Abandon Trainee

Have you priced how much that iPhone costs over two years? If you go for a not latest iPhone 8 and 24 months at verizion that's $2,600 in two years. That pays for a lot of schooling in a trade school.

 

So the guy had an iPhone and not one of those cheaply prepaid phones?

 

Of course they do....so how is one supposed to get contacted for an opportunity? I'm sure they bought it with their last job.....

 

What makes you think every broke person has an iPhone?

 

Lmao not everyone has a i phone. You csn get a cheap phone for 30 bucks...

 

Right.....I had one that cost me $25 once. It was a Net10 hahahaha

 

He isn't knocking them.

He is knocking the mindset of "I can't because ...." or "If only ...."

As the OP will happily tell you, I am a bleeding heart socialist that make Karl Marx look like Adam Smith. I understand and believe that circumstances can dictate and limit the available choices. That doesn't mean that individuals can't make the better choice. Please note I didn't say the "right" or "correct" choice. There are bad trade offs in life, which trade off you make is up to you.

Last week my trainee was oh so proud of how me was managing his money. He thought because he had $100 in the bank he was sitting pretty. My attempts (which I do will all my guys) to educate him on some financial realties - like rule of three - went on deaf ears because among his friends, family, and peers he believes he is doing better and making good choices. He has options, he chooses not to exercise them. He will never drag himself out of poverty as he will not recognize his own financial shortcomings .

My guy from 2 weeks ago got pulled off my truck after 2 days for something related to medical. I don't know what, but a good bet would be a failed hair follicle test. We put him on a bus. I dropped him with an Uber to the bus station at noon, but the bus didn't leave until 23:30. I have no idea if he got on the bus or not. At that point he is no longer my responsibility. I and my company did everything we should have. If he misses the bus, it's on him. He was another guy who didn't understand that his actions had consequences. He blamed Obama for losing his rental properties - not himself for buying overpriced properties in a poor rental area with bad financing. He thought he was paying 40% in taxes.

I take all my guys through the grocery store before we head out, I can't begin to explain some of their purchases. There was a guys who bought multiple 12 packs of soda, then never opened a singe one, instead buying two bottles of soda at every truckstop. Guys who buy twice as much as they can eat or drink, buy lunch and dinner out of the truck stop every day, then say "you can keep XXXX" when they're done and I'm looking at $20-40 worth of food. I can tell you stories about guys who went to tailgate at Packer games and blew their advance money. Or there was the guy who took an advance mid-week to send money home to his wife so she could buy gas to get to her nursing class. She decided not to go, and got dropped from her program losing that semesters tuition. Or there was the guy who got a WIA grant to get his CDL, then 3 hours in he decided trucking was "too stressful" and quit. That "gentleman" lived with his mom and was on food stamps and saw no shame in going back onto them - despite a clear alternative.

I can keep going if you'd like.

I do not give money to the homeless. I do give significantly to organizations that work to alleviate poverty. I have a tenant that has been paying half rent the last three months because circumstance outside of his control are kicking his rear. Despite those circumstances when he got home from work and saw me mowing the lawn he insisted to take over. There is a big difference between being poor and being a bum.


Finally @Dave_in_AZ didn't start this thread to debate the circumstances. He did it as a public service announcement for perspective drivers to manage their own business. Have a plan, execute it as best as possible. When that plan doesn't work, start on plan B. Didn't have a plan B? Then why did you start plan A? Trainees have a huge amount of control over themselves and their environment - IF THEY CHOSE TO EXERCISE IT.

 

Literally every person I've known below the poverty line in the past 10 years had (at the time purchased) the latest smart phone. So yes in my world every one does.
If you think I'm wrong I invite you to spend a day at your local welfare office. I'll bet money that at least 90% will have a smart phone.

 

There a huge differance from a dmart phone... And the mist expensive smart phone. Most you see eith a phone... They cheap pay as you go phones...