Werner Orientation in Allentown PA 4/2011

May 29 2011





Hello Group:


I just thought that I would let You all know that I had a conversation with my Student Driver Manager this Morning about my last trainer and It was partially productive or just a little bit productive. Werner is known as a company with a high turnover rate, even with the students so I was'nt expecting too much. I may have heard whatever a lot of students from Werner have heard on this forum. Some of the trainers on Werner's staff have made a lot of the same mistakes basically. I hope that I have not been booted by one of the whackos.

The last Trainer I had Allen, wrote "a document" about me being an unsafe driver two days ago, after having me drive his truck for only 2 1/2 hours

Oh My God, two and a half hours on the highway! Ha Ha Ha! On memorial day.

This was at about the same time when we arrived at the Modena Travel plaza on the New York Thruway (from the drop yard in Bath) and he had just got done finishing telling me that I had a lot of "potentials" and that he would be my trainer until I let him do all of the "test out" road tests. He said: "the way It works, is the Trainer does all of the testing and then You just go over to Safety and finish Your CBT's and then they will give You a Truck" He said that 50 percent of all of the Students in Werner's training programs will pass if they will work hard enough. I will pass if I will work hard enough.

I had never heard this Testing out method said anywhere before, so maybe It's true, but I always thought that Safety specialists in the Terminals had to do all of the road testing.

Well, the only problem with the report that Allen made two days ago is that he asked me to drive the rig all of the way down to the drop yard in Carteret NJ and then over to Minersville after he was supposed to have made that report.

I would say that since I was able to drive the rig up to Cressona PA without any problems with shifting and hazards or whatever he used to grade people that he should have included that driving time in the report as well or just not made a report. I got about 400 Miles of Safe driving in at least after he wrote his document on me.

I may be in the dark about these things but I think that Werner can't completely screw somebody out of the Commercial Driving Profession or (industry) if they can just keep their nose clean like I did so far, by having no accidents and no citations on my record. I did well enough on the Highway driving without getting too paranoid about the County road mountain driving.
I am just waiting to see what Werner will put on my DAC about unsafe driving if they choose not to have me in their program here.

So anyway, I have to go to a Safety Meeting on Monday morning just to see if they would be willing to give me another trainer. It's just a #### shame to not have a Trainer right now who could clue me into when to shift on those Pottsville PA area mountain roads. Allen was nice up to a certain point, but he seemed to forget that he was there to do the training and not to weed out the slow learners.

Yes, It took me 5 Months of weekends last year to be really Good at gear shifting, at my School, Smith and Solomon and they were so Good at teaching me to shift that I remembered it after I passed my test in October until January when I had to pass it to get accepted into the FFE. I even remembered it well enough to pass with It after I tried to do It twice at Werner. I usually get the double clutching right but there are times when I don't get it like when I've been away from trucks for a few Months and then I'll get it intermittantly and just do floating about half of the time anyway.

I'll let You all know if I can get another trainer tomorrow morning or what they say if I don't. I go online to look for Trucking jobs at the Pennsylvania CWDS or the Commonwealth Work Database Service and I had (2) Good job offers about local class A CDL work emerge from that particular source.
I am not completely sold out on working for OTR positions for a Month at a time, but I would like to give any future employer at least a Year on this level if nothing else happens soon enough.

 

Hello Whosedog and the Group:


Yes, I have always heard about that system myself. I was wondering if they get some of these crazy trainers who just don't want to do It anymore to harass the people who someone in the company tells them to harass.

It seemed to me that this particular Gentleman, Allen really acted on the first night like he really wanted for me to quit. Actually what he did was to turn on his APU to air conditioning and then started blasting cold air through the truck through my vents in the upper bunk all night long. Fortunately for me I just happened to have an arctic temprature range sleeping bag and a Sears sheepskin Trucker's coat, that I just placed over myself and then I plugged up one of the vents with one of my extra sheets. I slept pretty well after that.

I just think that I am very fortunate that I have lived well up until this point in time, although simply I guess, no accidents except for the motorcycle on my record and no motor vehicle citations and I got all of my endorsements and cards like the TWIC.

At least this Gentleman Allen did'nt have any Authority to physically throw me off of his Truck at a service plaza like he said that he wanted to do! Whacko!

I am not concerned about It and I thought that he was a kind of a joke. I'll see what they say tomorrow and on my DAC, but that's OK too. I could probably do something about anything Werner would have to say informally.

I used to do some Office work, proofreading and some shipping and recieving and Outdoor construction work, so maybe I will just get back into something different for awhile, like the government grant program for solar installer or just do another CDL refresher course with a Work Incentive Act grant.

I know that there are some local Trucking jobs out there right now for entry level but someone just has to wait for them or possibly just do Class B work for awhile.

 

May 30 2011





Hello Whosedog and the Group:


I was given quite a break with Werner, not requiring as many hours as I was origionally told. The recruiter at Werner just said that I would have to go out with a Trainer but he did not say for exactly how long. The Orientation manager Richard, told somebody to knock off a whole lot more hours I guess due to the fact that I had a whole (2) Months in at FFE, some whole days and some half days and a few Idle days.

