I ran into one of my personal work-related nightmares today: being forced to back my truck out into a busy street.
I had been sent to a customer to pick up a load. It's a customer I've never been to - always a fun prospect since you can never really be sure what their procedures are, or where the truck entrance to the property is, or sometimes even which side of the street to pay attention to. I found the place easily enough - a recycling center - and pulled onto the property.
Almost immediately, the employees there informed me that I had made an error. Due to the way their property is designed, a truck like mine cannot simply pull into the driveway and make their way to the loading area. Oh no. Trucks must instead park on the street, check in, and then back into their lot all the way to the loading area. Screwing this up was bad enough, but their lot was so compact that it was impossible to turn around once I had entered. I would have to back out, re-adjust myself on the street outside, and then enter the lot properly (aka backwards).
The street fronting the customer was one of the nasty sort of low-grade commercial areas: moderate traffic in both directions but not a lot of room for maneuvering. To make matters worse, the gate onto the property was narrow, the fence blocked 90% of my rear-facing view, and in order to get out I would end up blocking more than half the street. A couple of the employees went out to try and control traffic, but my severely impacted view meant that I couldn't see them much of the time and therefore could not read their directions. It didn't help when some vehicles ignored them and tried to get around me anyway.
Eventually I managed to get out, at which point I quickly parked on the shoulder, let the stopped traffic go, and then took my first opportunity to properly back in. I only had to block half of the road this time.
It turned out okay, but those were some of the most nerve-wracking minutes of my career so far.