i have to admit this is tempting

what upsets me is that i HAD what i thought was a better job and it didnt work out. if they dont take me back then im screwed.

i also have a huge confidence problem. i know that i didn't get the best training, neither in school or with the werner trainer. i was getting some better training with my 2nd job and its knowledge that i take with me, it will help. that qualcomm, the werner trainer always handed the #### thing, i know how to run HOS on it. when it comes to reading the messages that came in on it, im at a loss. honestly i dont know it that well. really i need a week with a good werner trainer to finish training me the right way. navigation, i have a better understanding of, only because my rist trainer showed me how to navigate better.

Both werner and the schools should both be ashamed of how they train. the schools only show you HOW to pass a 15 minute road test, that's it nothing more. the schools should be set to a standard and the DOT should send an undercover agent into each and every school, go through their training program. if the training program does not meet standards then adjustments should be made or the school closed. schools should be required to show students how to run a log, how to navigate effectively, and how to back properly. i was taken out on the road everyday and showed the basics of operating a truck and given a road test.

the werner trainer was terrible too. he is not held to any real standard. they say that the make them go through training to be a trainer but its a joke. trip planning LOL. the werner trainer had me show him once that i could use an atlas. i knew the basics. the rest of the time, he programed the route into the GPS and told me follow the qualcomm or follow the rand. any moron can follow a nice little line on GPS. that's not real trip planning. he was also just tell me, find some place to stop for your 1/2 hour break. isnt that something that should be figured out before you start driving? something like figuring the route and then planning that you can stop at a couple of locations, knowing where you can stop before you leave? the rist trainer had me run a trip WITHOUT using the GPS. he had me map it out, write on the windshield and follow my directions that i mapped out. that was actually decent training.

when it comes to that qualcom and the messages regarding the loads, i really dont know how to use it that well. the trainer would review the messages and take care of it. frankly that didnt help me any. it took time away from just pilling the miles on. this guy only did what benefited him. i was starting to understand how to use peoplenet but its a completely different system. i hope the werner fleet managers would at least help me through it all.

that werner trainer also DID not have me do much backing. he would get pissy if i was struggling backing. the rist trainer had me do all of the backing, so i must say im at least a little more comfortable with it.

yes i have a confidence problem and for some good reasons. the only reason i might be able to do any of this is because i actually did get one week with a good trainer. the 270 hours i spent with werner was little more then pointing a truck down a highway, which is the easy part i think. not to mention one more thing that gets on my nerves, i have not driven a manually shifted truck since december. trainer trucks should not be automatic if they are going to give you an automatic as a solo driver.

 

if i go back to werner should i call the allentown terminal or call a recruiter?

 

ill give you an example of how bad he was. the last week you are with him, he is supposed to have you run a paper log as you run. he waited till we were parked at the terminal and had me copy the e-log onto the paper log. just saying he didnt do things the right way.

it should be illegal to give the trainer all of the students miles and or team the student. it makes for very bad training and gives the trainer every incentive to just get that student to point that thing down the highway and go to sleep.

 

im in north java ny 14113.
its kind of messed up but im watching youtube video on how to use the qualcom. frankly he should have had me doing ALL of the qualcom work the last couple of weeks it was with him. he did not.

if we were at a tight spot at a truck stop, he would just have me switch and do the backing. OK that didnt help me any. the rist driver had me doing all of the backing but really i wasnt with him that long. i cant get into a spot fairly easily when i have the room, you dont always have that. going to a truck stop, i really hate those places. now you have to back while you have to contend with tight spaces and a bunch of guys driving around the lot. i dont think i will be shutting down a truck stop if ever. if i continue doing this im getting a fridge, stocking it and im only going to the truck stops for fuel and showers occasionally.

i really had planned on giving up on trucking and hanging it up, but i have come to the realization that i really have no choice. $12 per hour isnt going to keep my mortgage, pay my bills, or take care of my family. even the lowest paying job in the industry brings home more money then that. seems to me like the only thing i have to offer that worth anything is a CDL. factory jobs have turned into a joke.

 

my intention was not to be a job hopper, i had planned on staying with the 2nd job but it didnt plan out. i had a horrid experience with werner. literally nothing went well there. weeks in a hotel, a piss poor training, being gone from home for 8 weeks. there really was nothing about that i liked.

i wanted to stay with rist but it didnt work out. so here i am.

 

im guessing allot of people agree that both the school and werner dont offer the best training and between the two of them...... werner and the school your pretty much on your own to learn real world operation. its kind of comical, going into the terminal at allentown and seeing the how many days since and accident and how many days since a rollover thing. actually its not funny at all usually its only been a couple days since accident or rollover.

sometimes you get lucky and the werner trainer is a good trainer, but its not the corporate culture or policies that breed good werner trainers but an individual that takes it far seriously then the company takes it.

i really dont need a whole training period perhaps just a week more with a GOOD trainer that lets me do the ALL of the work.