New truck driver hoping I didnt make a mistake changing careers!!

I am a registered nurse for 15 yrs and recently graduated from truck driving school March 13, 2010. However, my first, and only experience with a trucking company so far has been awful and I'm hoping I didnt make a mistake changing careers.

I signed on with Swift Transportation and finished orientation on March 30, 2010. After waiting over a week, I was assigned my first mentor. We left out on April 6, 2010 from ATL en route to Dallas, TX. However, when going through Birmingham, al - the driver (owner/operator) left me at a truck stop so he could go home and do laundry # 3:30p.m. and didnt return until after 11:30 p.m. Then he said our plan had changed (even though there was no message on the qualcom) and we ended up staying in B'ham that night. When we return to the ATL area the following Tues a.m., he had personal business to attend to and left me at home in ATL b/c he said he couldnt afford to put me in a hotel even though Swift said he had no choice. Anyway, I received a call from driver services late Wednesday afternoon stating they were taking me off his truck - that my mentor was suspended. When I explained all my belongings were still on the truck they were shocked because the mentor signed me in everyday and Swift thought I was on the truck. I had to wait 2 days for him to return my belongings.

I waited another week and 1/2, til they gave me my next mentor assignment. I got to the terminal at 8:00 a.m. per his instructions to leave out, and he didnt call or answer my messages until after 3 p.m. He was rude and unprofessional, so I called driver services, they talked to him and I was left to wait AGAIN for another mentor.

Almost 2 weeks later, I was contacted by a female mentor, who asked me to meet her at the terminal Wed # 11: a.m. After waiting around while she was on personal cell calls, she informed me we werent leaving until the next a.m. # 6:00. She asked me to go to Walmart for her to get her personal supplies, so I left my house the next morning # 4:30, did her errand and was at the terminal # 5:50 a.m. Once I found her truck, she was still in the sleeper & said we werent leaving until 9:00. She stated she had picked up the load at 11:30 the night before and we were ready to go. I sat in the passengerseat while she slept. When she woke up # 8:30, she asked me to go to McDonald's and buy her a coffee which I did. I called her cell when I got back at 8:50 and she said to go to the drivers lounge & she would meet me there & we would do my logs. At 9:50, I called her again & asked what was going on and she said she was on the phone & would be in the lounge in 15 min. I waited again, with her, by that time, ice cold coffee. Finally, at 11:30, she called me and started yelling at me that "We need to go!! and Hurry up". I went straight to the truck where I had to hear for 15 minutes how she had to "wait on me", that I "didnt come back to the truck, but "chilled" in the lounge", and that all my logs needed to be done "BEFORE I left the truck", even though I left at her direction. She did not let me drive, was on her cell phone all day, we did not stop to eat, and was by far the rudest person I have ever met. By the time was dropped the load in Columbus, OH at 12:30 that night, I had been snapped at and yelled at so much that the last time she jumped on me, I started to cry. The next morning at the terminal, she got up, did not speak, got out and went inside the terminal. I went in, looked for her, but couldnt find her so I returned to the truck. An hour later, she came back and said "You need to go to driver services". I went inside and much to my suprise, she had been in ahead and requested I be removed from her truck. So I was left stranded in Columbus, OH and had to take a 24 hr bus ride home.

My driver services apologized over & over to me and said she would find me someone else. ANOTHER week later, I got a call from another mentor who was very nice and we arranged to meet on Saturday. On Wednesday, I get a call from ANOTHER mentor saying I was supposed to meet with him. I called driver services (No answer or call back, as usual) and the mentor I was already scheduled to ride with. He said he has no idea what was going on that he had just received a random qualcom message that he wasnt going to be my trainer. I finally talked to driver services on Tuesday morning to find out why I was switched, and she said "You have been sitting out too long, we need to get you going". I explained that the new mentor she put me with wasnt picking me up til Fri, so what was the big difference? She had no answer. I also let her know that I had not been paid from from the previous trip and she said she would take care of it. I afterwards found out that I was being switched from a mentor w/ 10 yrs experience as a trainer, who still wanted to train me, to a mentor who had just completed the mentor class and had NEVER trained anyone. I called driver services every day and left numerous messages about the trainer AND my pay. She did not call me back til 4:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon and proceeded to tell me that I WOULD go with the inexperienced mentor and when I mentioned that I still had not received my money, she said it would be taken care of and I was expected to be on the truck the next day. I told her, with only $1.62 on my gas card, that if my money wasnt there, I would have no food until I could get back with someone on Monday.

On Saturday morning (the day I was to leave), I checked the balance on my card and it was still $1.62 - with no one available in driver services until Monday, I called the new mentor and explained that I would not be going and that it wasn't his fault.

I have not heard from my driver services since, and when I talked to her supervisor, he basically said it was all my fault and they would not work with me anymore. But, imagine my suprise when I got a letter of separation the following from them stating that I quit.

Please tell me all companies arent like this - I havent even applied to any more companies and am comsidering going back to nursing.