Geri Roskopf’s Blog

I’m hoping most towers have heard of SHRP2 (Strategic Highway Research Program), which is a Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training program offered by the Federal Highway Administration in partnership with American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

I think most people know of the band the Beatles. While I wasn’t quite old enough to be a screaming teenage fan of the British Fab Four, I remember my older sisters loving their music and they couldn’t get enough of any magazine coverage — with pictures of those cute musicians of course — and any TV shows they were on, like their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand.

A friend of mine dropped off a book written by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams titled:You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought. At first I was taken aback about why she would give me this book as I consider myself (most of the time) to be a pretty positive person.

My grandson is into superheroes, which reminded me of a post I wrote a while back.Growing up, I use to watch Mighty Mouse, a superhero mouse character who would say,“Here I come to save the day!”While tow truck operators don’t wear capes or have super powers, I think they should be admired for great and brave acts performed every day they come to work.

The towing and recovery industry is a service industry to the motoring public and unfortunately — while we want to service or help everyone who calls — we just can’t do it. This was so true when many of us were, and are, dealing with severe weather. I turned down many calls. We just couldn’t service or help them in a timely manner. I only have so many employees and equipment.

My uniform route man, or route guy, has the most upbeat attitude and sunny outlook on life of anyone I know. But this morning I could tell the nasty weather we’ve been having has affected even him. He said he’s been putting in so many hours his wife has been complaining and he’s had enough.

Last week was just crazy. First a major snow storm (dumping sleet/ice, snow, then sleet/ice again) followed by record-breaking, below-zero temps. Businesses and schools closed. Even postal delivery service was put on hold because of dangerous weather conditions.

It’s not always easy asking for help. My three-year-old grandson often proved that when I tried to help him get dressed and he would say, “Me do myself.” I guess I’m that way too. When I do something myself, I know it gets done and it’s done the way I wanted it to be done.

In any area of our lives, education is important. While I believe in continually educating the motoring public that the Move Over Slow Down law includes tow trucks…

I think I’m in the slow lane when it comes to figuring out how to get the best benefits from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.