Mentors/trainers

Your trainer sounds like this jerk Mike Cromwell. That wasn't a joke earlier when I said just wait for him to ask you to join his wife and him. Gross. Same tactics, yell and scream and make you so angry you can't do it if you wanted to. Just be patient though man. It'll come to you. Hills are everywhere. Don't let them scare you, just respect it.

 

I have in this truck of mine the good ole Swift 8 speed. I always start off in 1st, 2nd if mt and 3rd if bobtail. I can not think of one time in all my years of driving have I started up a hill when loaded in 4th. I do not care what transmission you have. Correction, I do remember one time, and that was in an old Mack with a split gear lever. One was always on the high side.

 

Oh, I tried to clutch shift and couldn't do it well for a while. F that clutch if you ha e to float them in. That's where listening to the engine and timing come in. Some of the more seasoned drivers may say I'm a #######, but whatever works.

 

he was telling me to go faster in traffic that people were slowing down in

Please tell me I just didn't read that.

 

Remember what the Newbie said where thr Mentor is from? L.A.!

 

This so called " mentor " sounds like a graduate from the Lindsay Lohan driving academy.

 

Teaching is VERY HARD and MOST PEOPLE have to LEARN to TEACH and and just TELLING people what to do is NOT teaching!!!! I just went through Phoenix academy and their instructors MOST of them had the ¨LEFT and RIGHT¨method where they stood in the yard and yelled ¨to the left!¨ ¨to the right!¨ ¨why don´t you listen!!!!¨ and on the road they had the ¨now, downshift... now.... etc...¨ and what happens is that those who have a PRE DISPOSITION for driving do well or KIND OFF -- and think they are awesome... hahahahahaha... I pity who mentors THEM!!!!
Same thing at the trucking School I just graduated from... they had the same thing and in the middle of the course they sent the ´´student whisperer´´ from head quarters to take care of all the guys from previous classes who were NOT passing and I was lucky to get thrown in that class... THIS GUY had three hand signals... a fist for STOP a finger to the temple for THINK and two fingers to the eyes for LOOK... he took us to the CLASSROOM -- and explained the laws of backing up... in the black board not next to a running truck...

1= if passed the middle of the landing gear or near it -- NO CoNTROL or LESS control
2- once you get the BEND you straighten the STEARS and the bend remains

He demonstrated the laws and EVERYONE was alley docking by the next afternoon in one pull up, even people who were way worse THAN ME!!!

Then, he explained the theory of downshifting 5+5 is 10th gear 4+5 is 9th gear 3+5 is 8th 2+5 is 7th 1+5 6th match the speed to 1800 rpm to our truck -- it varies a little ... everyone was downshifting.

He would coach one merry go round and the second merry go round he would pretend he was the CDL guy and count your points and pass you or fail you...

He was there 6 days and everyone in his class passed first try and then he left, and the only people who liked him in my school were the THE STUDENTS!!!!!!!!!!

 

The biggest thing is that the student is willing to learn. If they have a attitude that they pretty much know it all, then it is already a lost cause. I have watched the students at the Fontana yard when they come back from driving, and never seen one that had a problem backing up. that instructor is good.

 

that is VERY true as well... there were some guys who thought they should be giving the class and all they knew was how to fail the cdl exam and it was a real hardship when they would start telling you how to do it and all you wanted is for them to shut up...