Millis OTR journal

Agreed with everything you said. And I guess the stuff about the tidbits, etc are the things that as a trainer, annoy me more than anything else. Part of training is passing on our knowledge of everything to make it easier on our students. Not just when they are in our trucks training, but making it easier on them when they get on their own. Stuff like that, to me, is what separates the trainers that care and the trainers who don't. Ive got 4 guys I trained currently on the road right now. Just yesterday I got a call from my 1st student asking me a question, and just today I got a call from my 3rd student asking me a question. Im not sure a week goes by that I dont get a question from 1 of them, and I'm glad. I stress to them call me anytime of the day any day of the week, and I'll help. Do I get paid to help? Nope but I had that option given to me from my trainer and it helped immensely and I feel bad for these guys who don't feel like they can call their trainers after they get in their truck. Which is why I offer my number here.

I would never claim to be a "good trainer" or that I know everything out here. Or that the way I teach to do something is the proper way. But I can sit here and say I care and dont want my students ####ing up on their own. And i take pride in the fact none of them hesitate to call and ask me a question, no matter how dumb the question may seem lol I may give them #### about it, but I'll still answer it.

 

Bummer SJ, just gonna miss each other, I'm sitting in Cville now, just got in from GP, hooked to an empty, waiting for dispatch in the am.

To your point @keen98, I'm not necessarily looking for anything in particular, just frustrated at how useless the stuff he does give me is. For instance, when I'm talking about the lane change thing, he tells me several miles before the first sign coming into a metro area to move over a lane. No explanation, no waiting to see if I'll do it on my own when the first sign appears, just move over. Sometimes he even gives me a direction (left/right). To me, that's double not helpful because not only am I not having to make adjustments in real time (like I'll have to once I'm solo), but I don't know why he's telling me that: did I miss a sign or something? At that point the only thing he's not doing is holding the wheel. There have even been times when he tells me to move over when I'm clearly in violation of truck lane restrictions, even in construction zones, without any explanation to learn from.

Another one of his favorites is to "watch" things: watch this turn or watch that driveway. Watch for what? Speed? Hazards? Short merge areas? Entering traffic? Watch what? Why? I'm clearly staring at the road, what am I missing that prompted the "watch" comment?

His silence and calm distraction with his phone builds confidence, he clearly trusts that I'm capable of safe driving and paying close attention to the road; his random comments without context cause anxiety and loss of confidence, as if my proverbial bowling ball is bouncing off the gutter bumpers somehow.

And to address the trip planning, I haven't planned a trip yet. Yes we run fairly hard, so I always feel rushed in just about everything we do, but I handle maybe 20% of the QC, 0% of trip planning, and up until thanksgiving day, roughly 40% of the backing, again with zero feedback. I have no idea when I've done a good back or a bad one, aside from the frenzied, autistic signaling he does sometimes.

I'm sitting here right now trying to think of one single morsel of wisdom he's handed down to me and I can't come up with one.

I will get through my miles and I will learn ridiculously fast on my own, it's just a little frustrating being told only what he wants me to do in specific moments instead of teaching me how to figure out what to do on my own in said moments: "go in that door, park in that spot, stay to the left, send a 12 & 15, move over one, get off @ 333 (is that an exit number? a route number?)" - I'm getting a whole bunch of "what" and not much "why" or "how."

I should also mention that the questions I do ask tend to be met with a response that suggests I'm challenging his ego, like he doesn't know what he's doing. I don't think he understands that I'm new and trying to learn what he knows.

I'm truly not worried about the raw knowledge, I'll get it one way or another - I managed to put together a fairly successful 15 year career as a self taught, non-degreed engineer before losing my faith in humanity and becoming a truck driver. I'll be alright, just a little underwhelmed and frustrated is all, I'm still loving what matters and that's the job.

Thanks all who've chimed in, I truly appreciate the conversation and advice.

 

Wait, I CAN think of one: keep a crock pot on the truck. If I've learned one thing out here, it's to get a #### crock pot.

 

LMAO!

I was so.close to bringing that up when you first said who your trainer was.

 

@dhellmer you bring up some good issues. I guess the only thing I can tell ya is if you can deal with the issues then finish up your training and feel free to call me when on your own. If you can't deal with the stuff then call Greg and tell him your issues and see what he recommends. Im not going to criticize another trainers way of doing things, but you should be doing 100% of the backing at this point. Especially if its a back besides a straight back. Qualcom stuff in my truck is a gradual process but I have my students sending all "arrived, loaded, empty, and ready" messages from day 1. Its repetition and habit and thats how in my opinion you learn the QC.

 

You will be fine..I can tell by how you write these posts that you are intelligent and have common sense which will allow you to succeed.

I agree with most of your concerns now that you have provided details to your earlier posts. Zero trip planning is a problem. Only doing 40% of the backs is a problem. Constantly being in a rush so there is little to no time for learning opportunities is a problem. Seems like you may have someone where the primary goal is to increase their paycheck.

Regardless, what others said earlier also holds true. Nothing will replace you doing things on your own when you have your own truck. Even if you had a detail oriented trainer that clearly explained everything that would be the case.

Trucking is my second career after retiring from my first. In my earlier life my training lasted 9 months. Even after all of that I still felt as I had no idea what the hell I was doing because I really did not. I just had to learn by doing.

There will be times where it will be hard, you will be uncertain or confused. You will use your common sense and intelligence to work thru it. As time passes things will be clicking and your comfort level and confidence will increase.

 

If I were you when things come up and he just tells you what to do or what turn to make, ask him why at that moment, if he gives you an answer a certain way and it still didn't answer your question the way you want, speak up and tell him you want to know exactly why he's telling you these things. You've got to be proactive when it comes to things like that. As the others guys have stated, you are going to get thurly educated when you get your own truck and are solo. You stay positive and believe in yourself & your abilities and you will be fine.