Some people think they know better than professionals.

This loader operator has tons of experience driving this machinery, so he knows when a load is too heavy for a truck. When he tried to warn a truck driver about it, the driver refused to listen.

Read the full story below to find out what happened.

A heavy compliance.

Almost two decades ago, I took a few years away from my certified profession of electric stuff to operate heavy machinery at an industrial site. Wheel loaders and excavators, to be precise.

Fun stuff. You get paid good money to play around with big yellow toys.

One of the tasks was loading building rubble onto trucks: concrete bits, dirt, bricks. Heavy and dense stuff. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I think we put around 14 tons net weight on the truck and 20 on the trailer, the trailer being lighter.

I handled many trucks per shift, and all drivers were nice folks, with one exception. Hence, this story.

This loader operator was shut down when he tried to warn the truck driver about the weight.

The loader I was driving was a Volvo L110, with a lifting capacity 11 tons, including the bucket, which was around 2 tons. So that left 9 tons for the materials if fully loaded.

The usual load was two not-quite-full scoops on the truck and three on the trailer, or thereabouts.

Enter our antagonist, the truck driver. He drove up along the ramp and walked up to me. I opened the cabin door to ask how much to load.

Him: “Four on the truck, and five on the trailer!!”

Me: “Umm, isn’t that a bit much? We usually do two and three?”

He snaps back: “I SAID FOUR ON THE TRUCK AND FIVE ON THE TRAILER!!!”

Closing the door again, I thought, Who am I to tell you what’s good for you and your truck? You clearly know best. Demand, and you shall receive.

He complied with the driver’s demands.

So I drove around the site to the rubble pile, and instead of gently filling the bucket as usual, I drove it into the pile as far as I could while tipping it up to really fill it. Then I tipped it back and shook it to pack the stuff, and proceeded to repeat this a second time.

The rated lifting capacity was 11 tons. What the loader would actually lift was a different matter. I had at least 11 tons of material alone; the machine barely had any weight on the rear wheels.

After gingerly driving back to keep the rear wheels on the ground and tipping it into the truck, I repeated the process at least twice more. I can’t remember how many shovels I got into the truck and trailer before the driver came back, red in the face and practically screaming.

The details of that conversation have been lost to time. I do know he had to drive around the site and dump all of it off before I loaded him up again… with less material this time.

Consider this a lesson on Listening 101.

Other people in the comments are piping up.

This one shares a personal experience.

This user is curious.

A sensible observation.

And here’s a hilarious remark.

Truck driver demanded it, loader operator made him regret it.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.