student driver questions on USA..

Well I upgraded today at west memphis and now playing the waiting game for my truck at the econolodge. Hopefully usa will do me good but the way it looks probably not so hopefully ill get some experience and get a good company if this don't work out. I'm looking forward to driving even if this company isn't all that. Hopefully ill get a good truck and not stuck in the shop all the time but I guess we will see. Thanks guys for all the post they really help out and give a lot of insight on how things work. By the way Lawrence is a great guy and I'm glad I had him as my upgrade instructor. Well wish me luck

 

Lawrence is doing upgrade? Oooooooh, they moved some stuff around. He's a good guy. I'm surprised they have him doing that. He wasn't doing that when I worked there.

 

Yeah he's doing it but I heard they hadn't been doing upgrades there long. He's laid back though so the road test and written test were easy. He also will do anything for you. Definitely good guy

 

Lawrence is a great guy. The guy at Carlisle used to be a good guy when he was at Vandalia but it seems as though pa is a black hole in that area cuz the last time I was there everyone was just not pleasant to deal with at all

 

You got that 100% correct. Ive never seen a terminal (and I've been to all of ours) that has personnel with such rude high and mighty attitudes, Van Buren included. I wouldnt even go there to top off fluids or pick up spare parts. I plan my trips to avoid that terminal in favor of a truck stop. In an emergency I'd park on the shoulder before there. As much as I despise the manager at Laredo, I'd stand guard in her bathroom and be her designated bum wiper for a day before going back to Carlisle voluntarily. I've been treated better by fat ladies at receiving offices than at our own terminal and that's shameful.

 

I've heard stories about the lady in Laredo. That's one of those "Get in, and try to get out as soon as possible places". I think that ole boy in the guard shack just sits and listens to loud rock and gets stoned.

 

You really kinda have to have an understanding of Hispanic culture to know why she is the way she is, but it goes into light skin versus dark skin and social class in Latin America. Anyhow, she is rude, she thinks she's smarter than everybody else, and she's arrogant enough to not bother making sure that the drivers don't speak Spanish before talking crap about them in the office.

 

That's when you record audio and have someone translate for you then turn it into VanBuren .

Sent from my DROIDX

 

I brought in my broken lights and empty packages of lights i replaced myself to get replaced. The head guy gave me one bulb for a lic plate and when I asked for the rest he told me he was not going to restock me. I told him thats fine, when a light is out no matter where it is on the truck and I am in this area I will be here for you to replace it. I told him I will not change a thing on that truck myself when I am in this state and walked out the door. I told my FM when I needed my apu fixed that I would go without so that she could get me to another terminal because I would not go there. She said it was not the first complaint she heard about carlisle. I spent the rest of the week and the weekend finding hotels because I would not go there. Finally got a load to vandalia to get it fixed.

 

When I worked at USA, the best place I found to get an APU issue fixed was at the South Holland (Chicago) Terminal . Not sure if that is still the best place or not now though. Vandalia should be able to stock you up with new lights also . I was missing most of what is in the repair kit at one time and they just gave me a new kit.