Profile For Rex

I previously posted this fable about 4 months ago:

Once there was a truck mechanic named Ty Changer. Ty has been working on 18 wheelers almost since tandems were invented. He spent his days servicing OTR trucks that stopped in.

One day, while changing oil on a Freightliner, the driver asked Ty, "I've been thinking about switching companies to QuikTrans Trucking. You talk to your driver customers, have you heard anything about how they treat their drivers?"

"Let me think." Ty replied. "Say, how does your current company treat their drivers?"

"That's why I want to move on. There's all these rules we need to follow. I can't get the home time I really need. And they force dispatch New England all the time."

Ty looked at the driver, and stroked his chin. "From what I've heard, QuikTrans is a lot like that. But you need to make your own decision. Here's your truck keys. Thank you for your business."

= | = | = | = | =

Later, another driver stopped in. He needed new steer tires on his Kenworth. Ty was happy to oblige. The second driver spoke up, "I've been thinking about switching companies to QuikTrans Trucking. You talk to your driver customers, have you heard anything about how they treat their drivers?"

"Let me think." Ty replied. "Say, how does your current company treat their drivers?"

You know, my company has a set of rules for drivers. The rules help to keep us safe, make our jobs consistent, and we all understand what's going on. I get home every couple of weeks, but the rest of the time they keep me driving. Every once in a while I get sent to New England, even New York though. It's really not a bad company but I think WuikTrans might pay a bit better.

Ty looked at the driver, and stroked his chin. "From what I've heard, QuikTrans is a lot like that. But you need to make your own decision. Here's your truck keys. Thank you for your business.

Question for you: Which driver would be happier at QuikTrans?

I rest my case...

ZZZZZzzzzzz. huh, sorry was this important words from some wise old man?

Funny how 90% percent of truckers act like bad asses, yet when you look them in the eyes they cave in and waddle off to the truck for their three cheese burger lunch.

This says everything I need to know about your mentality and maturity regarding trucking (and probably other things in your life as well). My fiance is a big man, and he's been known to eat cheeseburgers. He's also a successful truck driver who has no interest in acting like a "bad ass". You never mentioned whether you still drive for KLLM or not. Frankly, I'm surprised they let you keep your job after you apparently had a fist fight with your trainer on the side of the road.

she accidentally left her phone on and the director gave her a hard time over it. she defended herself by asking politely if he could take it easy it was her oversight. instead of giving her a chance to correct the phone issue he goes into a tirade over how " we run this school, however we ****ing please". well she took the high road got up and walked out. I never got her name but i admired her brave action.

That's not being brave, nor is it taking the high road. It's being an immature brat who couldn't follow simple instructions to leave the cell phone off in class, and then threw a fit and left when chastised for it. The high road would have been apologizing profusely for the mistake and not letting it happen again. If the instructor gave her a hard time for it he was well within his rights. I see grown adults all the time who can't or won't turn off their phones when asked and it's beyond disrespectful.

one instructor plain out asked a black female if she was a she male. he then asked her how many nut sacks she could fit in her mouth.

If this actually happened, I hope that student reported this to management and the instructor was appropriately disciplined. There's no excuse for speaking like that to anyone, especially as an instructor. The reason I doubt the veracity of this is that most large companies are zero tolerance when it comes to sexual harassment. They have far too much to lose to let things like this slide. Not saying it's impossible, it just seems unlikely that an instructor is behaving like this and KLLM is okay with it. Did you actually witness this happen or was it hearsay?

It's clear you came into the industry with a chip on your shoulder. Errol is right, it's not KLLM... in the end you wouldn't have been happy anywhere. But I am curious, do you still drive? If not for KLLM than for who? I only ask because if you couldn't handle the relative cakewalk that is trucking school, I can't imagine you lasted very long OTR.

My advice is to buck up, grow a thicker skin, and stop looking for things to fret over, cause in trucking there are an endless stream of them. It doesn't stop with school.

