Profile For Brian P.

Let me start off by saying I have 1 year experience as of now and just had my first accident backing up, not big just paint rub. The other driver wanted to call the police and they showed up and did their thing, not much they can do considering we already exchanged information. The thing is my father was just diagnosed with lung cancer and I thought it'd be best to work locally for the time being. How does this accident affect my chances from getting a local job?

Hi, Brian P. !!

So sorry to hear about your dad; sheesh.

There are really SO many more questions than answers, considering .. much as of late. How is YOUR company treating it / reporting it? What was 'their' take on the faux pas? Extra safety classes, et al?

IMHO, you probably SHOULD hang out with 'them' a bit longer (if you can) . . and make your 'amends,' per se. Maybe just for a few more months, until this 'schmoozes' over ?!?!?

I'm not knowing your company, but probably doesn't matter. MANY companies have routes that can keep you closer to home, in situations as yours.

I'm hoping the pro's weigh in; this is just my .02, having been married to a 20 year driver; what we (he) would do.

Best to ya, Brian.

Let us know. Sorry about the 'booty bump!' (Tractor?)

~ Anne ~

I work for prime and it's not serious at all, no classes just treating it as human error no big deal. I already I formed my dispatcher that I want to leave on the 25th of this month and they are completely fine with it, they didn't mention anything about dedicated routes or regional so I assumed they didn't have anything available, unfortunately I don't think I can stay otr my father is older and I fear he won't be able to do certain things while my mother is at work, once treatment begins so I feel it's my turn to help father, I owe him so much. We actually don't know what to expect considering this a first for us. Thanks for the reply.

Let me start off by saying I have 1 year experience as of now and just had my first accident backing up, not big just paint rub. The other driver wanted to call the police and they showed up and did their thing, not much they can do considering we already exchanged information. The thing is my father was just diagnosed with lung cancer and I thought it'd be best to work locally for the time being. How does this accident affect my chances from getting a local job?

I think that's a bit unfair to judge me as a person based on two posts, first of all i have been extremely patient with pep boys, but after having sitting outside in 90 degree weather for hours I'm sure you would get frustrated too, but I'm not going to dive deep into that. Secondly I assumed I could do flatbed without issue, and i know everything comes with its own set of problems, I didn't just quit based on one bad load but it gradually became something I didn't think I wanted and could do for the foreseeable future, so instead of wasting everybody's time I made the decision to switch to reefer. You can't possibly know the entire situation based on what I've told you. Like the lingering pain in my shoulder from my gym days, climbing and tarping will become painful and eventually, unbearable, but I chose to not make excuses and mention that, only that I wanted to switch divisions, respectfully.

Thanks Anne! Kearsey is actually the person I consulted when I wanted to switch to reefer. I do intend to stick to reefer, I just had a badly stacked load of aluminum and almost fell trying to tarp it. I figured some tarp pay isn't going to be worth it if I can't work because I'm injured

My name is Brian, I left my flatbed tnt trainer for reasons some of you can imagine and to switch to reefer. I have about 7k miles already and currently waiting in Springfield. Anybody free and need a student or can make a recommendation? Thanks!

Cheers, Brian

Monday 6/14/2021

Haven't really updated, been catching up on sleep, we've been busy everyday. On Friday we had a load to the northern part of the Bronx, our load was three Bobcats and we were delivering to a rental place. We were on the road at 5am and got there roughly some time after 8am. Unfortunately, the rental place could not accept the load because they didn't have a way to get the equipment off the flatbed. We waited three hours so they could figure something out, neither the customer or our dispatch had any idea what we should do as we were sitting on a busy street in New York. In the end we just left feeling defeated. Saturday we practiced backing and we managed to get the truck where it needed to go. Eventually the power steering fluid got so hot the truck was impossible to turn so we stopped for the day and studied pre trip. Sunday and Monday I've been in the hotel studying pretrip and dealing with more Pep Boys disappointments. I walked outside Sunday morning to find my tire was flat I brought it into Pep Boys and they found my valve stem was broken. They replaced it and told me I could pick it up. They called me a lyft at about 3pm but nobody ever came so I called Pep Boys back but nobody ever answered the phone 🤦‍♂️. I finally went and retrieved my car this morning, I'm hoping I never have to go there again. Ever. I took a nap trying to catch up on my sleep and started studying pretrip again. Life is beginning to stabilize again and it feels good.

Ps I'm tired of eating out every night, a home-cooked meal sounds great right about now. Wish I had a crock pot or something.

Talk to you guys later, Brian

Thursday 06/10/2021

Today me and my training buddy went straight to the training pad at around 7am. We practiced backing maneuvers for about 2 hours, it's kinda frustrating trying to remember all the key points when this is like the second time sitting in a truck. You're still getting used to all the new sounds and checking all the mirrors, while getting used to the pressure you need to apply to the break and throttle lol. Our next task was to drive around the area, we hit highways, tight Pennsylvania streets, of course all during midday traffic. It was stressful but not so bad overall, you're just creating new muscle memories and that takes time and repetition. After, we went back to the training pad and backed up more, but we were so burnt out we weren't any good, in fact I though it was counter productive. Tomorrow we have our first actual load, and we have to drive through the Bronx to Long Island, that's going to be quite the adventure in a truck. 5 am tomorrow then guys, see you then.

Thank you Anne for the kind words, I looked into both the trainers but I'm actually happy with the one I ended up with, I feel extremely lucky about that

Thank you as well Melissa, overall i feel this has be an excellent experience despite the rough start , I'm sure you will feel the same. Have you put any thought into what company you would like to train at?

Wednesday 06/09/2021

Today I aced my simulator test, got a 91 when other students were getting 60s, not to brag but I felt good about it. I officially got cleared as well, so I finally can get with a trainer, met a guy and we became pretty friendly with each other. As we were talkin he got a call from his trainer and that he would meet up with him in 15 minutes, wow that happened fast. I was waiting for the shuttle to take me to the training pad so they could tell me who my trainer is going to be. My friends trainer showed up and was nice enough to take us both to the training pad, he even trained me free when he didn't have to. He's a great guy guy very knowledgeable, I hoped I got somebody like him, I felt I was in good hands. We learned mostly backing, well my friend did I really just watched so he wouldn't step on my potential trainers toes. Towards the end of the training session my friends trainer recieved an email from the boss man, it said that we were both to train on his truck, I guess somebody took notice and thought we worked well together. I'm not sure how this will work out because we both have to travel 17 hours one way to Springfield, MO to recieve our company credit card, and I need to do a sleep apnea test. Here's another hurdle, our trainer has home time scheduled for two weeks from today, so he wants us to be ready to test by then. Overall, I'm confidant, I'll just take it a day at a time. For tonight I'm just going to study the pretrip for a while so I can have a heads up for tomorrow. Our trainer wants to start early and do some training pad time as well as some urban driving, we'll see how that goes.

Cheers, Brian

Day 2, 06/08/2021

Woke up at 5am grabbed a shower, there's only one shuttle and about 40 students, they all ran to get in first like the only seat on an packed train. They printed me off an application, I had a misdemeanor dropped years ago, I didn't include that because it was dropped, so I assumed it was fine They didn't bring it up in the initial backround check, everything else is perfectly clean. Grabbed a bacon egg and cheese from the cafeteria after I looked around, found the "gift shop" I'd like to get some Prime merchandise, but I assume I'll get some eventually. They want me to stay for the pre trip class and have an official orientation tomorrow. I'll update more later if something happens, still early in the day.