Asked to get off truck after 2 weeks training, is it abandonment?

I think you need to stay put. It's difficult enough for a new driver to get a job and you didn't make it through training. You need to learn how to have a conversation. All you need to do is ask, " Would you mind showing me a proper pretrip?" Or just start asking questions. There isn't a such thing as a bad question. Even if you go to another company, it ain't a foregone conclusion that you'll get a trainer that you get along with. I don't know how you can like or dislike how a company is when you haven't got out of the training phase. The real test is when you go solo.

Anyway, all that being said, it isn't really abandonment but the company could say you quit under a load, or quit under dispatch. Both of those are equally as bad.

You've made it 2 weeks. Most training periods are 4 or 5 weeks. Might as well keep going. At least talk to the folks in the office before quitting.

 

You should have been given the phone number for that DC, just in case you had such an issue.
They may not call you to chat about how your day is going, but you need to contact them if or when you have the need.

 

The next trainer will be really nice and agreeable, but smell like sour arse. What happens then? The absolute worst part in the whole trucking circus is riding with a trainer. Which would be better, a disagreeable A Hole of a trainer or an agreeable trainer who smells like A Hole? Better stock up on Febreeze.

 

What if you had my experience, the A-hole Jarhead, that had some potent body odor if he went too long without a shower, not to mention feet that stink no matter how much he washes them? To be fair, however, I learned a lot from him, even though he tested my patience. I think having either one that you mentioned will let you know with a quickness if you're right for this industry. Trucking is full of inconveniences, A-holes, stinky people, racists, narcissists, straight shooters and dumb clucks. I could go on and on. Every driver has to be able to overcome all of that to be able to have longevity in this industry. The minute a new driver can't work through any of those, he's toast. He'll be looking for a way out and adding on to the stats of guys that quit within the first year. If it sounds like I'm issuing a challenge to OP's toughness, I am.

 

In the past, I have advised rookies that when riding with a trainer, not to look at things like some sort of popularity contest and to stick to the goal.
You were spot on with your advice. OP isn’t communicating. Arguing is the result. He’s expecting the DM to reach out to him. How many other drivers does the DM have? Between 40-60, probably all rookies. If rookie doesn’t call, he’s not going to hear from his DM. He knows this, but feels entitled for some reason.
There wasn’t a good reason for him to ask off the truck. An argument?

“I shall punish my trainer by depriving him of my presence! I shall punish my DM by quitting!”

He will start the exact same process once again somewhere else. Did not hurt anyone but himself. So, what happens next?

“I shall punish those insufferable A Holes at TTR by depriving them of my presence!”

 

My first trainer was like that. He just used me as a logbook, but didn't actually teach me anything.

You should contact the person in charge of the training department and request another trainer. Nobody ever told me I could do that, so I'm letting you know that way you can find a trainer who will actually teach you the things you need to know to make it as a successful solo driver.

 

Dont throw yourself under the bus. If the relationship is done with your trainer. Call corporate and get them involved. Truckers are $icks absolutely. Your living in a closet with another man. I can only do that with maybe 15% of the population. Probably less than 10%. The company owns the truck, the trainer probably acts like it's his ship and he's paying 3k a month in truck payments. Technically the trainer is in control of everything. But pushing all conversations to that push come to shove point is poor management. A lot of people don't have the skill set to not allow it to get to that point.

Tell the company you like driving, your really interested in staying for this company , that you want to take care of the equipment and do a proper pre-trip but you don't get along with this trainer. Some of that is a lie for sure, but it will probably get you another trainer and/or keep you employed for another two weeks. Then you can be solo. How long till you become solo? The goal is to get to be solo. I team drove with 4 people only 2 I could stand driving with. One complained about me all the time, the other wouldn't drive his hours and stole stuff from me.


Pretrip. I hit tires with a sledge 4lb. Look for oil around wheels, check lights, check engine oil every couple of days. Engine has to be off for 45 minutes to let all the oil come down, plus level ground. Open the hood just to see if anything is going on that is horrid. Under 10 minutes. Once a day.

 

I would not get off the truck. Look at your end goal of driving by yourself. Look at truck stops in the morning and you will probably not see any drivers doing pre-trips. You are driving the same truck every day. They are designed for many miles of nothing going breaking.

I like the other post ida of just open the hood yourself and look for anything you see wrong. Trucks have improved over the years. LED lights go for years now. Trucks have switched to disc brakes so no more slack adjuster to worry about. Most trucks have silicon hoses that last many years. They switched from V belts to flat belts. The flat engine belts last longer that turn a/c and engine fan.

learn what you can from the trainer but remember you will learn more once your in your own truck. I was a trainer many years ago and they don’t teach anyone how to teach or be a trainer. So you have keep your main goal of being in your own truck in mind. I told my students it gets easier when you get in your own truck. Because then you can do things the way you want, when you want.

I had one new driver not happy we didn’t do pre-trips every day. I offered to let him do one himself if he wanted to look at anything or go under truck and actually check the brake slack adjustments (we had drum brakes) he passed that up. So I was not sure what he wanted plus I was kinda made.

The truck was almost new and you will learn and notice little things when you drive the same truck every day year after year. Remember 120,000 miles is nothing for truck just normal year if driving stream 240,000 miles is normal. The Mega fleet truck they usually trade them in at 450,000 miles. That truck will be sold because the truck can go 800,000-1,000,000 miles

 

I would stay put like some others have said. You are going to have disagreements with ANY trainer over something. It is inevitable.

 

I think it is important to understand what abandonment is. There are 2 types. The first is the driver responsible for the truck parking it somewhere outside of a company terminal, not saying anything, and leaving it. The next form is dropping a loaded trailer anywhere up to and including a terminal not informing dispatch and leaving, even if you are quitting.

As a trainee, you are not really abandoning a truck or load when you walk off, what you are doing, in essence, is the same as walking off any job, you are basically quitting. What happens later depends on how vindictive the carrier is. Sorry to say there is no real universal answer to that question. As mentioned above I HIGHLY advise calling the company and attempting to fix the issue.

Best of luck!!!!