JBH Chicago Orientation 9-21-15

anyone else going? im driving down there tomorrow afternoon. going to be on the Wisconsin Flex Fleet out of Green Bay

 

thx Ebola Guy. was a looooong boring and exhausting first day. i say exhausting because i didnt fall asleep till around 3 and was up at 430. thankfully there was ALOT of sitting and waiting for other guys to do drug tests and the like so i got a bit of a nap. did paperwork, then drug test, then physical performance evaluation. few things have changed here, including the hotel lobby, much nicer. also we didnt do a physical, they just wanted to see our fedmed cards. went to lunch, which has also changed due to cost overruns with panera bread. they pay for your lunch from the cafeteria up to a value of 7.50, which is plenty. had a loaded cheeseburger plus fries and a brownie and a 32 ounce fountain soda. after lunch went out to do the road test and was waiting, there were 2 trucks doing the road tests. eventually 1 of the trucks came back and the instructor said the 2nd truck was in an accident. dont know all the details but apparently a road tester hit another truck and then a car somehow collided with our road test truck. the accident happened at a bad spot, and really screwed up the traffic so they said the road tests wouldnt be finished today. went back to do more class work and left around 430. more info tomorrow night.

 

sorry guys, last couple days have been very eventful.

Tuesday: Day 2 consisted of finishing off road testing and backing which had been interrupted by the 2 road test accidents that occurred. I was the last to road test and was very nervous as i hadnt been in a manual semi since July and hadnt had any serious miles in one since early May. Hit a couple curbs on turns, which i havent done in forever, as well as being rusty on shifting and mirror checking. But overall he said i did pretty good, scored a 92. then did backing in the main yard, again was a bit rusty, but i did better than i thought i did. then we did more paperwork and videos and lecture for the rest of the day. also learned around lunchtime that my transport america buddy, who ive known for almost 7 years, the 1 that got me into trucking, was at the US Xpress terminal in Markham, about 30 minutes away. having been to USX myself and actually having done orientation AND being based out of there, i knew exactly where it was. we arranged to meet, which we did later that night. that of course led to a very late bedtime

 

Wednesday: To be added shortly(hour or 2)

 

Wednesday: oh, what a rought morning. didnt get much sleep, but got up and got moving, got sum free sausage egg and cheese sadwhiches, again courtesy of carlton inn/white castle. did a bit more paperwork, did an anonymous survey and got paid 20$ for it, watched videos, watched videos on smith system. most everyone had to do it but me and one other guy. if youve done it before its good for 3 years. while waiting for everyone, went to ask some questions with safety and ended up doing direct deposit, signing up for drivers legal and a bit more paperwork and asking questions about the wi flex fleet. was told its gonna make sum pretty good money and i can choose my days off, but cant choose saturday-sunday. was then told i was all done and was good to go. they dsaid some orientations can take 4 days but that i couldve been done monday or tuesday if not for the accidents.
so i went back to the hotel, got 20 of 80 $ spent on my own room back, got my stuff and headed home. probably call DM some time tomorrow to arrange going out with a trainer.

 

oh, i forgot to mention what happened with the accidents.

the first was an O/O that went out and had finished the road test and was asked to pull over and park so they could switch people out. well, in the process he took a mirror off a car, and was of course sent home.

the 2nd accident was when 1 of the road testees(lol,) was doing a buttonhook and an old lady decided to go around on the turning side. they collided, and the car,(ford explorer,) was actually pushed up at an angle on 2 wheels. it almost went over but didnt, they backed up the truck and it went back on all four. the explorer was totalled. the road testee obviously wasnt held at fault.

ill keep adding to this as time goes on.