Is this normal with a trainer?

That particular text wasn’t all about you, I was taught is a common phrase used by drivers

 

All these guys are being too nice to you. It’s your responsibility to learn about your profession. Having an amazing trainer? In this profession? Think about it. You’re trainers only real job is to make sure you don’t hurt yourself, and especially others. If he teaches you anything else that’s a bonus. He ain’t getting rich out here. Would it be nice to have a wonderful trainer who is pleasant to work with, patient, helpful, and supportive. Sure. It’d also be nice to have a lot of other things too. Like a boat and a lake house with a wife inside who can suck a golf ball through a garden hose. It’s your responsibility to learn and if you feel unprepared, it’s your fault for not researching your company better before hand so that you could know what to expect. Trust me, no one cares once you’re out there. Especially OTR

 

You want to really thank me, other than sending me your checks (just kidding), work hard to be a safe and good driver. That is a thanks that all of us would appreciate. I don’t have trainers, I beleive that many, not all but many trainers are crap drivers cashing in on the extra pay and will never train anyone anything.

 

Too many times, a student will think that the trainer is the ultimate authority and that if the trainer decides to crap down the student’s neck, student has to take it. Absolutely not. Before you got into the truck, an office personnel gave you his or her contact info just in case there are problems.
Trainer starts in on you, “Whatever you learned in school does not work in the real world.” He’s down talking you presenting his opinion as universal truth. He taking on a godlike role. You have to stop this as soon as it starts. How? He’s saying that everything you learned is useless, correct? Make him prove that EVERYTHING you learned in school is useless. “Really? Give me examples.” Not one thing, not two. Everything. If you had done that, trainer would have realized that he had to be careful in his speech.

Trainer gets on you for switching lanes, and saying something about how cops will ticket you for changing lanes. Does he have the ticket. “It happened to a friend of mine.” When and where? Did he go to court? What was the outcome? “Well, my friend really didn’t want the hassle, so he paid the ticket.” Should be a moving violation. How many points? Local cop or highway patrol? Odds are, trainer would never again have anything to say about you switching lanes for people parked on the shoulder.

 

The OP might find this funny. I was a trainer one time and did it for about 2 years. The only difference between a regular driver and a Trainer at the company I worked for was 4 or 5 day class we took to make us officially a Trainer.

They don’t teach you how to train they told us how to keep control of the truck basically as to who’s in charge. Most guys are probably not very good trainers. Most don’t even have much experience driving or can’t explain stuff they don’t understand themselves.

 

You did the right thing by moving over for a disabled vehicle with flashing lights. Not only is it safe and courteous but it's also the law in many states. Your trainer is not good for you, nor the industry. Get a different one ASAP.

 

I musta got lucky. My trainer was awesome. only we didn’t get to drive in snow much just a little.

 

Thanks to OP and the comments. I'm about to wrap up CDL class and start OTR. So this thread gives me a baseline for what I should look for. Thank you all.