Ford Motor Company uses the tagline "Built Ford Tough" as a slogan for its trucks, but what about the Ford Truck Team members? It turns out that they have a set of tough standards to abide by, too. Team rules not only address productivity, but also encompass diet and cell-phone ringtones and even forbid wheeled luggage carts. Female staffers get no breaks, and sissies need not apply:
Built Ford Tough Truck Team Rules
(Commentary by Truck Trend)
1. Departure for the airport must be within 60 minutes or less of flight time to maximize productivity. (Nothing leaves Detroit Metro on time anyway.)
2. Roller luggage is expressly forbidden, except for golf bags. (Heavy stuff goes in the trucks with wheels.)
3. To promote team conditioning, the Detroit Metro terminal tram is off-limits. (Metro is tired of losing parts to passengers.)
4. For flights departing at 7 a.m. or later, an office appearance is expected. (And truck guys don't teleconference.)
5. Quiche is not acceptable BFT Truck Team food. (Most diners and roadhouses don't have it.)
6. Raw meat is acceptable BFT Truck Team food. Raw fish is not. (Jerky's even better.)
7. No wimpy cell-phone ringtones. (They can't be heard over a diesel and six mud tires.)
8. Red-eye return flights from the West Coast are expected to maximize productivity. Brief stops at home for showering/change of clothes are permitted. There are no travel days on the BFT Truck team. (Every day's a travel day, they just call it testing or R&D.)
9. Beer, not wine, is the Official Drink of the BFT Truck Team. (Light beer for half-tons only.)
10. BFT Truck Team members are expected to be appropriately dressed at alliance activities, e.g., boots, cowboy hat, Wranglers, etc. at PBR events. (Leave the blue-and-white outfits to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.)
11. All BFT Truck Team members must be certified on the Retail Education and Training product exams. (For trucks, at least.)
12. BFT Truck Team members are expressly forbidden from jumping, bouncing, and especially sliding. (Save that for the trucks in video commercials.)
13. No sprinkles on ice cream. (None made on a stone, either.)
14. Earplugs are not permitted at NASCAR races or Monster Jam events. (Nor dust masks at diesel drag start lines.)
15. Strawberry-Melon, Kiwi, or other similar drinks are forbidden. (See rule 9.)
16. BFT Truck Team members are expected to lease a Ford Division vehicle. (Mustang V-6 convertibles are not recommended.)
17. No frou-frou coffee drinks (e.g. venti half-caf, no whip mocha.) True truckers drink their coffee black. (And you hold it as long as the fuel lasts.)
18. No whining! (Turbos excepted.)
19. Whenever an F-Series Super Duty is shown towing a trailer, it must be a big trailer (big truck, big trailer). (Just don't overload it like many of your customers do.)
20. Pink shirts are never acceptable attire on the BFT Truck Team. (Hard to believe this even needs to be discussed.)
21. BFT Truck Team members pride themselves on being in top physical condition, so stairs are always used when going to meetings three floors away or closer. (No wonder these guys put a step on a tailgate.)