Offered a great paying job close to home, but manual trucks only.

Alright guys. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. It's been a very roller coaster day, so bare with me.

They called me around 5am to tell me what route I had and what stores I would be running. It was only 3 stops, with the furthest being 110 miles away. Dispatcher told me I would only get one load because they wanted to see how well I would handle it. Told me to be in at 9am.

I got in there just before 9 and he told me that my load was delayed and wouldn't be ready for an hour. I asked if I could bobtail and drive around the yard to test the truck out while I wait and he said sure.

I got in, tried to start up, but nothing was happening. I forgot I had to hold the clutch down. When I started it up and took my foot off the clutch, it violently shook and scared me thinking I did something wrong. Come to find out, someone left it in gear. So I took a deep breath, put it in neutral, put my foot on the clutch and started her up. I wanted to start slow so I tried putting it in 2nd gear and took my foot off the clutch, but it ended up stalling out. I tried it again and stalled a second time. Third time, I finally got it as I slowly eased off it, but the tractor pulled out quick. Turns out, I actually started out in 4th, thinking it was 2nd.

I was finally rolling, but when I tried to go to 5th, it grinded and kept grinding. After about 6-7 attempts, I finally got it to go in 5th. I tried going to 6th, but I forgot the to raise the splitter. I was too focused on just shifting that I forgot all about the splitter. I was struggling so much just trying to upshift, that I didn't even attempt trying to downshift. After about 20 minutes, reality set in and came to the realization that I wasn't qualified for the job. If I was struggling that bad just bobtailing, I wouldn't have a shot with a loaded trailer.

So I parked the truck, pulled the brakes, left the key in the ignition, got in my car and drove off. I didn't even bother going into the office to tell them I couldn't do it. About 45 minutes later, I get a call from the dispatcher, but didn't answer. He left a voicemail saying my route was ready. He then called again and I answered. I told him I tried out the truck, but I'm having some difficulties and while I appreciate giving me the opportunity to work with you guys, I am not qualified. He then asked how so, seeing as I had a few years of experience and a clean MVR and DAC. I then told him it's been a long time since I've driven a stick and pretty much forgot how to shift since I've been driving an automatic for the longest.

He then said "but you stated that you could drive a stick". I then told him I did a long time ago, I just forgot a lot of it. He then sighed and said "ok, we'll try to work something out, we'll give you a call later."

I've been pretty much depressed the entire day because I really did try my best to prepare the best way I could with what I had. Well I get a call around 5:30pm from someone higher up at the company and he told me that they appreciate me being honest and not taking the route and getting myself in trouble hauling their truck and product out on the highway, but if you'd still like to stay with us, we can train you and get back your shifting skills.

I told him I would most definitely like that as I want nothing more than to stay. He said to be on the yard tomorrow morning at 6am where one of their drivers will take the time to train me.

So in the end it all worked out. It's definitely going to take some time, but I will learn all I can and take it one step at a time. I've learned a very valuable lesson. Watching youtube videos on how to shift is WAY different than actually in the truck trying to shift.