Profile For djwaglmuffin

I have to use a mobile device to wrote this so please forgive. This is also a kind of long story so I'll try to keep it short, but I need some advice from you veteran truckers out there. Specifically anyone who started out with one of the bigger carriers and moved on.

I've been with Western Express for about 3 months now and the problem started when I got my first truck. I discovered as I was driving it that it had no brakes.. one of them was illegal and the other one wasn't working at all. so it took them a really long time to get me to the terminal and it wasn't until later that I realized that I could stop at a weigh station or something and have them do an inspection on it so that I wasn't forced to drive the truck or didn't feel forced to drive the truck. that was just one problem of many mechanical problems that I had with my first truck and it felt like I had to argue with them every day about the quality of their equipment while I was out there trying to run loads for them.

it finally got to the point where I asked for another DM and that was earlier last week. I was in Nashville and then my new DM found one in Atlanta and I come down here and there's a lot of critical problems with the truck. for example the entire exhaust system had to be replaced the airbag on the passenger side has an active leak in it plus there's an oil leak and plus there's an alignment problem. and to top it all off there's a bed bug issue and they made me sleep in it and I didn't realize it was a problem until I woke up this morning and saw bites all over my legs.

the only thing that seems to bother me about this among other things is that someone here at the terminal knew about the bed bug issue and threw me in the truck anyway so I don't know what their thinking was. are they going to let me get down the road and then discover it and then take it to Nashville or wait for me to raise a stink about it like... I don't understand what these people were thinking.

and now there seems to be a suggestion that I clean out the truck like it's my responsibility to take care of this truck even though I've been sitting in it for a grand total of three days and it's has all of these problems. These problems tell me that the guy who had it before me did not inspect it but for some reason I feel like they're trying to put the responsibility on me.

now the only reason I'm here this long or I was willing to be patient with this company is because I need my experience so I can move on to someone better and, not only they have my stuff in Nashville and I'm here in Atlanta so I don't know what my next move should be. I'm being told that just moving on to another company isn't really going to change anything.

I could really use some guidance.

One of my classmates has a reckless driving conviction from 3 years ago and he was able to get in with Western Express.

From what I understood, a lot of smaller companies hire on a case-by-case basis for things like that. Roehl, for example, said they hire people with criminal backgrounds on a case-by-case...so does MCT.

Fffff

I made $6,000 last year...not even enough to file taxes. And this guy's gonna complain about $1,000 a week.

This post makes me mad.

the DR I saw seemed skiddish about everything.

Probably because he's a chiropractor.

He didn't want to make a judgement call.

Then why he's not releasing my medical situation to even me is something I gotta deal with. I'll be talking to the VA on Monday to get this worked out.

Djwaglmuffin, Your Doctor has all the information he needs to evaluate if you are capable of doing the job. It is his responsibility to evaluate you if he says otherwise he is wrong since he is your prescribing Doctor. My Doctor did not use an official form, he just needed to state if i was capable with medication to safely do the job.

I think I'm missing why he would say he can't say that. I kind of want to go to a new doctor anyway.

Been here for little while and if you look back, I was in talks with Roehl for employment and everything was good to go.

Or so I thought.

I disclosed on my medical card when I needed my permit that I have been diagnosed with depression. I had everything cleared by my Doctor and there were no problems. When I got to Wisconsin on Monday, they tell me that I need to do my physical again.

They took us to a Chiropractor's office, did my drug screens and then I saw the Doc. Again, since I told the Doctors about my depression before and I got the one year valid medical card (instead of two), I decided honesty was the best thing to do here. I told him I'm diagnosed with depression. Suddenly, he wants to know if I've ever attempted suicide, if I'm violent in any way, if I am cleared to drive a CMV, why am I not taking medication, etc. etc. But he doesn't want to hear any of that from me, he wants to hear it from my Doctor. He then gives me 2 post-it-notes of questions, no official forms or anything and I then spend the next two days on the phone with these Doctors trying to get the information he wanted only to be told that my psychiatrist can't disclose some of the information he wanted to know. Like the bits about suicide and whether or not I'd be safe driving a CMV.

Chiropractor says that it's Federal regulation and they need to know. Psychiatrist is confused as to why they immediately assumed I'm suicidal or have ever been suicidal, and can't disclose whether or not I'm safe to drive a CMV because he says this is something he can't attest to.

Then, I got the people at Roehl who don't even want to listen to my side of the story or have a conversation with me. Not once did anyone from safety or the trainers try to have an actual sit down to try and figure this out, nor, upon request, were they able to provide actual federal documents with these questions on it.

I try to come up with a solution "There's a hospital not even a mile from the hotel. Let me talk to the VA and see if they will help set me up with another psychiatrist and we can do a mental health fitness test or something and as part of the bargain, I will agree to submit to these like drug screens if employed."

I was shut down as soon as I said it.

Needless to say, at this point, I was fed up. NO official documents were requested, both Doctors refused to have a conversation with each other, Roehl refused to talk to me about any of this, I got one instructor who threw his hands in my face saying he doesn't want any details or information from me on what's going on...all of this was blood boiling.

