Profile For Deonte M.

@ oldschool , I read your post and I agree with 99% of it ! The 1% was I didn't mean to come off a bashing . Just saying my somewhat difficult position . Infact many of your points my dad had said those to me to while I was on the road haha. I didn't think to unload and go Spartan for a while as it certainly would have saved the losses of some valuables I had in the truck . Yikes it sucks to think about it ...But what was had once can be had again. :)

I agree that I normally I should have waited and in fact I had planned to , I was actually scheduled to start GFS in September but again circumstances were urgent . My grandmother who was looking after my 2 baby sisters is sick and I had to get them . I'd imagine it's next to impossible to look after them while Otr .

@ Brett ! Thanks it's always a pleasure to be around ! And I didn't know you did any work similar to food service . You really have been around the block huh ? Lol!

The choice of Gordon Food Service was by my design , albeit not this early . I realize the work will be challenging and physical , but that's what I'm looking for. Otr was definitely not kind to my body . Some peoples bodies are just built to move and I believe mine is one of them. During my time in Otr I devoloped body aches and general feeling of brittleness. I detest that feeling as I was always active and played sports so coming from that to feeling brittle definitely sucks haha. Hopefully will go away and I return back to normal within a few months of the food service work.

I'm sure I'd be eligible for rehire. But I really doubt I'd want to go back Otr. After 10 months and all 4 seasons I don't think it is for me haha. Also while being Otr I realized that if never finish my engineering degree . Otr was more or less just a tool for me to build experience afor a food service or a local gig and save some money for school. So within the parameters that I set , I'd say the time Otr while brief was a general success .

My focus now is my sisters and my degree . And the schedule at GFS And being home everyday definitely helps with that .

Thanks to the guys for all the support. Don't get the wrong idea , even though I'm not Otr I'm still sticking around the community !

Yeah I had that idea so I got back on the phone with the head man and we came to an agreement that I could go back in my personal vehicle and get my stuff . And of course it counts as a turned it truck . So I don't get an abandoned truck on my record . At This point I'm just focused on my next opportunity with Gordon Food Service which will be a huge upgrade for me . (Yes I'm one of the wierd guys who likes the physicality of food service jobs haha)

Thanks guys

My two cents. If not already done. Call someone at Swift and ask "Where do we stand with each other?" Explain that you have no problems with Swift and you are not trying to burn bridges. Ask them what procedure they want you to use to get your stuff. Explain that you are still with their equipment and still have Swifts best interests in mind. If they are considering this truck being in the shop as you properly turning the equipment in, all you want to do is get your stuff. Tell them you also want an opportunity to give it a quick cleaning as you are not one to leave a mess behind any job.

I hope this makes sense and can be of some help. Good luck. Keep us posted. Just always be nice. Stand up and smile while on the phone. It makes a difference. Pretend you are trying to work out a difference with your best friend. Also stay in contact with your new company.

Lol you would think that I did something horrible to the company . With the way they are acting . But the boss man himself told me it was just "business" and they can't spend money on someone who technically doesn't work there anymore . And when I leave they have to do standard procedure . I understand that part but damn at least let me come back and get all my stuff.

Wow. I don't know what to say. I'm not accusing you of anything, but there has to be something missing from the story. I hope it all works out for you. Good Luck

Hello to all my old friends who decided to pop in!! Good to see all of you are doing great!

UPDATE: Got load back home but missed it due to truck being broke down. DEF issues and doser assembly malfunction . Wont be ready till Wed . Because I put my two notice in and my last day fell on Fri. Swift Refuses to pay for my hotel until then , or bus fare back home. The told me "you should have driven back to atlanta when you had the chance " Meaning i should have just done it without the ok i presume , and once you quit the company we aren't spending any money on you anymore". They even told the shop here H&H to not let me back in my truck to get my stuff after today. Another issue is we all know that our trucks is our homes, so I can't possibly grab all of my belongings with just my one travel bag that i have in my truck. Asked about how am i supposed to get all my stuff with just my two hands and my travel bag? they said not their problem figure it out...

I mean.... Damn..... they are treating my like i abandoned their truck and its my fault that it broke down. It seems Swift is acting like a spiteful ex spouse who is trying to get me in anyway they can at the moment . I always been a top notch employee and person to them so i know i don't deserve this.

I don't know trucking truth family , but this is definitely something ill never forget. Send prayers my way.

Well admittedly I might be spoiled when it comes to going back to atl when I want because I've never been late getting back not once . My dispatcher has always had superior planning , plus there is a terminal there . Also , I have been one of the few drivers who never had to sit a day in his life ... Well until 2 days ago that is .

I have spoken with my new company and he says it's fine .

And when I've spoken with swift it's been the same kind demeanor that I've always had .

Oh here's a new wrinkle. I have to be towed to a shop because my truck won't regen properly . I'll keep updates with what's happening .

I'm just afraid of sitting for more days ...

