My Experiences

Celadon
Was under a contract with Celadon for schooling but they fired me after a road tester said I couldn't drive. The road tester passed a guy who couldn't back at all but told my DM I sped 25 mph in a Pilot with a stick shift since I didn't actually drive. I was just asked to back when the other guy failed at it which I had no problem doing. Worked out because they voided their contract but they put lies on my Dac I had to remove.
Piazza Produce
That experience hit me a bit and I decided to try a job with Piazza Produce on the promise of a semi route. I was one of the most qualified people there with a CDL that could safely drive, they even had illegals in box trucks. After a guy who showed me the semi route told them I wasn't ready after he drove they decided to make me a primary for box truck routes. I was willing to work through it at first but they got worse about scheduling and had me out twice 16 hours from bad routing. Seeing I wasn't getting any semi experience and just being over worked I opted for a better job.
DM Bowman
I was hired by DM Bowman in an attempt to do a local job 5 miles from my house but they weaseled me into OTR. Bowman was a #### show simple as that. My first week I was paid $65 at .38 pm because of a bad dispatcher. I had to bargain with a boss that I'd do a prison run to make their minimum of 800 for that. They sent me out east a few times once through Boston. Boston killed any interest to drive east for me, first and only time I had people report me as a driver for not knowing how semis work or having common sense. Bowmen tried to punish me at one point with extra training for going 70 out in Tennessee. A week of low pay and moving trailers in Maryland. I fooled with them until they ran my hours in an Atlanta route that I sat on a load for about 5 hours then was forced to find a Walmart about 60 miles away. When I finished that route I remember getting home and a random DM impersonating the fleet manager and lying about me doing a local route. They needed a local driver. I was annoyed about all that happened and the fact I was being asked out again on my off time for a route I was supposed to be hired for because they were desperate. I quit just didn't seem worth it.
Western Express
I noticed a trend of being forced into orientation to get the full run down of a job. One I consider worst is Western Express. Everything was a lie. My experience was a bus to Nashville TN. A hole in the wall motel with an unknown roommate who open the door naked. The morning transport to the terminal required 4 prison buses for at least 100 people. A day of waiting around with a room of people to signing off what look like ways for western to toss blame and dock your pay. At one point I felt they could total $2 per mile from your pay for all they had. What made it most obvious was asking the guy next to me about it and him saying he didn't read anything. I realized from my roommate even, western is for new people, guys with felonies, and idiots. After sitting through a safety guy who chose to threaten everyone say how good he was at suing drivers and threaten no way home if we slept in class I decided to leave. Despite saying I don't want to risk not having a way home sleeping I still had no way home and was locked out of my room. Roommate let me stay the night and I caught a mega bus home.
MCT/Bomman
With all that happened I opted to take a job that harassed me weekly for otr. It was based out of Arkansas. They weren't a bad company but definitely in need of drivers and small. They lied about a few things the main one being training. 2 weeks became 10k miles. I was up to do it until it took a month to do 5k because of Tyson meats load times. I didn't prepare to be away from home for a month. After the month with my first trainer they had me come back and do a test run. The guy who tested me was surprised how comfortable I was with driving in caves and tried to vouch I dont need to be trained but they stuck with their policy. I was hopeful at first but the next OTR trainer was much worse. He talked bad about the company, bad about trainees, said he didn't care, and threaten to leave me at stops or run me nonstop. After a buddy of mine at DM bowman told me he was hired locally with far less experience than myself and they were paying him at a rate of 1.10 pm I wanted time home to think. Coincidence a bowman recruiter called asking if I'd be interested in their new local positions. I went back to bowman but that became lies and issues. They tried to train me for 2 weeks despite working there before and they weren't paying me right at all. I tried to talk to my dm about it and he threatened my Dac saying Im unwilling to do my job. I went to work trying to relieve the situation and I was fired. 2 weeks fooling with bowman again I was paid only $300.
Dicom
Dicom was a touch frieght local day cab position that was the most consistent job I had. It began ok and paid well with holiday season coming but the company was completely unorganized. That got worse to not getting any benefits the entire time I worked for them, being routed to box truck routes with a day cab, some stores didn't have docks they had wheel chair ramps. It became normal to expect every box in the truck to be knocked over when you dock. I used to wonder if my driving was bad but when I tried everything was still knocked over and seeing the temps they hired in their warehouse it became obvious. I wanted to secure stability so I pulled through but as always our main dispatch guy was a #######. I had to call him out myself because he tried to blame me for his screw ups but all the drivers would back me up about it. The job became a place to make money no one cared or communicated, the few drivers kept each other going but that got worse as every driver would end there day with complaints of company harassment or bad routes. People start leaving, we were moved to 4 day weeks, we lost routes, what routes we had got harder, when I realized I was only bringing 600 a week home I bailed too.

