Profile For Andy F.

Hey sometimes you have to do what it takes to get the load there.

Brake lining? As in brake drum lining? Should be no less than 1/4 inch thick. Or are you asking about the brake lines? Should have no chaffing...nevermind a crack. I wouldn't mess around with that.

I was being sarcastic, I am just trying to point out to the super truckers that Illegal is Illegal, no matter how they rationalize it, if something is not legal to drive its your fault if you kill someone. Im curious what kind of defects these guys drive with.

What defects do you ignore? If you have one brake lining cracked is it ok to drive? I am looking to save my company money.

I also must say my trainer is not some certified trainer like you might find at a big company, He is certainly capable, very knowledgeable, fairly nice to me, but in his words hes not some super trucker, he is just a guy that has managed not to flip the company truck over in the past 7 years, he said hes tore a few up, but never totaled one.

He is not the most polished guy. Occasionally when I miss a gear I get mad at myself and he tells me "Get over it, I did" And "If you tear up the transmission The owner will have to wait another week before he can afford to get his boat on the water, that would be a shame"

He also said "if you don't crack a fender or tear off a mirror every once in a while you don't really work for D&^*& Trucking, because here if you tear Sh%t up it means your doing something."

Definitely low pressure.....lol.

We also eat out about once a day, which is hard on the budget, but this guy can EAT. If he gets hungry he gets crabby, so I encourage a big meal. He doesn't drink, or smoke or anything but he binge eats.

Congrats Andy- I would put your story in the top 5 for WACKO companies.

Bottom line for me is your home time sounds good, I don't know about pay, miles or equipment. So if there is more good than bad, I would stay. Sounds like they leave you alone- which I like.

Of course the owner and daughter/dispatcher have huge problems- I would think they could get much worse.

The little crap my trainer pulled is nothing compared to yours- my trainer accused me of stepping on his bed, locked me out of the cab in the middle of the night when I went to pee- (no big deal cause he let me in right away, and I did have a spare key which I had left in the bunk), and ordered me to go 5 miles over the speed limit at night- that really irritated me.

The pay is OK, equipment isn't too bad believe it or not, they run volvos,We are in a 2012 780 isx with a 13 speed and about 475k. It will probably be my truck soon if i stay because the trainer is going to be rotated into a newer rig. They have a few internationals around but are getting rid of them because of the maxx force engine troubles they had with them. If the truck needs something they fix it, Although my trainer bad mouths the mechanic, the mechanic actually seems like a good one and they will contract the work out if its something big, I like the fact that they really don't care about out of route miles or stuff like that, in fact there is no route, you go how you want to go, no questions asked. That's the benefit of it all, no one bothers you, except the occasional calls from the owner acting crazy. The Owner is nuts, his wife is the billing lady and he accused her of skimming money to run off with one of the drivers because he was convinced she was having an affair, which for all I know she was or it all could have been in the owners head, nothing would surprise me there.

To be fair my trainer never yelled at me or threw a fit directed towards me, its always been towards the company, im not sure what abusing the equipment is supposed to accomplish, but it seems to calm him down. The owner accused him of stealing fuel, not me. No one has given me any grief directly yet, but I know if I stay its inevitable.

I can honestly seeing this company going belly up one day, but who knows.... I agree the owner and the daughter are probably only going to get worse, the wife is an enabler and the stuff that goes on is ridiculous. I definitely don't fit in there, but so far i have gotten along with everyone, but I can already see it will be challenging to work there. Time will tell.

Everything but peeing in a bottle for warmth are reasons i would leave.

I was in Search & Rescue for 3 years and using my pee has definitely helped me get some shut eye in rough nights. Other times I would just be using a bottle to melt snow with my body heat so I didn't have to waste fuel in the morning.

When I thru hiked the Appalachian Trail, it just would be a terrible waste of calories to unzip yourself from your cocoon of warmth, open up your tent and let the freezing cold in, while making your **** shrivel up in the cold relieving yourself in the middle of an icy night. Way better to just pee in a bottle and keep it for extra warmth against the care area.

But you guys are in a truck. Tell him to get a warmer blanket.

That's the thing, were in a truck and we are usually idling anyway! At least there is no pressure from my trainer, when I occasionally miss a shift he tells me that its good because if I tear up the transmission that the lazy mechanic will have to do some work instead of hanging out in the office with the dispatcher. I wont even get into all of the stories here, but its crazy.

My trainer has taught me a lot and he is a good driver,but one thing that he does that is gross is at night he urinates into a hot water bottle and then sleeps with it for "extra heat" He told me he learned it years ago. I never asked him if it ever leaked.

Um. I have no words. Is he from the U.S.? Just curious because it seems odd that in a country filled with hand warmers, electric blankets, and good old hot water that's available for free almost everywhere, that someone would willingly sleep with their urine for warmth.

As to everything else, why are you with this company to begin with? Are you part of the family? Do you have something on your record that is preventing you from getting hired by a major carrier? Did they sponsor your schooling? Please don't take these questions the wrong way, I am not trying to judge you or pry, but your reasons for being there will affect my advice on what you should do.

