Wacky World of Werner?

Discussion in 'Werner' started by Little Eddy, Mar 9, 2014.

  1. DriveItUSA

    DriveItUSA Light Load Member

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    getting a quality trainer is a crap shoot. The two ladies who were roommates in my hotel in denver when i was in orientation, both had male trainers who had bad hygiene, poor manners and were pigs. when i say pigs, im talking filthy truck inside, trash and clothes strewn about, cups filled with pee leaking onto the carpet and yes i saw pictures! dirty stinky clothes. It was gross! one of the ladies had her trainer hitting on her romantically. he didnt bathe regularly or brush his teeth. didint change his clothes regularly. didnt do laundry.

    when I heard that I was horrified. i wondered who i would get. what was my experience going to be.

    I lucked out. i got a 20 year pro. a perfectionist. a do it all by the book, old school fella. late 50's, clean cut appearance, short haircut, clean shaven, fresh clothes, pleasant aroma, friendly, respectful, a professional, hard worker and a gentleman. he doesnt take shortcuts on anything he does. he is a do it once, do it right the first time kind of guy.

    he can be a hard ### at times, and a little overly demanding of new students, but aside from that, he has no flaws. Mine pushes me pretty hard and doesnt tolerate excuses. He is only trying to prepare me for when I am out on my own. I try not to take it personal and i mostly only have issue with his condescending tone of voice when I screw up or forget something. We have hashed that out and I stressed to him I am not a two year old and dont appreciate being treated as such or talked to like one and he has apologized and is making effort to refrain from such. other than that we get along and communicate well.

    best thing I can tell you is tell Safety to have your trainer contact you before he picks you up, or get his number from Safety and shoot the #### with him on the phone first.

    ask about his hygiene habits, clothing, what his truck interior looks like, what his and your expectations are during training. how often he showers and brushes his teeth, does he use deodorant? how often does he do his laundry?

    get to know him on the phone, be honest with him and ask he be honest with you in return. ask about his day...does he do his pre-trip, how well accustomed to teaching is he? how many students has he trained? how many years of experience does he have driving and training? is he comfortable teaching backing? can he teach all of the required backing maneuvers (45 and 90 backing...anyone can teach straight backing). what weather has driven in? has he chained up? will he show you how to chain up? move tandems forwards and backwards? fueling procedures, macros and qualcomm?

    discuss your expectations and what you want out of this experience. snow driving, chaining, mountain driving in the snow, alley docking (90° backing), any situations you can think of.

    because when you are out there on your own..there arent going to be many, if any at all that can help you when you get in a fix.

    no one is going to direct you on backing when you are at that unlit werner drop yard in Kansas City, Missouri off 435 and Parvin Road on Kentucky Ave and you have to do a 90° backing of your trailer, there is only one empty spot left and its in the middle of the row in the drop yard and theres already trailers on all sides, and theres no lights. how do I know? been there done that...i was just fortunate to have a trainer present and guiding me...it sucked.

    ask to be shown how to scale a load. how to properly open trailer doors and secure them. ask about special tricks of the trade and to be shown them.

    If things dont coincide or you cant find common ground (mutual areas of interest like football, baseball, guns or cars...just something to break the ice...the monotony to develop a little cohesion) over the phone, ask Safety for a different trainer. pre-screening over the phone will make a world of difference. making your expectations and limitations known up front will save you a world of anger and frustration later on. you dont want a trainer that will hang you out to dry just to make money off your miles and not teach you what you need to know.

    oh and take a box of Glad scented odor reducing trash bags (get em at walMart) and a few bottles of air freshener with you. keeps things smelling pleasant in the truck. makes a world of difference.

    thats about all i can tell you.
     
    Little Eddy Thanks this.
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  3. DriveItUSA

    DriveItUSA Light Load Member

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    of course it does. it just needs a little accessory thats all. lol

    http://www.go-girl.com
     
  4. truckingirl92

    truckingirl92 Bobtail Member

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    are you a girl too? if not im kinda questioning how you know about this GoGirl.. lol and yeah I love to take a break and use an actual restroom, a load is not that important that I cant stop to pee!
     
  5. Little Eddy

    Little Eddy Medium Load Member

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    Wow, well that is a boat load of solid and very helpful information...you gave me a lot of things to consider and some wonderful hints for survival. When I worked around cadavers I learned a little Tiger Balm on the upper lip killed most of the smells; as long as it isn't patchouli or carrion I can usually suffer through and live with it...still I am going to do as you suggest, if only to make things run with less hassle and keep my tolerance level very high.

    Given that it is a crap shoot any chance I can get his name and once you are finished I might be in a position to see if he is available...only question is, does he smoke? I like to push my learning and I don't like dangerous or lazy shortcuts so this guy and I might be brothers from another mother...age is about right.

    Surprised they didn't call themselves U-Go-Girl given the letter U (for the function) and how well known the saying is.

    Thanks for the post.

    Little Eddy
     
    DriveItUSA Thanks this.
  6. DriveItUSA

    DriveItUSA Light Load Member

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    Denver, Colorado
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    yes, I am a girl. its great for hiking! I love to go hike and climb mountains, so the go-girl is essential, because nothing is worse than going to squat behind a bush, only to have some group of guys stumble upon you, looking to do the same thing and they see your butt and your hoo haw. ugh...embarrassing!


    he doesn't smoke, but I am not at liberty to give out his personal information. Sorry.
     
