Start at McElroy on Monday!

Roger that.

 

Orientation Day 1 is in the books. I have to say that everything went pretty much as expected. I say only "pretty much" b/c it went actually better than I expected.

I'd invested a lot of time/effort in researching various companies, their orientation & training process in particular. While doing so I'd seen some complaints about this or that with McElroy's, especially the first day. Those complaints were along the lines of "I didn't know such-&-such till I got there!" or "We were there ALL day & till after 8PM!!"...blah, blah, blah. The only thing I can figure is those folks simply do not listen to basic information, or have no capacity to comprehend what they're told. The only thing that happened for us today that did not go the way we'd been told it might was that we were back at the motel by 8 PM --- I was told its probably be more like 9 or so.

As y'all know, I'm just a recent CDL school grad. I don't profess to know much about trucking at this point. However, I do know professionalism, & I have to say that everyone with whom we've come in contact here at McElroy today have displayed it. The instructors/trainers have been very helpful, personable, & seem to have good senses of humor.

We got to see the simulator unit & how it works this evening. Awesome piece of machinery. We'll get to use it Wednesday. Tuesday is DOT physical, agility tests, etc. A lot of today involved paperwork, learning McElroy policies, what to expect the rest of the week, and computer based training.

There are 7 of us in our class. Seems to be a good group of guys. Everyone's getting along well, & all seem to be enjoying their experience here.

 

So correct, sir. As I was reading reviews (be it here, or on other sites) I'd always keep in mind what I tell my bride when she reads reviews of various products she's looking to buy: "Remember, some of those people are idiots!" lol

 

Orientation, Day 2... Nothing major to report as the day was spent mostly getting our DOT physicals & then going up to Tuscaloosa for agility testing. We did take in another training video, followed by a written test. Tomorrow should be a really busy one as we'll start dealing with some tarp folding/unfolding, some driving tests, some backing, & some simulator work. Will probably have some opportunities to get in some more CBT as well & get a couple more of those knocked out.

 

Basically, none of the instructors/trainers talk about miles. However,we've had a guy with us the last two days that was coming off an injury, going through agility tests & such to make sure he was fit to drive again. He's been with McElroy just over a year. When we asked him about miles, he said he averaged 2000/wk. One of my classmates asked him what was a bad week like (regarding miles), he just said, "I haven't had one." So, I guess you can take that for what it is.

I researched several companies when I was trying to decide on a company. It seemed each one had folks that were getting good miles & folks that were griping about their miles. While a lot of factors go into it, a big factor is keeping the left door shut & getting the job done. The walls of the hallways outside the room I'm sitting in right now are covered with pictures of one-, two-, & three-million-mile drivers. Somebody's getting some miles here.