Stacking the deck in your favor Pt 2: Getting started on the right foot.

It took me years of headaches to learn how to ask "why" without pissing people off. They always assumed I was questioning their skills/knowledge or being insolent instead of asking for wisdom and understanding.

It took me about three years before I thought I was doing an acceptable job as a trainer (I still think I'm a barely adequate truck driver). Whenever I have the chance I try and watch other people teach skills. I always learn something, even if it's something not to do. I don't care what industry or skill we're talking about, those at the top listen and watch those around them, learning what they can and finding the opportunities to grow.

 

"You're yelling at me"

"No, I'm standing 20 feet away watching you about to back into the hood of off Six's truck. I need to make sure you can hear me over the engine. If I have to chose between hurting your feelings or Six making my nose match his dented up hood, your feelings lose every time."

True story I once belowed "STOP" loud enough that they heard me inside the warehouse. Of course that was the third or 4th stop in a row.

Once the danger has passed I always make sure they understand exactly why I freaked out. There's a time and a place for chewing rear, but afterwards you need to give them some Neosporin, a bandage, and an ice pack otherwise what's the point?

 

When I was in the telecom industry I was really good at installing and upgrading. Was sent on the most difficult troubleshooting issues because I observed and listened.

Out of 12 techs there was two of us darn near equal. I was better at the hardware and phone system programming while he was better at the auxiliary servers and such.

I always told the New meat, never let the customer know you don't know what you are doing. The dumbest tech does something better than you, find it and learn. Here's the phone list, call for help.

 

This I should be able to contribute towards.

I think my biggest piece of advice for all the new drivers that come through my truck and classroom is this. Most people I train these days, especially those coming with little to no OTR experience, don't understand that even though a company might say "5-6 days out, resets at home", that doesn't mean your reset is going to be 48 hours and on Saturday and Sunday (or whatever combination of out-/home-time).

I made this assumption when I first started out on the highway. I tried really hard to push so I would get back by 5 pm on Friday and then go out Monday morning at 7-8 am the next week. That pushing wore me out and I had to jump to a local position to avoid complete burnout (I was on the verge of giving up, after a mere 7 months from the time I started).

Now, I spend an equal amount of time working in the office doing orientation activities, working with drivers on tarping, securement, etc as I do driving, and when I get a solid run for 3-4 days, living out of the truck, I feel alive again. If my wife and I weren't planning on starting a family in the next year or two, I would be seriously considering right now giving up on the training (the office/local variety) and going back on highway full time.

I'm at that point where I know what I'm doing behind the wheel, so I'm not struggling with Hours of Service and other non-driving related activities. It's all second nature to me now, so I can concentrate on driving and having fun doing it. Even in Chicago during rush hour. I could make a whole lot of money doing something I absolutely love.

 

Another thing I'll add for the newbies interacting with trainers.

Don't be the greenhorn who thinks you know everything about trucking. You don't. I don't. Six doesn't (I think, I don't know him personally). Watching some Youtube videos on floating isn't going to turn you into a super-trucker overnight. It took me six months to get good at shifting, and over a year for me to consider myself skilled at it. Even now I'm still improving.

We are all looking to learn something new out here every day, and if we aren't, we should probably consider hanging up the keys and finding another job.

I'm in the truck with you (or classroom) passing on what I've learned with the intent that you will learn at least something valuable from my experience. I want to see everyone I teach succeed at this career like I have. Don't just sit there and say "yes, yes, yes" whenever I tell you something. Challenge me on it. ASK ME WHY I'm telling you this.

I have explanations for most of it, and a lot of it has personal experience backing it up. I made the mistake and am telling you about it so you don't. Listen to me and remember it. If you don't care, then you are going to #### it up as badly as I did, or worse. Don't come crying to me when you figure out you should have listened.

 

Good trainers have a tough job. The ones who do it well should be appreciated. Not something for any amount of money I would take on. For you guys and gals who do, and do it well...my hats off. Thank you. We need all the help we can get.

 

I'll add this...nothing is more important than honesty. Learn to live in the light of the truth.

When I was managing a chemical plant we had one basic rule: If you make a mistake you must report it immediately regardless of how minor it may seem. Violating this rule meant termination, no exceptions.

Why? Well when a mistake is made it presents an opportunity to learn from the event. If you hide it you learn nothing and neither does anyone else.

We had a guy who left a valve open on a tank about 8 years ago. When pumping a fresh batch to another tank he mixed product. Fortunately the tanks both contained the same stuff, just two different batches. A new batch sheet showing the mixture so we could account for it in inventory is all we had to do to fix it...once we figured it out. It took recalculating inventory counts and some detective work but eventually we found the evidence that a guy had screwed up and not told us. For lying about it I fired him. he left and told everyone in town what an a-hole I was. And still nobody would hire him. To this day he still delivers pizzas.

Fast forward a few months and someone else made a similar mistake....only this time he mixed two different products and it cost well over $150K to fix. But he was upfront about it and remained employed to help fix the problem and we all learned from it.

Trucking is not much different. Mistakes will be made. A Man will never run from his problems or mistakes. Want to stack the deck in your favor? Learn to make the most of mistakes...not just the ones you make but the ones others have made. Old guys are willing to share these lessons with the guys who will hear AND listen to them.

 

I read a book when I was younger I wish I could remember the name of it. It was passed to me by a good friend and I passed it on after finishing it. It should be required reading in schools. One of the main things I took from that book was "people, while in a conversation, are so busy thinking of what they are going to about themselves next that they cannot concentrate on what the person they are taking with is saying." As was said above..2ears one mouth!!!
I would also like to add ...just because you read all the books and watched all the videos and went thru all the school and got a freshly minted CDL, contrary to every self entitled trophy for everyone thing you've been told,. you don't know it all!!! And probably never will!!

 

One thing I have learned is carry a note pad. The act of writing things down keeps them in my brain even if I never look at it again. Two ears, two eyes, one month is very useful. Also there is a time and place for everything. It's not always what you say but how you say it.