starting roehl on Feb 25th

All I am saying is why don't you take a more proactive approach if you feel things are that bad? I am not really stressed about this, I am enjoying the training and looking forward to getting on the road with a trainer. To be completely honest, you come off as really unhappy and malcontent and I'm sure that is not your intention. I understand you want to debunk myths and believe me, I'm grateful for that and I'm sure that other new drivers are too. It's just the overall negative attitude of the posts override the helpful advice and insight you are trying to provide. When you basically say the training we received isn't worth crap, how would you like us to react? Please don't take this as not wanting to hear advice and opinions, I just wish there were recommendations and solutions to go with them.

 

Proactive, try to make change useing a cheerful and helpful manor. Become a cheerleader for the company. Ok so help me cheer, you have said in the past that the instructers are top notch, give me an example. Don't just say something to say it. Back it up.

Unhappy, nope I do my job each and everyday. I like my job, just tired of always hearing the same complaints from new drivers. So I took a proactive approach and started to investigate the complaints. The more i dug around the sadder I became. So now I have fallen inline with the other 95% of the drivers, and have lowered my expectations of Roehl.

So where does that leave us as a trucking company?

hip hip horray

The solutions to many of my gripes are simple, and as I have stated in the past Rick even pays people to fix theese things. They choose not to.

Rah rah rah

Your training is minimal at best. you will discover this in your evolution 1 & 2 phases. But you will be safe.

Go team go

Now is the time to ask yourself something, why haven't you taken the time to practice blindside backs while the instructors have been there to help you. Certainly they were there to help you but you have choosen not ask, and you have choosen not to take the time to learn. The Roehl training staff are of course not mind readers how could they have known you needed help with this task?

Blind side backing is a fairly common task that you will experience at least twice a week on average. Just because it isn't on the road test doesn't mean that it is not important. What is the most common type of accident? Head on collision, right side side swipe, or Backing? Yup backing, so I ask again why have you choosen not to take advantage of Roehls great training program.

Hmmm I see your response, it is all clear now. It is the responsibility of your evolution 1 & 2 trainers to teach you theese basic tasks. At what point do you decide that you will take responsibility for your own actions or lack thereof?

 

Yes maybe June 9th if all goes as planned..........

 

Yeah, it IS the trainer's job to teach us some stuff. That's how this program is three weeks and not six or eight. I have accepted that this program is accelerated and that we are not going to be taught every single thing. This program, as you said, is designed to prepare us for the simple road test. I accept that. Why can't the instructors be "top notch" at getting us ready for that test? Yeah, blindside backing isn't part of this training and yes I realize that in the real world blindside backs happen. When I say proactive, I mean why haven't you become a trainer or an instructor? This stuff seems important to you, and you seem to have the knowledge, why not make a difference to the trainees you would have? If you have your personal reasons, then fine, I'm just asking. You said you just sit in the corner and listen to the complaints, do you offer suggestions to help the people complaining or just investigate the complaint to see if they are true? I really have no desire to argue, and I admit I'm ignorant to the ways of the trucking industry; but I am not naive to the world. I can tolerate BS better than most, thanks Navy! I see a problem, I adapt to it and deal. One of your examples was bad directions; driver were told to take dirt roads, why weren't they verifying the routes to ensure they weren't on dirt roads? Bad directions happen. I'm not doubting your claims, at all, but I am not going believe everything I read either. Some people have bad experiences, yeah, but I refuse to lay that completely on Roehl until I have seen it first hand. It's the same in the military, people will tell you it's awful and give you a laundry list of whats wrong with it, but half the stuff I heard people complain about I never saw or it turned out they were partially to blame for the problem. I am thankful to have been hired. The job market in Florida isn't the best, so I am stoked that I got a job were the pay is comparable to what I was making in the military. I'm going to keep going at this with a positive attitude and roll with the punches. I don't expect this to be all diamonds and roses, I expect to have bad days and problems. That's just life.

