Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

I went to a much more in depth school to get my license back in 91.
It was 8 weeks. 2 weeks Classroom, 2 weeks backing, 2 weeks driving days, 2 weeks driving nights.

Remember this was before qualcom, cell phones, GPS etc.
You got all your info on the phone, and your routes were done by you on a map.
They needed that first 2 weeks just to teach the basics of all of this.
Even with 2 months training at least 30-40% of the class did not pass there CDL test. (yes it was CDL it had just changed from the old license)
The school expected this, and at the time if the head of the CDL testers for that area saw that too high a % were passing they would call for a retest with other testers. Just to make sure that it was all up to par.

That school still says in its literature that they do not expect more than 50% to pass the test the first time, and you continue practicing till you can pass, or you leave.
I paid 3800 dollars for that class, and for an apartment for the 2 months.
Since it was a fully accredited school I paid it with a federal student loan, same as you get for college.
This is one thing most of those company schools do not want you to know. An actual accredited driving school you can get pell grants, federal student loans and your GI Bill money to pay for them. It is the non-accredited schools that you cannot.

Use to be that you went to a real school.
You got your license.
Then company's rang your phone off the wall after you applied, and paid well for you to just come and check out there company. Times have changed. The big company's with there schools like Central, Swift, Schneider, etc.. Have all changed the way that most people get into the industry. Not really for the better.
The CDL test I took had allot more backing than most of the company schools.
I had to do serpentine, alley dock, parallel park, and know how to blind side.
Driving was around the Downtown area in Baton Rouge LA.

 

Taken directly from the paperwork sent to us today as we prepare to go....

"Rider policy is effective first day for a solo driver. Child must be older than 10 years of age. Insurance policy is required."

 

OK, only one more day left at work before we leave. The past couple days have been ridiculous. Something about getting cursed out in three languages when all I am trying to do is help, and in many cases give at least two free months service, is just about getting ridiculous. When I was repo'ing peoples cars, getting cursed out was understandable, but not this. I cannot wait to be done.

I have been working really hard to make sure I'm not an "old lady" that fails the workwell test. 50 lb at eye level in a crate is still not easy, but I can do it. However, trying to ensure I could get there, I've been working up to in and my clevage really hurts. The rest of it, I'm doing fine with.

We had the final talk with the recruiter. Because of my record, he had me fax the release to him earlier this week. I talked to the people in security about everything, and as long as I have been honest, I have been assured everything is alright. So, as long as we make it through, I ditto what everyone else has said, BE HONEST. If you are honest with them, I would hope that even if the recruiter was trying to just get us there, that the guy in security was being honest.

Anyway, I just can't wait for my last day at work tomorrow to be over with, so we can finish packing and get out there.

 

A couple of people have brought up valid points. You are brought in for training, then all of the sudden you're stuck 1000 miles from home and $3000 in debt because they let you go over your "background" when you may or may not have anything on it. Sounds like they just decide they don't want you and make up an excuse to run you out of town and they keep their money. I don't know if I'm reading too much into this but it is a concern of mine and sounds all too easy for any company to do.

 

IMO (for what it's worth), if you have been working at it, it should not be a problem. The only woman we have left is 53, 5'8"ish and 115lb (what she admitted one day).

Day 3 complete here and 13 of 13 got our permits. Started with about 25, 15 on Tuesday, 13 today (2 just disappeared and didn't say anything to the school or anyone else).

As of now... this seems to be a good class, all are fairly well motivated to finish. All my expectations (formed by reading this thread) have been met with no surprises.

Done hijacking the thread, time to study.

 

Well guys, it seems that I wont be attending Central's school on October 5th after all. This morning, while going through some papers here at home, I was reminded of an incident that took place in early 2008. The incident was that of a Class "A" Misdemeanor of small petty theft under $50. However, the misdemeanor was diverted off of my record, therefore I have no criminal convictions on my record for it.

I had honestly forgotten to include this information on the application, so I sought the advice of my lawyer from that time. It was explained to me by him that a diversion would show up on public/background records, but a criminal conviction/misdemeanor would not be on my criminal record.

It came to my attention that before I even attempt to leave, I should bring this to Sarah's attention and have it corrected on my application. I let her know it was an honest mistake for leaving it out, and explained the situation. Sarah concluded to me that they would not be able to hire me, as it would need to be 5 years old because "my security dept would look at a diversion the same as a guilty. because diversion is basically like probation- its sayin that you are getting charged with the offense, but you just have to be good for a certain amount of time".

Ok, I understand what a diversion is, buuuttt... I have no criminal conviction on my record for it. So, technically, because they aren't seeing any sort of criminal record, it shouldn't count against me.. What do you guys think..? Was it wrong for me to be turned down for this? Should I speak to another recruiter, or try getting in touch with the security dept again? Is there any way I'd still have a shot?

I spoke to other trucking companies about the diversion, and was told that it would not bar me from employment because there is no criminal history. I may consider Swift if I absolutely have to. Some say they're bad, but some have it good there as well. They also don't count it against me, after explaining it the same way I had to Sarah. I even spoke to at least 2 different departments about it, aside from the recruiters (one of the depts being their security department- they gave me a direct number to it). I sent them an app earlier, so I need to call the recruiter back tomorrow (very nice young lady) & make sure she got it. Sorry for the long post! lol

 

From my point of view being on the ground here, generally speaking I would say those that are released this way had something to hide or were not completely forthcoming when given their chances to confess to prior central defined sins. Anything from past tickets, undisclosed misdemeanors or felonies, prior employment/unemployment status, medical conditions, etc... if they are undisclosed it may come back to haunt you.

If I was hiring a driver to drive my truck and haul loads for my business, I would do the same thing, maybe just a little differently.

 

ssccrab that sucks. Good luck with whereever you go to and keep us posted. I dont post here to often i work way to hard lol. But I read my emails off my phone everyday

 

ssccrab, Ask to speak with Blake in security. He dose all the backround stuff, he's a real nice guy to,should be able to help you.