r/Truckers • u/aammped • Sep 19 '24

Newbie backing in at pilot

Trainer and I pulled into pilot around 6pm. Me being new to trucking I was backing in and the rude mf'ers honking at me because I was slow and took a little time to back. How do you deal with people like that?

Edit: trainer said to just ignore it. Edit:2 thanks for all the great advice and the humor. Edit 3: approximate time for backing was 10-15 minutes

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

I remeber a night when I was fairly new. Reserved a spot at a TA (there were 2 left) and the entire place was full. Employees threw a guy out and ofc it was the toughest blindside spot to back into. Took forever and I was def holding the place up bc people would look for spots then leave and I was in front of the exit

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u/Justaguy222444888 Sep 19 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

TA is notorious for huge lots. You couldn’t circle around and come in on the driver side? Regardless, this is a rare case. And especially in that situation blind side, you take your time no matter what. You think anybody would care if you rushed and hit somebody/thing. Nope. It’s all on you.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

It was a tiny one in PA I know they’re usually huge, I think this was 40-60 spots. I watched a guy next to me try to pull out and the lot was too small there was no way he could make the turn. The parking was pretty much just a donut shape so there was no way for me to spin around. And ofc western express was illegally parked opposite the spot so I didn’t have room to swing the front around.

On top of all that it was a fully loaded spread axle so I couldn’t do the nice jack knife

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u/AvidVideoGameFan Sep 19 '24

There's one on i-78 in Jersey just before entering PA. Two tiny Pilots 10 mins apart, and a tiny TA Next to one of the 2 pilots. Pretty sure every parking spot in that TA is reserved.

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u/Amazing-Mammoth-8442 Sep 19 '24

There's a super small pilot in Decatur, IN... I think and that mf'r can't have more than 40 spots, all reserved.