 

And you'll have lots of bad days and problems. I completed RDTC at the end of December and was picked up two days after Christmas by my first trainer. A flatbedder, yes, so not much opportunity for blind side backing. My second trainer was a van driver and I had the opportunity to blind side back with someone there to help me. In all honesty, it's the same to me. Instead of looking in your mirror you simply get out and look. Simple, yes, and GOAL is drilled into your brain throughout RDTC.

After I got my own truck I had a few bad places to go where you could only blind side and there were big snow piles in the way. It took me a long time, but I got it, and didn't hit anything (again, GOAL).

And to anyone not in the honors program, I'd think twice about flatbedding and wasting so much of the 70 hours you can be driving on strapping and tarping.

 

Congrats CMoore on not hitting anything, you did it right Get Out And Look. Take your time and do it right the first time everytime. Blindsideing in essentially has the same dynamaics as a drivers side back in, except you can (for the most part) only follow the trailer with the right front spot mirror. That is why I am suggesting that you practice it in school with the type of trailer you plan on driving. The school, if I have been told correctly, has an instructer there on saturdays. Most students fail to use this time to practice on real world events. Ask for the keys, practice before you find yourself in a bad situation because then it is to late.

I will address your other questions soon enough on a new thread called Rum's Rants, lol

No, I have never turned my back on any driver who has ever asked me a question. And I doubt that you will ever run into one who would. We just are not built that way

Now go practice... practice... practic... practi... pract... prac... pra... pr... p...

{trying to hypnotize you students}

 

Saturdays are indeed devoted to backing. They are not mandatory, however most out-of-state students opt to stay for the entire day since there is really nothing else to do. Here is the catch, there are two classes participating in the backing evolutions at a time; depending on the size of said classes we are talking up to five or six trucks and just two instructors observing. So doing anything other than the prescribed coarse is not possible. Believe me, I would like to try blindside backing, as well as parallel parking, but logistically it's just not possible. Again, you are right, this is designed to get us ready for a state exam which only requires us to demonstrate 45 degree and strait backing. This training isn't perfect by any means, but I think we receive a good working knowledge to get us started. Look forward to reading your future post.

 

Hey rum,

go roehl driver go

I just gotta ask, where are they sending you that you are blindsiding twice a week?

Roehl red is the bestest red around!

I would be hard pressed to remember the last time I had to do it. Keep talking like that and you will scare of all the greenhorns. They are a skittish bunch.

Roehl drivers hate puupies and kick them for fun...oops wrong thread...Roehl drivers take in blind orphaned puppies to give them love and comfort.

Cheerleading is tough, I'm going back to the hate roehl boards.

 

Not too sure about the "wasting time flatbedding". Does it take more time to strap and tarp a load instead of doing a drop and hook? Of course, and if van was all drop and hook it would be the easy choice. But, everyone knows there is plenty of sitting around and waiting while that van trailer becomes a new addition to somebody's warehouse. We also get paid for that strapping and tarping. Is it worth the effort for a few extra grand at the end of the year? For most people, no its not. But the fact is, flats pay better than vans. I figure if am going to spend time on the road, away from family and friends I am going to make the best of it. The extra exercise is a perk to me. I would be one fat son of a gun if I pulled a tuna can. Sometimes it depends where you live. Most of the van freight out of WI goes to the east coast. I do my share of east coast but am not out there all the time like some of my van pulling brethren. Blind side backing? I think I had to this once in the last three months. It was with an empty so it wasn't even truly "blind". There are some weeks, that if I do not have a student the truck only goes in reverse to hook onto my first trailer. I keep that trailer all week long and never have to it back at all. If I have a student I try to find a place to back everyday.
So, at about this time every year my wife and I take the little extra flatbed money and some tax return money and take a trip to Hawaii. In a couple of weeks I will be on a secluded beach sipping Mai Tais.(see avatar) Also, trying unsuccessfully to surf and boogey board. Hopefully, this year my fishing trip does not get rained out. I'll try not to think of the poor souls hand unloading their loads of toilet paper in New Jersey. Cha Cha Charmin.

 

We are done! It was a good experience, I think. I'm looking forward to getting out with a trainer now.