Swift Transportation - What The Recruiter Didn't Tell You

Great read. I'm still trying to get ahold of my recruiter. Left several voicemails, and still nothing. I want to get this ball rolling already

 

who is your recruiter?

 

Carelton? At least thats what I was told week and a half ago.. Btw I live in northern nevada, so not sure if I would go to salt lake or Phoenix for my training.

 

My name is ******. I have been asked to write this statement concerning my mentor and why our work has been unsatisfactory. I am also requesting a new mentor. I recently graduated from a technical college with a CDL and enthusiasm to begin driving 18-wheelers and making money in a real career. I have heard many great things about SWIFT Transportation and its opportunities for recent graduates. I decided to submit my application for employment and received a phone call the next day. I was eager to participate. I have been working different jobs locally in the service industry mainly restaurants and don't make or have much money. I owe my technical college a student loan and like most Americans personal loans and credit cards.
Orientation went great and I learned plenty concerning safety and procedures. I was told I will be training for 240 to about 300 hours with a mentor on the road. I was even more exited because I was going to get better training on the job from a big company.
I was assigned a mentor and I called him and he was eager to meet me as well. We discussed basic safety rules about the sleeper birth while the truck is moving and three points of contact when getting into and out of the truck. , among other things related to the training and home schedule. He mentioned how he was in the service, very popular and very glad to be a "good" mentor because the one he had when hired was a complete 'jerk' according to him.
It all started in Arizona at the "Wild Horse Casino" I was told we have to take a mandatory brake because of logs and DOT regulations I was all for it. I'll stop and use the restroom walk around and then hit the road again. We stayed there over one hour. No big deal, at least I got to visit and know of a new place. We got back on the road and did one backing practice at a truck stop nearby. We then headed to Las Vegas Nevada and we spent the night in the truck well at least I did. I knew that is what the sleeper berths were there for. Had an interesting day overall I learned about weigh scales and the basic rules of the intermodal. He didn't come back from his going to the casino story until late the next morning. No big deal I was ready to get rolling. He started hustling me to get ready even though I was all ready since early morning. I tough he is a gets things done quick kind of guy. "When I say go; we get driving," perfect lets get rolling, I know the basics. I noticed he had track marks in his arms just like the ones heroin users have when they consume drugs obviously. I decided to not mention and give him the benefit of the doubt. He probably was out and about all night got bitten by mosquitoes.
Along the way to Washington he started acting very anxious and moving all over the place. Not wearing his seat belt going back and forth in the truck. I figured he knows when it is safe to remover your set belt to do something real quick or get some snack from the sleeper berth. After all he has been doing this for some years. We stopped somewhere else and spent the night like normal and started rolling the next day. Again we stopped at a casino and he gambled some more while I walked around the shopping malls. Another big hour brake. Once at our destination we spent the night near the place of our drop off and all was well. We went to yet another casino and spent almost 10 hours there with no work. I was told this would happen to truck drivers once in a while, but we actually had a load he just rejected it because it didn't have "enough miles." At this point I am grateful I have a mentor ship and am on my way to a new career. He called our driver leader very angry demanding a load with lots of miles immediately. We got one thankfully but his aggressiveness rushed him to get it before the pick up time. The load was rejected yet again because he couldn't wait two hour, literally.
No big deal I am new to the job this is probably how it happens. Luckily I brought with me a book and e-books on my cell phone for when this happened. I do not hang out at casinos because I don't believe in gambling, I am not one to judge someones else's free time. I spent time by myself in the truck reading and chatting on the phone. I told him I didn't mind being at the casino well actually hanging out outside the place just went in to use the restroom like three times through the day. I don't mind visiting I'll just not be a part of it. I went to sleep after I found out we weren't going anywhere for the night. He calls me and tells me he met a girl and was going to get 'busy' with her in the truck and bail out and come back in a few hours. No big deal. i have heard stories like this before. I am not one to judge. I received a text message from him a few hours later saying to come back to sleep. Didn't see him till next day. To each its own. I got nothing to say.
Once on the road he began talking about women and his past sexual experiences. I quickly changed the conversation to truck driving and how to be a better employee. He continued so I just listened, I tried at least to be the better person. He asked me and explained my situation, married with a child and not into talking anything more than that. I was told I was a looser, immature and haven't experienced life. No big deal; I have heard comments like that. I explained my situation and asked him not to bring it up again. The conversation went everywhere except truck driving.
At this point I will just roll with it and keep to myself. I want to get the training and get mentorship done to begin making money and miles. We did a another backing once at our destination and I took more than 20 minutes to reverse the truck into the parking spot at the warehouse. I was told I was inexperienced and taking too long. Maybe some help or guidance could have helped better than blaming and shaming. I'll just practice again tomorrow
Another backing and another time I was called inexperienced and this time reminded that I was a loser and a dumb ### for not being able to reverse the truck and trailer in less than fifteen minutes. No big deal I figured I experienced something like this in high school before. I didn't talk back because obviously I didn't know how to properly back it in the time needed. We spent countless hours in casinos through out the days but when it came to my 15 minutes I was loosing him miles and taking up the driving hours.