My trainer is from the U.S., He is a born and bred redneck. He is a good person, nice guy, smart, but he has a temper and Im not sure how well he would do with a big company. He grew up extremely poor and I think he figures if he spent money to buy the food that his body uses to create warmth, by God he is not going to waste that heat. His truck is actually really clean, he is a clean guy and the truck doesn't smell or anything. I have never had any issues with him personally, I don't care for his childish temper tantrums, but he puts up with a lot.

I am with this company because they are local, I can get home a lot, I am squeaky clean and it was easy to get hired there because if you have a pulse and don't have any habits they are more than willing to train you. I am not family or related, I didn't know any of them when I started. The thing is most of the time if you get the loads to where they need to go, and don't have any wrecks, they leave you alone. I'm serious, you wont hear a thing from them. You can do whatever you want, however you want and they don't care. Every once in a while the owner seems to call you and start on you, but my trainer said if you listen to him rant and then ignore him it will pass and whatever he is ranting about will be a dead issue.

The trucking company is located on the family's property, I call it the compound. When you take home time you can leave the truck there, or take it home, she doesn't care, the only time that you actually need to go in there is when you need maintenance on your truck, or need to bring paperwork in.

I actually don't know how they make any money, the dispatcher wastes so much of the companies time and fuel its sad. The owner seems to have a habit of accusing the employees of stealing fuel or even product, I believe there has probably been an issue or two in the past like anywhere, but this guy is crazy. The family also is a big farming family and I believe that most of their money comes from that.

My trainer has taught me a lot and he is a good driver,but one thing that he does that is gross is at night he urinates into a hot water bottle and then sleeps with it for "extra heat" He told me he learned it years ago. I never asked him if it ever leaked.

Thanks

Andy

Wow. My grandfather told me that was something they did in the army in WWII. Didn't think people outside of combat did it.

I'd be scared. Learn what you can and take that ingo with you. It sounds like you already decided to leave there. Good luck. I used to work for the USPS where we kept list of people we thought would go postal. It was so craxy there I wrote a book about the place lol.

This is actually something he told me he learned in the army. It makes sense, but were idling the truck so I don't see the point. He idles the truck far more than I would, but he says that they wont think of you more of you if you save them a gallon of fuel and the owner will just gamble away any extra profit.

I have lurked here for years and decided it time to post, I am in a pickle.

I work for a small trucking company, they have maybe 25 trucks. I have been there 1 month. I went to Driving school and am now out with a trainer, he is a good guy, but he I believe he is crazy or the company pushed him over the edge.

The company I work for is owned and mostly staffed by a family, I seriously think that the reason why the family members that work there do so because there is no way they can work anywhere else. The company was started in the 70s by the Father and was doing well until the son took it over and the sons kids started working there. The owner of the company is an alcoholic and often is intoxicated during the day, he will come in screaming at everyone, accuse people of stealing stuff or not working and then leave.

The Dispatcher is the owners daughter, when I first went in there I thought she was a stripper the way she was dressed, she has a filthy mouth, is very flirtatious with everyone and is in relationships with a few drivers and the mechanic from what I was told. She often seems out of it and is possibly on drugs and I have been told she drinks alot as well and often comes in late for work and hungover. When you need to get ahold of someone if you have an issue it seems like you never can, and she drops the ball all of the time. If you want to get something figured out you better wait until about 10am to call, then from 12 to 2 is lunch so forget calling then, and from 2 to 5 you never know what you will get some days she is right on it and other days she makes no sense and acts really strange. Its like she some days she is either doing drugs or drinking at lunch, or both.

Confusion usually ensues. What a mess, one time she sent us 200 miles in the wrong direction before she got it figured out, we had to turn around and double back, she actually got the pickup and drop off locations reversed. People all make mistakes, but stuff like this happens alot.

The other day My trainer got a call from the company owner and was asked about a fuel purchase and the owner accused him of selling fuel for cash and not actually putting it all in the truck, the owner had some bizarre math that didn't add up and was convinced that my trainer sold 50gallons of fuel for cash in the previous 2 weeks. This never happened, I was with my trainer every time we fueled up and never seen anything that would indicate that he was skimming fuel. We were in some really cold places and idled alot, my trainer is always cold.

After this conversation my trainer flipped out and started tearing up the truck, he was revving it up and grinding the gears really bad and trying to bend the shift lever, he was dragging the trailer around with the trailer brakes on trying to damage the tires or truck. He went nuts. After a while he was ok and continued on like nothing happened.

I am not sure this company is the place for me, my trainer told me its a bad place to work but unlike the big companies you can "Sh#t on the floor and get away with it". He has been here over 7 years. I am going to try to stick it out but I have to vent.

My trainer has taught me a lot and he is a good driver,but one thing that he does that is gross is at night he urinates into a hot water bottle and then sleeps with it for "extra heat" He told me he learned it years ago. I never asked him if it ever leaked.

Thanks

Andy