CR England scares the crap outa me!!! to prime i go

I applied to cre and got scheduled to start in cali this coming sunday but after reading all the posts from you guys im running in the exact opposite direction at mach3!!!! Just finished my app with prime and talked to a very nice recruiter named sheryl, hopefully i should be able to start class this coming wednesday, wish me luck and i'll try to keep this thread updated with my experiences if they accept me

 

Well, im on my way to springfield MO to start class today. currently sitting in the greyhound station in joplin MO waiting on a 4 and a half hour layover so i can take an hour ride to springfield, lol. Oh, and i have come to the conclusion that all greyhound busses and all greyhound bus terminal bathrooms smell like pot and stale sweat.

I will do my best to chronicle my time with prime. If things go well i may even start a blog.

Wish me luck and everyone out there keep em right side up!!

 

Well, first day at prime is in the books. Arrived at the greyhound terminal in Springfield MO at 0620 (which is much nicer than the Joplin terminal, lol) and called the shuttle which arrived in less than 5 min. The driver was really nice and gave me great directions on what to do when he dropped me off at the Campus Inn (Prime's training facility and trucker motel). I checked in at the front desk and got a smoking room, dragged my bags to the room which has cable tv, two full sized beds, a full bathroom, balcony, and wireless internet. After i dropped my bags off i headed to the cafeteria and had a pretty good breakfast of coffee, bacon, and biscuits and gravy (all on prime's tab).

Orientation started at 0700 so i had a quick smoke, refilled my coffee and headed to the classroom. Once everything started they went over our schedule for the day and proceeded to firmly warn us about omitting anything on our formal applications (turns out the application on the website is just a preliminary), but all the while the two instructors were messing with each other and joking with the class. All in all it was a pretty relaxing start to a pretty easygoing first day.
We started filling out our packets while we took turns getting fingerprinted and once that was done they left us for work on our packets more and trickle into medical, interviews, passport processing, and the driving simulator. Medical was a breeze (standard DOT physical and urinalisys) and after I got my passport packet done i went in for my interview. The guy was alright and just kind of breezed through my app to make sure i dotted all my T's and crossed all my I's then gave me a packet with Prime's benefit info and a company regulations book. I then headed out to the shuttle to the post office and breezed through my passport paperwork there.

Once I got back to the Campus Inn i went to the driving simulator room and watched for a few minutes. One of the simulator instructors came up to me and asked if i was ready and when I told him i only got 2 or 3 hours of sleep on the bus station floor in joplin he smiled and said it happens sometimes and that i could just do the simulator tomorrow when im well rested (thank god). After that I had bout an hour and a half to kill till the maitenance class at 1600 so i headed back to my room. I met my roomate (a nice guy that used to work at the nike factory but got laid off) and managed to squeeze in a good long shower (goodbye smelling like a greyhoud bus) and laid down on the fairly comfortable bed for a bit.
The maitenance class was kinda boring (death by monotone voiced guy in the first video) but i did learn a bit of how to work the Qualcomm and how to program a reefer. Once the class was over, 1740 or so, we were released for the day and i boarded the shuttle for the terminal because they only serve breakfast and lunch at the campus inn. The terminal is pretty cool, they have a basketball court, exercise room, a great cafeteria, the company store, a theater, barbershop, salon, spa, laundrymat, smoking room, and im sure plenty of other stuff i didn't even see. I headed back to the campus inn and now im just hangin out in my room and relaxin.

All in all, the prime employees that i have encountered, both drivers and regular staff, have all been helpful and informative (except for one older gentleman in the smoking room that kept ######## about company drivers ruining it for the company and all the lease drivers, he was a lease driver of course, lol). So far im pretty happy with my experience here at Prime Inc.


Oh, and i got to see one of the new "lightweight Petes" and yes, #### they are small. Only one seat, one fuel tank, no apu, and a coffin sleeper, lol.

Till tomorrow,
Rusty

Keep the shiny side up

 

Oh yeah, lunch was turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing and it was pretty dang good.

While in orientation prime provides 3 meals a day, you get $4.75 for breakfast, $5.75 for lunch, and $6.50 for supper to spend in the cafeteria on anything you want and they do have a pretty good selection.

Coffee and iced tea are free all day in the cafeteria (score!!!)