USA Truck Journey - STARTS

Well after working for both Swift and Werner, I decided to give USA Truck a try. I am supposed to start orientation on August 21, 2013 in Van Buren, AR. So far I am impressed with the recruiters, they are professional and very nice. They called me twice last week and everyday this week making sure that I am still going to orientation.

I leave on Monday, August 19 at 6:45PM from Austin. It will be an all night bus trip. I will arrive in Fort Smith @ 6:30AM on Tuesday, Aug. 20. I am supposed to call cab and have them take me to hotel (although I forgot to write down name).

I will be in Van Buren all day Tuesday because orientation does not start until 6:15 AM on Wednesday. So I guess I wll have to find a way to pass time on Tuesday (any suggestions???).

Anyway this is the start of my journey... I will keep you posted....

 

Yeah, I know that, but I have anger issues. When a trucking company does not get me home until 3 or 4 days after I have scheduled it, I get mad. The reason I choose USA Truck is I talked to a lot of drivers and they say they do get you home most of the time on time. I don't mind being late once or twice, but with Werner and Swift, they never got me home on time.

 

JBourque, Yeah anger is a bad thing, When I was a younger man (1992) I had it real bad. I am a big guy and back then, I used to drink alot. I don't drink any more because of one issue back then. I got in a fight with 4 mexican guys in a bar and I #### near killed one of them. Big Guy + Special Forces + Alcohol + Wife Cheating With Mexican Guy = Disaster..... The only thing I am glad about now is that is that I have been sober for a long time and currently married to a great women.

Tom

 

Thanks Puppage, It is a better life without the booze. Also, the incident over 20+ years ago taught me that getting angry and using violence is very bad. I still get mad when trucking companies don't get me home on time or someone cuts me off in traffic, but I handle it much better today.

That is why I left Werner. While I was with them they never got me home on time. I was usually 3~4 days late on every home time. I live near Austin, Texas, so I am in a major trucking lane and it looks like the could at least get me home every now and then ontime. I would always tell my DM way ahead of time, when I would like to be home. I would usually try and stay out 3 weeks and expected 3 days off. Sometimes Werner would keep me out 5~6 weeks without getting me home. The final straw came when my son was married and I told them I had to be home on a certain date - NO EXCEPTIONS. When it got close to that date I reminded my DM. I was driving teams then, so it got up to the date, I called my DM and told him I am going home tomorrow PERIOD... Next day I quit and went to son's wedding. My team mate also quit and returend the truck to Werner.

Main reason I quit was I could tell that the old anger issues were growing and I was getting way to upset over the home time thing. It would be better to part ways with Werner than do something I would regret later.

So as you can see, I have my anger under control now. When I start getting angry, I just walk away....