Werner only requires me to do 175 hours of training, as long as I have a Trainer who will work with me steadily and sign off on me, even if I need to have some additional hours. One trainer that I had at Werner said that I am still a rookie and that I may need to have more than 175 hours. The second trainer that I had said that I was Good at driving and that he could probably give me up to 60 hours per week. 175 hours would probably go really fast.

At Werner, I just wonder how many hours that they actually counted so far, since they were on electronic databases and they were changed around quite a bit so far as far as I know. I started with my first Trainer on Monday and I finished driving with him a day later so I guess that I probably did about 15 hours at least and then with the second trainer I know that I drove from Allentown to Modena NY and then from the Glenway NY Home Depot store all the way down to Carteret NJ and then over to the top of route 901 in Minersville PA. I would have to put the hours at something like 10 to 15 as well.

I don't have any reason to or I did'nt give Werner any reason to collect any bonus money from the Unemployment Compensation or OVR people or VA people as far as that level is concerned, but a lot of people I am sure have paid for their CDL School by way of State Career Link grants or whatever else.

I really have'nt had too many negative experiences overall at Werner. They seem like a reasonable company right now in that they will let You hang out at the Hotel or take long hikes or to ride the Bus around the local area. I just have to have a Good cell phone number for the Trainer to reach me if I am on Call for one. I also think that It's amazing that they tell the Trainers to call close to a day in advance, at least. The Terminal people have been very nice to me and the medical people at the Terminal have allowed me to stay out of work and to complete my Diabetes tests in up to a whole Month.

I can't say much negatively about Werner yet, but the Trainers that they gave me were in bad shape mentally, emotionally and physically and they seemed like they really wanted to quit. I was mentioning that the first one became very depressed then agitated about simple things, like keeping the Tach in the green, even if It was already being kept in the green, and then believe it or not he became completely depressed and silent to me, like he was in another world. What I need is a Good Trainer once in awhile to show me a few tips.

I went to the Safety meeting this Morning and the Terminal manager Justin Diaz copied my 7 page memorandum on the second trainer, Allen and my blue trainer review sheet and then he made two copies of It, then he walked around to the medical side of the terminal and got my medical forms and went back into the office and pulled out some copies of my ID's. I don't claim any medical problems on my forms than Diabetes type II, so that is probably in my favor.

One thing about impatient, BS, Paranoid people is that they usually have the nerve to pass their own problems off on to You if they can by accusing You of being just whatever they are. That's apparently what happened in my case.

I would like to go into detail about It more here, but let me tell You that there are Safe driver's and then paranoid drivers and the paranoid drivers sometimes feel the need to teach other drivers just so that they won't rage out as much on the public. They will get their thrills in raging out on the students.

 

May 30 2011





Hello Mr. V. and the Group:


Well, I am all packed up and I did my laundry today at the Hotel, the Quality Inn in Allentown so I will be ready to roll one way or another. I will of course be ready to go out on the road with another trainer but if things are really screwed around somehow with the company, I can just catch the bus and bring up my Van in order to fetch all of my belongings for the Truck camping. Allentown is only about 37 Miles from where I live, right off of route 309.

I realized that Today was Memorial day so I thought that I would do something special after this morning's meeting at the Werner Terminal, so I just walked all the way back down Tilghman St. to 15th St. and the Hotel. I guess that that was about 5 Miles altogether. It felt really Good to walk for a couple of hours, and to break it at a few places to get some newspapers at a Deli and then eat at the Wegman's market close to the Hotel.

I also started walking in the evening here and went out to the Chineese Wall buffet restaurant on 15th and Allen Sts. in downtown Allentown for a nice meal. I know that I have diabetes, and those meals are'nt really Good for me, but It was memorial day and so I just thought that I could eat half veggies and half fried food and no dessert. It was'nt bad. It only cost me $9.35 or (10% off) because I wore my D.A.R.E. shirt in there I guess.

Well, my Student Driver Manager, Beth Kerns, said that I have a "Holiday" today at the Hotel, so It was cool, I took 3 showers because of the heat wave and mixed up a "propel" bottle of coffee from the free coffee station mixed up with their free Irish creamers and It tasted just like a Starbucks frappachino.

I just sit here and read the world news and listen to music and the church on the way from lightsource and I pray that that last whackjob trainer won't have much of an impact on my time at Werner, but if he does then OK, no problem, I'll just remember the lessons that I have learned from my Trainers and CBT's at Werner then move on to "the next one" and maybe "the next one" until I can get enough experience to get a significant piece of the CDL pie someplace.

 

May 31 2011





Hello Group:


I had the opportunity to try a lot of walking around Allentown PA from the Hotel Today. I would ordinarily just walk from the Quality Inn on Plaza Ln. to the Chineese buffet or the McDonalds and the Pizza places on 15th and Allen Sts. in Center city Allentown, but I thought that since I have'nt been doing anything for awhile with the Trainers that I would use the Google maps in order to hike as short a distance as possible to the Allentown Bus station and see as much of Allentown as possible. It was probably good for my health and I made it there in less than an hour.

