Trainer my Trainer - a lamentation

Sure it is IMO. It's more than enough time to teach the trainee company specific stuff which is all many of the trainers are good for anyway.

There's no such thing as too much training if you have a good trainer but no matter how much time you have with an experienced hand you won't be prepared for every situation. The training period is just the start of a learning process that hopefully never ends.

With a trainer like this guy has less time is probably better. I'm sure there's exceptions but most people who would keep a truck in that condition at any time, let alone when they're supposed to be teaching and setting an example, are going to be sloppy in most things.

I hope @Laruuk realizes that he will likely learn a lot more about what not to do than about how to do things from this guy. This isn't a hand holding job anyway and a smart driver will learn good habits as they go by asking questions and by watching others.

Regardless of company training a good driver will realize that parking at the fuel island is a bad idea and a bad driver will see others do it and use that as an excuse to follow suit.

Regardless of company training a good driver will realize that being courteous on the roads and not being overly aggressive is smart and a bad driver will emulate the worst drivers he sees.

Regardless of company training...

 

I gotta say man, I've always valued your opinion in this forum.

I keep an open mind and like to read into other people's opinions, and see where I can learn from them.

But with these statements, I've lost all respect for you. Clearly, you do not understand the risks and difficulties in driving a truck. Basically, you're saying this job is no more dangerous or challenging than flipping burgers, waiting tables, or answering a phone at a call center. They all have training periods of around 2 weeks.

Man oh man.

 

Certainly more dangerous that flipping burgers. More challenging? Perhaps a little bit. But there's little about driving a truck that you can't learn by yourself by taking things slowly and carefully, and keeping an open ear and an open mind. Youtube can help. That's how I learned how to chain up after telling the company that "Sure, I know how to chain up". There's trial and error, and you gotta be careful. But that doesn't mean you need someone holding your hand the whole time.

Mostly it boils down to good driving habits, don't tail gate, don't drive too fast for conditions, and don't be stupid.


BTW, I've never worked a call center but I have flipped burgers and I have waited tables. When I flipped burgers the training was watching a few videos, having someone show me what to do (which was wildly redundant) and then getting to it. Less than a day of training. Making the burgers was the same, but you had charts to reference what went on each sandwich while you learned it for yourself. The register was about the same. I don't think I had more than a day of training combined for all the different positions.

Waiting tables involved someone throwing a pen and paper at me and asking me to cover someone who didn't show up.

 

Well even call centers provide more training than that. Why? Because they want the new person to understand everything there is and present numerous scenarios that could arise and handle them professionally.

CDL schools are a necessary evil and are absolutely useless. Your real learning begins when you're with a trainer who is supposed to show you everything, from being safe, to road courtesy, and addressing different situations. Sure, people catch on at different rates and learn at different paces.

The training setup a company has is a direct reflection on that company's image to its customers and the public, regardless of what the business is.

Driving a CMV is no light responsibility and anyone that thinks that, has no business operating one. Making light or taking shortcuts during training in a profession that operates around the public and can potentially kill a dozen innocent people because of a rush to produce a productive employee is not acceptable.

 

I've never flipped burgers, so I can't speak to that.

As for a call center, I worked in one for about 6 months. Working on a blue cross blue shield account taking calls from doctors offices/hospitals verifying coverage and coinsurance rate. The training was in depth, learning the computer system, and how to effectively and efficiently communicate, while covering blue cross's butt. Training was 40hrs a week for 4 weeks.

I worked in restaurants as a waiter/bartender for about 8 years. My last restaurant job was at PF changs. I had about 6 years of experience when I got the job. I still had 8 shifts of training and had to wait on management at the completion of training. I later went on to train for them. It was not uncommon for people with less experience to have to go through many more training shifts.

My only real point here is that training is used to prevent major mistakes. The difference between restaurants or call centers and truck driving is huge. You mess up at a restaurant and the guests food is comped, maybe $50 mistake. Call center if I said something was covered and it actually wasn't...could've been a couple hundred, maybe a thousand dollar mistake.

Truck driving major mistakes include major damage to a rig with a value of ~$100k, or an accident with serious injuries or fatalities, and I could go to jail for negligence.

I'm glad I went through 5 weeks of training. I felt comfortable when I went solo. I knew I could go up and down mountain grades, drive in the ice/snow if necessary, and back up the truck.

I'm kinda shocked that this is even being argued. I don't understand how someone could say that 12 days or less is enough training for someone with zero experience.

But to each his own. As long as you're a safe and courteous driver, I don't care how you got to that point!

 

I am inclined to agree with you, No one learns anything by handholding. But there is a difference between training and handholding.

A lousy trainer would say, "do this. Ok now do that. This is how you do this. This is how you do that, etc.." that is handholding.

A good trainer would say, "ok you've done this, now what should you do next?" This makes the trainee apply what he has already learned and use critical thinking. Rather than just following directions like a monkey.


12 weeks of handholding is a useless waste of time. 12 weeks of TRAINING is ok. Maybe not necessary, but it depends on the job I guess.

 

Ok the time requirement on training is like some companies have an exemption like prime to where as soon as they get you thru cdl class and you get cdl you can run as a team and not be properly trained. As for the 12 weeks of training if it's tanker hauling hazardous materials I can see it being that long...

 

On the filthy truck, wouldn't be surprised if truck has bed bugs in it!!!!

 

They weren't talking 12 weeks. They were saying 12 days

 

I consider my truck to be dirty if there are bugs on my windshield, but right now it's a pig pen. I also have a stack of BOL I have been too tired to file. And don't open the glove box... my unfiled receipts will bury you. Also my bed isn't made, like ever. I normally detail the entire truck and power wash all dirt and grease off of the entire thing, including the 5th wheel, then grease it. Even the engine gets a wash. Not sure how people live like that honestly... all the more when you live in the truck all the time. I would make it about 2 days like that and only the last 2-3 before going home when I know I'm going to be deep cleaning everything. That's also when it gets the DOT level 1 inspection.