Backing after backing the insults got worse this time with '#####' and about my manhood. I then realized this is hazing which is illegal but most rookies experience on the first days on the job. I told him about the sexual harassment words that they do happen between male and male and that it is wrong and he said, "My truck my rules."
For some reason I really want to be a truck driver and make good money so I just let it go. I tried a different approach this time when being called '#######" and countless other insults i asked if he could demonstrate a proper backing, he showed me but was not able to explain it. I speak Spanish I said explain it to me in Spanish. He did not know how to explain it. He said just do it.
I am really nice guy when asking questions about backing he tough I was being confrontational and said to stop giving him 'attitude.' Again with the hazing, I have seen it before and will tolerate just so I can get my mentorship done and get driving on my own. He then suggested I pay him to teach me how to do proper backing parking. I agreed because I knew I was going to take a test and needed to be really good at it. I payed him by buying him dinner. Keep in mind I got a family to support and on trainee pay but it is all for the better of my career. I received no training he said. No other mentors use their time nor money in teaching students. I need to pay him more. So one lunch or dinner got me backing parking practice. The insults kept coming but at least I was practicing. He mentioned to me that he was going easy on me because he is on a 'diet.' Previous female students had to sleep with him multiple times in exchange for proper training. Those female employees are someones daughters, someones wives or moms but he is a jerk like that.
I decided to just keep to myself and not talk to him anymore unless I needed something with the truck. I stopped buying him snacks and drinks because he would ask for more and more with teaching about the control panel, the qualcomm and its features, the proper chaining procedures. I will learn it on my own.
We went back to casinos and casinos and now threatened me to not get rolling unless I let him borrow money for gambling. I needed to get the hours done so I did. I don't think the money was for gambling but for drugs. He showed all the side effects of cocaine users and pot smokers. At this point I am driving the truck and all I could think about is how much drugs will be found in the truck once inspected by DOT or border patrol. he kept bailing out on the load assignments and kept sleeping with prostitutes. If I showed the slightest sign of resistance to not welcoming his sharing of stories about sex and adultery and commenting on his phone pornography he would deny my driving hours. He said " I'll hit you where it hurts, no driving means no money for you".
Talk about extreme bullying, I did sports in high school and college but was never abused this bad. He would ask prostitutes to come to the truck so i could sleep with them. Over and over I was called a shy puzzy, can't get any women.' I told him it is not that I am shy, I am just not that type of guy, I am married and have no wish to have sex with any other women. I was called everything in the book.
At this point we did no backings and no learning qualcomm codes. When asked about loads being late, I was to blame, I was the new guy, I had to get 600 miles a day before I can do anything. His sleeping around with prostitutes, when we were loaded and on a time crunch had nothing to do with anything. All he did was gamble in casinos, consume drugs; heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. he obviously had to wait for his high to start going away before we can hit the road. Laugh out loud moment , I remember when asked if I wanted a smoker or non smoker mentor. He asked me to take blame for the late loads or else he would keep doing the same thing not allow me driving hours, sleep hours or training time. I even ran over speed limit to make up for his stupidity but no more.
He started threatening my career and along with it the well being of my family. I decided I had taken enough. I will not accept responsibility for late loads, I will not continue lying to dispatch. I will take my chances at being called more names from office personnel. At least maybe I can get a less of an idiot mentor. Physical threats were also present. "I will punch out your teeth if you damage any of my gears while driving." At this point I have covered up way too much and am doing more harm to drivers around us than trying to just get over the mentor ship.
I don't wish anyone bad but this sounds like a lot of accusations on one person. Maybe requiring him to take a drug test can back up at least some of my story.
Not to mention the truck is a hazard to ourselves and the people around us. the steering is off. the tire sizes don't match. Control panel doesn't light up at night. We never know how much fuel we have, wires sticking out everywhere. Does not hold air pressure so we loose brakes after a minute of braking, driver door opens by itself with a slight bump on the road, it leaks when it rains. really loud cabin, wipers don't work, one is completely missing.
I could keep going and going but like I learned in orientation; this training is for me not to be bullied and not even make the owner operator any money. I am surprised no one else has complained about D****** D***** before, specially the female students.
What we can do to fix this situation, is drug test him and have something to show for, prevent an accident, not just my testimony. We can assign me another mentor. I feel like if I get a normal mentor for one week I can learn everything well. Not asking for a great mentor just anyone with a little common sense. I can wait a few days if need be, I can be road tested based on the knowledge I have gained from my technical school (not my mentor). We could assign me to run team with a normal person for some time to get a better understanding of policies and procedures. I am in no way against making lots of miles for any other mentor just asking for two 20 minutes a day practices. I am willing to drive good miles for the new mentor. Or I can take a road test. I am all for the better of the company and my career. In the future we can also do more monitored mentor ships with more home time in between to fill out surveys similar to those from retail businesses.
Despite all this I would still like to become a professional truck driver and take a chance at the Mt. Franklin dedicated route. There will always be a few bad apples everywhere but at least we can take care of SWIFT transportation in the mean time from this mentor.

