OTR "training" ....team driving disguised as training.

Don't fall for it you newbies out there. That is all it is. You do not need 8 weeks holding the steering wheel rolling down open highways during the graveyard shift, while your trainer snored and farts away in the back to be properly trained!! Eight weeks with my trainer, could have been condensed within a week. I'm currently in week two now...

My trainer has been training for fifteen years, you might think, lucky me, he can show me a lot, right? Yeah he did, he showed me that he's been at it so long, he perfected ways to cheat me out of proper training so he can be comfortable and maximize miles out of.

Before going out: I contact trainer, we grab a burger and chat. First thing he tells me, is he will never be a friend and do not think "I got your back" Ok fine.
Second: I'll be on the top bunk only. Bring extra cushion, as you'll tend to roll around up there. Translation? My trainer is too lazy to make an unmake his own bed.
Third: Bring all the food and drinks I will need to eat for two weeks, he does not believe in stopping for food or breaks. We will eat in the truck, "98% of the time" oh and he has no way to warm or cook food, so it will be highly selective to high preservative laced crap.
Fourth: recruiting assured me 5-7 days out at a time, he assured me no less then two weeks straight at a time. "We will keep the door closed and the wheels turning."
Fifth: I should time my fluid intake an hour or so before, so when we stop, I can fully urinate and not have to stop again for a minimum of 4-5 hours.
Sixth: It might take you a few nights to get used to sleeping on a moving truck, especially up there on the top bunk, it tends to rock you around a bit more, but most of my trainees get used to it by the third of forth night.
Seventh: If I feel comfortable with you by the second day, I'll be able to sleep in the back while you get in a full run.

Yeah, they call that training. It's called team driving. I don't care if your name is on a plaque at the company headquarters. I'm still a human, entitled to "food, liquids and a proper chance at a decent nights sleep." You know, the basics of life.... If you don't wish to train me, I should at least have those things. Even in prison you get those things......

 

It's one of the mega carriers. I'd rather not say which as at this point, just trying to suck it up and get through 6.5 more weeks of this. I'm just pointing out, that this 8 weeks of OTR training? Nah, it's not really training. LOL. It's about getting all the miles we can, period.

 

That's what I thought. But there are restraints present, who's gonna really use them? When it's my turn to sleep, it's supposed to me off time. But in reality, I'm up top only and it's like laying in a coffin. I can't stand up, or even sit up really.