Trainers...

Well crap I had decent trainers ( at Crum Trucking you went with several different trainers because of different routes and teaching styles) didn’t have any bad experiences, when we were moving they just watched and gave positive feedback and corrected if needed, when we were at a TS or Customer you were allowed to do what ever you wanted, and every week we had a conference call with the PRESIDENT of the company and TRAINING and we were free to air our grievances if we had any and we were allowed to speak freely and without fear of repercussions. They usually took care of food and beverages because Crum would reimburse them, most had coolers or refrigerators and microwaves
So really Inhave nothing to offer lol and apparently have wasted everyone’s time
Trainers should train and not use their students as an extra log book or teammate. A lot if these questions on these forums could be fixed with decent trainers
How do I do this
What’s the best way for this to move
Why can I do X Y Z
because your trainer most likely didn’t TRAIN
Okay I’ll go back to my corner now

 

My pet peeve about my trainer? He's been gone for 22 years! I miss you, dad.

 

My experience with a trainer was with a mega. I'll try to hit as many points as I can recall. While this may sound negative, I'm going to lay it out as it was, but overall, I'm satisfied because it didn't last long and I was able to pass and get my own truck. Plus, I'm sure many people have experience far worse.

+ He refused to let me use a GPS so the route was by memory and notes. This meant that in addition to learning to drive, I had to concentrate on every exit at all times.

+ There was always blasting music or other noise from his phone that was constantly going off with social media, calls, stupid senseless "funny" videos, etc.

+ He felt that I should know everything coming out of CDL school and so he would not show me anything or give any additional backing instruction, etc.

+ On the rare occasion that he would give any type of instruction, he had zero ability to articulate what he was trying to convey, so it was actually better that he didn't attempt to show me anything.

+ In order to pass and get a truck, a knowledge test was needed in addition to driving test. He was prepping by asking questions. This he would do, I guess because he figured there was no way to get guys out of his truck unless he did it. I gave some answers that I knew were correct, but he said they weren't. I don't really recall an example, but that was incredibly frustrating. I had to find the answers elsewhere to prove him wrong.

+ He stated outright, he was doing it for the money. That was evident.

+ He had a temper and freaked out when I was having trouble backing which made a stressful situations more stressful, because...

+ He would always want to park in the most difficult spots, like 99% full Loves, even when there were large TA's close by that had parking, so he could get his favorite coffee. And of course he would freak out if I didn't one back it.

+ I caught him jacking off when I came back to the truck one time.

But it could have been worse, and I did pass and get a truck.

 

Yeah, perhaps long time drivers/trainers forget that a beginner is concentrating so hard on every move in tight areas that their added distractions are jarring.

When I got my own truck, it must have been more than two weeks before I'd turn music on. I like quiet while driving anyway, the road noise is enough most of the time. Getting out of the trainers truck was like a ton of weight off my shoulders.

 

At American Institute of Trucking in Phoenix, Arizona. I miss my instructors there. Terry Middlebrook was my classroom instructor. He used to think that I was asleep when he’d show us hours upon hours of crash videos. European countries and Swift both have something in common, for neither one of them seem to run out of content for the classroom. I wasn’t asleep, but man sometimes it got to the point where I had found it difficult to watch. I felt terrible for all parties involved, even if it was years after the fact.
My road instructor Darryl Rayford in the school was so nice. Actually, I can’t think of anyone at AIT that I didn’t like.
Now, when I did my OTR component for my graduation certificate. I found it very difficult to find companies that would meet the school’s criteria. I needed a minimum of 40 trailer backs into either a parking spot, or a dock. 240 hours of OTR, with a minimum of 160 hours behind the wheel driving. And just a lot of things. I ended up firing most of my OTR trainer’s because they basically wanted a log book, and didn’t want to train. I had this one trainer that would even break company policy and take off driving with me sleeping in the top bunk. Now, my last OTR trainer, he used to be in the Navy, and he also used to be law enforcement. I’d have to say he was my favorite out of a long line of crappy OTR trainers. He understood the importance for me to go by the book on my instruction packet that needed to be all accomplished in the time that I was out on the road. I did not want any OTR trainer falsifying my OTR training packet, because it didn’t do me any favors. There was even this one trainer who I ended up firing, because when I was behind the wheel she ended up spraying Fabreeze in my eyes because she was trying to conceal smoking a joint on board the truck. She accidentally let her puff of smoke out in the truck and I caught wind of it. She knew it, because I said something. Next thing you know she’s going crazy with the Fabreeze and got some in my eyes. While I was driving. It took me longer to actually find a decent OTR trainer out of a long line of duds. I ended up losing a lot of my confidence that I had when I was in the school. Then when I was over the road, I was supposed to be getting paid some money for my time, but Swift wasn’t paying squat. I ended up getting a Settlement check years later. If it wasn’t for my friend running my Pilot car business and my other friend sending me $100.00 a week for food I would have starved while waiting to go solo.