Any other similar experiences starting out like I've had in 2014? This has been hell

I'm just a wannabe ,but from what I've read this job is not for him. He expects everything to be laid out in plain english or it's someone else's fault. I work in a job now that affords me alot of freedom to make decisions much like trucking. You are expected to be able to make decisions on your own to get the job done (within the realm of safety of course). You can't blame ADD for your complete screw up backing into a trailer. You still have eyes, use them. They don't have lines and instructions written out on the road leading your every movement in the truck. You pull into a facility of any shape or size and it is your call on how to safely and efficiently get your truck into position for loading or unloading. They can't hold your hand every step of the way. Common sense is a must in a job like this.

Before anyone goes off on me saying I don't know what it's like to be a trucker, some things are just a fact of life whether you have experience in the field or not. I don't need to be an astronaut to know space is cold and dangerous.

 

OK I get it, the driving tests were a big deal but in truth they are not. It isn't real world and that's my point. How much energy do you expend being hyperfocused? Maybe enough to be mentally fatigued by the end or even the middle of the week because it isn't a car or a pickup - something that many who don't have these issues may not get.

ADD and time management or lack of goes hand in hand, so there is an assumption - plus the fact you defended yourself by saying others are late or didn't I read that here.

The right/left thing isn't an ADD issue, it is a lateralization issue which happens to a lot of people. I can tell you my supervisor who is great at his job except driving has the same problem with mirrors, it is an acquired skill to deal with them, just like how they bend the image out of proportion - no I don't mean convex mirrors.

What to bet??

The slow vehicles are the most dangerous, it isn't about you again but what happens when you have impatient people who do stupid things to get around you, you can't control that, can you?

The one thing that you have to do when driving is to learn how to read other people and be prepared but it is hard to do.

Don't know because that's not important to me, your knowing the fact about this work is.

I think so, had a potential driver do that with a new trailer where I work, it was a huge deal to the owner, she wasn't happy about the damage or the fact that the trailer was needed that day and she had to give the work to another company.

You know here is what I tell everyone - go apply, ignore the one year thing and see what happens. By the way, I made a lot more money in a straight than I ever did in anything else.

 

As far as backing goes; no, the schools don't teach this enough, backing should get more time than not backing.. Driving forward is pretty simple for anyone, just learning to look around, read signs, shift proper so as not to grind gears and be mindful of your surroundings. But backing,,, Not everyone can back and some can back without training, and than others need more training. I can tell you the 1st time I see a person back, for the 1st time, if they can do it or not. It sounds to me like the OP needs special training, and he isn't going to get that at any school. Go find a friend, relative or whomever, to help train you in the art of backing.... BTW, don't let your ADD be an excuse for not being able to do anything, I have ADHD and I am 46, never found anything I can't do yet.

 

To the OP:

Two drivers drive the same routes pulling the same loads. One is late, gets tickets, gets poor fuel mileage, gets lost and breaks stuff and one doesn't.

One of these drivers shows up for work tired and hurries hurries around all day. The other one takes things slow and easy because he knows THINGS WILL GO WRONG EVERY DAY AND HE MAKES IT HIS GOAL TO SEE IT BEFORE IT GOES WRONG.

You make your own luck.

 

The thing that most of us do not understand when we enter this industry is the bigger picture... so we throw around words like safety.. without a true understanding of it... going to slow can be a safety issue...

The industry does seem unfair.. one drivers gets canned for what they think is a small incident, while a driver who had an accident is not canned... what we dont realize, is that company's dont fire us for what happened. . But, for what they believe could happen. .. they look at several things to determine if a driver is a potential risk... if they see enough red flags then they can them....

Which, is why when an incident happens what you say to the company is often more a factor then what happened. .

If a driver has a lot of excuses for why it was not their fault, they are likely to not learn from it and have more incidents then a driver who recognizes their mistakes the caused the incident and can learn from it...

Also, it is never a good idea to minimize any damage you caused to their equipment. .. if I let someone drive my car and they brought it back with a dent in my bumper and told me it drives fine it is just cosmetic.. so no big deal... they would t be driving it again...

 

Firstly, the original poster has stated he/she has ADD. What one MUST understand is that hyper-focusing on the task at hand.... may be like someone without this condition, paying attention to what they are doing, and safely traveling down the road in their lane.

Trucking may not be for you, or driving in general for long periods of time. And I would also question this even in a straight truck.

It also appears the OP is an honest human being. This is a great quality, and very valuable to any employer. I would look elsewhere for a career path that doesn't involve long periods of doing the same thing, that allows even the most disciplined minded people to falter from time to time.

 

Yeah, the "I have serious ADD" part caught my attention. Last thing the world needs is this guy flying off the edge of a long sweeper when his cell phone rings and he drops his cigarette.

 

You're probably not a future OTR driver and that's not a bad thing really. And you've managed to get yourself hired--repeatedly despite ADD. Can probably do so again.

You've had some very light, if rocky experience. It still adds up. You've gotten yourself signed up for jobs that aren't for you anyway.

My recommendation, straight trucks or city buses.

Gonna take you longer than some. Doesn't matter. In time, you'll probably do fine. In time. You don't have to give up. Keep that in mind. Small box trucks shuffling mail between post offices and distribution centers pay their drivers up to $24/hour. Did you know that?

I remember a kid we somehow hired, who had zero aptitude for trucking. Zero. Bright kid. But just as you say, this was, for him, a good, job pay-wise and a simple job. Low stress. He drove out in the morning, made his deliveries, then made his pickups and brought the truck in each day with no damage. No harm, no foul. It was good. We liked him, despite not a 'trucker' or ever going to be, at least not 'super trucker'. Always a box truck driver.

That's okay.

Just forget about tractor-trailers, dump trucks, cement trucks, construction trucks, etc.

Straight trucks, step vans or city buses. Lots of those jobs out there. FedEx Ground, UPS or other package delivery outfits are other possibles. Good luck!