Hogan
I went to an orientation with them after Celdaon but they lied and cut my pay by .10 saying I need experience so I left before I start. Having experience I thought I'd try again. I applied for a local job with target double drop and hook. The orientation was nice although lies here and there. When I began with the company everything I was told was a lie, the truck I was using, miles, pay, my routes, schedule, and time off. The people were pleasant though. I left hogan because they ran me on weekends without any notice and wouldn't tell me my off day. They sent me to a huge fine area in Chicago with no support navigation or reference on a weekend at night, I even asked beforehand but nothing. The main thing that made me quit was the Fleet manager. The woman lied about everything outright and gave me every reason to not want the job. When I called to get details about a route again she asked if I was gonna be a pain in her ###, by then I only called to be sure of my route I gave no reason for her feel that way. As the talk continued she tried to threaten me into a route bring up my DAC. I said I'd do the route and I'm done with the company. I was surprised they never called about their paperwork I left in the truck since they blocked my badge from the building but it just told me it was a good idea to leave them.

Side Note
I need to add Celadon lied on my dac saying I couldn't drive. I got that removed after some headaches. DM Bowman lied on my Dac saying I got in an accident in Maryland. Got that removed when I revealed the accident was after I stopped working for them and nowhere near Maryland. Dicom wont verify I've worked for them. thankfully I have 8 months of pay stubs and taxes.

 

I'm in a weird loop where I want to pull away from trucking but it's been my life for the past 2 years and everyone is looking at my job history funny. I have a background in trades and maintenance but it's been awhile since I had a good employer to vouch for me.

 

I made an angry rant at this. I took this as a smart ### comment but it's not even worth it. I'll be frank and i'll be blunt. I'm black, I look young, and people think I'm stupid. I'm the opposite of what I come off as and look like. I especially loved hearing the you'll see the world line in Celadon. By then I already walked across the country twice trucking just made sense for me and even then I was deciding on trucking or an electrical trade. Family member suggested trucking for money. Now I'm not saying racism is a thing in trucking but I'd be ###### if I didn't see so much obvious harassment that followed those lines. I'm a positive individual when I was younger I tried to very positive and spiritual. Makes for a bad habit of getting attention and being the bunt of jokes. I don't mind jokes but when some idiot walks in the room and feels that's his que to act an ### yeah I bring it up. What does that produce, the situations I've listed.

Celadon tried to accuse me of being a bad driver and often would have me do extra stuff till someone said no that's wrong and they'd be in trouble for it. Had some idiot tester say I couldn't stick shift properly but then pass a guy who stalled a truck 3 times. The idiot they passed was an older white guy who had the nerve to tell me I need to improve. Very next day somebody came saying I wasn't even suppose to be in the same boat as that guy I already pass the test and was trained for it all. Since we're talking celadon I'll tell you how they had me take a drug test in a ####ty motel because they were too picky on their own schooling facility. I can tell you about how celadon sent me out a week late to train in the company with a suicidal driver because they realized the idiot testing me was lying about me. Be ###### they didnt hire a guy from mali who couldnt drive for #### but all I did was prove I knew what I was doing and I got fired. If they arent racist they sure as hell play favorites. I'll even tell you I spent 4 month in training with that idiotic company because the unprofessional instructor they had teaching us was removed from his position when every student complained that he wasnt teaching right and they would sit in the truck with me in the yard to see what I was doing right. Nearly 1 month in and all of a sudden everyone is driving better with a new instructor. To give better clarity on how ####ty the training was as it was "to pass the test not to drive" I messed up my parallel backing 11 times trying to follow the way I was taught but the moment I looked out the window and did what I knew I managed to blind side finish that test portion. I had to deliberately screw up to get more time driving in the yard just so I could practice outside of steps they taught and that's what led me to passing. If you really need more clarity I have millions of other stories my guy apologies for the tone but I just has my last temp job agree how ####ty hogan was.

 

You know I'll be more honest. I've been a fall guy for a lot of screw ups and people think they can get away with it when they see me. When I prove myself they get caught so weird stuff follows and just like that I'm on a bad list. It doesn't help I'm honest nobody likes hearing what went wrong or what needs to be done and there were many times when people would say you did this but then I'd prove he told me to do this. I have over 300 pics in my phone of proof from qualcom messages I supposedly didnt send to routeing I was sent making 0 sense. I'm a capable guy but I'm really not suited for working under people. Likable yeah but I draw too much attention for dirty work to fly past me.