31 Days and Counting...Starting School June 28th!

After a week and a half of craziness, I'm finally set to go to Roehl's school on June 28th.

Started last Monday(5/17) when I finally picked up the phone and called them. Talked to a very nice gentleman(even knew of my town from driving in the past) first that simply told me to do the app online with Bethann marked as the recruiter then give her a call afterwards.

Filled out the app, and then called Bethann. Very nice girl, was able to answer all of my questions and instantly got the ball rolling. There was definitely no time wasted. First order of business was the money, I had no outlook of saving enough for school, so it came down to credit. I knew my credit was absolute #### from a car being repo'd a couple years ago however the leftover from that was paid off so I think that helped. Anyways, their policy is a credit score of 500 or high for their financing. Just so happens mine was 577. First stressful moment was waiting to hear about whether or not that would hurt me.

Following day became interesting. Started out with a call from Lindsey(another very nice girl, possibly paperwork assistant) letting me know that they were unable to verify 2 parts of my work history. Which required me faxing my W2's and a current paystub from my current job. Alright, no problem with that. Faxed those in and then I get another call with them saying that my current paystub doesn't have year-to-date so they need proof for Jan-Mar(I'm currently and independent contractor for a local paper so no taxes pulled from my checks). At this point I felt like I was being poked and prodded with every aspect of my life. Solution ended up being me emailing them copies of my bank statements showing my direct deposits.

All while this was going on, I was also expected to fill out a Affidavit of Unemployment to give reason for a year that I didn't work. This form also had to be signed by 2 non family members Pain in the ### part was that I have very few close friends that live near me. So I got one to sign it nearby, then the other I had to scan it onto my laptop, email it 100 miles for him to print it out, sign it, scan it again, and then email it 100 miles back to me....whew. Then even tho they asked me to fax it to them, I simply emailed it which was good enough. All they had to do was print it up.

Once I had all that covered they were ready to offer me preemployment. After running around for 2 days like a chicken with my head cut off, they better have.....lol. This was also all while working overnights and sleeping when they usually work.

Next up was to get my permit, and go for the physical which was scheduled for Tuesday(5/25). Read through the manual twice and headed to the local DMV Monday morning for the test, missed 3 out of the probably 80 questions. Which to be honest, I'm surprised that I did that well after being up all night and being dead tired.

Went for the physical which was easy, alot more painless than I thought it would be. BP was at 126/80, which I was worried about being I'm a 320 pound guy. I must say tho that I'm glad that I kept my head in the game while there, the whole cup the balls and cough was performed by a extremely cute young female doctor. Anyways, passed with flying colors and got my 2 year certification.

Both with the permit and physical I called Bethann and told her that I passed. However she told me that she had to wait for the paperwork to arrive before we could go any further.

So, today comes(5/27), ten days after starting all of this. I get a call early this morning from Bethann, I could tell right away that she wasn't going to enjoy this call. She proceeded to tell me that she got my criminal check back and it showed that I had two misdemeanors. One for reckless driving and one for exhibition driving, both in 2003, literally a year after having my license(haven't had a ticket since '04). She asked the details, I explained that the exhibition driving was for pealing out of a parking lot, and just so happens a trooper was witness to it and ticketed me. The reckless was basically for speeding, just speeding WAY over the limit. I explained I was young and dumb at the time. Just like just about any guy on here when younger you screw around with your car, just part of being a guy. She then told me, "To be honest, I don't see this going past the hiring committee. But I'm going to talk to them now and I'll call you back in a half hour or so." We hang up.....

So for 30 minutes I sat here sweating bullets, freaking out, thinking to myself, "Is something this stupid really going to crush my dreams?" She calls back and says sorry for that scare, but its all good now. I guess one big concern was that I didn't state that I had such offenses on my app. After thinking about it, I realized what the problem was. On the app it asked if I had felonies or misdemeanors excluding traffic offenses. I stated no because they were traffic offenses. Also, in the citation section it only requested 3 or 5 years back which everything on my record was before that time frame.

Anyways, at about 3pm she called me again to let me know that she got the physical paperwork back and that everything is set now. We agreed on a for sure start date which is June 28th(I have to give 28 day notice for my current job, plus need to save up money before hand). I'm seriously pumped for this next month to be over.

I'll explain a little, ever since I started working, it has always been dead end ######## jobs that never earned me more than $20k a year(IF THAT). I was always afraid to go to school, spend all that money and then hate the job or get outright sick of it. Now I'm finally getting into a CAREER. A career that I know that I will enjoy everyday, simply because I love being behind the wheel of a vehicle. Not to mention I like having something that is a constant challenge and something that changes constantly. I truly feel that this career is a perfect fit for me, and being I have no strings holding me down to my current life, there is nothing but the road ahead of me.

Hopefully this long ### post doesn't bore anyone. I hope that it proves helpful to others that are in the same position that I was before I finally took the step to call. I will be periodically adding to this as majestyk did with his extremely helpful thread.

Best wishes...
Cory

 

Where is the "No Thanks" button?

At least my family and friends are highly supportive. Glad I don't need people like you to be supportive too.

Now, to actually reply to you.

I'm the type of person that truly believes that if you really want something in life, you can get it, its all up to you. In my case, I'm extremely confident that I'm going to have no problem with this career. How do I know that you ask.....simply because I want it. We make our own luck and our own lives the way that we want them to be. If that wasn't the case, then no one would have anything they ever wanted.

Simply put, I'm making my own life the way that I want it. I'm going to go to Roehl with the best possible outlook in mind, and I'm going to succeed at what I want. Granted, in the end, Roehl is probably just going to be a stepping stone, but what in life isn't?

I'm feel sorry for you if you look at life in the negative as you just made it seem. However, I'm not going to let you or anyone else step on me on your/their way down.

 

Thanks d-m.....thats exactly what I have done too. I've researched and researched, you have to with this sort of thing. If you don't, you are just asking for problems. Besides, its a decision that can last a lifetime.

I've seen good and bad things coming from people about Roehl, and to say the least, a good 95% has been positive. But, I think with the right attitude and will you can most likely do well just about anywhere you go. That is as long as you can actually drive.

So, d-m, are you looking at Roehl as a possible route for you?

 

Thanks, I'm definitely happy about it. Can't wait to get started with it too.

Yup, I do deliver newpapers right now. Work for Pioneer Press in MN. Pretty good money for what I do. Got about 525 Sunday papers to deal with tonight..........I can't help but keep it in the back of my mind that it brings me from 4 to 3 Sundays being left.

 

Winter is a pain in the ### for paper delivery, only got stuck once tho in the last 2 winters. My manager isn't bad, he's very understanding and helpful with just about everything.

We get charged to for the #### complaints, what I realized is that they buy cheaper and cheaper bags, charge us the same amount, but then charge us again when a bag fails and the paper gets wet causing a complaint. We also had 2 pay cuts in the last year. Lost about $500 a month thanks to that.

What sucks for us as well, if we just quit without notice, they will take the money that we have coming our way to pay someone to cover the down routes.

But yeah, we'll definitely have to meet up. Assuming that we'll both be staying in the Clearwater Hotel, can just ######## there after school.