That company has no idea what sexual harassment is , and less about human resources department So, you felt the need to defend your spouses obesity instead of agreeing with my on how this is a industry issue? Wow, is that not like ignoring the cow ( pun intended) in the china shop? If you sit in a truck in 10 hr stretches at a time you should be exercising the other 10hrs instead of sitting in the drivers lounge have conversations with Capt, obvious!

as for a chip on my shoulder. well, that depends on how much you understand the word 'professional'. it is painfully obvious you would rather have crude and poorly trained truck drivers than professional ones.

No wonder the industry is struggling from people thinking truckers are a bunch of obese cuss word slinging road hazards. it people like you whose willingness to accept the status quo ( do you understand what that means? ) of the trucker mentality of the 60's and 70's. Why can't a driving school have professionalism that attracts students instead of repelling them? Instead of reading what i find to be unprofessional you instead choose to go after me....sounds like some one is a kllm/ffe fan.

Would you honestly send your son or daughter to the same school where men accuse women of being shemales and where cussing like a sailor is normal among instructors?

school was a cake walk, I been through schools with attrition rates as high as 90%. so thick skin and knowing how to survive is something I learned a long time ago. I still drive, and make VERY good money. I make it a point to stay away from the driver lounges or areas where drivers congregate because i feel as if i might get infected with the social skills of an assmonkey or worse i might get fat!

whatever, old man! another old trucker giving useless and unwanted advice. haha!

Ps. if you go to the school in January like i did, bring a coat. and hip boots to wade through the BS!

so, i did my homework and decided on FFE/KLLM. they are sister companies. the trainers have no idea how to teach now act professional. they constantly swear and use whistles to communicate with new drivers. which does no good when your 50 yards away. the male and female instructors use profanity like sailors. even the director of training cusses, in class too, like a sailor. and they think that you should be able to learn to drive a truck just by them waving their arms like windmills and cussing alot. i asked one ass-ole instructor if i wrote the directions on how to ride a motorcycle could he do it never having ridden on one. the answer was silence. after the first two hours of this i just knuckled down and would stare them in the eye when they thought they would get away acting like that with me. it worked. one instructor plain out asked a black female if she was a she male. he then asked her how many nut sacks she could fit in her mouth. One instructor was so unprofessional she told the whole class that she was gonna stick her boot up our asses if we did not start reading and studying our parallel parking guides. I just stared her in the eyes and informed her that the guides had several grammar errors and that some of the pictures did not match the descriptions. Some pictures had the tractor tires turned to the wrong way and others would describe how to straight line back with the picture of a 5th wheel and how it is engaged?! .The instructors want respect but don't earn it. We had a CDL holder in class for certification, she accidentally left her phone on and the director gave her a hard time over it. she defended herself by asking politely if he could take it easy it was her oversight. instead of giving her a chance to correct the phone issue he goes into a tirade over how " we run this school, however we ****ing please". well she took the high road got up and walked out. I never got her name but i admired her brave action. wish i could afford to do that. The school constantly makes crude remarks about swift and other companies yet their choice of words had me wondering if bad language makes for good driving. The FFE/KLLM drivers academy is supposedly based on knowledge, professionalism and training. but this was clearly something thought up by a PR agency not the cavemen running the school. the goal is to get your state CDL and collect the money from the Texas job resource. Yes, the school is paid to train you, yet they still charge you $4,000 for substandard trucking education. the debt is cancelled after a year of driving for them.

Well, I have no pride or Honor so I was able to earn my cdl and passed all the FFE/KLLM driving test. i went on the road with another bad trainer, One day while on a run from Mississippi to California I lost my temper and asked the trainer to pull over. He was acting like a tough guy and made a comment about veterans. well, as soon as we squared off in the dirt he had a sudden change of mind. needless to say he changed his attitude about cussing at me and there after treated me with a measure of dignity. Funny how 90% percent of truckers act like bad asses, yet when you look them in the eyes they cave in and waddle off to the truck for their three cheese burger lunch.

So, would I recommend the FFE/KLLM way of getting a CDL? it depends on how badly you want a cdl badly and cannot afford a real professional truck driving school. yes, they feed you lunch and breakfast and board you in a hotel as part of the school. But is it worth it?

excuse the grammar

Gato