My experience with Werner, The Big Blue Screw

Well done......ahead of the curve I see. At this rate, you'll be in a lease / purchase by the end of July!!

 

Good luck at Roehl. They have a much better reputation then Werner.

 

Many of these trainers just do it for the "2nd log book" and couldn't care less about "training".

The only extra pay is miles to the truck, not trainers pay.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to sleep while a rookie learns to "suck it up" with night driving ... might find your truck getting "sucked" into a ditch.

 

When I got out of my trainers truck I couldn't back up for sheet.... I still can't

 

Whenever you have time and you are at a non busy truck stop with a big lot park in the back, pull out and go around then do it. Rinse and repeat a few times each time you get a chance and you'll get better in a hurry.

 

What I know, is in the Army you learn to take initiative, how to be responsible, and accomplish the mission without making excuses. Trucking and every other occupation is the same in that regards. Thats why a lot of companies like to hire veterans. They know the vet will make it happen. All they have to do is learn the new skill and they are good go..

 

Hmm, I do not recall mentioning you in that last comment.. Paranoid are we?

 

Okay, I was a trainer for a bit during my 3.5 years there. I'm a female driver, so I was definitely in demand as a trainer. I know how to teach, having taught computers and software (all of my students went on to make more than I made teaching them, lol), and I was an EMS instructor for a few years. I can teach enough about trucking to get someone started, and to make sure they are safe for a very long time.

The first trainer, well, they never should have put you in his rig to begin with, someone screwed up, huge. The second one screwed up as well, abandoning you just because you became ill enough to require immediate medical attention that developed into a full blown medical emergency. I would have refused Werner's assistance at that point, and hopped on the next bus home. As it was, you gutted it out to get a third trainer.

As for what happened with the third trainer, both of you were wrong. You had better get use to driving at night, and fairly quickly, because not wanting to drive at night is a great way to tell your employer you are quitting the next time you get to the terminal. And you may indeed be called upon to drive all night, with as few breaks as possible (fuel and a meal to go). Having said that, I never let my trainees drive at night, especially all night, until I was very comfortable with how they drove during the day, and we had spent a couple or few days discussing night driving, at length. Yes, your 3rd trainer was an idiot, and likely won't get another trainee for a very long time (it's rare one can drive all night the first night, and I've yet to meet a trainee who could do it two nights in a row, while trying to adjust to sleeping in a moving rig).

I doubt the safety hold is over the energy drinks, though they aren't the best thing to be doing as nearly all do cause sugar "crashes" where you are suddenly fatigued. If you're fatigued, the only effective thing to do is stop and rest, which you did (I and everyone I know who shares the roadway with you thanks you for showing common sense). I suspect the combination of having had three trainers, and the issue over the night driving, were the real reason. Werner isn't what I would call the most honest of carriers, by any stretch.

IF Werner gives you a 4th trainer, you're going to have to find ways to cope with what is thrown at you, including night driving and communicating when you are fatigued (your trainer should train you on that, not have a childish hissy). You'll have to find a way, with some of Werner's trainers, to pry the answers you need to make it in this industry out of them, while inflating their ego a bit for their having thought to mention it to you. You have just a few weeks to learn how to safely earn a decent living for the next few decades. Trust me, there's a lot to learn. How I know someone had a good trainer, and that they took full advantage of that, is that years later they have yet to be involved in an at-fault accident. I can tell the ones who had bad trainers by how often and with what frequency they have had at-fault accidents.

You're stuck where you are until you have at least 12 months behind the wheel. Don't quit Werner until you have the next job for certain, some companies won't even consider a driver who isn't already working for someone else, and very few will take someone with less than 12 months experience, or less than 6 months at their current or last job.

Also, you may want to read the notice at the top of this forum, about how a lot of trucking companies visit this site to see what is being said about them, and a lot of times they can put together who. Werner does this, and your somewhat unique circumstances will make it pretty obvious to them who you are. Just a thought.