schneider...a year in review

I want to keep a log of my time at Schneider and figured I would start today with orientation. I will update this a few times per week with how things are going, good or bad with this new company for me. Ill be happy to answer any questions that anyone has about my experiences.

Here goes!

Today, I started day one with Schneider National. This was basically a day of doing prehire paperwork (i-9, tax forms, etc.) as well as a Pre-work job screen. This consisted of carrying some weights a distance, crouching under a platform to simulate going under a trailer, and several other exercises to simulate different things that are done while out on the road. These were all pretty easy and I passed with flying colors.

We also were sized for our boots that we get. These are brand new Rocky boots that retail for about $125.00 that Schneider gives its drivers each year. This is an awesome perk for the driers and something that I think is really cool from a company!

The instructor for our class is Chuck. He is a really cool guy and I think this will be a fun class to sit through with him for the next 5 days.

All in all, so far this is looking good! Everyone at Schneider that I have coe into contact with, have been super cool to deal with. It is really giving me a good feeling that I chose the right company to continue my driving career.

That is pretty much it, for today. Not a lot going on the first day there and I was actually sitting on my couch before 12:30 this afternoon.

 

Yeah, Tardis...but 25.00 for 125.00 pair of Rocky's? Ill pay that all day long. That is basically stealing them.

 

Im in Atlanta.

 

Today was kind of boring to me. Let me explain why.

On Friday, as I was going through all of the red tape with medical and trying to get my DOT Card, the ladies in medical decided that I wasn't going to be able to get things done by 5:00 so they actually deleted me from the class that I am currently in. I did get it straight with my recruiter and she put me back in the class.

Now, fast forward to today. We all were supposed to complete this series of video training to get through orientation. Now, this would have been just fine, except for the fact that since I got deleted my medical from the class, it also deleted me from the system. Easy fix, one would think, right? Wrong!

Since I was deleted from the system, so was all of my information including user names and passwords to get into the video portion of the training. This is an online training course and without that user name and password, I was dead in the water. So, while all of my classmates were busy finishing their online training, I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs until my recruiter came it at 9 am. Not so bad, one would think, right? Wrong!

You see, not only was I deleted from the system and couldn't take the video courses, I also couldn't go out on my road test because they had no clue if I passed my drug test or not without me being in the system. So, while three of my classmates got to go out on the road test, I got to sit and twiddle my thumbs. But, it had to be at least 9am by then, you say? Yep, it was actually around 10am at that point and my recruiter took her sweet time getting me into the system. At around lunch time, I was finally recognized as being a person as far as Schneider was concerned and got my user name and passwords for the training portion, but it was lunch so I couldn't do them at that point.

I DID, however get to go at that point and do my road test. This was a fiasco on it's own. when I was at Prime, I was a CDL instructor and Driver trainer, so you would think I wouldn't screw the pooch on a road test, right? Wrong!

We started out with a pre-trip and I forgot my name! I could not, for the life of me, remember half of what I knew about a pre-trip inspection. I couldn't even remember where the light switch was for the headlights. I felt like SUCH a rookie! Now, in my defense, I haven't driven a Century class Freightliner in over three years and the switches are all different on the Cascadia's and Peterbilt's, so I had that going for me, yet I still felt like an idiot. LOL.

Once I stumbled through the pre-trip, we head out and drive. I got through that pretty well, because if there is one thing I CAN do, is drive! Once we came in from the road, I was to back into a spot between two trailers. He told me late which hole he wanted me in and I didn't set it up right so I ended up screwing it up. I drove around and reset myself up the right way and one-shotted it at that point. PASS!

Got back to the classroom and we watched videos on safety, the guy that runs the joint in Atlanta came and spoke to us and we were outta there by 3pm.

So, here I sit...on my couch at home listening to these training videos while I am writing this report out. I need to have these twelve modules done by tomorrow because we really get into things starting in the morning. The dreaded LOG BOOK classes! These are about as exciting as watching ice melt. Oh well...it's gotta be done, right?

I should have a truck by Thursday, according to my instructor, and hopefully will be out on the road by Friday afternoon. I hope so!

More later!

 

I just finished all the modules and I was seriously thinking about getting an ice pick and poking my eardrums out listening to that guy!