A Thread for the Trainer

What so many newbies fail to realize is there is only so much that a trainer can do. A lot of this job is learn as you go. You will NEVER learn EVERYTHING there is to learn while you are on your trainer's truck. In two weeks time you should have enough general knowledge to handle things driving down the interstate while the trainer catches a few hours of sleep in the bunk. And, as a former trainer, I can attest to the fact that the sleep you get while behind a student is not a very deep sleep. As soon as those jakes come on, any good trainer will get up and at the very least look to see what's happening or ask the student what's goin' on.

Beyond the second week the trainer is still working on all other aspects of the job aside from driving the truck down the interstate. These things include: what to do at a weigh station, using a CAT or other certified scale to check your load weight distribution, logging, paperwork, Qualcomm (or other satellite communications equipment), backing at truck stops, backing at shippers/receivers, checking in at shippers/receivers, handling a DOT inspection, driving on secondary roads, receiving your pay, trip planning, etc.

Like every other of OTR driver, trainers do a lot of work that they don't get paid for. Eventhough they receive more pay than a solo driver, it's still not equal compensation for the work that a good trainer does.

In a perfect world, all training would be done from the passenger seat with the trainer doing little to no driving. However, this current world we live in has made it to the point that some companies see fit to use trainers' trucks as team trucks. When I trained at PAM, I would never allow this if I wasn't certain the student was skilled enough to handle driving 8-10 hours without me by his side.

 

I have my hardest student trainee yet. He is a great guy, good listener, and picks things up O.K. He is from the country of Hatti. The hardest thing for him is the Laws and Regulations. He has lived here for almost 5 years, but has some bad habits. He likes to ride the zipper line, i have been getting on him real hard on that one. He also foegets his turn signal, on and off, alot. He has came a long way with both over the last 2 weeks. I gave him the regulation book to read on his down time. He wants to make it this work very bad and is takeing it very serious. Now backing is going to take some time. I have let him know his accent is going to get him alot of grief out here on the road with all the jerkoffs. The biggest plus with him is he never complains about anything, if we run out in the woods for a few days and can't get a shower or hot meal, he understands unlike most of the American students i have had. This will be interesting how this turns out, he has his problems, but iam going to do my best work yet. I keep you updated

 

Interesting . The worst driver I have ever seen was from Haiti and a graduate of an Orlando CDL school . I wasn't supposed to train him , just teach him the route . Halfway through the day I told him he wasn't to drive any more . An hour later he stuck my tractor in a ditch trying to turn around while I was getting paperwork signed .
I don't care how much of a "great guy" this guy is . Odds are he'll end up damaging property or injuring someone and you can share the responsibility . With plenty of qualified drivers out of work there is no excuse putting unsafe drivers behind the wheel .

 

Well the guy from Haiti is now off my truck. After i tried my best and after all the bad habbits he could not break, i told him he would be better off looking into another line of work, I straight out told him he was a danger to the public. So he is on his way home. Better luck for me on the next student driver. The final straw was when he missed a turn on a state route in Nebraska, and stoped and tried to back up. He almost had to walk from there. Noone that unsafe should be on the roads, and its my job to tell them, and i did. Well iam home now, time for beer and B.B.Q. with friends. Oh, and some much needed sleep, did not get any sleep with that guy behind the wheel.

 

hoo boy this is my kinda thread.....

I started training last year for werner because I need to make a living out here this is not a hobby. the only way (for me) to make a decent pay check for werner is to train or declare bankruptcy.

I'm on my 10th student now and most have had enough skills that all i had to do was knock off a few rough edges and do some polishing. when they got off my truck they had enough working knowledge and experience to make a go of it as a werner driver. I said 'most' because one student stood out as a problem child. 'Rick' (not his real name) was a 57 year old gent who wanted to get into trucking but lacked even basic car driving skills.

werner's training program mostly runs like a teaming program, the first 3 days are to get the trainee comfortable and then run them into the ground. however with this particular student I insisted that my fleet mgr leave us on solo runs so i could give 'rick' extra one on one training I was in the passenger seat every minute he drove. (yeah I'm in it for the money , but I want to live too!)

