My dh had driven local for 12 years and just took his first OTR job last week. He went to the 3 day orientation and got his first load assignment yesterday. He got to the pick-up location on time and then had to sit there over 4 hrs past the p/u window of time to get loaded because the company wasn't ready to load him. He took the load and headed to drop-off, was behind before he even got started. He should have dropped first load off today, picked up second load and have delivered it today...instead he just called me and said he is thinking of quitting tomorrow because he hasn't even dropped the first load. He can't figure out how to operate the onboard computer...got no training on that during orientation...and he keeps having to call his dispatch for stupid things like how to fuel up (he ended up needing a number they failed to give him during orientation). The dispatchers apparently are being hateful and rude to him because he doesn't know how to do these things and yelling at him because his loads are behind. He is now parked at the location of his first drop...got there 30 minutes too late to drop so he has to wait till 6 am which puts him even further behind...and when he asked where he could get something to eat he was told there was a burger place about four blocks away. He said to the warehouse guy, "good, I can walk that and stretch my legs" and the guy replied, "You don't want to do that, it will be after dark by the time you are heading back and you don't want to walk in this area after dark". He knows the dispatcher is going to be mad when he calls after dropping this load to tell them it just got done and to get the exact address for the next p/u...does anyone have any advice about operating the computer system or is this all normal for the first OTR trip?

What company is he with?

jb hunt.....

Well I would say quitting is not the answer to his problems. Sometimes you have to sit and wait at shippers and receivers and there is nothing you can do about it, except make sure you get paid detention if the company has a policy that will pay that. If the shipper was late loading him and he did not have enough time to deliver it thats just something that dispatch will have to live with, he should just do the best he can and be cool with it. If he has been in the biz for 12 years he should know that sometimes things just dont go your way at shippers and receivers.
The only onboard computers that I am familiar with is Qualcom and Xata (sp). If its a Qualcom just start playing around with it and figure it out, as long as he dont press send nothing should go through. Anyway, quitting so soon after starting is not such a good idea as far as future employment. I think he should stick it out and see how things pan out

Thanks...I agree that quitting is not the solution but I feel helpless being unable to advise or help him. Tonight he said "I just never expected to feel so out of place"

TO THE MODERATORS:

This post is posted four different times on a couple different forums. Could you please merge all answers into one thread.

Thanks.

Not everyone should be expected to know QCom nor how each company sets theirs up.

If there's a list of commands for the various canned messages, have the company fax them to him so he can learn it while he waits.

I know that first run can be most stressful & very frustrating when things don't go right.

I wouldn't quit, it gets easier.
If his day was screwed by a late load then that's the way it is.
He just needs to relax, have a good meal & a good nights sleep.
Stop working himself up over it.
Do the best he can the next day.

Make sure he keeps an accurate log of what's going on in case he needs to "splain" something.