At orientation in Dalton, Ga.

I've expressed my concerns; He doesn't sit by while I unloaded, we take turns on loads so we don't get burned out.

And I am asking alot about marcos, but I am really depending on my partner (who is OTR training right now) to teach me alot. He'll be done probably 1 or 2 days before I will so hopefully he'll get the truck ready when I head up to tunnel hill for the upgrade.

 

Dollar Tree? Not sure where you saw that in the thread. But I am being trained on the Family Dollar account due to the "shortage" of OTR trainers. I've asked my training cord. before I started, if I could refuse the dedicated trainer, due to the fact I want zero touch freight. (My back can't handle that kind of labor anymore (thank you army)).

However, when I expressed my disinterest I was politely told that I refused this trainer; I had to go with the next one that was found (and that could have taken weeks from what I was told). And if I refused the next one, dedicated or not, then I would termed.

But this week we will be doing the S.M.I.T.H system as I drive and going over the test questions in the hand book.

But this is what really sucks. My trainer is hurting for money, at no fault of his own. I understand that he must provide for his family, but he treats the training as more of an opprotunity to get more loads done. For example, we do 3 loads a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. (Wednesday is driving to Thursday's location, and Friday is driving back to Jacksonville). I've asked him, if I wasn't on his truck would it be possible to do these many loads. And of course (already knew the answer), the answer was no. Because after Monday's unloading, I have enough hours to get back to Mariannna, but not to go to our next unload. However, knowing this my trainer drives to the next location so we can sleep in their parking lot. (Sleeping in a Miami family dollar parking lot, in little Haiti is very nerve racking)

So this is really cutting down my hours of driving. For example, my partner who is doing his OTR driving completed his 75 hours in a week and a half. While I'm starting the 4th week, with only 65. I understand why he wants to be at the location (so we don't have to start our clocks until we are done with the first load). But I am wondering how this will affect my training as far as driving.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a horrible driver, and he trusts me enough so that if he is sleepy he'll take naps in the co-driver's chair. (He said he wasn't napping, but he can't explain his snoring.. hehe.) My backing... I can't judge, some of the Family Dollar backing is so messed up it's unreal.

I've asked him "Should I, having been on your truck for 3 weeks, be able to look at a family dollar "dock" and just know how to park in it." He said, not yet. Thank God.... I've had to block traffic, do u-turns, do back-up u-turns, and all types of crazy #### just to get my trailer into position.

So ya... never doing family dollar EVER. It's hard labor for #### pay (even though he is making roughly 1300 a week). But for training on a Family Tree account... it's HORRIBLE. Especially when you have a partner who is having a ####### blast OTR and calls you up and tells you he's in Denver about to head to San Diego... (two cities I've always wanted to visit).

Maybe I shouldn't complain and see this as a "right-of-passage", but holy crap... 2 more weeks.. 2 more weeks.. 2 more weeks... teams... money... glory... gotta keep saying that to myself.