What was your worst rookie mistake?

One time I was headed to Lonestar, TX to pick up pipe from the US Steel yard out there. It was very late in the evening and very dark out. I don't like relying on a GPS but a co-worker who has made the run before said the yard was programmed in there and told me what to hit. Somehow I ended up going right through Lonestar and ended up very lost. After I figured it out, I was looking for somewhere to flip around. I saw what I thought was a church with a large dirt parking lot that was connected to a side street. I pulled onto the side street planning on turning left into the dirt lot and just making a big flip. Turns out that was a grass field. I set the brakes while parked on this side street and got out. I walked through it and it seemed pretty firm so I used it. It worked out for me but I felt bad. I'm sure the following Sunday there were some people who were a little upset. I thought it was better than taking a chance trying to back onto the road where it has a 55mph speed limit. I didn't want to get anyone killed if they were to come flying through there and nail my trailer as I'm trying to back into the road. I felt it was the safest thing I could do at that point.

 

Just got off my trainers truck. Got my own shiny rig. Took my first load to atlanta... All was good... Got unloaded, headed out back to Fulton industrial.. I need to go left.. so cross traffic is horrible especially with no traffic light... So im like screw it, ill turn right and im suuuurrreee my GPS will reroute me.. and boy was I right.... Right onto a dirt road.. so I figure hey, I'll just turn down this other dirt road and 45 back myself out... So.I get hung up in sugar sand..... Hate myself a little... Cry a little....call my wife for some reason? Eventually after much rocking I finally get her out and in so much denial, I cruise off like nothing ever happened.

Oh next one? One lovely afternoon in Battle Creek Michigan, I missed the turn to Kelloggs, so I figure hey! My GPS says all I have to do is make a quick left and two right turns and I'll be heading back the way I came... 2 minutes later I was helping a guy mow his front lawn...

Oh another one? Just trucking along to PA, get off xit 11 on I-70 in WV to go to TA for fuel... Somehow completely missed the entrance.. all the sudden I'm going down a windy road downhill into the abyss.



Did this to coming out of jersey city once. Ugh, man oh man

 

When I was a noob had to slide my trailer tandems. Was so happy when the pins unlocked so easy, then the tandems start sliding....oops forgot to set the trailer brakes. Just kicked the locking handle back up and acted like I intended to do it that way.

 

My first sort of big mistake, at a receiver had to slide tandems all the way back before going into the lot and I did, I proceeded to look for my door and before going to the area I had to make a right turn and i wasn't used to driving with my tandems all the way back so let's just say they have a pancake of a cone, and they made a big fuss about it too, oh well at least it wasnt anything expensive or living... Simple 20$ cone... That's my top mistake so far...



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These are all great and i have several winners.
Stopped at a rest area in Kansas in the winter. Jumped out in my tshirt and ran inside, came back out and found I had locked myself out of the truck. Waited for a flatbed to come along and asked him if I could borrow a hammer and calmly smashed out the small wing window and got back in.
Downtown Phoenix on a Sunday morning I took a right turn a little too sharp and watched a perfect fountain erupt from a fire hydrant I ran over. No one was around so I kept going.
My first solo load and I mean first as I just got out of a truck with my trainer and got my own. Went to a pipe place for a load. Pulled in and they told me to turn around so went forward and made a left between 2 big piles of pipe and was concentrating on the pipe so much I took out the front tire and bumper on a parked truck. Curtains open and the biggest black man I have ever seen looked out then got out of his truck. My first instinct was to lock my door. He walked over, looked at his truck then asked me to get out. I asked him if he was mad and he said no, I said "are you sure" and he said this is what insurance was for so I got out and he was the nicest guy I've met in a long time. Even though it was the day before Christmas and now he wasn't going to get home for it. HUGE LESSON ON THIS ONE: Don't judge a book by it's cover and don't concentrate on one thing so much that you miss everything else around you.

 

Fueled up at the wrong fuel stop.

 

Picked up a pre-loaded trailer in NH going to Jacksonville, FL. Matched trailer numbers with the paperwork and headed out. Got to the customer 2 days later, opened the doors and backed in. Waited a while and nothing was going on so went inside. The unloader was looking at the trailer and I asked him what was up. He said "what's this?" I said kinda perplexed "your load" thinking dumba**. "No it's not" he replied. "This stuff is going to Miami". The mill had loaded the wrong product on the trailer. I looked at it and said "I'm not going to Miami". We talked it over and luckly it was going to the same company and they had a shuttle that ran everyday down that way so he took it off and put it on one of his trucks for me.
Moral of the story: Every time I pick up a load I open the doors and see whats in the trailer.

 

Dang, Snowman. Took something from CA to Kitty Hawk...

What the drop off said. Got back to CA,

 

Don't feel bad, we've all done it!

 

I was in a hurry one dark and cold night, I forgot to crank the landing gear up. Lucky it was back when some of the trailers had steel wheels instead of pads. nice shower of sparks down the street into the truckstop. then one time I loaded out of some rinky dink grain elevator, had stacks that folded down. I didnt fold them down, the building did that for me... dont let ppl give u a bunch of sh$t.. we all mess up.