Got the Call...

Well, I wanted to update this thread with the current situation. Me and Razor3 just finished our orientation at Tyson and actually have our shiny, new ID cards saying we are official Tyson Transportation specialists!! Well, really, it only says we are truck drivers, but it does feel good to have gone to school, found a company willing to take a rookie, and made it through three pretty tough days of orientation! I am currently waiting for my trainer to make his way toward my location so I can get on board and get the 8-week training started. Looking to head out tomorrow probably.

The orientation at Tyson is pretty good. I felt like in three days I had bought a house, enlisted in the military, been discharged from the military, all due to the volumes of paper it takes to become a driver! OH MAN!!! I have not signed my name more times for any one event than this past three days! With all the things we signed, I guess everyone is now covered and every conceivable release has been signed. Now its time for the fun stuff to start!

Out of 13 starting orientation, only three left during the three days. One of those was a voluntary and the other two had some paperwork that could not be completed so they may be back in the next session. Two were returning Tyson drivers and several were experienced. The rest were rookies, like me. Great group of guys and gals and I enjoyed meeting and sharing the long days with them! After everything that I have heard and seen during orientation, it feels like Tyson is a great place to work. Everyone I met on the yard and in the office seemed genuinely happy with their job and were friendly to us. Strange that folks enjoy working like they do!

Will try to get a quick post in during the coming weeks while training. I have a feeling that I will be putting in a lot of hours and getting a lot of miles! Good luck Razor on your training and we'll chat soon.

 

8 weeks is primarily for new drivers. If you are experienced the training would b E 2 weeks or less.

 

If it is me you're talking about, I left Tyson after about 7 weeks and went with another company. I found out refers were just not my calling and I also had issues with loading at kill plants. Pretty bad places to be! Never got used to it and figured I never would. Now I'm hauling dry freight and it is much better!!

 

Nope, the sound of the refer was not an issue. The customer sites were normally a complete zoo and there was a lot of waiting to get to a dock. Then, about 99% of them used lumpers so that slowed down the process. Then, the sights, smells, and overall atmosphere around the kill plants was not something that I could get used to. Please note that both issues are my personal feelings/thoughts/etc and should not have any bearing on your choices! But, for me, the two combined to create a situation that I knew I did not want to continue dealing with.