Wannabe's and Those Thinking About This Career

I have seen alot of wannabes and supporters come and go over the little time I been here, quickly finding out that backing up a 80 foot 80,000 pound hunk of metal is not easy, finding out that its not all glory and glamour, I have a LITTLE road time as a rider, and a bit of time on a yard doing my practice skills and let me tell you what your in for:

At school, if its a good school that wants you to know how to drive, expect to be in the yard for atleast 20 days, wind, rain, snow, sleet, heat, whatever. Your there. early morning to sunset, doing the same basic things over...and over...and over...till you can recite your pretrip in your sleep and see the parts in your eyelids.

180 hours will be my seat time when im done with school. in 3 weeks. for those math wizzes thats 60 hours a week 6 days a week (I get sundays off!)

in those 180 hours, you will learn:

Shifting, backing, parallel parking, pretrips (Look at my thread 'the adventure begins for a full pretrip rundown) log books, DOT rules and regulations, minor truck service, hours of operation laws, you will pee in a cup atleast twice, 2 physicals, 3 dot/dmv visits, lots of waiting, and plenty of lack of sleep nights.

From my 2 months on the road with newbie eyes:

What you will get there:

Mad shippers, annoying recivers, wait time for loads, wait time for fixes, bad meals, bad hygine from others and yourself at times, more pretripping, more logging, more DOT laws, constant reminders of the home that waits for you, testing whole new LEVELS of trust with your partner if you have one, finding out your paycheck is not the big bux you hoped for (even though its enough for me its not for some) and that your freedom that you longed for does not exist as you thought it did.

Nights without bathrooms, nights without rest stops, days of sleeping with sun up, days of sleeping with sun down, waking up to qual coms, waking up to reefers, going to sleep with YOUR reefer, lot lizards banging on your door wanting to give you a good time, lot lizards bouncing off your truck when guys dont want them.

People selling you hijacked stuff, feeling bad for the o/o that is eating pbj because he just sold his CB so he can get gas to get home and sell his rig (Yes, I met this, yes I saw this, bought him lunch) meth heads, crack heads, and any kinda head you can imagine...some from lot lizards.

Tearing your company truck up, (Oh yes, it will happen in some way shape or form) hearing jokes about your company (Sure Wish I Finished Training! We Employ Rednecks No Experiance Required) seeing accidents, running over cute animals, running over ugly animals, watching people pour urin onto the driveway near your sleeper.

Not scared off yet? Good because thats called earning your stripes, paying your dues, you gotta eat some crap before you get to some of the better stuff....and its not all bad....

You will meet good people (Like said o/o, and many of the folk here) You will find some good food, you will get a newer truck later that you WONT tear up, you will eventually learn how to ignore the lizards, reefers will stop bothering you, your DM will get the hang of you and give better loads, or more fitting loads, you will learn all those hard things you didnt get in school, traffic jams wont bother you as much anymore...your paycheck will increase.

Things DO get better.


But every trucker, ALL of them, gotta pay dues. Gotta suck it up and take the bad with the good, and know that your gunna get crapped on for a while till you have earned your stripes.

If you can accept that, then maybe its for you. If you cant, save yourself the headache, it can be a dream, it will be for me, because I know what to expect somewhat, I know whats out there, I have good support structures, and good friends that know whats going on.

If your smart, you will too and you can find them here. I am learning every day, but i will happily help you with whatever I can if you just ask.

Now, this is not me, trying to discourage. This is not me trying to encourage or talk like a grizzled vet. This is me, telling you my experiances, what you can expect, and such.

If you are discouraged by this, cant handle jokes, or people making fun of you when your new (Some people ARE jerks) and the good people you will find do not outwigh the bad, we would love you as a supporter, friend, and if this did not discouraged you, we welcome you as a driver and you have found the best support out there, other drivers who care.


Maybe I am a sadist, or masochist, I cant remember what is what, but either way, maybe I like Pain.


I am looking forward to my first year.

From the hair pulling traffic, to miscom's with my dispatch, to crappy loads, long waits, and low paychecks. And everything else.

Good luck out there, drive safe, and remember that your not alone, even if there is no one around driver.

 

Thanks SP, Im happy to see a older and more experianced driver tell me I make sense!

And welcome back , We missed ya.

 

Your welcome.

I see alot of posts encouraging.
Alot of discouraging.


I wanted to try to make one that was simply 'cards on the table' Ya know?