Follow me with Swift...

Try telling that to my iphone, When I'm typing in a hurry..

 

This is kinda true. autocorrect has a mind of its own

 

Love2 shift, where are you? Please update us on ur status and provide more detail on what actually happened. I am trying to figure it out but don't have enough scoop. My heart goes out to u' really. I told u when u first started what happened to me. 1st day out I clipped the trailer next to me with my refer "christmas tree" box, shattering the box with no damage to trailer I clipped. Went on my first time off since I had started CDL school and the on my 1st day back on the road I made a U-turn in the back parking lot of Pilot off of I-70 in Denver following the truck in front of me that did same. He knew what he was doing obviously because I clipped a parked truck's front right headlight cover with the right rear of my trailer. I was sick to my stomach. Would have given my right arm to take it back. Then my third month out, while teaming with my boyfriend I was leaving Pilot at Cayce, SC and my trailer was struck by an eighteen year old girl driving her truck recklessly on wet roads. She came off interstate 26 flying, hit my trailer back behind the refer fuel tank which was in the median in motion. She was being followed by her boyfriend in one car and her mother in another and to top it off the witness was an insurance adjustor and her husband who were in another car and were acquaintances of the mother of the girl who hit me. The cop who took the report was moving from city to state patrol the next week so she did not site either of us because she could not come back for court but she put me down as "contributor" because I was obstructing lanes. When you leave Pilot in Cayce you have to cross four lanes of traffic to get to median and then another four to get to on ramp back to I26. You have to cross lanes of course but because an accident occured I was sited. When I sat in front of FFE Accident Review Board it was decided I was at fault because I could have turned "right".

My boyfriend left FFE because I was not allowed to ride with him and went with Swift. I have been riding with him (had to give up my CDL to do so) since leaving FFE and am still sad that all of this happened. But the more I ride with him (he has been driving 20 years) the more I understand how little I really knew and how lucky I was all around. The teenage girl who hit me is ok and I have more respect for truck drivers and what they do every single day. You guys/gals are amazing.

My hope is to let my record clear, go back to CDL school and try this career once more. But the next time I will have more respect, pay better attention, slow my role, and not let this wonderful career be threatened by my lack of knowledge and attention to what is around me. You truckers out there don't have it easy but you are blessed to be moving, to be rolling, to not be behind a desk with office gossip and negativity surrounding you. You see the country and meet new people every day. You have choices you can make everyday (how many miles to run, when to stop, where to stop, etc) and you are employed in an industry that although slow sometimes, will always be there. I miss the opportunity to drive. I am thankful no one was hurt in my short time on the road and look forward to being out on the road again in the future. I am 52 years old and have worked in offices all of my life.........................I long for my next opportunity to "roll".

 

Well I guess I can tell my Swift story here. It actually starts at Stevens Transport!

Back in 1998 I went through training at International Schools here in El Paso, TX. I got hired on at Stevens Transport and worked for them for two years. When I couldn't pass my 2 year recertification due to too much sugar and protein in my urine, I went home to speak to an internal medicine specialist who diagnosed me as having Type 2 diabetes. My doctor recommended I take some time off to get treatment and find out how to live my life as a diabetic so I had to suck it up and quit my dream job. A few months later I got a job driving locally with Pepsi-Cola and found I could be recertified on a yearly basis as a type 2 diabetic.

The years went by and I let my CDL lapse. In the meantime I found out that I had sleep apnea and I now currently use a CPAP machine. I am now so used to it that I can't sleep without it!

Last December I was terminated from my job at Wal-Mart after 7 years of service. After months of not having any luck getting another long term job I decided to go back to driving long haul. It had been 10 years since I last drove so I knew I'd need a refresher. Fortunately my school offered free refreshers to students in "good standing" (meaning your bill was paid off) and I took the course, got my CDL and applied to Swift.

I chose Swift since they have an El Paso Terminal and was under the impression (as was several other students graduating at that school) that I would do orientation here in El Paso. But Swift told us they were no longer doing orientations for new hires in El Paso so we all had to go to Phoenix. The recruiter, Ian, told me all I needed to bring was myself, CDL and medical card (I had to find our myself what to pack, though I already knew enough from the first time around). I asked him if I needed to bring anything from the school. He said no since I was a refresher. So we all got our bus tickets and headed off to Phoenix.

I was reminded why I never took Greyhound anywhere, that bus ride sucked so bad I vowed never to ride Greyhound again!