OH, but it gets better:

Instructor says they will pay for the bus ticket home and pay me for the days I was actually there. He then hands me a card with $174 on it and information on when the next bus is landing in Tomah. I ask him if this was a receipt for the bus ticket and he says 'No, the money is on the card.'. So I ask "So, I'm the one paying for the ticket?" "No, we're paying for the ticket." "Okay, so where is that money?" "It's on the card." "So you're not paying me for the time I was here." So, the amount for the ticket back was actually $176.50, I could only withdraw $160 off the card and I paid for the rest of the ticket out of pocket.

He takes me back to the hotel and on the way back he tells me that 80% of veterans have to be sent back for one reason or another and he tried to throw all of the blame on the VA. This ****es me off even more. When I get out of the van to go get packed up, he says "If you get this straightened out, you can always come back."

I got two words: Fk. That.

As soon as I landed back at my apartment in Pittsburgh yesterday, I called Werner. Hopefully I'll hear back from them and hopefully I'll be able to get to work soon.

If ANYONE else has gone through something similar or has ideas or knows where I can documentation to close the gap between doctors, please!! I need your help.

Hi djwaglmuffin, I have a learning disability, and i was not sure if i would be cleared to drive, so i went to my Doctor to get a clearance letter, just something saying that i was competent enough to do the job safely, i was honest and told the company Doctor, gave them my clearance letter the doctor then just asked if i was taking my meds and proceeded to pass me with no issues. Hope this helps Good luck :)

Like I said, though. My psych is telling me he can't say I can drive a CMV...he's hiding behind HIPPA. That's why I was looking for an official document or something he can fill out or even go to another doctor to get that letter taken care of.

And, Old School: Thanks for your information. I appreciate the support.

Been here for little while and if you look back, I was in talks with Roehl for employment and everything was good to go.

Or so I thought.

I disclosed on my medical card when I needed my permit that I have been diagnosed with depression. I had everything cleared by my Doctor and there were no problems. When I got to Wisconsin on Monday, they tell me that I need to do my physical again.

They took us to a Chiropractor's office, did my drug screens and then I saw the Doc. Again, since I told the Doctors about my depression before and I got the one year valid medical card (instead of two), I decided honesty was the best thing to do here. I told him I'm diagnosed with depression. Suddenly, he wants to know if I've ever attempted suicide, if I'm violent in any way, if I am cleared to drive a CMV, why am I not taking medication, etc. etc. But he doesn't want to hear any of that from me, he wants to hear it from my Doctor. He then gives me 2 post-it-notes of questions, no official forms or anything and I then spend the next two days on the phone with these Doctors trying to get the information he wanted only to be told that my psychiatrist can't disclose some of the information he wanted to know. Like the bits about suicide and whether or not I'd be safe driving a CMV.

Chiropractor says that it's Federal regulation and they need to know. Psychiatrist is confused as to why they immediately assumed I'm suicidal or have ever been suicidal, and can't disclose whether or not I'm safe to drive a CMV because he says this is something he can't attest to.

Then, I got the people at Roehl who don't even want to listen to my side of the story or have a conversation with me. Not once did anyone from safety or the trainers try to have an actual sit down to try and figure this out, nor, upon request, were they able to provide actual federal documents with these questions on it.

I try to come up with a solution "There's a hospital not even a mile from the hotel. Let me talk to the VA and see if they will help set me up with another psychiatrist and we can do a mental health fitness test or something and as part of the bargain, I will agree to submit to these like drug screens if employed."

I was shut down as soon as I said it.

Needless to say, at this point, I was fed up. NO official documents were requested, both Doctors refused to have a conversation with each other, Roehl refused to talk to me about any of this, I got one instructor who threw his hands in my face saying he doesn't want any details or information from me on what's going on...all of this was blood boiling.

OH, but it gets better:

Instructor says they will pay for the bus ticket home and pay me for the days I was actually there. He then hands me a card with $174 on it and information on when the next bus is landing in Tomah. I ask him if this was a receipt for the bus ticket and he says 'No, the money is on the card.'. So I ask "So, I'm the one paying for the ticket?" "No, we're paying for the ticket." "Okay, so where is that money?" "It's on the card." "So you're not paying me for the time I was here." So, the amount for the ticket back was actually $176.50, I could only withdraw $160 off the card and I paid for the rest of the ticket out of pocket.

He takes me back to the hotel and on the way back he tells me that 80% of veterans have to be sent back for one reason or another and he tried to throw all of the blame on the VA. This ****es me off even more. When I get out of the van to go get packed up, he says "If you get this straightened out, you can always come back."

I got two words: Fk. That.

As soon as I landed back at my apartment in Pittsburgh yesterday, I called Werner. Hopefully I'll hear back from them and hopefully I'll be able to get to work soon.

If ANYONE else has gone through something similar or has ideas or knows where I can documentation to close the gap between doctors, please!! I need your help.

All of my instructors found this claim to be somewhat confusing. As one explained "Sure, you could be fine out west and on the flatlands fine in an automatic, but the second you go into areas like, Pittsburgh for example, the transmission can't keep up with the driving conditions."

He thinks it's a silly thing to come from a recruiter.

I just got off the phone with a recruiter for COMCAR and he told me that DOT is going to be passing legislation (or influencing) saying that fleets have to run automatic transmissions? Standards are going away?

Something about standards being too difficult on drivers. Has anyone heard of this or is this just them talking? I find this confusing because I feel the opposite about standard transmissions: they tend to make me more aware of what's going on with the vehicle...(that's just me, though).