Anyone have current info on FFE?

Good luck Joe. I suggest you apply to Swift or Trans Am. Heck Schneider might have something in your area. Check with roehl as well.

KH

 

Sorry to hear about this

Most other training co's would have you doing OTR at this point. Thats messed up they got all nasty with you in the end. I hope you keep pursuing trucking, you will make a darn good driver.

 

wow i really dont get that. What was so wrong. sounds like you did everything right

 

Yea. I'm kind of confused also with what happened. :smt017

 

Paul Harvey may know !!!!

 

Another on the list of who not to work for?

 

Yeah, I'm a little confused too. They didn't say why they were letting you go? Just yelled at you to get off the property?

 

March 22 2011






Hello Group:


Yes, I am not sure about what happened there in that company myself.

All that I can say is that It started getting strange to me when I kept repeatedly getting called by the Examiner lady "Deb" to come in take my Road test for my upgrade. She called me Friday right after I came into the Yard from my last load assignment, one where I drove 600 Miles from Lamar CO to get there.

I did go in to the FFE Driving Academy Office, in the Safety Department where they are located and the two Administrators sit side by side and I originally agreed to go out for my Test on Saturday Morning early but the program administrators Trecia Willingham and J.D. Jackson were very considerate of me and Trecia asked me if I was tired and asked me if I would like to reschedule the Road test for Monday sometime and after I took some backing up classes over the weekend "so that nothing would be in my way of passing" and I agreed to do this. I really respected and appreciated them for allowing me to take my time and to get more practice in over the weekend so It was cool with all of us until later on that day.

I went in to the FFE School Office again to let J.D. and Trecia know that I still would like to wait until Monday and to get more rested and to practice with the class a little bit more but then it really started getting strange when J.D and Trecia told me that It was "out of their hands" at that point and "Operations" asked them to test me on Saturday "so that I can get in my Truck and get out of here" and then they stopped smiling and looked away from me and I saw Trecia in the hall later as I was doing my laundry and I was going to Thank her for allowing me to be in such a nice program for 8 weeks, but she just walked away from me quickly with her head down. I knew at that point something was wrong with my Popularity in the company.

I guess that somebody said something about me that they should'nt have said and It worked It's magic against me. I can't think of anything else that It could have been, other than perhaps my trainer, as nice as he was and in as much as he Trusted me to drive 600 miles per day and after dark and in all kinds of weather, he may have said that I was still naive and not yet ready.

One thing about Curtis is that he himself has had a lot of problems in his career with Jobs and accidents and with citations and he has lost a lot of earnings from his ordinary level of income and his life in general has been getting tense, recently he has had some very serious family problems, so he had been changing from his usual friendly self and getting seriously pissed off within the past 5 weeks especially after he was done shouting with them over the phone.

He is a recovery man from the NA and the AA so I could see both sides of him One where he was very understanding, as a survivor and a host and also theraputic and the other one where he seemed to be more like a simple rude ignorant person. He is a little bit deaf and he would play Howard Stern for hours and hours up loud in the Truck to try to forget about his problems.

So, I am not sure exactly what happened to set off whoever It was that made the determination about me over there at the FFE, but It seemed to be more like a rule, so I did'nt get in with my own Truck, but I am very pleased to have obtained the level of work experience and peace that I have been able to arrive at anyway.

I always feel really relaxed behind the wheel of a Tractor Trailer now and I like the work and I was driving at night a lot and keeping up the speed under all conditions, then again my Mileage was improving from around 500 Miles per day when I first started the FFE Driving Academy to at least 600 Miles per day when I was finished with my last week there.

Curtis did'nt even have any problems with closing his curtain and sleeping in the back while I was driving down the Highway, even whenever I would pull off and park the Truck and go in to a Truckstop or take a restroom break, he was very supportive in the end as he was in the beginning, but I just don't know if he really thought that I was good enough to become a Solo driver.

I have heard from another person after my experience in being ejected from there at the FFE and that was that the FFE is Cold Blooded in the end and I guess that that's just the way that they operate if they don't want for You to run solo at the end of their Academy.

