Titan Transfer - First Contact

Funny story (sort of). When I went for a DOT physical last August, it was the first DOT physical after being diagnosed with sleep APNEA. Not wanting to forgo reporting it, I noted it on my pre-physical questionnaire that I was diagnosed as such. I sat in the waiting room thinking that the sleep APNEA deal was going to cost me my CDL, I was sure they would fail me because of it... The stress caused my blood pressure to jump, and they nearly failed me because of the high BP... In the end, a simple note from my doctor stating I was in compliance, and I was having positive results, and wala, I passed.

Anyway, all doctor visits and physicals have been reset to this Wednesday the the 5th of April. On the 6th I will complete orientation, and on Sunday the 9th I will finally get on the trainers truck! As long as Titan does not have an issue with me reporting back, I will try and document some of this journey. As of right now, I am finishing up with the multitude of videos and paperwork.

 

Part of this journey to Titan Transfer included completing a journey I started with my children's high school marching band. For 9-years I have pulled a 48' dry van for the school, attending 45 football games and 35+ competitions. Yeah, it was a job requiring 100% touch freight, loading and unloading etc. I saw both my kids through high school, by being a part of what they love most, band! Anyway, after nine wonderful years, I parked the band rig for the last time and handed in the keys... My path to Titan Transfer is now clear...

(not a good pic, as my cell phone takes terrible pics at night)

 

Well, the governor of Alabama declared Alabama to be in a state-of-emergency due to the possibility of strong to severe storms yesterday. As a result my sleep center cancelled my appointment... that means no DOT physical for me yet. I am however, still attending orientation today. As for the physical; If I can get the sleep center visit done today or tomorrow, I can get the physical done and still make the truck for a Sunday departure... That, and I still have 10 more hours to work at my current employer... I Love Logistics!

 

Much got done yesterday; Sleep center called and reset my appt to 1PM. I managed half a day of orientation before meeting the appt time. After the sleep center I got my DOT physical done. The last half of the orientation will completed this afternoon.

First day of orientation entailed some paperwork; a road test; a little ELD training (w/ hands on); drug screen; and getting a pic taken for the employee badge. Although only touched on briefly, the camera system (driver & road facing) was presented to me again. Note here, that there is an extensive training video that goes into more depth about the cameras and their function etc. Today I will complete initial paperwork, and then meet the shop foreman and mechanics prior to watching some shop training videos (on truck maintenance etc). Barring anymore delays from "mother nature" I should be on a Titan truck by Sunday or Monday.

As for the Titan Transfer experience... I have nothing by which to compare them to. But I know people, and yesterday the people at Titan made me feel like family. Aside from the orientation staple of employees like safety, and recruiting, I got to meet and talk with other drivers, and a whole slew of office personnel. They even took me into the dispatch room, where all of the dispatchers where... well, dispatching of course. I did not get to meet my would-be dispatcher yet, I believe that is saved for today.

I will detail the remaining, albeit minor, details about the end of orientation later today. I would like to start another thread on my experiences at Titan as a driver employee... Or, if appropriate, I will just keep all of the posts here.

Here's to stepping out of your comfort zones... For me, I am in uncharted territory now...

 

Today is the day! I completed the transition out of my previous company, and signed lots of papers making me a Titan Transfer employee. In three hours time I will be getting on a trainers truck and beginning anew in the trucking industry. I do not know if I am more nervous or excited about the whole experience... we will see in a weeks time.