SuperService

Ladr, some, probably most, trainers are OK and really want to help newbies get started. Others are only doing it for the cash and have no real interest in whether you succeed or not. They get a fresh newbie every 30 days, get paid off both their miles and the newbie's miles, and away they go. This guy Dana just took his job way, way too seriously. I'm not talking safety or procedures - you can never be too serious about that. I'm talking about little, non-safety-related, nitpicky BS. He thought he was special because "the company chose me to be a trainer." What he apparently did not realize was that anyone with 6 months or more of experience who has a clean MVR can be a trainer at SuperService. And they are desperate for trainers, so they will take anyone who meets that flimsy criteria. Being a trainer doesn't make you some special breed of trucker, it just means you are very patient, or you don't like driving alone, or you just want the extra cash.

But beyond that, this dude was weird. Like, he insisted on us being together almost 24/7. Now after I've been sitting 18" away from someone for 16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days at a time, the last thing I want to do is sit 18" away from him at the Denny's lunch counter. But he insisted on us taking all of our meals together so he could train me more. I'm like, dude, let's give it a one hour break, eat separately or at least talk about sports or anything but trucking. For just an hour. He almost never talked about anything but truck driving. Not sports, not women, not current news, nothing. It was all truck driving, all the time.

At the bigger truck stops I would tell him I was going to eat at Denny's, then sneak over to the Hardees or wherever, just to escape him for a few minutes. But he would always find me, sit down and say something like "Now let's discuss the difference between the gear ratios on an 8 speed vs. a 10 speed transmission" or some esoteric BS like that. I admire people who are successful and take their jobs seriously, but this guy was over the top.

And weirdest of all: we were on a dedicated run and he lived approximately 1/2 way between his 2 regular stops. We parked the truck literally 100 yards from his house about 4-5 times a week. But instead of spending the night at home or even just going home for a couple of hours for dinner and, um, some loving from the wife, he would stay in the truck with me and eat the nasty convenience store food from across the street. We would be 100 yards from his house and he would sleep in the truck instead of going home. How freakin' weird is that?

There was a lot of other weird things about him that I won't dwell on - he thought all professional sporting events were rigged, for instance. And he would fly off the handle and start screaming at the slightest little mistake I made on a QUALCOMM message or a trip preplan, for instance. And sometimes, oddly, he tried to speak with a NJ accent, then would shift right back into his normal speaking voice in mid-sentence. Suffice it to say this guy was nuts.

They wouldn't give me another trainer, from what I could see all the equipment was falling apart - the trailers were even worse than the tractors, which is saying a lot - and the trainee pay was s***. So I said F*** it, I'm going elsewhere. There are too many companies hiring, even hiring newbies with no experience, to put up with that kind of lunacy. I had another job the next day.

 

And you guys out there who have been driving since Harry Truman was President: Please spare me the "You young guys are spoiled, back in my day our tractors didn't have heat or A/C. They didn't even have seats and we had to sit on milk crates" etc. speech. It's the 21st Century, there is a huge driver shortage, and a lot of us newbies are on the road now with a lot more on the way. You'll get used to it, or you won't. Either way, it's going to happen.

 

Bleemus, I'm at Melton. It's 1000% better than SS. My trainer was normal, the pay is a lot better and the equipment quality is far beyond anything at SS. It's not wine and roses all the time, but no job is. I have no complaints with them.

It's just way too easy to get another job than to put up with unnecessary BS. Your more enlightened companies are starting to realize this and are treating their drivers accordingly.

 

Joseph1135, I am not badmouthing all experienced drivers. Just the ones who talk S*** about the "good old days" and how much better everything was back then and how much it sucks now. It's boring; nobody wants to hear it.

And I do believe there is a nationwide driver shortage. Not because the recruiters say there is one, but because companies will hire almost anyone with a clean MVR and DOT physical. I'm a prime example of that.

(And your assertion that a driver shortage is a scare tactic by companies makes no logical sense whatsoever. Why would a company say there is a shortage and thereby plant the idea in your head that you can easily get another job somewhere else if you are not happy where you are at? If they wanted to use a scare tactic, they would say "you better stay here with us because trucking jobs are very difficult to get.")

Every job and industry - every one - has experienced people and new people. It's inevitable that, for instance, older doctors will say that new medical school graduates suck, things were a lot better back in the day, etc. That is human nature. But truckers seem do that more than most - it's all you hear in truck stops. "Back in my day we made three cents per mile and we liked it! And we didn't have bunks - we slept outside on the ground in the rain and the snow!" No one wants to hear that, it's boring.