Week One at Central Ref...(woman's perspective)

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by techiekate29, Jul 12, 2009.

  1. bullet888

    bullet888 Light Load Member

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    Kate, Tom is the best. In one of my posts when I was in the school, I commented on his great training abilities.
    Don't sweat the mountains, you'll do fine. Keep focused on what gear your in and learn where the jake is so you can use it when you go downhill.
     
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  3. Graymist

    Graymist Light Load Member

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    No problemo !! I do think that you're doing a pretty decent job of chronicling your day-to-day experiences. Keep up the good work !! Also, I wish you all success in your endeavour.

    Cheers !! :biggrin_25519:
     
  4. Brickman81

    Brickman81 Medium Load Member

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    Congrats on passing your pretrip test. The rest should go just fine, I know when I took it the pretrip was the hardest for me.
     
  5. techiekate29

    techiekate29 Light Load Member

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    Day 11(Thursday): Today was the dreaded mountain driving. Let me put it this way, it wasn't exactly my best day. I had the trainer Ken, the same guy from my very first day driving. I had a really hard time with him then and today wasn't any different. He started right away giving me crap and making me feel stupid because I stopped 5 feet from the first stop sign instead of the preferred 10 feet. He also couldn't be bothered to even look at the score sheet that he was holding with my name on it and actually call me by my name! He called me "girl" about 10 time is the first ten minutes. I was already stressed about driving with him and his grouchy attitude to begin with and it just all went downhill REAL fast! I actually kinda told him off and told him that I didn't appreciate the way he talks to me and makes me feel like crap. That I'm trying to learn how to do this and do it right and I don't need him being a jerk to me. He supposed to be teaching me not continuously making me feel stupid. I told him that I just needed him to tell me which way to go and correct me if I was doing something wrong and to leave me alone otherwise. It may not have been the most professional thing to do, but it seemed to have worked because he was nice to me and the other three drivers in my truck for the rest of the day.

    It was a long day to say the least. Especially cause I was the first to drive at 8am this morning and since I took my backing test yesterday, I didn't have anything to do this afternoon. So it was rather boring. But it was REALLY awesome to see my new friends pass their backing tests.

    Tomorrow is road test day. I think that as long as I don't get Ken, I'll do just fine. Wish me luck!

    Be safe out there :)
     
  6. jess-juju

    jess-juju Road Train Member

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    You go Girl!!!:yes2557:

    Good luck with the road test!
     
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  7. Panhandle flash

    Panhandle flash Road Train Member

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    Sounds to me like you might have just done the right thing by chewing him out some. He probably wasn't expecting it from a student. Some people just get off on a power trip and need to be brought back down to earth. Believe you did that.
     
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  8. bullet888

    bullet888 Light Load Member

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    Jun 2, 2009
    Salt Lake city,UT
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    Ken doesn't do the tests. It's Mike, Tom and another guy that are the only state certified testers. Ken is just an instructor. Sorry for your bad time with Ken. I had him and I thought he was ok. Old Mike was another story.
     
  9. dino6960

    dino6960 YOUDAMAN

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    techeikate seems you are off on the right foot!love your postings ,very informative,have a little story for you,iv been in construction for 20 yrs ,went from driveing otr with my old man tor running heavey equipment,this being said haveing truckers bringing in supplys and unloading them and hearing there storys made me kick myself in the butt for not getting granfathered in,lol its wasnt a cdl back then it was a chauffers lic and the book was about as thick as your regular driveing test book,long story short since the ecomomys been in the crapper i desided to go get my cdl,,studied the book whitch is a 1/2 inch thick now designed for people that have never driven,so like i said studyied the book for a couple of days went to dmv took my air brakes ,gen knowleage,and combination test all on the computer in about 20 minits i think mabey a litle longer passed and the guy at dmv was shocked! due to most every one take it once or twice and he said normaly third times a charm lol,then went looking at cdl schools for the road test,this is a scam!!!!! the school wanted 800 bucks to do the pretrip and the road test!!!!! so checked at a commnity coolage it cost me 360 bucks for the pre tip and road test and yes my past exspirence as a drive did help out,the instructor was cool and and i passed and got my cdl then started calling the companys and guess what nobody will hire in south fla due to they cant get a load back out!!!!so buddy of mine has a truck and is selling it to me and im leaseing on with a company this aug 1st but its been 6 mths since iv goten my cdl and if you go this rout its time of haveing your lic due to insurance reasons(crooks) if you choose to do this before haveing your lic a 1 yr you liability and cargo insurance will run you 300 dwn and 2500 a mth as an o/o and the only company that will insure you is progressive,so the way your going is the cheaper way out get your exspirence and move up to better thing in life of driveing,,,,,,,,,,,,pice of advice a friend once told me when operating a crane ,how slow can you go! with time comes speed, so for all you newbies take your time ,if your not sure and cant see it get out and look unless you have a spoter,,so what if it takes you some time it would be done right and no accidents ,have a safe trip and good luck with your new carrers
     
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  10. techiekate29

    techiekate29 Light Load Member

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    Day 12 (Friday): What a great day! Everyone...all 22 people from our class took the road test today and passed! Tom said that we are the best class that he's had in a LONG time and he really appreciated our hard work and our dedication. I personally got the second highest score in my class. I only missed 8 points! I couldn't believe it! The best thing about my test today was that I had Tom. We actually had a chat about the issues with Ken and basically talked about the class and how everything has gone the past couple weeks, while he was giving me the directions for my test. It was totally great. He eased any fears I had had about taking this test. It was like we just went for a drive.

    My personal opinion on these past two weeks is this. Ditch any kind of attitude you may have, work hard, ask questions, LISTEN to what the instructors have to say and what they are teaching you. After all, they've been doing this for quite awhile and they know what they're talking about. The people in our class that didn't make it past their CDL testing was a girl that basically went crazy earlier this week and another guy who literally never listened to what the instructors told him to do. He wanted to do everything on his own terms and in his own way. Because of this attitude, he passed his pre-trip test but that was as far as he got. He failed his backing yesterday so today, Tom took him and worked with him...showing him the offset at least 10 times...and he STILL didn't get it. Tom gave him every chance and as much help as he possibly could to get this guy passed the backing test, but in the end, the students stubborn no-it-all attitude kept him from passing.

    We are very lucky to have the group of students that we've had. We seriously all get along. We all help each other out and give each other tips and tricks. I really feel like this is why were so successful. Tony made a comment to us at the end of day one that has stuck with me since then. He said, "Look, you've made it this far. You aren't here to compete with each other. You all have a job with Central once you finish school." It really stuck with me because it put it all into perspective. Almost everyone I've ever met in a work setting tries to compete with everyone else to get noticed and the attention of the bosses. But once you make it past the background and physical tests with Central, you have a job. All you have to do is pass the tests, its that simple.

    Central has enough freight to keep almost all of the drivers moving enough to get their 2500-3000 miles a week. (Or at least that's what they say ;)) So really, if you take the loads that the dispatchers ask you take, even the short loads, you're kinda guarenteed to do well.

    Okay, that's enough for now. Stay safe out there!
     
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  11. jess-juju

    jess-juju Road Train Member

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    Shelbyville TN
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    You probably won't get 2500-3000 a week:biggrin_25511: I know guys who run every mile they are given and they don't get 2500 and they are rated #1.

    Congrats Techiekate!
     
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