Rookies training Rookies

If you are assigned to train me, you #### well are gonna do it. I am not in your truck to just make you money. It's a 2 way street.

 

sometimes you have to take learning in your own hands

 

That's why my new trainer is on his way and old one is scratchin his head.

 

That's what I did. I went to Watkins Shepard in Missoula fresh out of driving school and somehow passed all their driving tests first time out. But I wanted it bad enough to get out there in the yard and practice shifting after hours while the other guys were up in the lounge watching TV. I wanted to be a pro. Of course there were some idiotic, undie pooping moments once I got out there in the real world but 3 years later I only have a couple BS tickets (hammer lane violation in CT, and an over-length violation in CA.) and a couple minor boo-boo's in Brooklyn involving 13'6" trailers and not-so-13'6" overheard clearances (practically a right of passage around here for anyone who drives locally in NYC.)

Anyway, point is it's going to be a sink or swim affair at some point, and a lot of those trainers just do it for the money and maybe a handful of them are pro's who can teach you a thing or two about a thing or two. It would be nice if there were more of those out there, but you can also teach yourself and most of the your own trial and error and undie crapping experiences will be your teacher.

 

A driver 2-5 years has more experience, doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. There are so many things that you really can't give any examples. Experience is experience, the more the better.

I'll answer your #$%^ question on what I learned yesterday. I learned to really watch the on ramp corner because it was an off camber turn and with the high center of gravity load I had, I had to take it very slowly. There were probably 20 other things, but I can't remember them all.There, does that make you happy?

Understand one thing here too. I'm one of those drivers who's had the driving jobs that most of you here would give you first child to drive for. I've worked with drivers who are the best of the best and learned from them. Why did I learn from them, because they had years of EXPERIENCE!!! The companies I worked for didn't have ads in the newspapers looking for drivers because they had a stack of resumes 1ft high of the candidates who made the first cut, probably wait for years and still wouldn't get hired there. Now to answer the question you're going to ask, I left each of these companies to go an even better job!!!!

Let me ask you this, would you rather get in a plane with a pilot with 1 year experience or 20 years of experience?

How about a doctor, would you rather have the doctor who has 6 months experience operating on you, or the one who's been doing it 10 years?

To me, it should be a federal law that any driver with less than one year experience should NOT be allowed to train and trainers should have to be certified, not just given an extra $.10 a mile........

 

HOLD YOUR CALLS, We have a Winner!!!!!!!!

 

yep

 

There is no doubt the more you drive, the more experience you get. I've run in the winter time west and east. Truck driving is not rocket science. There is a difference between someone that has the WANT, DESIRE and SKILL to train then someone who wants to do it for the money. Maybe there are people who want.

No matter the experience, you can not teach everyone everything! It goes back to my first post, I have the desire and knowledge to train someone else. Comparing surgeons is the same as comparing welders. Yes, I would want the more experienced. HOW EVER, if the surgeon talked a good game and was accredited, I probably wouldn't mind. Teaching someone to weld is a skill that takes time and experience. Truck driving takes experience, but most of what you learn as a truck driver is on your own.

"My trainer didn't teach me how to drive on snow." You can't really be taught how, you have to experience it for yourself. The basics of slowing down and not defying physics, we get it. But, you have to understand and become one with the vehicle. If they don't understand what can happen in a curve, or on an off ramp, or going down hill on icy roads, then there will be a problem. I can explain it to them the best I can, and what to do. But, it is ultimately up to them to make the wise choices and experience it for them selves.

Again, 1 year or 5 years, we will both teach the same things. The difference? WE each have different experiences and levels of experience. But, it boils down to the same thing, we both shift, we both back, we can read a map, we know how to maximize our money, we know what to do at the fuel island and what not to do.

I said it in the beginning, experience is important. But it is the attitude the person has to explain and show the next person how to do it. Not everyone can do it. I can turn out a driver just as good or as better as one that you will turn out. BUT, if you get a stupid driver and I get a smart driver, what do you do then? "You didn't train him good!" Well, some people you can't train because they don't get it or want to get it, this job may not be for them.

If you have someone that wants to train a driver for the right reasons, there is NOTHING wrong with that. It's the drivers that want to trains others for the WRONG reasons, is what you should be complaining about. NOT, because someone with 1 year or under wants to train. If you want to make a law, make it so anyone who trains has to give a darn and care. I maintain what I said, my near 1 year is more than adequate. Not everyone with one year has the skill to even drive a truck, much less train some one. I'm one of those people that can do anything. No, I'm not arguing, I'm debating.

 

And yet you choose to grace us with your exaltedness... how magnanimous.

 

#1 - Who are these elite companies?
#2 - Who are these elite master drivers?
#3 - How do I become "one of those drivers who work for companies that an average lowly driver would give up their firstborn?"

And lastly:
#4 - Were you at the Denny 's in Texas the other morning cause I thought I overheard these same statements up at the bar...