Will I ever get another truck driving job?

I see both sides in this issue. Valid points on both sides.
But I'll say this, while I'm a firm believer in manning up, I say that comes after proper training.
First you give a young fella all the tools. THEN you say there you go, you're on your own, call for your next load when ya get there.
I don't consider this skimpy "training session" giving a young fella all the tools.

Maybe back 20-30 yrs ago, it would be more than adequate. Back then I'd drive thru most mid-size to major cities like a breeze.
Nowadays, ppl drive apples to oranges different, and traffic isn't even remotely similar. That's just scratchin the surface.

 

Years ago, I drove for an O/O hauling nuclear fuel to NJ. He told me about his first driving job. He was a yard guy and a driver called in sick. His boss told him to jump in the truck and take the load to LA. He said, "I don't know how to drive that truck!" The boss said, " You will by the time you get to LA. Get gone."

Ah, the good old days.

 

If you only had a couple of days training then I would not want you working for me... I know people keep saying in the old days it was different. But that is the reason we now have all the regulations we have today is because of how it was done in the old days.
Time to man up and start doing things the right way...

 

The reason they have all the stupid regs is to dumb everything down so dummies can qualify. Lets outlaw chewing gum so all the people who can't walk and chew gum can now be a big time truck driver! I feel safer already! It is against Moron Trucking policy to chew gum because gum is a distraction.

 

Just what do you haul that would take more than a couple of days to show someone how to haul it ?
I can't think of anything in 33 years that has taken more than a couple of days to learn the paperwork or the secrets of loading and unloading .

Three months with a guy that has less than a year or two is not going to teach much to anyone because they do not know much .

The thing we had in the old days that is not around now is pride in ourselves and our job.
We drove because we wanted to not because we couldn't do anything else .

We did not need the laws that we have now because we were able to think for ourselves .
We didn't need to be told how to do every little thing by some desk jockey because we knew our job and we did it without the need to be told how to do it .

I still know my job and how to do it . I don't need dispatch telling me how and when to do things and I don't tell them how to their job either!
I have been with this company I am with since 1995 because they don't tell me how to do my job I know how!

If you were taught how to drive the truck right to start with you just need practice you don't need more "training" .
Practice only comes by doing not sitting a seat and watching or sleeping while the "trainer" is driving.

I have never had a trainer in a truck with me in 33 years and I have never tore anything up .
The best drivers I have ever met are always the ones that figured it out for themselves.
New or old everyone of them were good drivers because they got what being a truck driver is all about not because someone with less than a year or two trained them

If all this training is working so well why do you always see the same well trained company trucks doing the same stupid stuff everyday?
Do we really need to be told to slow down in a construction zone?
Do we really need to be told to pull forward and park before we come in for a shower ?

All of this training and we still need signs telling us slower traffic needs to stay in the right lane?
From what I am seeing all the training is going into teaching the fine art of tailgating and hitting non moving objects.
Oh ya and blaming it all on someone else because its not my fault .

 

JC1971:
look this can be intimidating at times, you get better the longer your out here. If you were in a trainers truck and you walked off you didn't abandon a load, the load was never yours to begin with, it's the trainers.

To be blunt, you better get a thick skin, suck it up and deal with. The trainer is being paid to teach you, however I say you did the right thing leaving because you were never going to get anywhere especially with very little training.

Find a company that will give you atleast 6 weeks of training minimum. Prime's program allows you up to 6 months.

 

Sounds like marmonman has it all figured out. In the good old days during the 70's it was my job to keep all you super truckers in line.. via Ohio State Highway Patrol. Yes.. the good old days when super truckers just popped a handful of pills and drove cross country non stop at 90 mph. Killed countless number of people with no regard for the law or public safety. Just put 'em in a truck and point 'em in the right direction. That's how all us super truckers learnt it...

Anyway .. we are getting off point here.. the op did right and can still find work with a good company.. 'nuff said.

 

What company do you drive for?

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Wow I was one of the Supers truckers of the 70s Did all kind of drugs to get from cal to mass in 3 days and lived to tell about it. Just because I m still here i will tell you not to just "Man Up". I dont want that kind of driver on the road with me in my last years of driving. I do want to live to see the golden years.

Want my advice ?? Here it is....

You did the right thing. You can have another driving job if you look for it. Vic and tow are right. You should never been sent out to do what you did. I would also look at Gordon and ask them for help. The trainer will be in the jump seat to help you on the rough spots. You might not make the best money BUT you will learn how to do that job and if you stay with them you will make the money you want.

 

Amazing. Guy doesn't hit anything, doesn't miss a gear going down the mountain, doesn't get any tickets at all, gets out of a residential area, does everything right...and he needs more training? He's better than 90% of all rookies that ran with a trainer for 6 weeks! In fact, he's better than half of what they call trainers nowadays.

It's a waste of time putting him back into a truck with a trainer. What they should do is set up a few runs for a few weeks where he can shadow another driver, but be solo in the truck. All he needs is a confidence booster and he will be fine.