Recent truck school grad,off to company in january,need somegood & helpful advice!

Hi everyone,I'm back at home from the Truck Driving Company I chose to go with,and I feel disappointed,sad, & I'm trying to figure out what to do now. I'll try to explain what happened here as best I can but here goes:

I was really thinking that all would go well during the 6 weeks of Driving & Riding with the Trainer,but it didn't,and the Trainer & the Company sent me back home just a few days ago.

I left on January 4th and got there the next day for Orientation. We had 4 days of Orientation,then were given a list of everyone's names and the name of your Trainer you were to leave with for 6 weeks. Everything seemed to be going well and fine at least to me during the first week of Driving with this Trainer,

then starting the second week,the Trainer started telling me he wasn't good at training Females,and he felt he should call the company and ask if I could be paired up with a Female Trainer. To me,the race,creed,color,sex of the Trainer didn't matter,as long as I was being Trained well and learning what I was supposed to learn. (He also started saying this after we had a wait for a new load to deliver for two days,and he met up with a co worker who he said was his girlfriend on the side,and after they had went out and drank.) It seemed like once we had to leave to pick up a load,like he was mad because he couldn't be with his girlfriend,which isn't my fault! He kept trying to ask me to drink with him or with them during those couple of days of waiting to get a load to deliver,and I told him no. When I had freetime,I mostly stayed in the Truck watching dvd movies,or reading magazines I brought along.

Sorry I got off track a little here,but back to him and how he wanted me to have a female trainer;

He called the Company and was told to let me train with him for a few more days,and he kept insisting that he thought I should be with a Female and they then told him that they had no Female Trainers avaliable,and I would have to be sent home until one was avaliable.

They even asked to speak to me about this,and I told them it did not matter to me whether the Trainer was Male or Female,I wanted to stay and learn until the Training was over and I could drive on my own. I guess they convinced the Trainer to let me stay for a few more days,but you could tell he didn't like it,so during the last few days,boy,he really started treating me like crap and doing a lot of YELLING,it reminded me like he was trying to make me mess up while driving.

Anyway,I was with this trainer for almost three weeks,and then he starts telling me I'm not down shifting properly,and yelling and nitpicking about anything he could,like he was trying to make me mad. Finally I told him I could not drive anymore,because his yelling and etc was a big distraction while I was driving,and I wanted to drive safely.

Once I said that,he got on the phone and told the company he wanted me off his Truck. He then told me again that he "Wasn't good at training Females" and he didn't know why the company paired us together. I told him if this was true,why didn't he say anything to the company or to me the day we met and headed out on the road? At least they could have paired me up with a different trainer.

I was told by the company that I would be sent home for about two weeks,and when a Female Trainer was avaliable,they would call me to come back and continue the Training. At this time,I had no choice,I really didn't know what to do,so I told the company,Ok,if this trainer says he's not good at training Women,I'll let the company send me home for now,until another Trainer is avaliable. (And they kept insisting it be a Female....?)

So,a few days ago I arrived home. I had been told to call them when I got home,and to then keep in touch,& they would also call me when the Trainer was avaliable,but now I called and found out yesterday that they have decided not to have me come back,and when I asked why,they told me this trainer wrote a report saying that I was a good driver,but I didn't follow directions?

I have to admit that I got off at the wrong exit ramp ONCE. I missed it by one exit,so I went to the next exit and turned around. But they said he's a good Trainer,though he missed an exit once and went around 10 to 15 miles in the wrong direction,then had to turn around and go 10 to 15 miles back in the opposite direction because he had missed a sign for the correct exit. (He had also took off to drink the night before.)
(Also during company time,he had drinks and would tell me you aren't supposed to do what he was doing - said he hid his drinks in the big thermos he had & it was vodka and looked like water so no one would know if anyone inspected his truck. He was also seeing a co worker & he is telling me that's a no -no,that he could get fired.) And all along,I'm wondering why the guy is telling me this,quite frankly I didn't know until he told me,and I didn't care to know. I just wanted to get good training to learn to drive well & safely!

I have not said anything about this,because he had also said that there were a lot of "snitches" at this company,and if anyone ratted on him,he could make a couple of phone calls and have them rubbed out and taken care of. (And honestly,I'm wondering why this trainer is telling me this.) Because that stuff got to be creepy.

Outside of that stuff,a couple of times I was scared while he was driving,because he would say he was tired from drinking & this was after I had driven the 10 hours I was supposed to drive,and it was his turn to drive. Once we got a load to deliver,he wanted us to take turns driving,so we were doing 10 hours each,then switching. During freetime,I would read a little or watch a little bit of a movie and then fall asleep,so I got enough rest to be ready to drive when it was my turn again. But I felt uneasy when this guy would go drinking,then when it was his turn to drive,he would say how tired he was,still hungover from drinking the night or day before.

Honestly,reading this,and some of the things this trainer was doing - maybe it's better that I was sent home,but I was looking forward to training,doing well & learning everything correctly and eventually driving on my own which could have been around four weeks from this week,but now I feel like I'm back to square one because this trainer was strange. I'm glad to be away from him,but what do I do now? And the company now has suddenly said they don't have any trainers avaliable,not Male or Female,and they have decided to let me go and if I decide I want to come back,it will have to be after I've driven 6 months or longer with another company.

So someone can please tell me,have I been screwed?
Am I too "goody two shoes" for the Truck Driving Industry? What can I do to continue this as my career?
I was looking forward to doing this for a career,because I like driving & also I have a Family to provide for.
I'm not into drugs or drinking,so that's no problem with me,but if anyone has some really good advice or help,please tell me,and THANKS to EVERYONE in advance,I really do appreciate it!

This experience with that trainer was a big disappointment,but I don't want to give up on doing this!

 

Hi Lil Blue Pony. Yep,I feel like I got raw deal scr*wed too. I did write down what had been happening to cover myself,and like I said I called and talked to the Man at the Company but now that they've sent me back home,they're saying they suddenly have NO Trainers at all,and they aren't going to keep me there,so I'm out of Training and out of a job.

I wonder why they hooked me up with this trainer,and into two weeks he starts into saying he's not good at training Females....ragging on me because he couldn't stay longer with his girlfriend,etc. Like dude started taking it out on me. I never ever thought I would've gone thru what I did.

I'm trying not to be discouraged about this because this is what I want to do,but I don't want my Driving career to be over before it can even get started because of the strange trainer they had me with & the stuff he was doing.

For advice - Do y'all think I should start applying ASAP with other companies,to see if I hear from them and should I include that I started at this company? (don't want to say which company,) and what went on?

I really don't want to tell what went on,I'm afraid it will be held against me though I wasn't involved in the stuff the trainer was doing.

I don't want to hurt chances of me being hired and trained properly elsewhere with another company.

Just want to get this proper training and then get a steady career/ job that I'll enjoy doing to take care of me and my Family. That's all I want.