This is discouraging, is there any hope for me?

I'm not Medicenman...but pay for it yourself if you can. 1 year contracts can be full of things that can blindside you.

Most of all, being owned by the company store.

Some contracts include a clause that holds you responcible for the entire debt, if you leave 1 day prior to your first year completion. Even if they FIRED you.

IE, you started out owing $5k. You owe 5k plus interest on day 353. Even though you worked for a reduced wage for those days.

 

Thank you danc694u for your answer, I have been doing some research, and everytime I see there is more to learn.

I am thinking going to a community college, but my concern is if atfer I get my CDL, companies will be interested in hiring inexperienced drivers who did not attend their school.

 

Hey danc694u, just to let you no, cause my ticket was almost 3 years ago ill be ok with some companies, yeah, a lot of the better companies will not hire me due to the " careless/reckless/speeding/etc what ever u want to call it, bottem line there all the same in the end. I just didnt want to have to work for some of the " lower rated " companes such as werner, swift etc. i forgot that i got pulled over, first and last time 2.5 years ago. im not worried, the
" lower rated " companies will hire, as i have gotten pre-employment approvles from swift usx werner and iv gotten some good feed back from some local const companies im my area.
As far as the way some of you are talking down to OPI i just find upsetting. Opi knew what he has done wrong, you ALL have to understand that he may not have known much about the trucking industry, but its what he wanted to do, so he went to ASCS, same school i just graduated, the school lead him on to think that he would be able to get a job with the backround he has. I no it!! cause thats what the school does, yes yes yes i no, thats the reqruits job, yes i understand that, but just maybe Opi just didnt no anything about the trucking industry, maybe he dont have the internet availabile like most of us???..... i think its sad that you people who are pro's, and vets, and new, and everything inbetween are suggesting he go and work at McD's, you should be telling me to " hang in there buddy " or " keep looking, someone will hire you "... yes yes yes i understand that you are all speaking the truth, and telling it like it is, however, i have spoken to some const, companies over in NJ, and asked on Opi behalf if they would hire someone with his history, they said it DOES seem possiable for a hire. so, Opi, there is hope out there for you, you just need to search harder and deeper then the internet, newspapers and books. I no it.
Also, people, i understand what your asll saying about his attitude, however, the oens that are saying such things are much much older then he is, 30's 40's 50's, like non of you ever has that " bad ##### attitude " or anything like that??, please, he's 23 with a hard past, and present time that he is trying to work with. while all at the same time trying to make it better for himself in life.
________ i think we need more support from out vet driver, the drivers we look up to, the ones that we admire, and i think putting someone down telling them to work at McD's or some other fastfood rest. is just the wrong attitude,
Opi, you just need to keep looking, but on the same hand remember that on the totem poll you, along with me, are burried in the ground, compared to most Posters here on the forum.

 

It's good to hear you'll make out okay, and ARE actively trying....But

If you want it sugar coated. Go to Dunkin Donuts.

While we are a group of professionals (I hope). We are NOT anyone's mama or therapist.

Blanket statements about someone having a rough life, just don't tweak my heart strings....sorry.

Now if Opi can tell me the last time he and his mother were homeless (like my family) and can tell me the last time his mother went without a meal, so he could eat (like mine did), when he can tell me how his mother took a beating, to protect him from one (like mine did)...then I will have sympathy for him.

If you take the time to read my threads. You'll note I have NEVER pulled a pity thread and made the above comments about my life.

Yes I'm a complete ###hole. Reading many of my post proves that point. But, that's what people need sometimes.

Life goes on, you either live it, or get run down like a dog.

If you lose your "dream", you get another one. I did, many times.

I assumed responcibility for everything that went wrong in my life. And got over it. Believe me...the above comments about my life..were only the tip of the iceberg.

While others may see it differantly.

I'm richer for it.

 

... Wow, very interesting read here. Just my opinion but here it is.
... Soon2b ... Good luck man, you have a good attitutde and I am sure something will workout for you.
... Opi ... Why don't you just go try out for the UFC and try fighting for a living. If you took all of that training surely you are good enough to do that. And with your hostility and anger, that should actually help you out in that sport. If you were my kid, I have six by the way, I would still tell you the same thing. You show no respect and no remorse and you think that other people should do more for you than you have done for yourself? Now that is the truth but you don't even want to own up to that. I started reading this thread with some compassion for you but the further I read the less I had for you. And now I have none. To me, you have ruined any credibility I originally thought you might have. Sorry dude, I hope you don't make it in trucking because I believe you would be a bad apple in the basket. But I do wish you good luck in life. Remember, people must see and hear a change in your attitude before they will change their attitude of you. 2c+

