I started with Roehl on 05/23. I am a newb fresh out of school so I was eager, excited and a little nervous about starting my career. I have to say that the orientation experience was excellent. They put us up in a pretty nice hotel in Gary, IN and provided two meals a day. The instructors were excellent, patient and tolerant of what must have seemed like stupid questions from us. We took a "safety evaluation test in Gary and we all did well with the exception of one fella that could not cut it I guess.
Then the training process started. It started off on a bad foot because I was supposed to get a trainer that smoked and it turned out he did'nt. He was trying to quit so I was respectful with him and tried to smoke away from him when we stopped, but it was incredibly stressful and I was nervous enough as it was. He picked me up on Saturday and he was halling a hazmat load. I do not have my endorsment so I could not drive until he dropped his load in West Jefferson, Ohio. From the very beginning he kept telling me that he really "moves his truck" and he "runs his truck hard." I just said ok, and was hoping that during this time with him he would concentrate on training me. Anyway, when we got to W. Jefferson picked drop and hooked and I started driving. From the very start of driving with him he kept yelling at me to "hurry up" and "move the truck." Again, at this point I was still triying to be respectful to him. Anyways, Tuesday morning we picked up a load in Philly, PA I started driving from there and drove from 11 - 7 with a few stops along the way. I went through Philly, Baltimore and DC on I-95 and when we got to DC we went through rush hour traffic. I am not gonna lie, I was nervous as hell driving that vehicle through Baltimore and DC. We were in rush hour traffic for about three of four hours and I only had to stop once in traffic, I kept my distance and always kept the truck moving, during this time he was in the passenger seat asleep, he would wake up every once in awhile to yell and holler at me about something and I remember wishing that the he would go back to sleep. Anyway, we got out of DC and started heading on US-29 toward Big Island, VA. I was tired so I told him that I could not drive anymore. He bitched and moaned about it but finally when I stopped at a traffic light he had me get out of the driver seat and change places. At this point my patience had worn thin and I was pissed as hell. He drove for awhile and the he said, "Man, I advise you to get your ### in the sleeper berth." I told him I could not sleep while the truck was moving and it would be pointless to try. He then yelled, "then how the #### are you gonna do this job man?!" I then screamed back, "well when I get my own truck it is not going to be moving while I am in the berth, is it?" We then got into a pretty nasty argument and he told me that I would not be able to do the job. I told him that there was not a man on this planet that can tell me what I can or can't do. He drove for quite awhile and finally I fell asleep in the driver's seat. The next morning (wednesday) was the last day I was with this trainer. We started out in Big Island, VA with me driving. I thought I was doing well maintaining speed and trying to be safe. We came to a toll booth in West Virginia south of Charleston. I think we were on I-77. I was driving through the toll booth in 4th gear about 5 miles per hour. I understand that might be kinda slow for some of you experience drivers but I am new at this and I had to make sure my trailer was not going to hit anything. He starts screaming at me to hurry up and go. And then he screamed, "man, I am sick of this ####, you are driving like a #####!" I got through the toll, pulled off on the side of the road told him to go #### himself and got out of his truck, he tried to tell me to ride with him to Dayton, OH but I could not stand being near him one more minute, one of us would have ended up dead. I started walking finally I was picked by a Crete drive who had more than thirty years under him. I learned more from him in three hours then I learned from my trainer in five days. Another thing about my trainer, he would not train. Whenever, I asked a question he was dismissive. He hated repeating himself so eventually I just quit asking. I called my fleet manager and reported this guy, they are sending me another trainer who will be here tomorrow, I spoke to him and he sounds like a really cool guy.

Overall it was an awful experience and what I learned from it was don't stick with an ####### that can not teach. Hopefully the rest of my training will be good and I will do well on the test.
Some of you might think that this story is unbelievable, but I swear to be the truth on my life!

Good for you for not putting up with that situation. Training is suppose to be just that training and if that guy was not willing to answer your questions he shouldn't be a trainer. Hopefully the next trainer you get will understand that and you will finish out the time on a happier note. Overall Roehl is a good company to work for but it's a fact that there will always be something that may pop up. Glad it was resolved for you.
You did report him I hope. They keep records on trainers and if he gets enough bad reports they WILL remove him as trainer.

