OTR for the first time.

There's no growth without discomfort

I am convinced that travel in and of itself is consciousness expanding.

And wherever you are from will still be there when you want to go back

 

That's what I did when I was brand new. If I couldn't make it happen in a reasonable amount of time, I got out of the way and let other drivers do their thing.

At the same time, I never let anyone rush me.

 

Hey you know what? At the end of the day when I'm trying to park and some incompetent fool is gumming up the whole works, I'm supposed to act like it's cool? Take your politically correct b.s. to someone who's going a long with it, because it's not me.

If you can't back the trailer into a slot in a few minutes, you need to get the hell out of the way and give it up to someone who can do it. Get on down the road to a rest area and nose in/pull through so you don't have to back.

I see so many people who shouldn't even be driving, I'm talking about the flip flop wearing, ear bud types who think that this is some sort of "the world revolves around me" job. A drivers time is very precious and I don't get paid to endure someone else's incompetence.

I've ditched plenty of parking spots because I'm not going to be "that guy" at the truck stop. Parking illegally or taking 15 minutes to back it in. Have some pride and consider the next drivers time.

 

Couldnt disagree more, if ya dont wanna wait , how about goin over there and spotting him? Or if ya dont wanna do that , how about backin up and finding another aisle to go down?

 

Well aren't you a ball of ####in sunshine! You're the kind of person that gives this industry a bad name..it's all about you and you're feelings and what you think. News Flash buddy...the world doesn't revolve around you. Pull that cob out of your ### and realize not everyone is a super trucker like you. Everyone starts somewhere...and like I said before. Waiting for someone to park is no different than waiting to be loaded or unloaded or waiting in traffic etc. I don't care that you're tired and you want to park, so is everyone else. Get over yourself!

 

Sometimes it aint a new guy either, we all have our days, and if its one of the last spots at the truck stop and im out of hours , u gonna have to wait mr supertrucker and u can get on that cb all ya want and im gonna laugh my butt off and take my sweet time just to piss ya off , it sure is funny seeing some u guys get so mad at other drivers but ya to lazy to get off ur fat ### and help him u , but at the same time complain about everything wrong in the industry but do nothin to help change it, a sad state of affairs

 

About the parking thing: as a new driver, practice backing, for example, it's mid day, you fuel up, there's dozens of empty spots, pretend they are all full, and practice.

You'll save yourself, and others, a lot of grief.

When new to OTR, knowledge of your route cannot be over emphasized. Learn to use your tools well, use your atlas, use your GPS, use satellite view to see where the truck entrance is at shipper and receiver.

Plan where you'll take your breaks, especially if you're running odd hours like starting your 10 after 7PM.

Take responsibility.

 

The best thing that ever happened for me as a trainee driver was when my trainer got tired of watching me mess up and had me drive back to the yard. I thought I was gonna get fired, but instead I was given a tractor and an old trailer they were using for storage and told to spend the rest of the day practicing. All I did for six hours was park the trailer between two other trailers and then pull out, loop around, and do it again. After a while, it started getting easier and easier. I even spent the last hour doing blind side (it wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t hit anything).

I’d be lying if I said I was effortless after that, but I was more than minimally competent, and that was good enough for me to head out for my OTR training, and I did well enough out there to get assigned a truck and sent out solo.