Awful Driver Trainer!

Kind of a funny story- I trained a guy who trained for Werner for two weeks before coming to Roehl. He told me that the trainer did not stop once for a shower in the two weeks he was with him. He also never stopped to get anything to eat. He said the trainer would plop a big bag of cheese doodles on the dash and munch on them all day. He said the whole cab, especially the steering wheel and gear shift was covered in orange crumbs.
The student asked for a different trainer and Werner refused. So he finally had enough and when they stopped to get fuel he took a cab to the bus stop and rode the bus home.

 

+

Yea I understand but if I have that kind of problem I will not tolerate a person / trainer like that.
I am flexible but just willing to put up with that kind of stuff.
That is pretty dang good luck for him 4 years and no random.
How do you know that the recruiting coordinator and safety director did not follow up? Do you still see the trainer arround?

 

Over at werner I was told that you can fire the trainer but it has to be a good reason maybe they did not belive the guy complaining.
He stated that the trainer did not stop for anything to eat yet were did the cheese doodles come from? I suppose thin air huh
I am not saying this trainer is any good or the trainee was lying but some companies would not belive the newbiees over the trainer some trainers have been there a while.
I just think if you are driving a truck you should not be eating too may things to do while driving I personaly would not be able to drive a truck and eat at the same time and still be safe. It is hard enough in my 4 wheeler.

 

Kap, I believe every word you say.

It's funny how this trainer made you drive in that DC-area traffic jam. That's how it is with some trainers. They want to make YOU take all the risk in places like that. You, a guy who is still way too green for the DC beltway and I-95 north.

If I would have been training you, you wouldn't have been driving until after the third or fourth day. However, I would have expected you to be in the bunk at least trying to sleep while the rig was rolling. You should get used to it, as you never know when you'll have to run team with a guy who is a true jerk. If during that three days with me you couldn't fall asleep no matter what, then it would have been absolutely no problem. We'd have come to an agreement where both of us would be sleeping while the truck sits still. I can't sleep in a moving rig either, so if I were training somebody, HE would have to be able to sleep behind me, or we'd be shutting down 8 hours a day. Unfortunately, that may not make the company happy. It just depends on the outfit.

That trainer wanted you to run a haz-mat load with no endorsement. Yeah, report his ###.

You say you were picked up near Charleston by a certain driver driving for a certain company. Well, that company will fire your new samaritan friend if they find out he stopped and picked you up. I'm pretty sure "no riders" is the policy with that outfit. You should edit your post and remove the name of his company. An insider may read it or a brown-noser (a driver who tries to please his masters by ratting out others like he did in elementary school) from here may report that guy. Sure, it'd be hard to prove a certain driver did stop and pick you up, but why risk it? Trucking companies love to get rid of people, or so it seems. Take away their excuse in this case.

Get a tape recorder for your next go-round. If you encounter any "cowboy" trainers in the future, definitely click on the recorder when he starts feeling like he needs to slap you around verbally. You'll need evidence next time to back your word, as this trainer you just dumped and any other trainer who acts like that will lie when pressed by the company about it. Better yet, get a video camera and go to town when the shouting starts. At the very least, document the incidents on paper and turn them in to the guy someone refers to in another post.

But first and foremost, edit your post. Remove the name of that company. I'm surprised the higher-ups here haven't done that. Sure, the driver made the choice to stop and pick you up, but it's a long walk to the nearest truck stop, rest area, or phone from there. He got you out of a dangerous situation, but the company won't see it that way. The rule is the rule. Secondly, get the tape recorder and use it with your next trainer if he turns out to be another cowboy.

Best of luck.

 

I wouldn't blame anyone for not putting up with such nonsense. However, as I said, I didn't want to start over. I waited in a rathole motel 2 weeks before I got this trainer, and who can say if I would have gotten anyone better?

And I guess it's "good luck" that he never got nailed with a random. On the other hand, I've never had one either. The last time I saw him was about a year after training, and he was still with the company. That was at 8-9 months after my conversations with the safety guys...so you can draw your own conclusions.

 

weegie


That just goes to show you what kind of people work for Arrow no wonder people complain about that company.

Of course that being said I know not everyone that works for Arrow uses drugs but that makes you want to know how many does.

And that does not mean everyone are bad at Arrow but good thing I decided not to go with them. I did not exactly like the way they tried to get me to decide to come over their way.
They were making promisses that I knew the could not keep because the material that they sent me told me a different story than the recuriter told me.

I am going with May Trucking and I was warned by 2 people on here not too but like people allways say there are problems with every company you just have to ride it out. Some times there will be good days and then there will be bad ones too.
One reason I am going with May is that they will most likely let me use my own dot physical I was partialy rembursed for mine but I paid 75.00 for it and only got 45 rembursment from the school that the county paid them. I got my dot physical at a place that does nothing but those. I thought that it would have more weigh insted of going to a personal physican or any other quactor that does physicals as the people that only do dot phys should be better experinced and more qualified to do them. I do not want to keep taking physicals just when my runs out I want to go get again.

just my 2 cent

 

In my opinion, what you've described is a pretty "skinny" reason to pick a company. The price or quality of your dot physical is about 1000th on the list of things that matter.

Other than talking to a couple of unhappy May drivers, I don't know anything about them, but if I were you I'd read a little more - and think a lot more.

 

Hey Kap, happy to hear u dumped the so-called trainer, my training experience at roehl was far different than your beginning experience thank goodness, I know exactly what toll booth u are talking about and yes I still take it slow through there, it is tight quarters by my standard and just a few inches off and u take the booth down (ok, maybe not down) but I have been yelled at by other drivers going thru there so slow, but by a trainer? the guy should be fired in my opinion-if he treats a student like that how is he representing the company with that kind of behavior? anyways, good luck to ya.

 

That was not the only reason I choose May I just did not want to elaborate.
They pay better than most while training and after training they pay better than anyone that wants to hire me.
I will not have to unload verry often. When I do the pay is suppose to be good. If I ever unload all stuff is suppose to be on pallets not on the floor. The company pays going rates for all lumpers. All I asked will I be unloading or loading they did not waste a second said nope we want our drivers to drive not to load or unload the trailer. I want to pull vans I can sleep with a reefer unit running or pull a dry van too.
They say alot of their drivers adverage 2500-3500 weekly but it depends on the driver.
Do not post on here that you work for them and do not get miles anyone. If you work for this company and are not getting any miles then you are either not proven yourself, lazy, whinner that does nothing but **** and moan about wanting home time, or always refusing loads because you are just about out of hours. Sitting for a few hours waiting for a load is nothing just suck it up and take it.
I am just going to tell them get me home atlest once a month for a few days if possible. I will not refuse a load because it will put me in the wrong direction from home.
Or because I am about out of hours I will simply ask when does it need to be there and if I think I will be out of hours before I can get it there just explain that the delivery date may need to be changed because I am almost out of hours but I will get as close as I can before running out of hours and call you with an eta for delivery.
Communication goes a long way with your dispatcher if you scratch his/her back most likely he/she will scratch your back.
Show your company that you are willing to go out of your way to help them the best as you can and then they will see you as an asset to the company not just another dumb lazy *** driver.
A good additude goes a long way with people.

One place I was looking at only paid 325 per week for training then 30cpm after had to play with tarps weather is is scortching or fridgid.
Another place wanted me to work for free for 10 days forgot what cpm.
Arrow I did not particualry care for the smoke they were trying to blow up my ***.
I had one comapny that called me wanting to do precentage of load from kansas to aurora and unload the trailer
I had another call offer me 34 cpm but when I ran the number it came back as a personal number and everyone I asked about them they heard of them but did not know any details.