Well....I start on Monday, so hopefully I won't run into the same guy. I don't know that I would have handled it like that, but I wasn't in your place.
Some people just can't teach, plain and simple. Just because your a good driver, doesn't qualify someone to be a trainer. Hopefully Roehl will reassign this guy.
Maybe quitting smoking had something to do with his attitude as well. I know when I have tried to quit, I get really testy to say the least.
Hope this doesn't deter you from your career.
Good luck.

__________________
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood;."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Paris Sorbonne,1910)

I'm waiting to start school with Roehl. Hopefully I won't get the female version of your trainer. But if I do, she will be replaced fast. My husband is a trainer (not the one you described. He smokes and has no plans on quitting) and I know Roehl doesn't put up with trainers like that.

I started at Arrow - and my trainer was a meth head. First day or three, he was the most obnoxious specimen I'd ever met, then we would get a load allowing us to get by his house, and for a day or so after he would be as sweet as could be. Then totally obnoxious (never eating) and then he would sleep for a couple of days.

This cycle repeated itself a couple of times and I 'caught on,' so to speak. During one of his bad periods we got into an absolute, nose to nose screaming match, and I confronted him, telling him I knew he was using. He asked me if I was going to turn him in, and I told him that I didn't want to (I actually liked the guy, felt sorry for him, but a user is hard to deal with) just leave me alone and let me learn to drive. I didn't really want to start over.

Bottom line - we got through it, but I've heard many other horror stories about trainers. It makes me wonder why these big outfits can't do more to assure their trainers are qualified. There is a lot riding on it.

Kap, do keep us informed as what happens with the old trainer.
I am glad that you told him to kiss your ###.

Keep us informed with your progress with your new trainer through you evolutions.

Again good luck,,,

Alan

I just about had the same thing going on with my trainer. I thought as a student that we would be trained by our trainers and sometimes this is not the case.

Kap- I have been at Roehl for 9 years, a trainer for over 4 years. I have never heard anything like this. I have heard of trainers dropping off students because of bad attitudes, but I have never heard of a student actually getting out of a truck on a interstate. Make sure you report him to the head of training, Roger, not just your dispatcher. If everything you wrote is true, this guy has no business training. In four years I have had one time where I had a shouting match with a guy. In your first five days the truck is supposed to be run like there is only one guy in the truck. The trainer is supposed to be on duty on his log while you are driving and vise versa. After five days a trainer can stagger the ten hour breaks but still not run like a team. I doubt this guy will be a trainer much longer. He is either burnt out or new to training and did not realize what he was getting into. Some guys get into training for the money, but there is no amount of money that makes it worthwhile unless you actually like training people.

Sorry about your experience, I'm sure your next trainer will be better.

Hey kap

If it was me even thought he was yelling at me I would of got off at a truckstop instead of the interstate. You were lucky that a Crete driver picked you up. Hopefully I will not get a trainer like this when I start next month with May Trucking.

Hey weggie

You need to report your trainer to the saftey dept period. I know you do not want to be a narc but he has no busniess driving a truck if he has or is using dope that is a violation of company policy and the FMCSR.
Your trainer needs to have a pee test preferably right after he stops by the house or they may need to do a hair folicle test.

He is a danger to himself and more inportantly others on the road.
Would you like your family driving in front of him just after he used? I would not want anyone in front of him.

No doubt that all you say is true...but...

(1) I was new, not only to Arrow, but to the industry. Shoot, for all I knew, his behavior was normal. In my newbie view, I would have been taking a major risk to start hollering about what was going on.

(2) As I stated earlier, he wasn't a horrible person, he just had problems. I was torn between doing the 'right thing,' and doing the 'right thing.' If you know what I mean.

(3) Within a couple of months (during casual conversations) I told the recruiting coordinator and safety director what had happened. While I didn't use the trainers name - they knew who I was, and since I only had one trainer, had they been at all interested they could have followed up. They didn't.

(4) During our (trainer and me) heated argument I asked how he had avoided detection. He told me that in four years at Arrow he had never had a random, and that the stuff he used passed through the system rather quickly. So even had I ratted him out, he likely would have passed the pee test.

(5) Strangely and luckily enough, it worked out pretty well. He (trainer) apparently had sense enough to know he shouldn't be driving (probably why he became a trainer) so I got lots of practice.

Again, I know I should have raised hell, but...