Rantings of an Oil Field Widow

Today ends the work week for me and Scott. We are very blessed to have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off together. The kink in the gear is that Scott works long days. DOT requires that he have 10 hours off before starting work the next day. When his supervisor (Bret-who I hate and think is one of the dumbest and inconsiderate humans) called Monday morning to have Scott wait in Vernal until 7 am so he could pick up a truck driver who was taking a semi truck to a mechanic shop and bring him with Scott back to Duchesne. Well Scott did. But then he gets his list of work for the day. Bret told him he had 6 wells to pull the water from. Scott can do that in just a few hours, and was sad because he wanted more hours. Little did we know that the pumpers (men who check in oil pumps and call in pick ups for water or crude oil) all decided they were SICK of Brett and they decided to quit telling Bret what needed to be done and just tell Scott. Plus on Scott's days off the pumpers are going to call another company to come do the work because DRC and Bret cant do the job they want done. Sooo before noon Scott had 13 wells and a late start. He didnt get done with work until 9 pm. Which meant he couldnt start until 7 am the next morning--an hour later than norm. Then Tues the same thing happened; 3 wells turned to 12 plus the mechanic on duty was late to work and so Scott got an even later start because he needed a 20 min job (a clutch adjustment) done before going out. But now Scott knows how to adjust his clutch. Tuesday Scott got home at 10:30 pm. He couldnt start until 8:30--He had 11 wells today. Life is good. Then while traveling from 2nd to 3rd he comes up to a crude truck sitting in the road. He finds out that up ahead is another truck that got stuck in the mud. Scott and the crude hauler had to sit for 3 hours. Crude trucks have a very specific delivery time to the refinery in SLC if they miss it they loose their load and their pay. So many people were irritated at the mud and rain and dumb driver. It is 10 pm and Scott is not due home until 1 am.

It is hard for me to sit here and enjoy my night when I know that Scott is late because of dumb things. If Bret was a better supervisor who had a brain and could carpool people better and if Bret wasnt a dumb dude who pumpers (DRC's customers) could trust to get work done Scott wouldnt have such long days.

As you know we purchased a semi truck in Oct. Scott has been unable to find a company to hire/lease on with as an owner/operator. As owner Scott is responsible for fuel, repairs etc. The company he leases on with covers insurance and travel permits (permits to travel on Ute land). In return Scott gets 80% of the tickets billed to haul water-averaging $100/hour. Well DRC told Scott they would not hire him on. Scott has been looking for other work and is currently waiting to hear if he can get a hazmat endorsement. In the meantime DRC drivers keep breaking trucks, the mechanics quite, only 3 working trucks out of 20. I laughed sooo hard when Scott gets to work and there is not a working truck for him. Wow!!! Bret has a philosophy of--water does not haul itself. This attitude prevents mechanics from fixing small problems on the trucks until they are 100% unmovable. The mechanic would say I need truck #17 left in the yard today so I can change oil, fix tire, tune up brakes etc and Bret would send it out and then when the next shift started he would take the driver out to the truck just so the truck did not get back in to the yard and have any down time. DRC has a semi truck that the license expired in Sept 2014.  They are running it. Bret says water doesnt haul itself and we dont have extra trucks so we can take a few hours to get the truck inspected. WOW I mean wow. The drivers who are driving it are risking their CDL. They know better and yet they drive unsafe trucks (with flat tires, broken springs etc). Ugh Bret is honestly sooo stupid.

So back to the day when there were only 3 working trucks. Bret asked Scott to drive his truck for 1 day only. Scott offered to do a deal where he would lease on for 28 days and Bret said no. Then 2 hours later Ivan (the boss above Bret) called and offered to purchase the truck from Scott. Scott said yes for $xx They agreed but DRC does not have that money and Ivan has to take it out of his IRA. To avoid taxes on early withdrawl Ivan is starting an LLC. Somehow that allows him to withdraw his money with less penalty--not sure the details but whatever! So Joan, Ivan's daughter and DRC secretary in charge of payroll is setting up the LLC herself. While we wait for the LLC and the IRA money Ivan asked Scott to lease on at 85%. So yay!!! Scott worked 3 days in his truck and Bret told him that they didnt need his truck anymore and to not drive it on Sunday. Scott leaves the truck in Vernal and drives to Duchesne to get a truck and go to work like he was told but the almighty Bret. He gets there and the night drivers had burned the brakes on a truck. On semi trucks the brakes are air brakes. They are 'set' by pulling a knob and released by pushing the knob. Well this new employee and new CDL driver forgot to release his brakes and went down the highway at 65 mph. He literally was on fire. People were flagging him down and then he didnt have a fire extinguisher (required by CDL law) so someone else stopped and put the fires out. I dont even want to go into how dumb are you to not smell brakes for so many miles you start on fire. . . .Regardless of how dumb that driver is or how dumb Bret is to put such a greenie out alone, Scott was sent back to Vernal to get his truck and back to Duchesne to get a trailer and go to work. UGH the jealousy and power hungry Bret make me nuts! I hope his wife beats him at home.

The good thing is Scott is on his third week of using his truck and earning about $85/hr. Even though Scott is working late I am secretly happy because it means big bucks. And it ticks Bret off that Scott had the brains to get his own truck and earn good money.

I know this post is long but have I told you about Joan? DRC offered a cheaper insurance option with HSA (health savings account) if you picked that option they would put $100/month into the account for you due to the cheaper premiums. We opted to have extra money taken out of our payroll check and put into the HSA. Without fail Joan was 2-3 months late putting our money into our account. It was frustrating and I felt dishonest but it didnt hurt me. In January 2015 2 men at DRC got notices from the courts of Utah that they were behind on child support and would be facing charges if not paid in full. Well these 2 men have had their wages garnished the entire time they have been working for DRC. Joan took their money out of their paycheck and then did not pay the state. Joan withheld money--food--from babies mouths! I honestly dont know if Joan is that dumb or if she is embezzling and is so deep into it that she didnt pay the child support like she didnt pay our HSA. How could she think that was ok? As a result of her ineptitude I have little hope the LLC will be set up soon and the IRA money transferred over and the SAMAS truck purchased (for a profit I might add). Scott will probably be leasing his truck for a while.

DRC is defunct and possibly bankrupt. I really hope that DRC honors their side of this bargain. Wish us luck!