What was your worst rookie mistake?

well here;s a good one ....desperate for a team driver when just out of school my carrier paid 28 cpm solo and 43 split as a team ....i took anyone i could get of course just my like got a fairly hot chick with breast implants.....well being younger as stupider um i took advantage of the situation unfortunately codriver thought if she told my wife i would stay on the truck and not go home ,,,,fortunately my wife did not kill me but it was a very long couple of years

 

Witnessed a few rookie mistakes over the years but best was a kid who just started driving for a company I worked for early 80's.

Boss bought a mid 70's GMC ASTRO 95 COE big bunk. This kid spent 3 days ( hottest of the year ) cleaning , polishing , fixing , painting the truck up, he worked his BUTT off and it looked good . Sad thing was it was not the truck he was getting assigned but belonged to someone else altogether and it had been delivered to our yard by mistake.

 

And nobody told the rookie!!!

 

I have 2, both in Chicago. First one was morning rush hour, shipper at Cicero and Roosevelt. I was supposed to turn onto Roosevelt and back into the shipper from the street. Got there, more than one dock so I try to find a place to pull over to go check in. Wound up 1 block past the shipper in the right lane of traffic. Had to back down the street into oncoming traffic to get back to shipper. Second one was just a couple days ago. Had a p/u in Chicago at 1500. Left the shipper at 1600 and followed my GPS instead of company directions. (I know STUPID!!!) Trying to make a RT turn to try to get going back toward I-55, got right side trailer tire (the tread, not the outside edge) up against one of the big poles they had put on the corner to keep the trucks off the sidewalk. Had to back up, re-angle the trailer to get around the corner. Made about 15-20 cars move in the process.

 

And nobody told the rookie!!! It was a long weekend and no one was around that knew anything about the truck, he took it upon himself that the truck was the 1 the boss had bought at an auction , keys were in the shop so he went at it. He worked all weekend on it , then the boss showed up said NICE JOB but why did you cleanup a truck I do not own ?

 

You know I work for Prime, (driver, instructor, and trainer). Seen much worse than you can imagine.....

 

Maybe you ought to consider doing a better job Mr. Instructor/Trainer.

 

You do know this is Prime's forum, right? The PRIME people posting on here are about the easiest bunch on this site to get along with and as I only occasionally pull some PRIME freight they still make you welcome.

 

Something tells me you sit in your truck and watch as a new guy struggles to back into the only spot.