New pumpkin driver

Hey all

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Regarding the trainer, yes I was his first student. He's also 5 years younger and quite a bit taller and bigger than me. I have a lot more education and was quicker with stuff like math in my head. I have been mulling it all over... I am not judgmental of people on crap like this. We are all different! These things don't matter anyway and shouldn't here, because I don't know trucking, but I think the male competitiveness thing was a factor. He had to prove himself sort of superior or whatever. Everything I did was corrected ad nauseam partially for this reason, I believe.

The most important point is that it's over now, I didn't hurt anyone or break / bend anything, I saw good miles for the two weeks (about 2300) and I just have to show up in Edwardsville tomorrow morning to wrap it all up. He did his absurdly thorough best, as annoying as it was, so I have to give him that. If a comeuppance is in his future with another student on his crap, then it is. It was not my place to do that. Others can try to force their wills on the world, but just try it enough and you know it just doesn't work. It's just a lot of frustration. And now, he's on down the road on his next load and I wish him the best. We parted under good terms. All's well that ends well.

Last night, my girlfriend picked this ridiculous fight with me. I cannot even make sense of it. All was fine then she went off the deep end. Nothing I did was okay, and I saw her last night for all of an hour... doing stuff for her... and I am just happy to be with her... and how else I should be or should have been (starting to sound familiar?), I cannot identify... it's like she was spoiling for a fight, she needed some reason to be mad at me, regardless of how ridiculous her individual protestations actually were. This leads me to the same conclusion about trucking for a living. I have to work, so I may as well do something I enjoy... no one is going to support me or make everything perfect for me. As with this job, to keep this on-topic, I have to rely on myself to make good judgment calls and manage my own life well. I have support at home and on the road. I feel good about this job and I feel good about Schneider. For one thing, on medical, they are self-insured... do you know how rare that is these days? Their benefits are actually decent! Five days / week home for an OTR driver per month is good. Two weeks out, two home; two weeks out, three home. Yeah, they have slow trucks. Honestly, I thought it would really bother me, but it didn't. Other drivers who pull tandem pins with pry bars and don't sweep out trailers is more annoying. Orange is not my favorite color. I have heard a lot about carriers who hire new drivers, and I think I've made a very good choice. They have an OC in Edwardsville, IL, 25 mi. from my house. How convenient is THAT going to be? That is going to save me $ on PM's etc. and quite a bit of aggravation... it will add to my hometime as well. I did not have to team with someone for 60k mi. and have not even heard a peep from mgt. about leasing a truck.

Well, I really appreciate all your input! Thanks for reading my story here. According to my trainer, I saw a very good cross-section of what two weeks of trucking can and will bring you. None of it really rattled me that badly. The sort of loose "brotherhood" of drivers out there is kind of cool. I think Schneider is a good company. I like the Century series trucks because of their "tall" seating positions (more adjustment range up being better) and very good visibility over the hood. They seem to have a comparatively decent amount of storage space for your stuff. Maybe though I'll get a Volvo! I would not dissuade anyone interested in Schneider as a new driver. Just do your best to roll with stuff and get what you can out of things. That's my story, as long-winded as it was...

 

Hey driver... this is where most of the fun comes in. I will have MY truck, right? It will be my little world in there... I enjoy my own company and I like making decisions about stuff no one can or will contradict. In that way, training surely WILL seem like a distant dream!!!

 

Thanks a lot!! I think it was a good test for me in that way, can I do it, yes I sure can. In the end that's all I wanted to know, anyway.

Hogan, maybe 10 min from my place, over in Earth City. I wish you guys the best. I'm sure at some point we will cross paths.

 

Schneider paid me $300/wk for the 15 days and 2300 mi / wk.

I am DONE with training! I completed SQT in a day and a half. I'm taking the rest of the week off then getting a rental car to either Indy or Atlanta from the Edwardsville, IL OC to get my truck! WOOT!