting paperwork into Safety and then I was asked where I got it done. The next day, as if by magic, I got a phone call informing me that I had been randomly selected for a Random, and lo and behold I was to report immediately to the same facility that had just given me the physical. I'll set aside for the moment the "randomness" of that Random, and just say that I didn't have to first drive up to The Yard to be informed of the Random, or pick up paperwork or anything like that.
At the end of our conversation he agreed that I shouldn't have been summoned to The Yard all the way from Warren, but I got the distinct impression that he also didn't think I should have simply been tested in Warren and that they should have waited until I was at The yard or at least closer to The Yard. And that's precisely why I don't hang out at The Yard very often and it's why when I drop off paperwork to Admin it's usually in the middle of the night or on the weekends - because the randomness of always or nearly always being at The Yard when you get called for a Random isn't random at all, regardless of how the names are actually chosen. I've been parked at The Yard during the day during the week five times. Two of those times I've been randomly selected for a Random. What are the chances of that happening? Well, it's 40 percent, exactly.
So, after I said my piece I left the Safety building, along with my all-important and highly critical paperwork, and proceeded immediately to the testing facility to which I was directed. I emptied my pockets, removed my cap, and dutifully peed in a cup up the prescribed line. I then waited while they prepared the paperwork I was to take back to Safety. I went back to The Yard and dropped the envelope into the Black Box.
Time from the "paperwork" phone call to the Black Box: 4 hours, 14 minutes
40 miles to The Yard, 10 miles each way to the Woodhaven testing facility. That's a lot of miles, expense, aggravation, and time (time unavailable for a load), especially when you consider that where I was parked in Warren, I could see out of my windshield, in direct line of sight, a Concentra testing facility less than a block away, and that I was within about 8 miles of the facility where the test specimen actually gets sent. What took more than 4 hours to complete should have taken, well, a lot less.
Someone in Safety, not Dispatch, picks up the phone and says, "You have been selected for a Random Drug Screen. Go to such and such address. You need to proceed immediately to the testing facility. Do not shower, eat or do anything else that doesn't lead to an immediate specimen collection. Call me when you arrive, then call me when you're done so that I can put you back in-service." Easy peasy, no fuss no muss, honest and direct, expedient.
It's certainly preferable to enlisting Dispatch to lie to and play games with drivers, I can tell you that. I don't know that those are the kinds of actions and attitudes we want to promote and endorse as normal and necessary.
