Did you know the Denver/Henderson terminal is only 396 miles from Santa Fe? And Phoenix is 525? Must have been loaded and stacked.

After 2 months of driving with Werner, as a student, you may be qualified to complain about your experience as a student that came out of the Springfield terminal but at least wait until you have some real time somewhere before you act like an authority.

I am leaving Werner eventually to get to better company where I know somone personally. Smaller company, better treatment, more miles.

Ive done this before, some things I will comment on though. as far as when you do more time with a trainer, this has nothing to do with needing more training. It has to do with never knowing when or where you will finish your hours, and it also has to to with the terminals not having trucks to give out. and as far as the PTO, this is almost impossible to do. You never know where you will be when you get to the 165-210 hour window.Also, you only get a 7 day break, If you get those hours, you never know where you will be. Lets say you live in Ohio, yet you get your PTO hours in Arizona. You dont have time to get home and get back to a terminal.

As far as going back to a company I dont like.... this was the only company that would hire me without going out for another full training program. I cant do it again.

Where do you come off?

As far as being through a Werner training, I am an authority. I did it.

I am letting others know about MY experience. This has nothing to do with you. All of these things are true to me. If it helps a new driver get through something rather than get blindsided, then I see that as a good thing.

My options were Fontana or Dallas. The other 2 terminals werent given to me as an option. Testing out must be a pick and choose thing, my "testing out" consisted of the safety mgr flipping through my paperwork and siging me off. There was no roadtest. But as you said, my trainer must have signed off on me before he dropped me off.

Dont tell me about things I know.

Just wondering how things are working out for ya slatherd? Hope all is well at werner......

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It's a dog eat dog world and I must be wearing milkbone underwear

Welp, It's funny you ask!

I actually was adding to this post 3 days ago, but the internet at the hotel went out.

Where was I?

Ah... I was sitting at the Springfield terminal again waiting for my trainer. He called me Tuesday the 4th. He was letting me know he should be there later in the afternoon on Wed; and to be ready to go. I gave him a, "roger that". And said I would be waiting.

I called my SDM (mommy number to cry to at Corp.) about the 70 hrs I would be doing. He said, "no you aren't doing 70, you are doing 70, plus 40". "what? 110 hrs, I ask?" He tells me that I will be paid extra for it. (200 bucks for the 40) I told him I didn't want the extra cash. I wanted to be told the truth and be allowed to get solo after my 70 LIKE I WAS TOLD I WOULD. He then went on to tell me that there was nothing he could do and thats how it was. If I didnt like it, I could go home. Oh well.

Something told me to get some sleep during the day, but it didn't matter it was to late in the day and I kept getting intrupted. So the call finally comes at 9pm on Wed. My trainer says he will be dropping his student off at the hotel and wants me ready. As I am walking to the truck, I see his student comming off. I stopped him and asked, "how'd it go?" his reply told me everything. "Good luck". as he shook his head. One thing to his credit, he did drive on my hours so I would get my full 11 for the day.

GREAT. Here we go again.

I got my stuff up in the cab and sure enough, filthy. Junk piled way up the dash, food wrappers, Stains running down the dash, (looked like someone flung snot at it) empty gatorade bottles everywhere and just enough room in the bunk to create a coffin shaped area to sleep. Atleast it didn't stink.

He let me know his, "rules". All of which were reasonable. So then, I let him know MY "Rules". All I asked was,

1. Don't yell at me, I will respect you; you respect me.
2. Don't treat me like a 3 year old. I am a co-driver. Not a student.

He agreed, so I get out and roll.

We drop off about an hour down the road and he gives me the keys. He asks if I got any sleep, I answerd that I didn't get much. He said, well here is the keys good luck and keep it straight. And then he went to bed. Which was fine, since he has the personality of a wet blanket. It didn't matter if he was there or not. Either way it was silent. I got about 7 hrs down the road till I began to do the head bob. I had to wake him up to let him know. Thats when he broke "rule 2". He shook his head and gave me the thumb to get in the bunk. This was the only time I couldn't drive, but as I told him, I didn't get a lot of sleep.

So after my first 60 hrs, and numerous times b&%#$ing be out and talking down to me, he went on his home time. Thursday evening I started feeling horrible. Shakey, hot, cold, stomach pains, just bad all around. I asked him to get me to a Doctor. He then offered that if I could hold out till he got to his home town, he could get me to a the hospital there easier since it would be in his car. I asked how far we were from his house, "4 hours". I said, "cool, I can make that." Well, 7 hrs later we pulled into the hotel. I drug my stuff off the truck and I told him I would worry about myself. I rented a car just in case I had to go. I've been sitting here ever since. I got better this morning. Sucks too, since I wasn't able to enjoy being in a new place. I roll out Tuesday.

We'll see how things go. Hopefully we can get some miles and I can get this crap knocked out by the end of the week.

well driver, i hope you are feeling bettter. I know how stressful it can be being a rookie driver and being sick. Do you have the same trainer still? My husband was my trainer with Werner, i know i asked him millions of questions even before i decided to get my CDL. I do alot of the "what ifs " with him. Ya know , what do you do in a certain situtaion. That has helped me ALOT. I dont know how you all do it, getting on a truck with a stranger, let alone with someone you have no idea how they drive or what they know. I rode with my husband for 2 yrs before i decided to get my CDL, i have seen many drivers that have been driving for yrs and they still dont know how to do anything but move the truck forward (thts being nice) lol. I do hpe your experience gets better. If you ever see a kw w9 with a flag on the back of the cab, say hi to white dove and snoopy. we do 48 states, get to most of em too. hang in there. learn all you can but remember we all learn something new everyday.
whitedove

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Lovin Life on the road with my babe.

You guys are better than me. I left Werner last week due to disrespect.

It's one thing to get disrespected by your trainer, he/she has to put up with a lot with virtually NO breaks between students. It another to get it from your SDM.

They tell you in orientation if there's a problem just call your SDM they are their to help you. I did and got yelled at by my sdm. I guess she was having a bad week. After trying to be civil and putting up with her annoying high pitched voice, I told her (my SDM) and my trainer to shove it.
All I got out of Werner in a 1 month was 79.25 hours of driving (that's whole different story there) and that's it.

Needless to say I feel soooo much better now.

Sorry to hear you were sick. Seems like things are moving along well for ya. Hopefully you will have your own truck next week and can put this all behind you for good. Well Best of luck to ya!

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It's a dog eat dog world and I must be wearing milkbone underwear

Update:

It's just now I was able to update this thread. It's been awhile.

I got on the truck again from the Hotel and have been running pretty good ever since. My trainer has gotten a lot cooler. I thought he was gonna be a real PITA over the time, I guess we just needed to get to know one another. So thats a plus.

Here is the negative

I was told I only had to do 70 hrs with a trainer. then when they get me on the truck, they add another 40 to that. I saw this comming and while it did bother me, I let it go. I mean, whats my option? If I dont like it, I go home right? so. Needless to say I am still here. I was driving last week and my phone rings, I pick it up and its my recruiter telling me that because one of my past employers didn't verify that I worked there, they are resetting my goal hours to 140. GREAT! Really it's only 30 hrs more than I was gonna do when they added to my original 70, its jst irritating that they keep telling me one thing and doing another.

Cant wait to move on.

So, I am down to 23 hrs left with my trainer. Hopefully I will be off this truck and able to get solo and back home. I am hopin to be back by the 2nd week of April. but I am not counting on it.

Talk to you on the next update.