Hey guys I work for swift , or at least I used to. Due to some family issues I had to quit and take a local job . Even though I had the chance to just quit and leave while I was on my hometime in Atlanta , I didn't . I decided to do things the right way and I put my 2 week notice in and even went back Otr as normal during my 2 weeks. Big mistake. Because now the company has me stuck here in South Carolina for 2 days and now all of the sudden they can't "find a load for me to get back " and "it's not their responsibility to get back home on time ". The issue is not so much as my dispatcher who I have had a great and productive relationship with , it is the supervisor who is making things difficult from trying to save dollars on empty miles driven . I now feel angry because I have always treated my dispatcher and supervisor with respect and did countless favors for them including working during my last 2 weeks when THEY ASKED ME TO. I feel like I'm getting burned really bad because I'm not sure if I'll make it back on time to start my new job . What do I need/should I do ?

Hey thanks guys I will do all the things you guys suggest. You guys never come up short when I ask for advice haha.

To the guy at Stevens who got the preventable I'm sorry to hear . I have a similar story while with my mentor I dented a trailer pretty good and swift found out but they have it on record,as a tier 2 crash but they never put it on my mvr ! Hmm makes me wonder if it's on my dac.....

But what error said is true I see guys bump trailers all the time in granny gear and no damage ....

Hey guys , some of you already know me but for the ones that don't , I've bend driving for 7 months exactly now. Now that being said I feel like I have a decent understanding on the basics of how to back a truck, however I am not content with this and I really like to polish my backing skills, particularly my 45/90 degree backing skills. Now before I go on let me say this :

in my 7 months of driving experience I have never angle backed my truck into a tight parking spot (think loves ,ta,pilot past 5pm) At Night solo. I have did it a few times with my mentor and the help of a few friendly trucker spotters , but never attempted solo. This is because I feel my skills are not where the need to be and it is an uneccesary risk if I don't feel confident. You might ask well how the heck do you park at night? Let's just say I'm creative ;)

I practice angle backing any chance i get in parking lots where I have 2 spots open so I'm sure i don't hit anything. During these practice sessions I break out my little cones I bought and let's just say while I don't kill them every time , I kill them often enough to where I feel it is risky to angle back . Also I get out and look a gazillion times and still kill them. I mostly kill them on my blind side and it happens when I'm in the process of straightening out (when I can't see there )

Let me tell you guys my setup and perhaps you can diagnose a issue or perhaps even recommend a better set up :)

1. I approach the spots as close as I can safely get my truck to the spot. And always my truck is parallel with the parking spots.

2.i line my shoulder up with the driver side line of the parking spot , then I travel approximately 1 and half spaces ahead of my targeted spot , and line my shoulder in the middle of that one. (Some old guy told me this and it has made me more consistent , but perhaps you guys know something better )

3. I turn the wheel all the way to the right and travel until my truck is at 12 o clock. ( which I almost never get to do in a real situation because space is limited )

4. I turn the wheel hard left until the truck goes maybe about 9 o'clock and I can see my driver side tandem with reference to the driver side parking Line. At this point my truck is at a 45 degree angle . Sometimes slightly more sometimes slight less.

5. When I begin to back I crank the wheel hard right , to sharpen the angle in efforts to make my tandem aim for the driver side yellow line . Usually I go for my tandem right in the inside of it. (Which also makes me nervous because the back of my trailer at this point is 3-5 feet from hitting the passenger side yellow line/trailer )

6. I usually go as deep as I can without hitting anything of both sides.

7. When I begin to crank left and straighten up my trailer begins to swing right more and occasionally killing a Cone about half way to 3/4 deep in the box on the passenger or my trailer continues to swing and kills a cone on the driver side (but Usually I can avoid killing a driver side cone with a pull up.)

8. Get out of my truck and perform cpr on my cones or celebrate :D

One thing I've noticed so far that is that a good 50% of the time in angle backing at a typical truck stop a 45 degree setup isn't going to cut it most times and that a 90 degree set up is the best from me just watching other truckers park, and also doing it accidentally myself. How I did it accidentally was there was a empty row and I practiced on them and I did the set up above and I noticed that I instead of hitting the spot I wanted I hit the spot right before it . Rookies luck ! Lol

And another thing I've noticed is that when I try to ride the drivers side yellow line with my tandems sometimes that doesn't leave enough space to straighten out safely.

Well that's about it. I've tried to be as thorough and step by step as possible. All help and tips is appreciated guys!

Hey guys , so I've been driving for a little over 6 months , and my hands are beginning to really hurt while driving now. the areas that hurt are the big fat muscles in the bottom and the under knuckle part. (the area on your open hand where your finger joints connect to the rest of the hand.

I use various grips on the wheel through out the day and try to switch grips every 10 min or so... but it doesn't help much. my hands started to hurt around the 4 month mark or my driving , before that point they didn't bother me at all.

I was going to buy a nice padded steering wheel grip the other day to seeif that helps , but a veteran driver I asked there told me that they are not worth it because they slide on the wheel and they are dangerous . is there any truth to this ? also did your hands ever hurt at some point and what was your remedy to stop them from hurting ? I am not interested in popping pain killers everyday just to combat this so any tips and advice that is not involving that is greatly appreciated

Well, I have 6 months of experience and I just left for Werner this morning. I was told 2 day orientation and I get my truck on Monday. But I'm sure there's more to it then that, so I'm just curious, anyone know how much bull**** I should look forward to?

I have only worked for one company . Swift for for 6 months . I don't know what it will be like at werner but I wish you good luck !