The lady in the Corvette

[AFpheonix]

BowserKoopa: Are you referring to standard at-will employment, in which the manager can ditch you for any reason, and they employee can quit for no reason? That's pretty standard for most states, although in the case of racism (or any other -ism), wrongful termination can be applied.

IPF: We have metered on-ramps here as well, although by the time those things are on, the highways are only running at about 40mph anyways. Still sucks if I'm towing the horse trailer because I simply can't get up to speed in time.

And as for the OP: My husband drives a distinctive company vehicle that seems to be a target not only for idiots throwing casseroles and eggs at it at home, or for teenage girls who flash their boobies at it when they see it on the road, but also for people making bogus complaints. This is why he has a dashboard cam in it now, and typically if people complain, he just offers to rewind the recording to the event in question, and usually those people tuck tail and run, since they know they were the asshole driver in the first place.

[BowserKoopa1]

BowserKoopa: Are you referring to standard at-will employment, in which the manager can ditch you for any reason, and they employee can quit for no reason? That's pretty standard for most states, although in the case of racism (or any other -ism), wrongful termination can be applied.

Obviously they won't tell you that there are firing you because of racial issues. What I mean is, they can take one look at you without even really knowing you personally at all, and come up with some excuse to fire you. In the state of Texas, they don't really have to have a reason to fire you. They can simply pull you into the office and tell you they have to let you go.
My point is, a manager who doesn't like a particular person can get away with that. My best friend is a good example. He worked for a grocery store, and a new manager came along and tried to get him fired about every 2 weeks or so. The manager just took one look at him and took an itstant disliking to him. He constantly told him that he didn't like him and was going to get him fired sooner or later.
I told my friend not to put up with it and call Corporate Office. He did this several times and succeeded in keeping his job
As for the a**hole manager, him and another supervisor got fired for having an affair They deserved that!

[HYHYBT]

So *that's* what those things are called... I've only ever seen them the day I spent driving around Los Angeles. I'd run the thing before I knew it was there.... in the carpool lane, if I remember rightly, because for some reason there were two lanes on the ramp and the *right* one was for the faster, carpool traffic and I was keeping right because I was going slower, which is the normal rule. (Atlanta has carpool lanes too, but not on the ramps! Either you use the *completely separate* ramps in the median, or you get over into normal traffic!)

[BusBus]

I had a similar situation to LJT's once. The boyf and I were driving back to his place, which was located in a very quiet residential area. We were driving and came to a 4 way intersection, where we had right of way and the crossing road had stop signs. We were nearly T-boned by a pizza delivery car that blew through that intersection very quickly. Had we been there 0.5 seconds sooner, we would have been hit. This driver was driving way too fast in a residential area and blew through an intersection. Damn right we complained! Instead of going straight, we turned right, got the company and car information, and called. We were both shaking after that.

As for the 4 way intersection story mentioned in the OP, if I had a dollar for everytime that I saw that happen, then I wouldn't have to work. I don't think that was worth a complaint.

[Argabarga]

Gotta love that employer mindset, the customer can't possibly be lying, and the employee can't possibly be telling the whole truth, and then they wonder why they can't hang on to anyone for any lenght of time.

[ditchdj]

[This is why he has a dashboard cam in it now, and typically if people complain, he just offers to rewind the recording to the event in question, and usually those people tuck tail and run, since they know they were the asshole driver in the first place.

Yep, that's EXACTLY why most police cars now have those "dashboard cams" these days. I hear that they have saved countless numbers of officers' jobs.

[myswtghst]

The dashboard cams are great for that kind of stuff. The company I work for makes some of that equipment, so we hear all the great stories about when those come in handy.

And it is hard for the manager and the employee--The manager should generally take the employee's side, but if there has been a complaint in the past, they might be a little suspicious. On the other hand, you're telling the truth, and it sucks that you feel threatened because some woman had a little too much road rage. I feel for you, I've dealt with my share of terrible drivers--I've even had an accident that was entirely the other guy's fault written up as no fault/due to weather, which ended with the other guy fleeing the state and my insurance getting screwed. But that's another story.

On my way to work back in thay day when I had to drive into the city (usually an hour on some awful Chicago-land highways with some awful Chicagoan drivers) I saw one of the craziest accidents I've ever seen. Where two of the major highways merge, the far right lane of one and the far left lane of the other merge. I watched two drivers not even look into their blind spot/the other lane to make sure they were clear (apparently they assumed the other person would check so they didn't have to) and merge right into eachother. Watching both cars smash then spinout was simultaneously scary and satisfying. People need to wake up and stop acting like they're the only ones on the road.

[RailroadMonster]

Don't you hate those people who, after they see that you are about to get to the stop sign before them, speed up like a maniac just so they can be first? I always hope their cars flip over.

[bean]

How about when coworkers complain about your driving?

Last pizza place I delivered at, one of our drivers racked up a handful of complaints a week (3 or 4) the entire time he worked there. I've got a bit of a lead foot myself (usually doing 5-10 mph over except on residential, then I'm doing a little under the limit), but he would blow past me like I was standing still all the time. I actually tried to keep up with him one night when he blew past me late at night on a well lit road - I gave up after my speedometer passed 80 MPH (in a 40) with him still pulling away, and dropped back down to the high 40s. No, I wasn't trying to race him (my car can easily outrun his), I was trying to see how fast he was going.

Boss never fired him. Always talked about it, talked about it a bit more after he got arrested on a delivery for a warrant, but never did. Of course, this same boss called me a "pussy" for refusing to deliver to an apartment complex that one of our drivers was robbed @ gunpoint in.. later found out a driver from Dominos had been robbed a few weeks before, and TWO drivers from Pizza Hut were shot in the same complex about a month earlier. I left for my current job after that.

[Dips]

This thread reminds me of the time my FIL, who used to own a trucking company, had somebody call in to complain about one if his drivers. I posted a longer version on the old boards.

My FIL is a brick wall of patience. Calm, polite and unmoveable when pushed.

FIL asked the caller a few questions and determined that the caller was in the wrong (failing to yield while merging, which is damn stupid when the vehicle with the right of way is an 18-wheeler; trucks don't stop on dimes because you are too impatient for traffic laws). There was no contact at all. The only casualty was that the car driver had to merge behind the truck instead of in front of it. Boo-hoo.

So FIL took it upon himself to tell the caller that he was wrong, how he was wrong and then calmly explained step-by-step how to safely merge next time he finds himself alongside a truck.

Basically, the guy called looking for vindication and got a lecture instead. It would have been beautiful enough if it had ended there, but it didn't.

The guy kept calling back trying to get someone else so he could complain about the driver and my FIL. Apparently he didn't think my FIL had been truthful when he said he was the owner.

Since it was after hours, he kept getting my FIL, who kept patiently explaining why the caller was wrong, that he was the owner and there wasn't anybody above him to complain to.

The guy apparently gave up about 9pm, but then he called the office the next morning and tried persuading the secretary to agree that the truck driver was to blame. She had stuff to do, so she turned him over to my FIL who informed him that he 1. was the same guy he talked to last night, 2. he was the owner, and 3. he wasn't going to change his mind about who was right and who was wrong. And he was still polite about it.

The guy kept arguing and my FIL finally decided to break with the businesslike tone and give him some additional advice along these lines:

"Look. I know you stayed up all night feeling right about this and hoping to get somebody here to agree with you. I don't know what you want from me or what you think I should do, but calling over and over isn't going to make you right. You need to find something else to do. OK?"

The guy gave up after that.

[Auto]

Dips, your FIL sounds like a saint. And like a smart loyal boss, which is even better.