Beware Of C.R. England Recruiters. They lie like rugs.

Okay, so I just noticed that the paragraph in the message section didn't load.

Anyway,

My team driver and I have been with another megacarrier for about a year going OTR. It was decent, but my goal all along has been to get into a dedicated fleet or drive local. I know you have to get experience before you can realistically expect to get into a gig like that, so I decided to enjoy OTR.

Two weeks ago, I get a call from an England recruiter who must have had my application on some sort of alert when I hit my year, and she asks if I would be interested in a M-F day cab gig, running back and forth between their DC and their plant with $1100 salary, plus $300 if I work Saturday.

"Hell yeah!".

The plant and DC are both less than a half hour from my home.

The only thing is that I have to go from Arizona to Colton, CA for onboarding. They will pay for my Greydog ticket, and motel. Since I am considered an "experienced driver" I will get an upgraded motel with a single room with breakfast and dinner included. We're on our own for lunch.

Because I am a grownup, I tell her I will drive myself because I don't do buses.

She then tells me, that's fine. Save my fuel receipts and they will reimburse me up to $100 upon successful onboarding. Okay, cool.

I split out on Sunday and book it on over to Colton. I get to the address of the motel and it is a....put nicely...a ####hole in what can only be described as a "hood". There were freakin derelicts in the parking lot and a couple of the rooms were "open for business" with nookie and dope for sale. I think the ####roaches were complimentary.

I was a cop for 27 years. I have a lot of professional experience with dives like this.

I look around, get back into my pickup and head to the nearest Holiday Inn Express, which is only 3 miles, but in a whole lot nicer area, away. I check in on my own dime and head down to the pool.

I get a call from some weekend phone operator asking why I hadn't checked into the motel. I told him that it was a fleabag, and I decided to upgrade myself. He told me that there was no shuttle service, blah blah blah. I explained I had my own vehicle and not to worry about it, I would be there on time.

Monday, 0600, I am at the terminal on time, ready to get this #### over and done with. (Thank God I had my travel Keurig in my truck because there was NO breakfast, and NO coffee). I start filling out the reems of paperwork, taking the written safety and pre-trip tests, etc.

0800 and the other three guys who are supposed to be in my onboarding orientation still aren't there. Now, I am online shopping for a birthday present for my daughter and generally staring at walls.

Finally, about 0830, the other three guys come in. Apparently, someone had dropped the ball and no shuttle had showed up at their motel to get them.

So, 0900, we go to medical for physicals and hair and urine samples, then out to the range for our backing and road tests. It's one straight back, one offset, and about a 15 minute road test. Done.

We go back into the classroom and get cut loose for the day at around noon, being told to be back at 0550 the next morning.

The other guys were complaining because there was no breakfast at the motel, and lunch was not provided. I had breakfast, and knew there was no lunch, but we were all curious about the "provided dinner".

One of the other guys asked about it and the instructor said "You're responsible for your own meals". I was half expecting that, so...whatever.

I headed out and when I got to my pickup, one of the guys who was in class with me ran up and said "The instructor said to come ask you if we could get you to take us to the motel".

AYFKM? Now I'm a shuttle driver?

But, since they were decent guys...I told them to grab their ####. I have a quad cab, so there was room.

I get them to the motel and get ready to drop them off and they ask me what room I am in. I told them I bounced to a different hotel. The first guy, Ray, got on his phone and got himself a room at Holiday Inn Express too, and invited his buddy to bunk with him. The third guy stayed where he was.

The three of us went to a late lunch and compared BS stories we were told by recruiters. While I am eating, I get a call asking me if I would pick everyone up in the morning and bring them in for class! Yep, I am a shuttle.

It was no big deal because Ray and the other guy had moved over to my hotel, but the last guy was out of my way...but I told the instructor to call him and tell him to have his ### standing out front, ready to go at 0530 or he was a pedestrian.

The three of us hung out at the pool that afternoon.

The next morning we roll by the motel to pick up the guy who stayed there...and he's not out front. I waited 5 minutes, he still wasn't there. I didn't know what room, or have his number...so Buh Bye.

We get to what we were told was supposed to be the second and last day of orientation and watch the same old sexual harrassment, following distance, GOAL, and speeding videos we have all seen. We listen to a rah rah session from one of the Englands, and finish all our paperwork.

Okay, we're done...fully expecting to be cut loose to head home.

Nope. We are told we have to stay until the results of our drug screens come back and we are officially hired.....and because of the Holiday, it might not be until FRIDAY.

Now I am smoked because I had plans to take the boat to the lake on the 4th with the family.

I re-up my room for another night and try not to blow my top because I really HATE being lied to.

Anyway, I get a call on Wednesday from one of the people in onboarding telling me that I am hired and that all my paperwork, MVR, and background came back clean but they would like me to hang around in case they needed anything else.

"Sure, no problem" I say as I load my #### into my truck and check out of the hotel and cut a chuggy straight back to Arizona Wednesday afternoon before traffic turned into a complete mess.

Basically, everything the recruiter told me was ########. Too many single instances of ######## for any of it to be "a mistake" or "misunderstanding".

So, Friday I get a call from my fleet manager, letting me know where to go on Monday and explaining the job. He seemed like a decent guy. We will see.

BUT...though I had the resources to deal with the BS like my own wheels, meals, and room, not a lot of other guys would. So is you decide to to to CRE...make ###### sure you can feed yourself and get yourself around.

 

Welcome Inn, Colton CA