We have to walk down Machunk Rd. to 15th St. in Allentown in order to get downtown to the restaurants and the supermarket and the Family Dollar store on Allen St. (next to Tilghman St.) and that is a wide angle away on the streets from the Bus station. The Bus station is on the far East, NE side of town.
The Allentown Bus terminal for Bieber and Greyhound is located on 3rd St. and Hamilton Blvd. so the Best way to come into that area and approach it would be North of Tilghman St. and as close to Sumner St. as possible once You leave the Hotel on 15th St. I followed Sumner st. to 10th St. and then walked across a grassy field on 10th St. and then East to 10th St. and then South to fountain St. and then over to Liberty St. to 6th St. and then past the Allentown Lanta Transit terminal and over to Hamilton blvd. to 3rd St.

I was able to make it by walking to the Greyhound Station in only about an hour by this route, compared to 2 hours by just walking up Hamilton Blvd. to 15th St. and then across to the Quality Inn. I am so pleased to not have to pay a lot of money in order to get to this important location in Allentown.

I got on the phone at about Noontime with the Student Driver's managers office and my own Student Driver's manager was not in at work Today so I spoke to one of the ones who were available to discuss my circumstances and situation. The Student Driver's manager that I spoke to called up Safety at Werner while I was on hold and he asked them about my status after being at first a little bit confused about my situation, and he then told me that Safety is waiting for a statement from the last Trainer, and that the Driver's manager's department will call me back by phone whenever they have any word for me and that in the meantime I am on "hold" while they try to figure out what to do in my situation.

 

May 31 2011





Hello Group:


I forgot to mention one thing in my last post. While I was at the Allentown Greyhound Station I met a very nice middle aged, long haired tall Truck Co. Trainer, his name is Mike. He looks just like a musician and he said that he traveled with Iron Maiden, Whitesnake and another Band in the 1980's doing something, (I don't know what) but then he decided to get into computers and to get his Microsoft and Cisco systems certifications and then he said that he became bored with doing such stifling work after awhile, but he can still "turn up" computers or the Qualcom units on company Trucks so that he can get better mileage and performance results, and then consequently get paid better every week.

Mike told me that he had been working as a lease driver for England and knew how to beat the system with them and get paid good money there, and that he also worked for CRST and J.B. Hunt as a Trainer and made a Good living at It. He was explaining a lot about how to operate the Trucks and how to do certain proceedures like 45 deg. backing and controlling speed without much braking on grades etc etc. He was even explaining about how to completely minimize the use of brakes completely. I thought that he was particularly fascinating.

I saw him explain one of his tools in the Bus station, a Rand McNally 7100 Truck GPS system. It was running off of It's own power source, disconnected from 12 Volts and It was showing me how many satelites it was picking up right there in the waiting room. One of the things that the Rand McNally Truck GPS system will do is to list all of the Truck Stops (with their phone numbers) in an area around an out of the way place like Allentown PA. Other things that It will do is to simulate a qualcom, in giving You an idea about miles per day and miles per hour and Logging on a Trip. It was just the most usefull thing that I have ever seen in action for having aboard a Truck. The display was large enough to read and the maps were just like reading the Atlas and the warranty on those units were really fine he said and they are water resistant.

I noticed that Mike had a couple of large cardboard boxes in the waiting room sealed with large amounts of duct tape and that they had a few Greg Laurie christian stickers on them. I did not pay much attention to them because I did not know this particular minister and I thought that I should just be paying more attention to the Truck training lectures that Mike was giving me in great clarity and detail. Mike was one of the best Commercial Trucking Trainers that I have ever met in the Industry due to his Love for the subject of Truck operations. I really think that he thought that It was his mission in life to teach Truck techniques and Safety.

Well, I don't usually talk to anyone for a few hours at a time, unless I have to on the job, but I enjoyed Mike's tutoring so much that I just kept having conversations with him for about 4 hours about how to make a living, setting up a Web camera in the Truck to broadcast live video over the Windows Live and a Yahoo connected system and recording DVD's onto an external Hard drive to save space in the Truck, setting up Safety cameras in the Truck etc. Mike was right on about everything that I really cared about in my own employment position.

One thing that Mike mentioned that I knew nothing about, like I said before was a church that he belongs to in Riverside County California where he lives and It is on a Website called: Harvest.org. This is the church where Greg Laurie is the pastor. I did'nt even know that that place existed or what It was or who Greg Laurie is and then what he sounds like, then It's got his praise Christian music there and FULL church services there on the site. It is just the kind of thing that You need to have to keep Your mind on the right level.

I still don't really know much about It, but It sounds pretty straight and healthy right now, after hearing a little bit of the preaching on It. Greg Laurie is a very Good speaker and his Online ministry seems to be pretty thoroughly archieved along with his music ministry.



I was very impressed by the web site and I just thought that I would pass it on to You.