Trans Am as seen by Broke Down 69

Thanks for the advice. You seem to have executed the exact plan I'm currently putting in place. Nice to know it can work. As for Tyson, yeah we are in and out of there with regularity and I expect to see the place quite often.

 

First things first. I need to clarify some erroneous information I posted about the stages of training.

Track 1, which I started today, is basically a backing and cone course section of training.
Track 2 is the 11 or so days spent on the road with a trainer.
Track 3 is a two day return, in my case to Olathe, for a final test out and truck assignment.

With that taken care of....

Track 1 Day 1
I was the first out on the cone/backing course and despite missing my very first turn, slightly embarrassing, I didn't hit anything and completed all my backing maneuvers with a grand total on one pull up, which I truly believe I didn't need but the trainer spoke and I listened. The course is a little confusing at first but it seems designed pretty much exclusively to make you properly set yourself up for every turn or maneuver. I was impressed with the fact that there was really nowhere you could relax or not think. The harder these things are in training the easier they will be in the real world. We also spent a little time doing coupling/uncoupling and sliding tandems but that was all very routine and well covered in school so other that knocking off the rust it was the only time I was able to check out for a few mentally.

Now, from the beginning I said that this would be as objective a thread as I could possibly make it reporting the good, bad and indifferent and in that vein I have the first real negative to report.

Trans Am grades out their drivers on seven metrics for the purposes of, among other things, your quarterly bonus. A violation of any of these, even a single occurrence out of the drivers control, such as being delayed in traffic and arriving late for a pickup/delivery, will result in the loss of the drivers bonus. The rules on this are draconian and seem designed explicitly to keep drivers from collecting said bonus. I had a disturbing conversation with a seemingly very sincere company driver who told me that on two occasions, within a matter of days from the closing of the bonus period, TA used it's forced dispatch business model to send him on a run that there was no legal way he could have made on time. While I cannot rule out the possibility that he was being less that truthful, my gut instinct told me that he was an honest, hard working man who was, in fact, telling me the truth.

Despite this I am still very happy with my decision to come here as money was the last thing I was concerned with at this point in my new career. I'm just looking for three things...experience, experience and experience....E cubed as it were.

Thanks to all following and advising. You all have been a great asset and I'm grateful for it.

 

Track 1 Day 2

For every good day there will be one not so good. That day was today for me. I seemed to have forgotten everything I knew, which admittedly isn't much, about how to control a truck and trailer. Having a trainer constantly yelling at me didn't help matters very much but I can't blame him for my seeming lack of competence. I am sure tomorrow will be a better day and it helps to remember that into everyone's life a little rain will inevitably fall...sometimes it's a spring shower, sometimes it's a Category 5 hurricane.

We're supposed to have our road test tomorrow...hope I didn't mess that up for myself today because I am sure ready to get out of Olathe. Kansas for a little while.

Until tomorrow...