03/02/2023
You call us tow truck drivers. You call us in your time of need. You call us because you have nowhere else to turn. Whether your car won’t start or you locked your keys inside or you break down you call us in a panic. At that moment we are your concern, the only person you want to be there for you. We come fix you up and then just that quick we are but a distant memory. Let me take a minute of your time to tell you what we are.
We are not tow truck drivers, we are Towing Operators. We go through extensive training for the services that we perform. You think that our day consists of going from car to car to car towing breakdowns, jumping batteries, and unlocking doors. Yes that is PART of it, but there is much more than that.
Being a Towing Operator is a lifestyle, not a job. That means there is no 9-5, no making plans for a dinner date or a last minute movie. We come to work and we go home at the end of our shift SOMETIMES. Other times we stay for double or triple shifts. We get called in all hours of the night whether just getting home from a shift or at 1am for accidents or massive recovery operations that take 10-15 hours or more to complete at times. We see things that most people would never ever want to see. We go through emotional and stressful situations constantly. We don’t get 3 meals a day. Sometimes we are lucky if we eat once a day. We work in the harshest of conditions from sweltering heat to bitter cold, In the sun, mud, slush, snow and pouring rain. We risk our lives on the sides of highways with traffic blowing by us at 70-80 miles per hour everyday. And we know that each time we step out of our truck it’s a gamble. One towing operator is killed every 6 days in this profession. That’s an average of one operator per week! If you see flashing lights on the side of the road slow down, move over if you can and give us room. Did you know there is a monument is Tennessee called the wall of the fallen strictly dedicated to towing operators? Yes you may see different company names on the sides of trucks but we are a brotherhood, a family. We help each other. When we see another operator on the side of the road we pull over behind them to offer protection for them to give them a better chance of going home to their loved ones that day. Weather we personally know them or not we do it.
So the next time you call for a tow truck or a service truck remember these things. Say thank you, be polite and know that we WILL get you taken care of and back home to your loved ones.
We do this because we have a passion to help people. We are towing operators.
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Be safe out there.
By Eric Wright
