‘I always enjoy the surroundings, you feel free’

Doriene: “I have been truck driver for thirty years. In between, I have worked in the Kruidvat warehouse for a while, but it remained tickling. I think it is much nicer to sit on the road – although it is heavy. I started on open trailers. Then I transported steel and concrete. I had to sail from 8 by 16 meters. If it freezes, it will be a heavy package to carry with.

« I always enjoy the surroundings very much. I think nature is beautiful, especially mountains and snow. You feel free, as a truck driver. Fairly free, because you have a big responsibility. The smallest mistake you make on the road can have major consequences.

« It is difficult to work in the transport sector. You are never considered full. If I take my youngest son a head bigger than me, they think he is the truck driver. The classic truck driver is a muscular man, a little big. But also a man without a condition or with a thick beer belly is taken more seriously than a woman.

Five men at the same time

« When I just started, I was in the late twenty and I had very big breasts – I had them reduced because I got too much bothered by my back. When I went to eat somewhere in a roadside restaurant I saw them watching. Then I went to sleep in the truck in the parking lot. Then sometimes five men came to rattle at my truck at the same time. They thought I could never have a good time with me.

« There are actually two types of reactions from male drivers. You have the men who like it and cool that as a woman I do the same work as they do. And there are the men who say, » What the fuck do you have to go on a truck?  » I am not quick, and that is what they are not in mind.

“I can drive everything that an engine and wheels has. I used to have a motorcycle. Now I have a Renault Twingo and an American bya bus, from 1983: one like them in The A-Team had. That is all I have left from my marriage.  »

Separate

« I was divorced in 1998 from the father of my three oldest children. He was allowed to have everything from me, also the surplus value of our house that we had bought together. I didn’t want anything, only gone. Then I started paying night shifts to be able to pay for the bills, and to be able to be there for the children during the day: two sons and a daughter. I often had two hours of bastn. After a year of the family I got the family of everything. With the children.

« Since eleven years I have been working for FedEx, where I only have to ride. Loading and unloading do others. I live in a rental house in Kesteren near Tiel, with my youngest and oldest son: Mike, 34, pilot, and Mitch, 19. He wants to become a jet hunter pilot. The Middelste Wonen On Self: Jamie, and Peter, 30, that with Betonvloeren.” ””

Son Mitch joins in between: « I am very proud of my mother. She has experienced everything. And continued to fight for us. Now she is the first female driver at Fedex who drives on a truck of more than twenty tons. »

Doriene: « Tonight I made spaghetti with meatballs. It’s fun here. We do everything together. Going out, karting, to the movie, at the zoo, bowling, looking series.

« I am currently driving on Denmark. I go up and down three times one week, the other week twice. We then leave for Denmark at 8.15 pm. I drive a colleague. We have to alternate each other every 4.5 hours. We arrive at 5.00 am. Then we have to disconnect and park. My male colleague then sleep in the cabin of Fedex, I first go to the caby then I go in the caby in the Fedex cab, then I go in the cabine, then I go to sleep in the cabine, then I will sleep in the cabine in the cabine, then I will sleep in the cabine first the cabine. Instagrams, Netflixen or playing on my phone, I will go for a walk between 1.30 pm and 2 pm.

« When I get home, I throw another laundry in and around 8.30 am or later I go to bed. I get up because I like lunch with Mitch – otherwise I don’t see him. Furthermore, there is also a lot to do at home. The outer fries: Winging windows, doing groceries, vacuuming, mopping, eating food.

« My motto is: not give up and always make the best of it. I also taught my children and my daughter Jamie finally studied veterinary medicine at the university despite her dyslexia. You can also let your head hang, but you only have yourself with that. The rest of the world will continue as usual. »

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