Former May Drivers Lounge...

Hello gentlemen, and ladies if applies. I'm a former May driver and have been enjoying reading through all of this so far. I wasn't too sure what to post at first but I think I'll throw in some stuff from my experiences.

So I started out with this company as my first. It wasn't too bad at all in the beginning when the truck would do 65. My trainer was horrid. I was never trained so to speak, never helped out with any backing questions I had etc. The guy was a very religious man, which hey it's cool. I am glad you found a faith that works that well for you and helps you out. I'm an atheist and all but I sure don't go stomping on other's religion. Problem I had is every single day several times a day I had to receive some kind of sermon. Or listen to one on one of several audio books. I was also never allowed to listen to anything but channel 6 on XM so it made for a long trip. Once I got out on my own I had a 379 Pete and loved that thing. Helped me feel connected to my father who drove years back, like I was part of the club at last.

Anyhow, the company worked with me most times, kept me running for the most part. I eventually got into a 387 Pete and ran all I could run. I didn't like the lack of being able to idle when the blacktop was literally melting under tires in Santa Fe and other locations but I survived. Then the changes started coming. They promised if you made your fuel mileage goal your truck would still run 65, but run 62 otherwise. Even wit 6.8 mpg, and the goal being 6.5 they never once bumped it up. Then there was the fight to not let them convert my 13 speed to a 10. After that whole mess I ended up stuck in a century and absolutely hated it. It was one of the I-5 trucks and I was a 48 runner.

All in all though I would recommend that place to new guys over Swift and England, so on, as it's not a bad place to get your feet wet at all. I definitely miss Dan Boyd (can anyone tell me if he is still running the show in Denver?) that guy was one of the best bosses I ever had. If you screwed up he chewed your ### as expected but then dropped it. He never held a grudge. I also wonder if Billy the Kidd is still out there somewhere (o/o guy) he was cool as well. Helped me out and even fed me a time or two. My breaking point was when I sat in Fontana for six days along with 18 other trucks going nowhere, but I do kinda miss it, strangely.

Anyhow, good to meet you folks, good to see a thread for the old days around.

 

Yep, Danny is still here. Running the Gary Indiana terminal for right now.

 

New terminal in Gary? Suppose that makes sense for as much as they loved to have top offs in Lake Station. Funny thing is though I remember Dan saying they weren't going to be shipping him off to open a new terminal anymore, Denver was his last stop . I imagine Lynne is still with him up there then as well. Mindy still a DM in Denver at all?

 

Yes shes with him and nope the only person that is there is steve and robyn is ocm

 

and I really wouldnt call gary a terminal.... its a house, with a bigger than average yard that they stick trucks in
and yep you can do worse. their equipment is good and.... yeah... their equipment is good
I started january 2012. when I left in january 2013, out of the 7 people that work there (in denver), only 3 of them are still there. Im not sure how long sharla worked at MTC, but theres something to be said when she trained a new DM, and 4 weeks later, that new DM is training ANOTHER DM.... explains all the messages I never received that I should have lol

 

Ok now I want my gold star lol. They took my whole paycheck for fees. And my escrow and my pride lol. I feel so relieved to not be with that shady ### company any longer.

 

Sharla was somehow still there? I really don't want to be mean and all, but she is one of the most airheaded and horrid DMs I ever had the displeasure of knowing. Anytime I was in Denver it was something else that she had screwed up, and when my regular DM was on vacation I had to deal with her. Pure nightmare. I suppose I at least got out before things really hit the fan, kinda wish they hadn't.

 

I had her after my first DM quit and went to another company. At first I didn't like her, like when she wasn't my DM and I would have her on the weekends and when I was first assigned to her, but I guess she grew on me. I know others that say she wasn't their cup of tea, but when I had her as my dm I loved her. I got what I needed, and when something wasn't right and I went into the office she took care of it right there. But yeah, she left like in the middle of the year I think? anyway, I would soo much rather have kept her than been with the last 2 I had while I was there. I pulled into denver on my last run with the company, i was supposed to deliver the next am and then pack up and leave. I get to the yard, the local guy follows me and is like so um ya droppin that? i was like no I have to deliver in the morning. I guess the load was sent to him for repower, of course my DM didn't say a word to me about it. when I went into the office I told the head DM, he called over to her and asked why I didn't get notified about the repower she just shrugged and continued what she was doing. The company wasn't bad... itself, while I was there. but get stuck with the wrong DM, and life was hell. I never ran out of fuel or def with my first 2 DM's. at the end, I had the truck in the shop 3 times in a month, for DEF issues cause they were running me dry. She would ask every morning for a fuel update, then ask why I didn't tell her I was low... um.... I guess she was just sending the message and not even paying attention to what we sent to her. You can train anyone to sign onto a computer, and send the same messages every morning, but its not so easy to get someone to actually think about whats going on and respond to it ^.^

 

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with DEF...
But if they leave me here at Brooks for the weekend AGAIN, I swear to gawd, I...I...