I can understand the attachment to sleep pants and I can understand not getting dressed to drive for 600 miles (as long as you don’t feel the need to broadcast pictures of it on Facebook). Hell, I can understand not wearing pants at all, if you never intend to leave the cab of the truck. What you do inside your truck is your business. There’s a reason “I ain’t got no panties on” is still whispered lasciviously on the CB — it’s probably true.
I have an issue when people decide to get out of the truck at a shipper or receiver wearing their “hot tamale” sleep pants and a torn t-shirt to go inside for their paperwork. I have never once seen George leave the cab without pants and a decent shirt on to grab paperwork, I don’t care how tired he was. It takes him about two minutes to slip his jeans on, grab a collared shirt from the closet and put his work shoes on. He even goes as far as to wear a hat and comb his beard before getting out.
He does it because it makes a difference.
“If I get out of the truck looking like a vagrant, chances are, I’ll be treated like one.”
A lot of people complain about truckers being treated like second-class citizens. Unfortunately, we live in a world where appearance is the very first thing you’re judged on. You can be the safest, most conscientious driver on the road, but if you roll out looking like you crawled out of a trashcan, people are going to automatically judge you as a slob who couldn’t care less about your appearance, driving habits, or personal hygiene.
I love my new sleep pants, but I’m going to have to reserve them for sleeping.