 

Folks, im not trying to speak for him, however, we have talked in private messages, and i no his situation, and if you search for all his post, you will see that he has said that he has done wrong and he is trying to work on making his life a better life then what he had, honsetly, there is no need to be putting out personl information out on the web, such as past family issues, cause god knows we all have our own, and everyone can right there own books about it, but what im getting at is that we all as a group, newbs, soon2be's, rookies, vets, aged vets etc need to help eachother out in every way, tell opi, and others that there is some hope, him, like myself, is young, and he really is trying to make it as a truck driver, so instead of trying to tell him to work at McD's, or UFC i think you should all be telling him to look at maybe a mom-n-pop place, or the next place that you think would hire him. ALSO, please, understand, were are all talking, arguing over the internet, its a lot easier to say things, and have them taken in the wrong way by the way we read them, we all do it, so his attitude online may seem rude, disrespecrful, nasty, negative etc. but if he were to walk into a place, FACE 2 FACE, his attitude would change, cause what are the chances of him meeting you in person? slim to non, lets look at it that way.
Well, time to enjoy my easter dinner now, happy easter to all.
_-_- Anthony

 

Well, lets see here, if I can remember where the chair is, and how to turn on the computer, ya know it gets harder remembering this stuff every year. . .
Now let me put my cane aside, oh and turn off my hearing aid so the wife don't bug me none. . .

Ok, here goes - I've read this thread with a lot of different feelings. First off, being an ex cop (honorably retired after 20+ years,) I've seen every attitude, and heard just about every story there is.

And guess what, I WAS quite a rowdy young azzhole when I was a kid, but managed to avoid doing any felonies, or I never would have been a cop. Anyhow, that is beside the point.

What I am seeing here is the old "But it ain't MY fault!" No no, not me man, sure I did it but something (somebody, the devil, the booze, the drugs whatever) MADE me do it.

Jails are full of 23 year old guys "with a hard past." And (for the most part) they earned their right to be there.

Believe it or not, some people are able to turn their lives around. It takes time and hard work, and most of all owning your own actions. I don't know of anybody who hasn't made mistakes. We all have, and we will continue to make some.

The mark of maturity is admitting your mistakes, KNOWING they belong to you and not trying to lay the blame elsewhere. The HEIGHT of IMMATURITY is the "poor little me" bit such as I'll just go be a homeless person etc. Taken to extreme this can go as far as "I'm just gonna go kill myself" followed up by actually doing it.

Nobody is suggesting that this is the right solution. We are just trying to wake him up and tell him that HE is the one that needs to deal with his own problems. It may take him a few years, but if he takes it one day at a time, he can do it, if he REALLY WANTS to.

Frankly, I hope things work out for him, and for you as well.

For what it is worth, working at Mickey D's or some other type of entry level job is NOT (or at least should not) be a put down. There is a place for those folks too. If a person is willing to do a good job, it really doesn't matter what he/she is doing, as long as it pays the bills. One hell of a lot of people have at one time or another flipped burgers, including some folks who have made a hell of a lot more money than most of us truck drivers ever will!

We have all been there and managed to pull, claw, or leap our way out. You will too, if you keep trying.

Good luck!

 

Big_Don, first off allow me to Thank You for your 20 years with law enforcement.
2ndly, i hear what you are saying, and what other have said, and are going to say, see, here in this part of Pa. most people make fun of those who " flip burgers ", iv made fun of some, however, i was a bus boy cleaning up some of the dirtiest, foulist nasty things, but hey, i got a check at the end of the week,
Look folks, im not one to put others down when making a choice such as driving a truck, becoming a cop, or anything big like that.
on the web site, id like for people to help out others, such as opi, why cant we all work together and encourege him to keep looking, giving him names of places that **** MIGHT **** hire him/others.
lets put aside his/others bad attitude towrds life and everything just for a moment and help them along the way, do what WE, yes WE, as in YOU and ME, even tho im still a newb and no nothing, but i do no more then some of the other newbs out here.
cant WE just do that as a group
i no i no i no, some will dispute this with me, and im perfectly fine with that, but im asking for everyones help in helping out myself and others. look at the tools that have availiable for us to use, and a lot of you that have been part of the trucking indust. for a LONG time, now usin CANES,
its reallly not much to ask if you think about it....

 

Opi,
I don't believe anyone here means you any disrespect.

I am guessing, however, that many posters have the same fear(s) I have.

An angry, frustrated and hostile young man does not need to be on the road. Not to mention in a truck!

I am afraid for the first moron who cuts you off............

I really am.........