a typical day was me correcting behavior and bad habits that had setup in 10 weeks of school in a comunity college. I had to tell him 5-6 times daily to square off his corners and pull out wide so he wouldn't cream stuff on the corners. he had trouble shifting the first week, I told him by week 2 he should be almost flawless, boy was I wrong. 18 days later he still had problems shifting smoothly.

the best example of how frustrating he was would be the story of the sams club load we did. we picked up in cali and delivered in ohio i think, I told him it was a 3 stop drop and explained what that was ( in one ear and out the other) we arrived at the first stop I went into the guard shack to get the instruction and hopped back in the truck I said 'pull down the the end of the building and turn left'. I can only give him one instruction at a time becuase then he'll say 'what next?'
we got to the end of the building and he said 'which way?' I said 'there is a field to our right and a fence in front of us where do you think we should go?'
he said ' I just ask by way of confirmation'
I said 'yeah but if you'd think about it you'd know which way'
so he turned left I said 'we're looking for door 232' of course it's on the other end so I know I'll have to repeat myself, we get to the other end and he says 'which door?'
I say '232' he pulls way, way beyond door 232 and starts to back into door 229, i signal him to get out and look because I always was outside to watch and make sure he didn't hit anything.
he goes looks at door 229 then walks over and looks at 232 while I open the trailer doors he comes back and says 'you said door "C32" '
I'm losing my patience already and say 'NO I SAID DOOR 232, AND I SAID IT TWICE!!'
so now I start thinking that maybe he can't hear properly or has adult ADD or something, I don't know what he has heard and misinterpreted in school or from his other trainer.

now we have to hustle now 'cause its not when you hit the gate but when you turn in your paper work that they consider you ontime or late, so I back it in. I tell him 'we have to drop the trailer here' I walk to the back and chock the tire i turn around and there he is standing right behind me.
I say 'what are you doing?'
he says 'I don't know?'
I say 'drop the trailer, you know dolly down disconnect the hoses etc...'
frustrating!

we head over to the bob tail parking and I run in the bills they tell me to check back in 2 hours. I go take a nap.

2 hours go by the partial load has been unloaded and counted and all is in order, I get the signed bills and roust 'rick' out of bed and we go looking for our trailer out in the yard. this sam's won't let you pull it out of the door, they use thier spotters to do it. we start cruising up and down the asiles looking for our trailer he asks for the trailer number, that was the first question he's asked in days that made sense. I told him and I noticed he was looking at every trailer on the lot (there were only a handful of werner trailers)! I said ' it will be a werner trailer'
well that sped up the search he pulls to the end of the row I tell him to turn left I look right and say 'there it is' it's the only werner trailer in view with its back to us and T.V.s you could clearly see in the back. he turns back right and says .... 'which one'
I couldn't contain myself anymore I said 'which one do you think?' I'm pissed by now and I have a headache.

I gave him 2 weeks to show me improvement before I kicked him off, he may be out there driving a weiner wagon so give all of them some extra room.

one last thing 2 days before he got off my truck we were heading up 95 around brunswick GA they have construction going on up the ying-yang. he passes two big diamond shaped signs that clearly state the right lane ends in 1/2 mile. I look over at him he's stareing up the road not really looking, all other traffic has moved over and if he was paying attention he would see the barrels closing off the road.
I pointed and said 'HMFSFPFG' (I had a mouth ful of apple)
he says 'excuse me?'
I swallow quickly and say 'THE ROAD IS DISSAPEARING!!'
luckily a fellow driver saw he wasn't paying attention and left room for him to get over.
I was again irratated, frustrated, and aggravated I said 'I want you to look at every sign we pass and read it, I don't care if you read it out loud!'

an hour later I tested him and asked what sign we just passed, he failed to remember, the next day he was off my truck.

sorry about the long post, clearly I still have psychological scarring I need to work through from my experiences with this student.....

 

Wow you may want to get checked for PTSD. That guy really fried your nerves!

 

yep, well all other students fired on all cylinders and could remember more then one command hehe.

seriously if I said 'pull further down and do a "u" turn go back out the gate and turn left' he would do the u turn and say 'what next?'

 

I hope you didn't think I was being too blunt in my earlier post . I've seen the type and they just will never be a driver . Enjoy your beer and better luck with the next trainee .

 

Maybe he can get a job at a fuel stop asking "Is that everything ? "