Werner Trainer's

I too just got off a Werner truck with a bad trainer. As a female I wanted to wait for another female trainer but after a 2 weeks at their hotel I decided to roll the dice and go with a guy. The few nice things I can say about him was that he did not sexually harass me or make any inappropriate comments. We also had some decent conversations. And...he didn't talk my ear off like some other truckers I had met thus far.
On my second day of driving we had a full load going up the I-25 to Colorado. I had 2 things going against me. First....I figured out days later that I had the jake brake on. Don't need it going uphill and it seems to make the truck harder to shift. He was sitting there and could have told me. Also, my reluctance to downshift as any new driver is caused us to lose momentum fast. I had to pull over twice to restart. Thankfully there was very little traffic. By the time we got into Denver and hit traffic my nerves were spent. It actually made it much easier since I was no longer in a panic.
He did his requisite 15 hours of observation time. But once that was full-filled he retired to his sleeper and there spent most of his time. He showered twice in the 8 days on was on his truck. He tried to tell me that this was the life of truckers. I said bs because everytime I took a shower he chose to sleep. He also peed in the truck which Werner says is a no-no. I told him I did not want to touch the steering wheel after he had been touching you know what. Thankfully I had anti-bacterial wipes.
I could have dealt with his constant need for sleep and his hygiene issues because really he didn't stink. And after my first several days I did not need him up there saying, "watch out for that" or "shift now". I could have used the moral support at times as I was scared at times. But at that point I was basically teaching myself. He just gave me the directions and I got us there. I was a good driver in school and a good student. There were 2 nights out of the 8 that he drove all night. Ok, I understand you sleeping during the day. But when you have had a good night's rest and you are now sleeping the day away. Hmmm. Very trusting soul or stupid.
When he made us late to pick up a load because he was sleeping at a stop I started to get peeved. I had tried to wake him up several times to leave but he kept saying we had time. I had driven my hours that day and was still on restriction for night driving. He then lied to dispatch telling them that we had hit traffic. On another day I was driving and saw a message come up to call dispatch immediately. When I tried to wake him up he said, "no, I'm sleeping". Ok, dude. When he finally did they informed us that we had just picked up a high value load and to put locks on the trailer. He refused. The guy had no money. He was asking for an advance when I got on his truck. I had already paid to scale a load and DEF for the truck. I should have popped for the locks. The company would have reimbursed me. But I was pissed at this point and wanted him to get in trouble. I was slowly building steam. I was afraid to confront him because he was twice my size and I was in an unfamiliar situation. But as a worker/employee I am highly professional and have a strong work ethic.
I called my sdm and asked to get off the truck. The situation was serious enough that they wanted me to submit in writing exactly what had happened. There was some confusion as to where I would get off his truck. My sdm was saying one place while dispatch was giving me another location. Oh, my proverbial straw happened when on the second to last day we had stopped and determined that I had another hour of drive time. He went to sleep and I took off. I watched my clock to make sure I pulled over in time. I stopped at a rest area. He didn't even wake up when I pulled the brakes. I said, "It's your turn". He said, "It hasn't been an hour". I said, "Get up here dude". I layed into him with everything that had transpired.
Our final load was going to Phoenix. I was about to run out of hours and he was headed for home time. We both live in CA. I decided to get off at the terminal in Phoenix. On the way into Phoenix he was driving with just his elbow on the wheel, fiddling with his cb connector and eating ice from a cup that he couldn't seem to find the cup holder on the floor for. We were all over the road and there was moderate traffic. At that point I was a safer driver than he was.
Even after all that I really like the job. It is challenging and fun to see the country.
I like working hard and this is hard work. I just hope I can get another trainer that can work with me to fine tune of course my backing and other new driver issues.
Any input would be great.

 

HA! I say Ha! When i was with Swift I had no more than 6 weeks experience and was begging to go back to a trainer because I was messing up, I got a message to come in and discuss being a trainer myself. WTF?

 

Well, I start with Werner next week. I have been out of country for three years (my husband is active duty and we were in Germany) and I need some training time to get back behind the wheel. I had nothing but crap problems with Swift so I cannot imagine anything worse at Werner.

While trainers are bad there are bad students as well. I am of the school that if you don't shower then you should trainer those that don't shower..etc. I don't mind being with a male driver, I am married and a mother and madly in love with my soldier so who cares what my trainer has between the legs? Plus if I can survive three brothers and my husband unit, I can handle anything.

 

Ah Ha! They DO go to Denver. So far no one seems to have any idea how to get me back to CO. I told my SDM I was going to go find my own ride down at Sapp Bros. might get Werner to buy me a bus ticket by the end of the day.

 

I think your going to do just fine...good luck with your trainer!

 

I managed to get through training with male trainers. My first one didn't seem to think that women should be driving truck, and did his best to not train me. The second trainer I had was awesome, and did a good job of training me. The first trainer was a 6 month wonder (yes, he had only been driving for 6 months). The second one had much more experience. Having grown up a tomboy and being more comfortable hanging out with guys than with most women, it wasn't an issue for me. I'd rather talk cars, trucks and motorcycles than clothes, makeup, hair and gossip.

 

How about the guy who pulled the airbrakes at 65 mph because the redlight message on the dash came on ? or the one who passed an oncoming semi coming up the I-70 in the wrong lane with his flashers
on ? screaming like a child but he never slowed down when we passed
on the right ? My life flashed B-4 my eyes on that one. I am looking for another line of work, now.

 

I wonder if anyone had a gay trainer or a bi...I ran across a few they're actually pretty decent but you can't trust everybody

 

Yeah, they have a large Terminal just outside Denver.

 

Thats just not true- several companies have training programs and high standards for trainers.

When I trained at USX you had to have a spotless driving record- you had to have a excellent customer service record- you had to be recommended by the terminal mngr and you had to have at least 5yrs behind the wheel with 2 yrs at USX- The trainer and trainee had to both agree to get in the truck and each trainee was allowed to give a evaluation of their experience with the trainer.

I even had to go out with a trainer when I started there because I had driven local before signing up. My trainer had 14 years as a log truck driver and 7 years with USX.

Back then you got all the miles when your trainee was ready for team status so there was a incentive to make sure they could drive. You also got a bonus if the trainees lasted more then 3 months after they went solo, so as a trainer you wanted them to succeed