Trainer, Teacher, Mentor would like to know...

As a Trainer, I believe it's incumbent upon me to learn from feedback areas that I can improve upon in order to more effectively do my job. Yes, training is part of my job, inspite of what some think, I don't do it just because I like to teach. I expect to be compensated for my services and I am fairly compensated for it.

Therefore, for many of you newbies or guys that have been driving a bit longer, what are some areas that you wish in hindsight your trainer would have gone over more with you for you to have felt better equipped when you hit the road on your own?

I understand that as a new recruit on the truck there are some things you don't even know you should be asking. So, let's talk about it if you'd like.

 

One thing I would of liked to of known regards being allowed to drive to the nearest truckstop, even up to a hundred miles after I delivered a load and had no preplan.

Soon after I started driving, I delivered a load. New DM said, "find some place nearby to park".

So, I did. There was a Wal-Mart nearby, not a 24 hr one either. Two days later I was STILL there with no preplan. I was pissed off and finally about 10 pm the next night I contacted night dispatch and told them, "I'm coming back to Brooks, when you have something for me, let me know".

I was ONLY 65 miles from Brooks and about 35 miles from a big truckstop. The night dispatcher gave me the old, "I wouldn't do that without permission from logistics". I was like, "screw logistics"

Turns out I could of just headed over to Jubitz without a problem under the "safe and secure" location provision and sanitation necessity.

No one told me that including my trainer! When I asked my DM the next day why she let me sit there for 2 days like that knowing I could've just driven to Jubitz, she replied, "it's not my job to tell you that if you didn't know".

Needless to say, she was no longer my DM from that day forward

 

Good points.

At May we aren't allowed to do team driving in training. They want us to only do up to 14 hrs a day driving between the trainer and student.

 

What prompted me to start this thread was a recent encounter I had with a May driver. As soon as he discovered I was a trainer, he went into attack mode, essentially identifying all trainers at May as lazy greedy ######## who only care about making a buck off the student. He said he had spoken (anecdotally) to "many" other May drivers who concurred with his perception.

I took umbruge with his characterizations. I know several trainers who don't fit his description at all, including me. His belief is that the number one reason a person should train is because you want to pass on your knowledge. I enjoy teaching and having a part in a guys success as a truck driver, but I don't take a new guy onto my truck for up to four weeks, live in a cramped space, sacrifice my privacy, allow someone else who is not proficient as a truck driver to take my life into his hands, etc, because I'm Mother Teresa

So, once again, if you're a newbie solo or have been out for a little while, what kind of things specifically and personally do you wish in hindsight your trainer would have done for you that he didn't?

 

Nobrand, excellent input. That's the kind of stuff I'm hoping for on this thread. Those are good insights and suggestions.

Thank you.

 

Nobrand, on the routing, what's confusing sometimes is how the planner includes other State or US Highways that sometimes run concurrently with the main highway you're running on, sometimes on a big atlas view, you don't even see it.

What I have found works for me sometimes is to look at my destination first on the individual State map and work backwards. The atlas always includes a piece of the next state you're running in so you can just pick up there and keep working backwards to your starting point.