Maybe It's Just Not Your Gig

Wait just a minute... so if I'm to understand this right. It's OK to admit that you're normal when you can't drive a truck and truck driving is for abnormal people and a truck driver welcomes those people to the world of normal because they aren't cut out to be a truck driver because they're normal, yet she's a truck driver because she isn't normal?

 

Well, it all makes sense. When's the last time you saw a truck driver who was really normal?

 

normally yea.

 

The voices in my head say I'm normal, except that one little ####### in the corner..........

 

Well, if only one dissents, then majority opinion is on your side! So it seems to me like you come out ahead here.

 

Trucking isn't easy, some are natural gifted pros, some in do time with lots of hard work practicing gets it, and there is some no matter how hard they try still can't manage.

Trucking i think test the character of a person, from all the daily dangers from, traffic, weather, road conditions, people wishing to cause you harm or rob you, being miles, days, months away from family and the world you know, it does test the gut.
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As with any profession, some people have it and some don't. Unfortunately, putting people behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler that "Don't have it", puts us and the rest of the driving public in grave danger.

 

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Sad thing also is, not to many ways for one to fine tune their craft in trucking with out getting on the roads, a student first day on the road at a driving school, can cause a lot of damage, before he/she ever gets their license.

I know some schools have simulators, mine didn't, and im not sure how well they prepare you for real world of road driving, given those learning how to drive in rural areas will have an advantage of limited amount of traffic, and learning the basics of trucking, but in time when they are off with their new company off with a trainer will half to drive the interstate running through cities, with traffic popping out at you from all sides, stops and go, with very little margin for error. the learning curve in trucking is very slim.

in some work places when you make a mistake you can say sorry, my first day, my first week, where here in trucking, that first mistake could place you 6 feet under, could place you in jail, or years of lawsuits.
That's why I agree trucking may not be everyone's cup of tea for there is a lot more to it then just driving, but if one is able to hone in their craft, and be safe, put safety as a priority first and always they can make a great living at this, and enjoy this wonderful profession.
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Starting to think maybe it isn't for me. I keep trying to tell myself is the company i hired on with to start, but getting harder to believe that as the days go by and i still not getting things figured out and i feel like my skills are not getting any better.
I like the job. Love the driving part. Like spending most of my day alone. It is sometimes physically demanding, almost more than i can do some days. I've come home hurt, bruised, and bleeding. I do not tell anyone I'm hurt tho, don't want them to think I'm whiney whimp. (which i am)
but i am not mechanically inclined, i know nothing about the truck, engines, transmissions, the pump, breaks, fuses and wiring, all the things i should be learning these first few months; much less oilfield, and i just not getting it figured out on my own. I have no confidence at all, and don't know how to build or get any confidence doing this. Since i not getting it figured out, i just feel stupid and worthless. I wanted to be good at this, proud of my job, ya know?
Maybe i just not cut out for it. Really wish i was, i do like it. Hate the idea that I'm failing when I'm sure if i could just get all the other stuff i need to know (beside how to herd it down the road) i think I'd be good driver. Oh well, accept limitations right? I will stick out my current employer for as long as they will tolerate me, or till i can get back on my feet enough financially to look for work elsewhere.