Werner Orientation in Allentown PA 4/2011

June 6 2011





Hello Whosedog and the Group:


I did'nt get to my 3rd Werner Trainer yet, and when I do I am hoping to get a nice one. I don't really want to say anything negative about the other trainers that I have had in the past week and a half but some people just don't like Training basically, I suppose or at least that's what the last two of them said to me. One of them said that he was beginning to hate Truck Driving and the other one said that he is just getting too old to do Training. I can't blame them for feeling this way.

The First one just got sick of working in Trucks and then he had some serious emotional problems. The Second one was just a little bit too paranoid and impatient. I can't blame the second one for being a little bit whacked if he really did get stuck on the train tracks with a student.

I am just Hoping that since Werner knows about them now and knows who has a Good reputation as a Trainer in the company and that they will help me out with a better one. It's not a real problem yet.

I had to really work hard to find a Good Internet Browser in order to connect to the site: training.werner.com and to play their Videos and to connect completely to their distance learning site. I tried Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome and then finally Firefox 4 and that finally worked.
There were at least 100 CBT's available on the site I think and I know that I did about 50 of them in 3 days, so maybe I did enough of them in order to pass the test for what they need. I don't even know which ones I was supposed to finish so I have been working on doing them all.

I have a 17" Dell Inspiron Laptop at home next to my bed so I worked and worked, listened to the Videos and catnapped around the 24 hour clock doing just CBT's all weekend long. I am only an hour away from the Hotel and the terminal knows my cell phone # so I just kept it nearby in case a Trainer was ready to work. Yes, I think that I got 50 to 60 CBT's completed this weekend.

I went to the Hotel to check in to the Safety Meetings or rather the sign in Books on Saturday and Sunday and ate breakfast over there and I then broke off a crown from one of my wisdom teeth, so I had to tell the Orientation lady that on Monday morning and she said to tell my Student Driver manager lady, so I did and I told her that I would be heading down to Oreland to see my Dentist Today. I was sorry to have to turn down a Trainer who called me right after this happened. I know that the Driver's managers understand that I am looking for a better trainer and this Dentistry thing probably screwed them up for sure if I was in a line of some sort for one of them.

My SDM then placed me on a "medical leave of absence" and placed my computer privileges to "inactive" until I am able to get back up there again. I have a Good retired dentist, so he was able to make the repairs in less than an hour and I am Good to go again.

I was so glad to have the extra time in order to take as many CBT's as I have done. Computers are everything for doing these things. My Laptop up at the Hotel is set up differently for the software on Werner's page though, and It had really small print and needed to be scrolled up and down to see both the Question at the top of the page and the answers at the bottom of the page while the 17" unit that I have at home could display the whole page in one piece so It was much easier to work on.

Yes, I know that Werner and most other big companys will only let about half of the students pass and actually get into Trucking and It all depends on the Quality of the relationship between the Trainer and the Trainee and this is what I am going to Hope is like a family setting. I know what It's like to have an excellent Trainer and if I can at least get half of that again at Werner I think that I could get my program finished and to upgrade.

OTR Trucking right now may not be my very best choice in the job market around Philadelphia PA where I live but It is something that offers employment opportunitys and employment security eventually and It is something that I personally Love to do. I figure that I would like to do It later in life if not at the present time and It's kind of more like a hobby to me. I look at the Truck as a big freight ship, office and a Class A motorhome in my frame of reference.

 

Whosedog, Jayshawn, Mr. V and the Group:


I just got back in to the Werner Enterprises Training program yesterday afternoon after being out on my 2nd Medical leave of absence, for dental for a day and a half. It was no problem at all getting in again and only a small problem with the paperwork at the Hotel, when they did'nt get their voucher at first and then that part of It got straightened out.

I called up my Student Driver manager and got another one to answer when I mentioned about the Hotel situation, he just happened to mention that I was assigned a Trainer, Johnny B-- (within 15 hours), so this was really cool. I appreciated them letting me know about this before I got a call from the Trainer himself.

My Student Driver Manager Beth was really nice when I mentioned that I may be looking for something regional like the Dollar Store account, in fact she suggested The Virginia Dollar store Regional and mentioned a few opportunity's. I thanked her a lot for this kind of unsolicited information that may help me out. I told her that I would give OTR a try.

I finally got a call from Johnny, my new trainer and he said that he was at least a day and a half out from Allentown PA, he is in Quebec Canada right now. He just let me know this and then asked for me to call him back after I ate my breakfast. I ate with my Mother in Oreland and then called him back again and we had a long discussion about our skills and how we are able to do Trucking. Johnny has a 2008 Freightliner Cascadia with a 9 speed transmission, and easy truck to shift I think. Johnny told me that he is going to have about a week of Training time available for me before he is going back to Detroit MI for his home time and that we should be able to get along, as long as I can do OTR for at least 400 Miles per day, and I don't need to do It for very long a time either, since I only have to show 160 hours of training before I have to be tested out. I am looking forward to doing OTR again, at least for awhile and the hours and the mileage and I will have a full 5 days off in the middle of the routine. I don't expect much of a problem at this point in time.

Johnny said just hang around my home and to try to buy some food for the road. He will stop at the Walmarts once per week and the SUBWAYS as needed and that he is way overweight himself and that he needs to be on the same SUBWAY diet as I am on. This is very nice information.

I am just Hoping and praying that all of this works out fine and that shifting and double clutching a Nine speed Freightliner will not be any kind of a problem at all. I Love the 9 speeds and Cascadias so I am a little bit more sure this time that nobody is going to get too Ps'd at me.

 

June 8 2011





Mr. V. and the Group:


Yes, Thank You Very Much indeed! I just got a new Trainer and had a long conversation with him this afternoon. It should'nt be any problem at all to Train with someone OTR for the next 2 1/2 weeks. He just asked me if I was willing to do 8 to 9 hours behind the wheel or about 800 Miles per day. I said of course! That's what I always did at the FFE.

My Trainer is another Big guy, from Detroit and he is of African American decent, and he seems to be very easy going. He was just curious to know about what I thought that he needed to teach me and so I told him "backing up the Truck into 45 deg. spots" and maybe a little bit of downshifting. He's got a 2008 Freightliner Cascadia with a 9 speed so It will be a much easier Truck to work with.

I also told him that I might just quit the OTR and try to get into the Dollar General Account, or rather the Virginia Dollar General Account, It's what they have open and available right now. I said that I might just have to do this because of my Mother and to take care of the things around my house. Everybody understands these things, so It was nothing unusual they have'nt heard before.

I am supposed to get together with this Trainer tomorrow afternoon and to start doing the 48 state OTR's ASAP.