  7. Little Eddy

    Little Eddy Medium Load Member

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    Maybe you could talk to him and see if he is interested and if so I could send you via PM some info, and he can decide if he wants to take me on...he can do this and never have to come out from behind the curtain...just a thought. Let me know...thanks for the reply.

    Little Eddy
     
  8. DriveItUSA

    DriveItUSA Light Load Member

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    Denver, Colorado
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    sorry, the Company assigns trainers based on location and availability. Best of luck.
     
  9. Little Eddy

    Little Eddy Medium Load Member

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    Well, I am looking beyond Werner now as I have been given a few promising leads and spoken to a few other companies. Regardless, Werner is still my first choice for the following: They were the first to offer me a position, the person I have been working with has been very proactive during the process keeping me informed and assisting me with the required documents that I had been asked to produce, I like the color of the trucks.

    The others are somewhat trailing behind and not expressing the level of interest I would have expected. 40+ years of a clean driving record and no police record should amount to something in the transport industry...previous Haz-Mat experience and rescue skills, higher education, strong recommendation from CDL school, all endorsements...still there is little follow up and only a luke warm response.

    Of course I can go to work driving a water truck in ND but I really want to go OTR for a year...just something I want to do...
     
  10. Little Eddy

    Little Eddy Medium Load Member

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    Mar 8, 2014
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    Well I was more than a little surprised to see one of the recent regulars here in the Werner section shown the door; I for one am going to take a long look in the mirror...

    Internet forums can be a tricky obstacle course of communication; not only do you have to be focused and articulate, but then you have to apply objective, logical, and dispassionate skills of comprehension. Further more, if you make a mistake, if you get confused over someones meaning or intent, or if you infer a meaning that was not implied...don't be afraid to say "Hey, I was wrong, I didn't get the joke". or "I didn't know that", or whatever the situation calls for.
    Keyboard warriors are a dime a dozen; the realities of hiding anonymously behind an avatar disrupt the normal constraints of face to face conversation. Bombastic pronouncements and vociferous diatribes are the coin of this realm. Posters blurt out challenges online they would never say to a persons face, they disrespect others and arrogantly proclaim positions that can only be made from the safety of a keyboard.
    Imagine a crowded bar or a corporate lunch room where these types of antagonistic and confrontational conversations took place...there would be blood in the streets.

    Lastly, and this is just something to consider, read each and every posting as though you were a judge. Check your emotions at the door and try to follow these 2 dimensional missives for what they are and not what you think they are. Not seeing a person's facial features or see the glint in their eyes or not being able to hear the inflections in their voice limit our ability to read between the lines. Humor in particular is hard to perceive, especially if it is subtle or injected in the middle of other post that are very serious.

    The next time you feel like posting an aggressive rant imagine the person you are posting to is sitting in front of you, would your personal sense of decorum alter what you are about to write if you were to say it to there face? What if they were 20 years younger, 20 inches taller, had 20% less body fat and sat there with 20 friends at their side?
    Still feeling like a keyboard ninja?

    Little Eddy
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2014
  11. BrenYoda883

    BrenYoda883 Road Train Member

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    Truckingirl92.. I am with you.. Since getting off my trainers truck and running on my worst paycheck was $587.. however, that was because I didnt get all my trip packs sent in on time... I consistently make over $1000 a week..

    I am on a dedicated account and home every weekend... l have a good fleet manager.. for the most part he sends me my load assignments and info over the qualcomm... I reply and send the macros I need to for my loads and stuff... I am not at all micro managed and I am left alone to do my job... now, if he checks in on me and I am obviously going the wrong way , or stoppd somewhere and clearly wont be on time, he may call me or message me one qualcomm and ask what is up... now althougb I am left alone to do my job, they are there for support if I need...

    I keep busy when I am out for my week.. but that is how I like it.. I want to pull in at the end of my day with just enough time to shower and sleep... my fleet manager knows me and how I like to run and assigns me loads accordingly... not all drivers are the same, there is a driver I run into often out here, same account, but complains about not making money.... however, he is slow and lazy.. we pulled into the drop yard at almost the same time the other day.. he got there about 10 before me, we both bobtailed in to pick up an empty trailer.. I found my trailer, hooked up to it, sent my macros and was starting to roll out when he was just getting out of his truck to hook up the lines.. he tried to stop me so he can waste more time and complain about whatever.. I told him I had to pee bad and gotta get to the truck stop.. and took off.. now, maybe not everyone wants to hustle and work hard.. but, it is gonna effect hour pay check.. werner has the loads to keep me rolling and earning.. I only have 14 earning hours a day.. so I do t waste time when my 14 hour clock is ticking...

    I like the account I am on and my fleet manager... I also lime that I have options, if I want to switch and give flatbed a try I can, I can switch to a different account for a change... I like having those options...

    As a female I have thought about becoming a trainer.. but, I just enjoy myself, my space and all too much... I like how my truck is set up and I keep it clean... just dont want to bring a student on board to mess up my truck, slow me down, or disrupt my groove... when I am at the terminal I am social and will answer questions and help.. and I will help anotber driver when I am out here.. helped one the other day at the Rail Yard.. it was there first time there..

    So, that is awesome that you are willjng to train..

    I started using the mobil TriPak app... was a little tricky at first, getting a good picture of the BOLs to be accepted. ?. But now have it down, and it is a pretty simple and easy process.. so I would recommend a good smart phone...
     
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