I don't know why they just don't allow everyone there to just stay on It for a couple more Months, like Prime where You have to show them 60,000 Miles, especially if You tell them that You think that You need to get more experienced in Your education, It saves them money anyway, paying a Student's wage for a whole 600 Miles per day consistently. I would be a team driver for awhile if I could at least make a students wage.

The one thing that I always did to piss Curtis off immensely was to jam the gears while I was attempting to float them. There were two ways that I did this: starting from 2nd and shifting too fast to 5th or 6th gear and then losing the gear because of ground speed and Second, trying to downshift without the RPM's or Groundspeed especially into 6th gear or 5th gear. I had Curtis blowing his stack over and over when I would grind, jam or miss gears.
The other thing was, I did'nt really ask him in the beginning to let me do much 45 deg Alley docking, so that all shifted until the end of the course, but It was still OK.

I somehow formatted that last paragraph out of the line of paragraphs, but You can see what I mean.

I did'nt have any fighting with Deb or security, I have learned to just ignore old people who act forgetfull like Deb did with me, she could'nt even remember my name at the end of the Road test, when she asked me to meet her back at her office she told us that she forgets names of students a lot, and then the security guard was an ancient looking guy that I felt sorry for, just an old an decrepit looking dude.

I was especially sorry for him if he thought that I would comply with him by grabbing all of my tent bags and moving them into the guard shack. I just did'nt say anything and turned my back and walked out the door with my bags and past the guard shack in the parking lot and over to the other side of the Street.

 

March 23 2011





Hello Group:


I am headed home to Oreland PA right now by way of Amtrak in Dallas Texas.


The Amtrack station by the way is located right next to the Dallas Federal Building, and that is located right on Dealy Plaza or right next to the "grassy knoll" if You know what I mean. There is the 6th Floor Museum right across the Street and the Dallas County Big Red museum also across the Street from the Amtrak station. Up the Street is a Chipotle restaurant, along the tracks, built into a sidewalk Cafe.

Amtrak is expensive Today, about $300 for a one way ticket back to the Northeast and their baggage policy is kind of restrictive too I think, where You have to have only 36" bags at 50 pounds maximum weight per bag, but It may still be possible to use a long military stuff bag and to pay them extra for the weight and the size of them in order to ship Your things. You can pay them to ship additional 36" bags at $10.00 apiece according to their website. At least they will still carry Bicycles.

The only problem with Amtrak is that Dallas is kind of out of the way of the main lines and the Northern Trains start running at 3:40 PM and thus You would only get a few hours of daylight for the trip before the next day but You would get a whole day of visibility from the train for the next day. The train to Chicago arrives at Midnight and then You would have a whole day of layover until about 7 PM the next day and then You have to ride all night until You catch the Pennsylvanian at about 7'Oclock in the Morning and then ride It all day long.

I had to go up to Loves Truckstop here in Dallas to buy 4-36" leather stuff bags so that I could be sure of packing everything onto Amtrak. I still have my military tube bags so I am going to check out whether they would still be legal instead for the Train. Somebody said that they have some lighter trains along the route that don't have baggage cars so You have to wait for an extra day in order to get Your bags at the end of the Trip.

I went out to the Dollar General store here in Lancaster Texas and bought a case of bottled water and some chex mixture for the Trains because they really charge You a hell of a lot of money for food on them ordinarily. I am also about to go to the 7-11 and buy some pizzas because they are a lot cheaper than the ones that they Sell on Amtrak. I should have bought a lot of fruit to go along with all of this, but I guess that It will all work out on the next Trip.

 

Good luck Joe. Sorry to hear about your experience. You will find something that fits you. Of course in the trucking industry, you will run into jerks like like now and again. I get it sometimes from shippers and receivers. I always tell them if they don't want their product, then refuse the load and I will be happy to take it back where I got it, then their customer will be unhappy with THEM not to get their stuff. Don't shoot the messenger.