Said i'd never do this......

now THAT is a good idea....how about some bacon and some toast? might as well get my money's worth, eh?

 

i hear ya there. i dont like crisp bacon....its hard on my tooth.

 

you really think so? maybe the repairs....that will take a few rolls of red tape, and going thru a few days of BS phone calls to finally get it covered. And that is just the fix on the truck. If its that hard to get repairs done, how hard do you think it'll be for swift to cover a truck payment? They will instruct whoever is working on it, to do it as fast as they can. It would be the first time Edwardsville shop got my truck in and out within a day. It wont happen.....trust me....it wont.

as far as 'everyone has to start somewhere'...yes that is true. But the student has a CDL, yeah? They should already know how to drive a truck, yeah? They should alread know the basics of backing, yeah? isnt that all a part of GETTING said CDL?? I'm not a drivers ed teacher....students should already know a little thing called 'lane control'. If they dont, they dont need to be on my truck. They dont need to even have a CDL in their back pocket. I'm all for 'fine tuning' habbits and skills.....but i'm not getting paid to be a drivers ed instructor.

THAT BEING SAID....if in that hour, i see they do have some skill, they do have the ability to shift from 1st to 2nd without grinding the gear, and able to back with somewhat organized method, then sure, i'll continue on with them. But if i've got to stop them from banging into a trailer on the drivers side, even once....if i see them not being able to see the left side trailer, and have that "where the F is the left side of the trailer" look, and they DONT get out and look? why would i want them on my truck? Just shows carelessness. And that is a habbit that will be hard to break. and its not going to come down to them breaking something on my truck before they "get it". the light is on, or they're off.....its that simple.

and i wouldnt judge, i would teach.

would you want to teach someone how to drive stick in YOUR car, and become so focused on the act of shifing, that they jump curbs and run into trees? If they ding your car up enough, would you not expect them to pay for it? I highly doubt you would go thru the trouble of teaching someone to drive a stick, and allow your car to get all tore up, without SOMEONE (namely the one you're teaching) to help cover the repairs. and i'm not talking about being paid to do it...i'm talking about picking up some joe blow, who wants to learn to drive stick.

 

I went from not knowing jack going into the academy, to atleast knowing how to shift and back. Was i as good at either getting out of 'the mill' as i am now? no....and why am i better?? practice. Hence why its better to run out of a dedicated fleet. students of mine will get 4x as many chances to back...and just as many chances to use common sense when pulling into a wal-mart that might be 'tight'. The thing i'm looking for driving around the yard for an hour, is to see there is a process going on in their head, and actual THINKING involved once/if they get themselves into a situation. If i dont see that, and they just gun it cause they're nervous or whatever....eh huh.....they get DAAAAS BOOOOOOOOT !!!!!

 

oh yeah, wasnt i to have failed at this whole L/O thing by now???