Insane trainer at Pride

drvrtech77 · Aug 23, 2013

Hamish said: ↑

Glad to see it's not just me got a bad draw on a trainer, Cavril. I got 2 weeks with mine, but, it was in a slow period and we missed 4 days altogether, and several half days where we didn't get a second order, (regional driver). All told, about one weeks worth of driving, then I was to shadow him for a week. The experience fell somewhere short of awful! I was shown very little; when the situation called for backing up, (Super-B), he'd take the wheel saying that I'd take to long & just Freddie, Uncle Charlie, Kate it up. My protests to this, and almost every other question/situation I raised were responded to by the simple statement, "Some things you gotta learn the hard way"!

We almost came to blows over driving in freeway/city traffic; he was the most aggressive driver I've seen, and insisted that I tail gate and keep so close to the next vehicle that nothing else could cut in. In either seat he was in a constant state of road rage. I finally told him that I wasn't judging how he chose to drive, but I certainly wasn't going to drive in any similar fashion. This sort of put a chill on any sense of professional comraderie we might have developed.

The chilliest moment was when we were delivering a load and were told that there'd be a three hr. wait to u/l. He told me to head downtown as he had errands to pursue. I told him that if he wanted to go down town, he could take the driver's seat as I had no reason to go there. He got in a huff, but took the wheel and headed up a busy avenue. He decided to park in a small lot behind a hotel; this called for a sharp left turn, followed immediately by a narrow right turn, cut three feet into an embankment. Well, there was too much speed, and not nearly enough room! The driver's side steer and drives went up over the embankment, followed by two fully loaded bins. When stopped there was a continuous sound of escaping air; driver thought he'd got a flat. No. Broke the drain #### off the wet tank.

He then looked at me and said, "You can explain this easily; you noticed that you were losing air and had to come off the highway to find a safe place to park." I looked at the ruts up the embankment and over the concrete parking barrier, and said, "No, I don't think I'll be explaining this; I wasn't driving!" Maintenance arrived and quickly remedied the situation. I never heard of any explanation being called for, nor heard of any recriminations.

I told him I wanted to shadow some other driver, as I'd never keep up to him and couldn't see any satisfactory outcome to our Trainer/Trainee time together. He almost cried as he apologized for being such an ####### in our time together. He said that he'd change and make sure we were together in shadowing. I gave it a try, and it worked ...for one delivery. the second one he offloaded, then, instead of waiting for me to offload, said, "You know where we're going next, when you're done head out and watch for me at TS's along the route. After that I went to my safety officer and requested another trainer; all I said was I felt that my training time was being wasted as we didn't have similar driving styles. Got a new trainer for one day, (supposed to be longer, but things got in the way), a great guy who showed me more in one day of shadowing than I'd learned in the previous two weeks!

I'm solo now, and it's much easier to breathe in my cab.
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that guy is a trainer???...wow..that's scary!!

pattyj · Aug 23, 2013

Companies don't screen ppl good enough before becoming a trainer.

ladr · Aug 23, 2013

What I don't understand is if you read this forum....you guys will see that you don't have to put up with this #### abuse.

Stand up for yourself and report the crappy "trainer", how else will the company know?

Saddletramp1200 · Aug 23, 2013

Send it to safety!

scottm586 · Aug 23, 2013

Cavril said: ↑

I have about 1.5 hours of footage and 30 minutes of audio. Not sure what at this point I will do with them. Thanks for asking. Never had the opportunity to share with company as when I met in person with them I had not reviewed what was there on the video and audio.
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Be careful with recording people who dont know your doing it...I dont know the laws in an "In transit" capacity but I do know its illegal in some states..be careful who you let know you have done this...ask a lawyer about it before you turn it in to management..

Gulf · Aug 23, 2013

^^^This, yeah, I would definitely find out the legal info. Recording others without their consent could pose a problem.

Rich635mustang · Aug 23, 2013

OMG, what horrible stories. I hope I get a great trainer.

PackRatTDI · Aug 24, 2013

I'll be honest. My wife is Mexican but I don't think I've heard anyone say more condescending things about Mexicans than her. I'm onl a half breed so I keep my mouth shut lol.

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