TWT Orientation-What should I expect?

Have no fear approximately 470 of the roughly 500 people who go to orientation every year don't make it through their first year. Chances are not only that annoying guy, but your whole class won't be in trucking long .

 

Well so far we lost one and might lose another older tuck driver. The ad he saw for flatbed said no tarping and now they are saying he'll need to tarp at least a few loads. The one I'm pretty sure won't last long. There are a couple more experienced drivers hiring/rehiring on that I'm sure will stay but yeah the rest time will only tell. Me included no delusion here.

Today I get to see if my trainer is in. Oh goody. My nerves are really setting in now. Have a good day y'all.

 

Glad to hear it's going well for you.

 

Thanks. It's been interesting. I ended up back at the inn for the night but they said I would be out with my trainer today. I haven't heard anything about her yet but I hope she's a good one. The guys are trying to convince me that I should switch to the good side when I can and go flat bedding instead of tanker. lol

So far so good. I'm happy with my choice to come here. Today I get my first comdata paycheck. Not sure how that works but hopefully the trainer will help me figure that out. Off to finish my TWT temp test they gave me to figure out. Why I have no idea since they can't help me go through it like those flat bedders got with theirs. Oh well.

Have a good one y'all. Hopefully I like the real world truck driving as much as I loved the school driving.

 

Lol at the no tarp. We tarp 50% of our freight minimum in the summer. I once picked up a wrecked 48k piece of machinery one of our drivers totaled In a Rollover. Got it back to the yard and safety told me I needed to tarp it. I laughed and told him I had better things to do. He tried to tarp it himself. It was a hilarious fail though.

 

Lol. He's from Oklahoma. The ad he saw was saying his loads would be mostly genie lifts which are not tarped. They even said in the office his loads wouldn't be tarped but the class instructor said some of his return trips would be tarped. He's 65 so really hoping to not have to many to tarp.

I'm back at the hotel again. My trainer won't be back in until tonight and will need his 10 before we leave so hopefully tomorrow morning. The were supposed to have given me his phone number but I don't see it anywhere. Hopefully he calls. Oh and apparently the recruited told me yet another fib and I have a male trainer not a female. Not sure I like the idea of being cooped up in a small box with him but I guess they are short on trainers so I'm willing to give him a shot. We'll see how it goes.

 

Disappointing, but not surprising I'm sad to say. Let us know how it goes.

 

I'm out with my trainer now. We left Sunday morning. What a ride so far.

After we left Spokane he pulled over and I got to drive. I went from Spokane to Kenniwick then to Pasco, back to Kenniwick. Then we went to Walla Walla to pick up a trailer. I'm not sure exactly where I stopped but it was a while after picking up the trailer. He drove to Redmond OR while I tried to sleep but every time the lane drift alarm went off again or he would cross the sleeper bumpers I would freak out some more. He was tired but wanted to make Redmond. We were both wide awake after her hit the deer. I was glad when we finally stopped to get some sleep.

After getting the light fixed the next morning I drive from Redmond OR to Stockton CA. 460 some miles. I was exhausted but he was sick and taking cold meds. I went up and down those hills pretty much by myself since he was sleep in the passenger seat. I had a lot of trouble coming down especially when the jake stopped working. Thankfully I was able to wake him up when I really needed him. The rest I just figured out on my own


Even with all the trouble I still enjoyed it. He had me do a u-turn then back and it wasn't as hard as I thought it should be. Right now we are delivering to Fremont then headed to drop #2 with him driving then #3 through LA I'll be driving.

This is a major adjustment got sure. There are a lot things he does that I really don't like. Like pushing me to go faster than I feel safe going. Like those roads last night that are 55 but it's hard to see so I wanted to go 50. He just kept telling me to speed up. He wanted me to go 60 but I really felt uncomfortable going that fast on roads that I've never seen before.

The clock thing I suppose is survivable. But i wish we could at least eat some real food and not always junk food. Next time I have a chance I'm going to stop and buy some real food like bananas and bread. Burgers are getting old.

Oh well lessons learned. As long as I survive to get my own truck I guess I can't complain to much.

Sounds like we are almost ready to leave for the next drop.

I'm having a lot of difficulty with the shifting. I can go up and down just fine then all of a sudden it absolutely won't go into gear. I've had to stop 3 times already to start over again. It's really starting to frustrate me. He says I'm not taking my for off the fuel pedal all the way but even being careful to make sure I did I still had problems. He also said I wasn't getting my rpms up enough. Maybe? I rev it to 1500 then let it go back down. Hmmm. I'll just have to keep practicing. On to day #3. I'm get it eventually.

 

Sounds like a typical POS trainer who is only doing it to pad his own pocket. Obviously doesn't give a #### about training you. If he tries to get cute with you make sure to let the training mgr know ASAP. I wouldn't recommend you drive in LA your first week but that's up to you. He will definitely push you to though because all he cares about is the money. I would recommend you get a new trainer but I'm sad to say this kind of ####### is the rule rather than the exception anymore.

As far as food goes if you go to the Bloomington yard after you drop in LA there's a Walmart just north of the 10 intersection about a mile from the yard.

 

Thank you I lucked out he ended up getting to sick yesterday and had to go to the er. He dropped the trailer before the last load through LA was delivered so I didn't have to drive through LA.

I never even wanted to drive through LA because the freeway was hard enough let alone small city streets. He said I was doing it because it wasn't going to be until after 5-6 pm so would be easier. Since he had to go to the ER the company paid for me to get in motel last night and tonight. It's been nice to get some sleep instead of staying awake scared of his driving.

Don't get me wrong when he does train me he is a good trainer, he goes step by step and really walks me through the process to make sure I fully understand what I'm doing but that was only on Sunday so far and only on the backing that one time. After that he just sounded tired and frustrated.

He is (what I think you guys call a super trucker?) a terrible driver. I'm petrified when he drives. Yesterday before he dropped the trailer he went from Fremont to Stockton and the entire time he was tailgating not only cars but trucks too. He kept yelling if you can't drive that **** thing get in the slow lane. He was doing 65 in a 55 and at times I couldn't see the bumpers on cars or the trailer tires on trucks. On some I doubt I could have fit my little Prius between him and the truck in front of us.

I talked to my ex trucker brother and he said stick with it and do my best. Take the good stuff away with me and put the rest of it in the "what not to do" file.

The trainer just called and said he had an infection in his ear and throat. The doc gave him some antibiotics, told him to take a day off and sent him home. He'll be ready to get back to work tomorrow morning. If I thought I'd have any better luck with another trainer and they would switch me I would see about switching but sounds like he's pretty much my only option atm. I'm really hoping once he feels better he'll start acting any driving better.... I can always hope right? Not that it does any good but I can still hope. And make sure I turn out better than him!

I will contact them in a heartbeat if he pulls any funny stuff.

On a good note he says I'm his last trainee. After this he's going to train his wife again and they are going to team drive until he retires. I really hope it's true.

I'd better get some sleep before morning. Thank you.