Werner: My experience (in progress)

well I learned a valuable lesson today about not jumping the kingpin. the dumb ### yard dog left the trailer up too high when he dropped it and when i backed up to it to hook up, I jumped the kingpin and had the cab up against the trailer. However, it didnt do any damage so all was well. whew. trainer about went ballistic, lmao but once he saw it didnt hurt anything, he calmed down and we got it squared away. thats something they didnt teach us in cdl school. Wont make that mistake again.

another long day over. the highlight of my day was the smoked turkey leg and potato salad I got at a little portable bbq shack on wheels right next to the Pilot on the corner of Lamar and Shelby Dr in Memphis, TN. That was EXCELLENT! Its called Wellingtons BBQ. If you are near there, stop in and get some BBQ. Better than that truck stop food!!

sign in to your werner e-portal, click on profile on the left hand side (or preferences, i cant remember which) and click on notifications, enter cell phone #, wireless carrier and then check the appropriate options. save. done. you will start receiving notifications via text.

 

tension is rapidly building on this truck. My trainer has recently adopted a condescending tone, and is making snide comments when I make an error, or forget something. It's not constructive at all. Today I totally screwed up my setup to back into a spot a truck stop and all he does is say, no you couldn't have made that like 3 times in a row...ok, once is enough, I get it...don't gotta keep repeating it, that does nothing constructive to help the situation.

He got pissed and told me to get out of the seat. whatever. I almost got off the truck yesterday in Jacksonville. I was following the route on the gps, and it was telling me to go left onto the highway, so I started to turn and he looks at it and says it looks like it's telling you straight to me, so I went straight...and of course I missed my turn, he said I need to learn to follow directions...and I just went off, I was like you just told me it said to go straight, so I freaking did! Now I've missed my turn! He started to mumble something and I just told him to shut up so I can concentrate and think about what I need to do....he started to speak again and I just cut him off, I was so fed up at that point, been dealing with his attitude for 2 weeks now, and it's getting a little old. Tired of being treated like a #### 2 year old. I forget one simple thing, a macro, my post-trip, to plan my fuel stop or to change my duty status and he goes into a ####### coniption fit and starts making his snide comments...well what are you gonna do when you're out there on your own? Obviously, I'll have to figure it out won't I??? Duh!

I'm trying to keep my cool, but at the same time I'm tired of being verbally berated every time something doesn't go his way, or I make a mistake. This is training. What good does yelling at someone do? What good does telling them over and over and over that they wouldn't have made that that backing into the parking slot?

ugh. I want to scream. I'm dearly trying to hold out and just get this done and over with, because I don't want any more delays, no more sitting in a hotel, no waiting at a terminal for another trainer who might be way worse. He's a good driver and all, but ####, he has no idea how to criticize constructively or actually teach something...he just tells you what to do, without ever asking if you're getting it or learning it. I only have 100 hours left...I think I can hold out...I'm gonna try, it;s not that long.

Things started off really well...but the past 2 weeks have started to suck. I'm almost to the point where I even dread interacting with him.

 

Yeah, I just keep remembering the horror stories from the two girls in the hotel, and honestly that's the only thing letting me hold on. He's so not like that, thank God. Just gets this bullheaded attitude, and loses his patience.

I get that I'm now 4 weeks in (30 days as of yesterday) to my training, so I'm expected to be doing a lot of this stuff on my own with MINIMAL supervision, and for the most part I am, but as new students do typicaly...I forget which macro to put in, or I get in a hurry and forget to plan my route and my fuel stop(s), or i start fueling without changing my duty status to on duty - fueling. And he just loses it and out come the comments, the snarky tone of voice that is both belittling and demeaning. Not used to people talking to me this way! Last time someone talked to me this way I was in Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training in the Army and I was 22 years old! lol. now I'm 33, and just not used to be talking to this way in my post-military life.

I don't cry easily, but yesterday and today took A LOT to hold them back...but I don't want to give him that satisfaction.

But the light bulb has yet to go on for me with my backing. One day I get it, do great and feel confident, the next i screw it all up, forget everything and can't even do a simple straight back, and come close to hitting something....and my confidence goes all out the window.

Right now the backing is the biggest thing I need help with, and my SDM tells me she can get in touch with his dispatcher and slow him down a bit (we've been getting a TON Of Just in Time loads, and honestly, I'm just exhausted every day. He just tells me if that happens, I'll be getting off his truck because he doesn't "have time for that". At that point, I feel like him getting his miles is more important. I know he's out here to make money, and in a year's time, I want to be doing the same thing, but I will actually give a #### about my students and criticize constructively.

you hit on the nail. His is God's personally gift-wrapped present to the entire world. He has never been without a job since he was 16, has never been late on a single bill, and all this other crap he tells me.

Before I started with Werner, I was so broke I was on food stamps! He told me that was pathetic and without saying directly that I was just a mooch. I about came unglued, because I am certainly no #### mooch. I went 7 months without finding gainful employment after obtaining a bachelor's degree, and I needed help. He certainly doesn't have any empathy...and doesn't know how to constructively criticize and teach.

I've stood up to him (because I don't take crap from him or anyone else), but it does no good. In His world, He's perfect, no one else is. That's his attitude. Anything you say or suggest, he has a retort for, an answer to, or whatever. Arguing with him...you might as well go argue with a brick wall, because it's just as futile.

Will definitely be continuing my journey after training and updating my thread. However, and I failed to put this in my initial post, but it will be less detailed after I complete training. Currently, I am not considered a Werner employee...just a student in training. Once I test out for my truck and pass my test, then i am officially "hired" and I will have to watch what I say on here and any other social media outlets, per the Werner Policy Handbook on social media blogging and posting.

So just to be clear, I am NOT a spokes person for Werner, I do not speak for them, I don't represent them in any way, shape or form, and my comments, views and thoughts are not representative of Werner, its views, policies, its customers, clients or subsidiaries, or its relations with the public.

These posts are just my comments, thoughts, and experiences as they happened from my perspective (which is that of a student in training).