swift fired me for two incidents and I just recieved my DAC Has two accidents on it

It's easy, right there on the side....anytime...

Now that's scary...

And the really scary part is....I WAS trucking in the 70's!!!! Dam I'm OLD!!!

 

If I haven't learned anything else in my 14 yrs in this business I have learned this. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open and listen when the oldtimers are talkin. That old gray-haired guy with all the tattoos and the chain on his wallet and the leather Zippo holder on his belt can teach you a thing or two if you only listen.

 

Gravelhauler, I listen to the young, old and anything in the middle, I've hauled all kinds of freight, van, flat, step, oversize, reefers, tanks and pretty much anything else and the one constant I have found is that I still don't know it all and the most important thing I have learned is.... I am still young enough to learn!!! I may not learn anything from a conversation but if I'm lucky I will get a new perspective I may not have had before. I have owned trucks, driven junk and brandy spanking new too, I have had conversations for fun with DOT inspectors and Police from everywhere I can and I have developed a respect for us all, we all have a job to do and ultimately I hope we all will get the bottom line.... Safety first, second and third!

If by some strange miracle we all learn to respect one another for our similarities as well as our differences it will be a fantastic industry to work in, I was a rookie once and I had an awesome O/O that taught me HIS trade and thereby gave me mine, I still thank him whenever we talk for his patience and mostly for his knowledge, he had the willingness to share it with a dumb kid that had no real direction when he had nothing to gain by doing so, he didn't get paid to teach me, all he got is the satisfaction knowing that I appreciated what he did and that I will try to make him proud every time I turn the key and put it in gear. Carl, thanks again.


Injun, become a trainer, you have a darn good head on your shoulders from everything I have read from you here, although we have never met I believe you would be good at it and your students would benefit greatly as would Swift! I hope one day our paths will cross, coffee's on me, conversation would be greatly appreciated.

Everyone else, be safe out there!!!

Jim

 

I thank god that I was able to learn the way I did. My pops and his buddies took me under their wing. They saw I wanted to learn and they taught me everything they knew. I'm not gonna knock driving schools. Everybody has to learn and not everybody has an oppurtunity like I did. I agree jlind, I will never know it all. My uncle told me the day I think I know everything about trucking is the day I need to give it up. I'm gonna take the good days with a smile and meet the bad days head on simply because I love what I do. When I was in kindergarten and they asked what we wanted to be when we grew up I said a truck driver and that never changed. I've just always been programmed to listen and learn from the oldtimers because thats who taught me how to drive.

 

There is a reason (or six) why Injun does not train:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/swift/132419-injun-a-mentor-trainer.html

 

I don't train because of liability issues. If you pass a student from Phase I and they get into a accident within their probationary period, you as a trainer are liable for that accident.

 

Just stirring the pot Injun, I know you have no desire(?) to train but I didn't know you were liable after the fact, that doesn't seem right!
I have "finished" a few but not like a real training company deal, have thought about trying to become a trainer but I think in the long run I wouldn't produce enough finished students for the bosses as I fear I would be too tough on them.
And.... I guess I won't be coming on with Swift with my friend, he can't seem to make up his mind and I'm not going to leave where I am to go with a wishy washy 50 yr old!!! Oh well...

 

I think if I was in your shoes, I would wait at least another year before training noobs. One year in big trucks is not quite enough to train effectively. Yes, I know. CRE allows people to train with less than a year. Swift does, too. That doesn't make it right.

 

I've been driving for more than a year. I've been with England for a year. I had my CDL since '01 and I've been driving various CMV's.

Althouth if I had to choose between a trainer with 15 years of experience that only wants a student for a logbook or a trainer with 2 years of experience willing to teach, I'd take the trainer with 2 years of experience willing to teach.

 

I am fully aware of your experience level. Holding a CDL does not make you a trucker. Driving "various" CMVs does not make you a trucker. I've had a CDL since 1996 with hazmat and drove water tankers for ten years. Yet, I do not claim 15 years' experience as a trucker. Because I don't have it. I did not go Class A tractor/trailer until January 2007. Therefore, I am almost ready to turn my counter to five years.


Furniture trucks and school buses do not qualify anyone to claim ten years or train noobs.