Tips From a Trucker on Keeping Your Cool During a Crisis

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Want to know how to stay serene through endless shifts in a confined space during a pandemic? Talk to Anthony Visuano, 63, a trucker for OpenRoad Transportation. He hauls construction materials on one- to seven-week routes for 14 hours a day. Winter brings snow and ice; summer, tornadoes and hurricanes. Visuano prefers the Interstate Highway 5 corridor, from Washington to California, because he lives in Oregon. “I can stop by the house every now and then and see how things are going,” he says.

The lockdowns hit while Visuano was en route to Virginia in a 70-foot truck: “At first I didn’t have a face mask, because in an 18-wheeler there’s not a whole lot of pharmacies where I can just park and run inside, you know what I mean? I ended up getting a mask from a supplier who required them, so I could go into places.” He slept in his truck, parked at rest stops, and for a while was ordering his dinners from truck-stop delis while restaurants were closed. Arianne Cohen caught up with him while he was hauling insulation panels across Idaho. Here are edited excerpts from their conversation.

1. Go forward

When Visuano gets cut off by other drivers, “I mumble under my breath about how crazy they are and sometimes use a four-letter word, but I just keep driving.” This has become an urgent coping skill. “People are more crazy than they were before they went into Covid hibernation. There’s more risk takers these days. I’m like, ‘Wow, you guys are crazy.’ ”

2. Communicate

It’ll relieve your anxiety. “Traffic can delay everything from my delivery time to my next pickup time, and I don’t get paid until the job is done.” He calls dispatchers or managers at the first sign of trouble. “Sometimes we get things worked out where I make a later delivery, and that takes a lot of stress off.”

3. Split your shift

Visuano gets 10 hours of rest a day, but he doesn’t always take it all at once. “Sometimes I do eight and two, where I rest for eight hours, and then later down the road I stop and rest for two more. That’s advantageous, especially if I’m running late—that extra two hours can get me there on time, and then when I’m done I’ll take the other two hours and finish up my 10.”

4. Ditch the drama

Don’t scroll mindlessly through social media. Visuano, who recently “quit logging on,” also avoids trucker gossip on CB radio. He doesn’t even have one in his truck. “There’s too much drama on it. I can’t handle it.”

5. Slow and steady wins the race

Give everyone space to do their thing. Trucks have excellent grip on the road, yet Visuano still drives 30 mph to 35 mph on ice. “There’s no issues, no problem. Nobody’s running into me, and I’m not running into them. Everybody’s happy.” No matter how careful you are, remember that not everyone is great at self-preservation. “I just stay way back and go real, real slow, so when something does happen I’m able to react responsibly.”
 
For more advice on avoiding burnout, go to bloomberg.com/work-from-home-tips

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.