My experience at Werner Long read

Hello, to all
Finally I made up my mind to write about my experience at Werner. I like to point out that I am not a writer and maybe some sentences are not in the right order because I wil lwrite asI remember
. My goal is to inform people who want to pursue this career . This was my favorite site where I spent a lot of time reading and also study for my hazmat exam. I had my class A license from 1995 but never went as a driver because my wife got pregnant and I realized that will be not the right decision to leave the household for longer time so I got a Technical job which I holded for 16 years. In 2011 I lost my job and after trying to do a couple projects on my own I decided to change my career and go trucking. My mind and intentions were prepared before this job( and hopefully the last one) that I will start at minimum wage of 0.25 per mile and I will be happy if I will cover my food and expenses and break even for a year to say the least. I applied to my first company(I will not say the name)and was told that if I retake a refresher course they will hire me.Went to Jersey Trucking school recommended by them (great school)and took the course. Called back and of course they changed the tone and told me that I need 2 mo. of experience and to call back. My question is who will stay only for two months get the experience and change jobs I bet after two mo. of experience they will question me again that I am not reliable and still not hire me.I found later on that they will not hire people been fired.(Sometime the honesty doesn't work)but that is another subject lets move on. I was pre hired by CRST,Swift,Werner,Truck USA,Stevens,to name a few and decided with Werner because the terminal was 60 miles from me in Lancaster PA.They have 3 times a week orientation for two days and they pay for 2 days of the orientation $150 if you pass and you have to drive 270 hours with a trainer before they test you and give your own truck. The approx. 6 weeks on the road you get $400 a week pay. I just want to mention that I signed for team (I had my team partner already doing the same 270 hours like me )and promised $3500 bonus pay divided in 6 monthly payments. My wife dropped me at the hotel a day before so I can be ready to catch the terminal buss at 6:45AM .I don't know why at 6:45 because you loose the breakfast(the eggs and hot food only comes at 7)but we are not here for the food right? At the terminal they do the normal DOT test that we all have to do(if you think that you will have problems don't even waste your time)I have glasses so I was not scared but I learned a little trick some drivers did before me they took a shot with the phone camera at the letter and numbers board and memorized the letters from row 7 and 8(the rows you have to read ) and all they passed the test, a driver before me he was at the 3-rd test claiming he ate the wrong food and that's why he did not pass the test I don't know you think whatever you want. The orientation consist also in 9 tests on the computer required by DOT you watch a short movie and have to answer the questions The problem was that those movies were so old that had no sound so I watched mute and responded to questions. You can fail and take the test again but you can not forward the movies so you will see a 40 min movie with no sound over and over (yes I tried a different computers)and take again the test .Start in time because you have to complete those tests before you get your badge. One day we stayed until 9(last buss back to the hotel)and finished all the material they required. Before I forgot one guy in our group never drove a stick I was shocked how he got considered but the trainer backed him saying that is goanna be easier to learn the double clutch from start and he will be doing better than most of us. Later I called him and poor guy was dropped off after 3 days by his road trainer. Are you surprised? anyway lets move on.In the morning after finishing the 2 day orientation you are allowed to be free at the hotel but you had to attend a 7:30am meeting to find out when your road trainer will pick you up.I will point out that some people were there for 3-4 days waiting for trainers and a student lady requested a female trainer non smoking and was told that they don't know how long will take to accommodate her so she accepted a male smoker just to leave. Lets move on I had some paper issues with my doctor and after calling and calling his office I decided that it will be more reasonable to get my papers in order from my doctor and request to go home instead to stay at the hotel and wait and be back with the papers Monday so I asked for permission and left on medical leave. Went home saw the doctor and faxed the papers.no respond for 2 days so I called my recruiter and asked her about my status and she sad they received the papers and must go back Monday in Lancaster and see the doctor. Went back and was hired got my badge and was told to stay at the hotel and be on stand by for the trainer to call me .At the hotel I met people from the class still waiting and decided to ask permission to wait home (60miles away ) .Called the student manager he OK.After maybe an hour my trainer driver called me and told me he is 3 hours away so never went home and gathered my belongings.3 hours later at the terminal I met my driver(nice clean Guy)and signed in QUALCOMM with my driver number and started driving . At that night I drove approx. 265 miles. Next day got up took a shower at 5:50AM and drove I guess 578 miles. Next day I drove less approx.. 500 miles. I was driving bad, good, but with no complains at all. Now I will point out my faults because I am not perfect and I know I had some. First I deleted all the emails from the QUALCOMM not knowing that we keep all the E-mails and the emails were issued for the truck not personal E-mails, when I was tired I was missing gears not knowing that we have to put the blinker at one mile before the exit, not paying attention at the papers(bill of lading).The good: nice truck,clean trainer,good spirit in general. My problem started when I noticed that my trainer pushes me to drive to the limits and get very snippy with me at the times when after he told me that I have a long route to drive approx. 750 miles I replied to him that not me.WE have to drive together and I was told that after my 14 hours expire he will take over. After that he changed his tone and the tension was high between us. Let me explain First when he picked me up he had no hours to drive he needed a 34 hour reset and soon I jumped in his truck I started to drive which was wrong. would you put a strange guy to drive a truck not even knowing him at least for 2 3 hours or after a minimum conversation? Second When we came back from Maine he got mad that I was driving 50milles per hour and speed limit was 60 but I forgot to mention that it was snowing so hard that I couldn't see the road yellow markers or the mirror at all because of snow (yes we had heated mirrors but did not keep up).He never asked me if I am ok to drive the only think he was concerned was to make pictures off the road with his phone and send them. After telling him that I need to clean the frozen mirrors he told me that in 100 miles we will be in NJ were is not going to snow. Lets continue on my way back all the sudden he disappeared in the back (I wanted to mention it was late in the night) and of course because I was unfamiliar with the route( before we passed NY) I missed the exit and ended up in the city somewhere I knew right away that I was in the wrong place because all the streets were narrow and hundreds of cars parked on the side ways made me very uncomfortable and started to call laud my trainer for help. He woke up he was already in pajamas and took over immediately and save my butt driving the truck and redirecting me . Credit to him but again put the question what I did wrong ?Everybody gets lost specially only after 2 days of driving but he never stayed with me or asked me how I am doing. Last I remember is when I drove 570 miles I was so tired that at the stop sign I put the reverse instead of first gear. TWICE. At that time he yelled at me that is an order to stop witch I complied so he took over but after a mile or two he sad to me that he has no time on his clock so I took over and drove another 50 milesto the next truck stop .From here I realized that he newer had his hours that's why he got mad at me not going fast and rack all those miles he wanted. Dude have you ever asked me how I am doing that gear missing at the stop sign saved me to end driving for the day telling him I am F....g tired. I don't know how to explain and who to blame the driver who is taking the student and trying to make an extra money or me to understand that time is money. I don't know I only understood that I have to drive 270 hours (not miles) and to be confident of my earned skills from those hours. When I told him that I will be happy in the beginning to only drive 5-7 hours he replied with the question: Do you want to stay here 4 weeks or 2 months? Last after I called my student manager and told him that I want to go back in Lancaster, he signed me out from the QUALCOMM and wanted me to get off at the first truck stop showing that I quitted and cover his a....Realizing that he signed me off I told him I will go to Maine with him and he can drop me off the next day witch he refused. Finally here I am in the parking lot with 3 duffle bags and a back pack waiting to find out exactly out the location and to be picked up in 3 hours by my wife. This was my experience with Werner.You decide for yourself and try to read as much you can here from this site before you decide Good luck to everybody and safe driving.