Trainers from Hell

Oy. I remember making a bit of smoke my first time down a big hill, but have never started a fire. I was darned careful with my students on the mountains. Talked one down Wolf Creek Pass with a full-gross load of soft-drink syrup, and could put my hand on the brake drums when we stopped at the bottom.
A good trainer should have talked you down without any equipment trouble.

Have you talked with HR about the trainer problem?

 

downshifting and backing (in that order) seemed to be the 2 hardest things to teach for me. upshifting the RPM's fall by themself. but downshifting YOU have to get it to the right RPM. usually while trying to judge stopping distance, ramp speed ETC.

 

I had one student who had to stop the truck if he needed to downshift. As you can imagine, it got us into a couple of really interesting spots.
It took a few tries, but we got it worked out.

By the time I let him go, he was still rubbing gears a little bit, but could reliably get it in the hole every time. That's the point of being a trainer,
rather than an examiner.

The noobs who consistently and carelessly put us into danger were usually the ones I gave up on.

 

We drivers sometimes exaggerate. He may not have seen flames either, just the smoke. It happens, especially if the brakes aren't adjusted properly. That is, on a trainer team, really the responsibility of the trainer.
Unfortunately, I rarely see anybody pre-trip their trucks, and I've watched as drivers left a company terminal with an obviously flat tire. I managed to stop one at a Pepsi terminal (I was on a contract for them), but I don't like to think about what else is being ignored. That other tire is taking a hellova load, and is a heck of a lot more likely to give out on the highway somewhere.

Those tires will do a lot of damage, too.

Whether it really was your fault can only really be known to you and your trainer, as we're just words on a screen here. I'll just repeat that it's hard to be a good, effective trainer. One who yells is only really putting his student in 'defensive' mode, not exactly a condition that enhances learning.

 

ohh GAWD!!! dbl clutching is hard. i doubt i could even still do it. within 15 minutes of showing any of my students how. they were like "WOW, this is SOOOO much easier to do"