What Western Express orientation is like...its not good.

I had no choice but to go with this company because none of the other megas I contacted would hire me due to my criminal background.(its' not serious) Once I got prehired by Western Express I was extremely surprised but skeptical. I spent several days just completely digging through this website and others I found very little good, but very little good information that was recent. As such I would like to make this thread in order to help others thinking about doing this.I don't know how much internet I can get, but I will find the time to keep this updated.

To start off I was told by the recruiter I was going to be riding a bus down from Sioux Falls, SD to their Nashville hub, I regret this trip. I only took a few pictures because I was afraid that I would get my camera gear stolen but I want to share with you about the trip.

My trip would take several days and included several 5+ hour layovers at some of the sketchiest bus terminals ever. Never ride the bus. I have talked to a lot of guys that came to orientation, they all had horrible experiences on the busses. So far I have not heard a single good story about riding the bus, just lots of stories of things getting stolen and exhaustion. My bus ride lasted over 50 hours. Because of all the sketchy people I opted to put my expensive laptop and camera bag in my hands and never let them out of my sight. I had to carry 35 pounds of stuff with me everywhere. Other people reported the same. I have long legs, I got off the bus a week ago, my legs are still store. I literally couldn't wedge my legs between the back of my seat and the back of the seat in front of me.

This trip may have been the worst experience of my life so far. The people I have met turned me from a very liberal guy into somewhat lost. This trip has made me extremely racist, almost all the stereotypes are real
In every terminal I was offered drugs, bums asked me for money, and it was $2.50 for a snickers. I started with a gallon jug of water, that was stolen.... Because there was no food available at a reasonable price I waited until St Louis to get food, over 24 hours without food. I was never able to sleep. There was always some douche that was playing rap music on his cell phone behind me, I guess it was because you can't buy headphones with food stamps.

about 60 hours without sleep later I arrived in Nashville. I was exhausted beyond belief, I could barely walk, and things were about to get worse.

To be continued.....

 

Once I arrived at the bus terminal I called the hotel's shuttle service, I got a rude guy who answered in one word answers and never explained anything. I had to call Tyrone several times to find out where he would pick me up. I arrived at 9:00 PM to the bus station, it was 12:45 before I got to the hotel. Once I called Tyrone to inquire about where his shuttle was. I was told that he would " Come once I'm off my lunch hour."

I called the hotel and the clerk answered by saying, "ayo sup dis is Halmark!"

Tyrone was a sketchy black guy with dread locks. He never spoke to me at first after he finally arrived and picked me up, but he mumbled about killing people randomly laughing as he did so. I checked my cell phone and realized we were moving away from the hotel. I got ready to call the police after we went into a ghetto neighborhood nowhere near the hotel. I asked what was going on and why we weren't going to the hotel, and was told that we were "mrrbr hrrbrr niggaz gun pick up his homie." We picked up a gang banger dude in front of an apartment I was sure I was going to get everything stolen. I was then informed we were going to the airport. So tired and yet I had my cell phone clutched and the finger of the panic call 911 button.

We eventually got to the airport and picked up another driver and headed directly to the hotel without incident.

Once we got there I got my key and headed to my room in the back corner of the hotel. Room 234! It was 1 AM and I lacked any sleep in the past two days, and I had just 4 hours to get a shower and sleep before I had to be up and dressed in order to catch the bus to the Western Express terminal.

When I finally climbed into bed for a few hours I was shivering uncontrollably due to the stress and winding down. It was going to be a very long day.