It all went down hill from here. Once submitting my letter. I got no miles and a crappy truck. I quit after a week of sitting in a terminal waiting to be dispatched. Nobody cared about me. i guess you need to join someone you know before you start trucking.

 

I would love to hear if anyone finds out if any action at all is taken on this matter. If the accusations are true this mentor is a nightmare not only for trainees but the industry as a whole.

 

Sorry to see that you have quit. Your experience is by no means typical.

You should have been given at least two phone numbers before you got on the truck; your training manager's number, and the terminal's main number, which answers 24/7. You probably also got the list of Corporate 800 numbers. As soon as you saw something was not right (the needle marks in your posting), you should have been on the phone to Safety as soon as it was safe to do so.

Two things would have happened:

1. Your load would have been rerouted to the nearest terminal.

2. The terminal Safety officer would have met him at the driver's window with a drug test cup in hand. If he tested positive, he would have been booted from the mentor program, if not the company.

If he got the needle marks legitimately (he really did donate a pint of blood/dialysis/whatever), he would have understood your concern and probably would have praised you for looking out for yourself.

A note to any students out there:

Don't put up with a mentor who is abusing his/her "power" over you. They are preying on your lack of knowledge. You can request a new mentor at any time, even if it's simply that you don't get along well together. You'll be routed to a terminal and put in a hotel for a few days until you get a new mentor.

If it's an issue where you feel threatened (mentor doing drugs, you were threatened, "shaken down" for money, etc.), just grab your stuff and get off the truck. Swift will get you into a room until you can be picked up. It may take some time, but you will be OK.

Bottom line... if something doesn't seem to be right, let Safety (or at least your training manager) know.

 

Students on mentor trucks pay close attention to what MsJamie said. Even if you're in a truck stop when you decide its unsafe to continue there will be other Swift drivers to help you get the help you need.

FWIW, my bs-o-meter pegged in the red reading the above story for a bunch of reasons. While the poster may have had a bad mentor experience I find most of the story preposterous.
Frank

 

I will say this.. there is not much bs talk here about swift surprisingly. Not that I have any but expected to see it just like all the other companies. I think I'm sold on swift. I have been looking at a few and that post in the beginning of this thread was very informative plus I like the fact that the school is right here where I live. No motel and home every night. This is important to me because I am fully aware that after school that will not be the case. Plus it keeps me in my comfort zone during a stressful fast paced time in starting a new career. For some no big deal but for me... well I spent 25 years in my last until the economy crushed the boating industry and now find myself starting over at the age of 47.

 

I keeping idle time to a minimum. . Do they not have any apu's on there trucks. I mean you have got to have heat and or a/c. They can't expect you to sleep in a way to hot or cold truck. That is not good rest and that affects safety. Is there a documented expectation of time at idle or is there in fact an apu making idle time a moot point.

I would also like to hear more coments on this not enough money to eat and send some home for bills your first year. This can't be true. I make enough to pay mortgage now but that's about it and my wife covers the rest of what few bills we have. To continue doing that and feed myself i would need to bring in $1500 at the very least that first year. If I can't do that I will lose my home. Someone please tell me I can at least do that. If not it's not worth it. That is $1500 a MONTH not week

 

If can't run enough miles to make $1500 a month, they're going to fire you and give the truck to someone who can.