The van ride from the bus station was something else. I guess since Swift cuts back their trucks to 62 mph, the van makes up for it because we were flying down I-10 towards the motel, which wasn't too bad BTW, the Days Inn Stevens used when I went through orientation was a dump and the Big Town Inn that they also used was even worse.

Nobody had a clear answer when orientation actually started. I remember at Stevens it started at 7AM sharp. They told us the Swift van make the first run at 5:30 and we could also catch the hotel shuttle van, which I ended up doing around 6:45.

At the terminal, there were a bunch of us standing around because we had no clue where to go. We finally got one of the people who looked seasoned to answer us and he pointed out where to go. We went into the classroom which already had people sitting in seats. There was a gentleman with his face fixated on a computer screen. When he felt there were enough people in the classroom, he asked us to line up and give him our credentials.

When the guy in front of me left, I stepped up and gave him my name.

"Wait, when I'm ready for your name, I'll ask for it." he snapped.

He then asked for my name and for my school grades.

"I don't have them." I said.

"Why didn't you bring them?" he asked, annoyed.

"Your recruiter told me I didn't need to because I was a refresher."

"You have to have your grades, refresher or not. Who did you talk to?"

"Ian in El Paso." I replied.

He rolled his eyes and picked up the phone and dialed some numbers.

"Hey Ian, this is Dan over in Phoenix, I have one of your guys here and he says you told him he didn't need his grades but I do need them......yeah.....his name is Patrick.....yeah....ok, just fax them that will be fine. Bye."

He told me to go ahead and sit down and that he'd get my grades from Ian. I though great, I'm here not a half hour and I already look like an idiot. Thanks Ian.

Then it came time to talk to the ladies from Medical. Apparently you have to have had your physical given to you by God the Almighty himself for them to accept a physical from any other clinic (my PCP gave me mine as they do pre-employement screenings) so natually I was told I had to get mine done there. I was sent with everyone esle down the hall to the clinic where we took the urine test and waited until they could start with us one by one.

The first time they tested my blood pressure I tested one point above hypertension.. ONE. Not suprising since I had a bus ride from hell the night before and was in unfamiliar and as was seen earlier, rather unfriendly surroundings.

So I wait again until they called me into a room with the doctor. It was a short lady. She was running late, having been delayed by traffic.

When she got me into the room, she began to look over my info.

"I see you have sleep apnea, are you currently being treated?"

I told her yes.

"Does your CPAP machine have a smart card?

I told her no, it was an older machine and just had a data connector.

"Well, you have to have a CPAP machine with a smart card for DOT compliance so they can monitor if you are actually using it. You will have to get a new machine. Lets check your blood pressure."

Now I don't know about you, but when I get a news shocker like that my blood pressure tends to skyrocket. So it was no suprise when my blood pressure read well above the DOT limits.

"Your blood pressure is too high. 152/96 (it read 141/80 the first time). That high number needs to be under 128. You will have to get your medications adjusted in order to do this. We will put you on medical hold until you get these problems resolved, perhaps your doctor can do it over the phone. Have a nice day".

Having no reason to go back to the classroom now since I wasn't certified, I decided I was not going to get these issues solved 400 miles from home I went outside and started calling home. I ended up renting a car and driving back to El Paso because there was no way I was going to ride the bus home again.

As I was packing at the hotel, I got a call from Ian.

"You didn't go back to orientation, whats up?"

"Your doctors didn't qualify me, so I saw no need to go back to the class since I wasn't going to be able to continue. So I'm going to see what I have to do now."

"Ok," he replied. "Let me call you back in a few." To this day I have never gotten a call back.

The company I work for now doesn't do the medical qualifications. Since I already had a valid medical card, that was good enough for them. The owner of the company is good friends with the insurance carrier and they qualified me to drive for them even though my experience was 10 years ago.

 

Hey LOve2shift...I followed your post for a few pages and was excited that you were excited about orientation with Swift. I am still in school but should have my CDL by July 1st. Struggling to find a company that will be honest, give the hours they promise, train me to their safe standards (I see Swift does that) and try to get me home when they say they will (also, competitive pay would be nice as well). I know not to expect the sky and the moon from any company but I do want to be treated fairly because I know I will treat them fairly and with respect (I'm 50 years old...I didn't get this far by being a dick). I guess the hard part is finding the right company. It is so easy to find negative press about any company but like pulling teeth to find positive press. I appreciate your honesty and all of those that have posted as well along this thread. I am considering Swift. I live in Western NC and will more than likely be driving on the right side of the country. I will just have to see. Thanks again for your insight. Look forward to hearing from you again along with others.

 

Oops sorry dude you're right, it's not the person it's the equipment. (keyboard)