Profile For Ronny S.

Not saying this is what happened, but it's very easy to blame it on the intern that doesn't exist.

Great post Devan!

There are so many rewards to this career, many of them are perhaps intangible. The feelings of accomplishment and the pleasures of new sights seen each day are rewarding in ways that few people outside of trucking understand.

Definitely. That is why I just laugh now when I see someone complaining. I love how we decide our fate. As a cashier I was making $350 every 2 weeks whether I was a good or bad employee. Now I decide how much money I want to make. Obviously dispatch controls it a little more, but if one is willing to work they will let you work. Thanks for your wisdom OS. It helps me keep my head up when I am worried about foolish things

That's such a great point! I'm 23 and as a cashier I used to make roughly the same or less every two weeks. I'm still in training with my company right now but whenever I get out on the road I feel so happy and at home. It really boggles my mind at the complainers who find every little thing wrong with the industry. You wonder why they don't pack up and leave, but it's so good to actually enjoy and love what you do!

He was embarrassed! Super Trucker is pretty cool honestly. Wear it proudly, you did the right thing.

The depth perception on there when backing is messed up. I had to do them too and wasn't able to get them right. Even straight line backing was an issue. But I was doing great at it on the pad.

Brett, your bounds of wisdom in trucking are non existent. I love that about you. Thank you so much for more insight. After taking a nice hot shower last night, having a good conversation with my dad about my mistakes and his mistakes in trucking, I'm gonna go on and try and tough it out with this guy. If it really doesn't work out and I'm not getting the help I need I'll see if I can switch but it's true that most of the learning will come from my own self experience as well. He's just a guide to get me there.

Yesterday after being down about the situation I reminded myself that this is still what I really want to do and no one is going to come in between me and that CDL but myself.

Well he is right that "you need to learn". This first phase of training is just to get you good enough to pass that CDL test. The teaming training after is where you will really learn the trade. And even then when you go solo you will learn a lot on your own that first six months.

It's tough coming into this career, make no mistake. I took my lumps in training and I took some more when I went solo.

I'm not in that truck so I don't know everything going on, but I would try to demonstrate some grit and stick with him a little longer. You aren't magically going to get better at driving even with a stellar trainer. It's still a process.

Just disregard any crap he gives you about fuel mileage and stuff and if he gets ugly tell him "I'm doing the best I can, don't talk that way to me." Now if it truly becomes a hostile environment on that truck by all means get a different trainer.

My trainer was gruff, but I stuck with him through the second phase of training and learned a lot from him. I would get a "wtf are you doing?" out of him sometimes, and I'd laugh and say I have no f'ing idea.

But get as much time in that seat as you can, no matter how bad it gets. It will get better.

That's true. I do have to learn. I think I was just flustered. I had about 3 close calls within the span of a few minutes. I do need to learn to deal with that kind of stress it's not easy but it's a must.

I honestly think that having someone with some gruff or sterness/hardened ways of teaching wouldn't be too bad either though. I think I need to be more upfront about what I want and need to know with this guy. It hasn't been hostile but I do only have two weeks to learn enough to pass the cdl and I haven't done any backing out here and only some of it at the training yard. I don't want to wait till it becomes hostile either, but I'm going to talk to him some more and see if we can come to an understanding about what we need from each other.

Thank you all for the replies. I do think I'm gonna have to talk to someone and see if I can get a new trainer. I had a pretty rough time yet again on the road today, could have gotten ugly and he was still looking at his phone. He stopped when I had a rough time coasting in somewhat heavy traffic and ended up stopping on a freeway ramp. After that I told him I needed to switch for a bit to gather myself and he simply said "well you need to learn". But you're all right. His money issues are his not mine, and he's just a tool to help me earn my cdl and not much more. I want to learn as much as I can. Hurting someone else, my trainer, or myself is the last thing I want to do in this career.

TRAIN ME BRETT!

As far as comunicating with him, try as humbly as possible to explain to him that you are trying to learn what he already knows. That you look forward to his constructive input. That you want to learn the driving tricks to eventually get fuel bonuses for yourself. Also, tell him you are nervous about all you're trying to learn and talking out issues with him. Hopefully, that would give him an opening to make things better. Best of luck. Isn't Wil Trans owned by Jim Palmer Trucking? Do they have seperate training?

Thanks for your input, I will try that as well. I think it's the other way around wil owns Jim, but they're basically the same training except wil trans operates in Missouri and Jim palmer in Montana. They essentially are the same company. Their training program is based on Prime.

You're a student. You are suppose to be screwing up now. This is where you learn. He's a teacher, and it's his job to teach you. Don't let his negative check get into your head. My trainer at Prime had the same issue at times (negative check). It's also why you shouldn't just jump right into leasing, without first saving up some capital.

Is he teaching you to float gears or double clutch? A trick I was told when floating, think Adam's Family. Get your RPMS up, the party of the song where they snap their fingers, is the time in neutral, going to the next gear. This allows the RPM to fall back into range.

Down shifting..... out at 1100 vroof the engine up to 15, and as the rpms fall, you should "catch" the lower gear.

Practice practice practice.

Well, I was taught to double clutch and for the exam I need to double clutch. He floats his, which is fine. I actually haven't tried floating them downwards only up and that's a pretty smooth transition for my shifts going up. I'm definitely going to give what you said a try though.

And yeah, I definitely don't expect to be great at this anytime soon. I am the student and I want to learn as much as I possibly can before being out on my own. Today was really only my second time driving out on the road. I actually managed to get through small city without being too much of a nervous wreck. But absolutely the last thing on my mine is a fuel mileage bonus LOL

I recently started the training session of my class portion with wil trans. I'll be on board with a trainer for 10k miles (or at least 75 hours of driving time) before going to take my Cdl exam. However after just 3 days with the trainer, I'm already kind of feeling like I'm a burden on my trainer (and possibly with good reason) . He's a leased operator so he's very conscious of his fuel mileage and the loads he takes as I'm sure he should. He recently told me that he gets a $500 bonus for every student that passes the cdl on first try. No pressure right? Anyway, I've been having some trouble with city driving. Mainly starting again after a red light. (neutral/brake drama) Can't mention how many mini heartattacks I've had almost rolling back, or killing the truck. I'm also having a hard time knowing exactly when to downshift and get it right with the rpms on this truck. The simulators we used were much more forgiving. I either overshoot or don't clutch the gear back in quick enough. I'm sure I'll smooth that out with time, but I've noticed that his patience is starting to wear thin since I'm not going fast or maybe I'm not learning fast enough for him. I've also noticed that he's not exactly paying attention to me or the road either. (usually looking at his phone) Earlier today on an incline there was a flashing 45mph sign and I down shifted to slow down into 9th gear and he got upset because I grinded and was costing him his fuel mileage. When I told him about the sign we passed he just mentioned that the way he prefers to drive over Hills is to cruise and slightly accelerate while going up to give the truck a boost instead of having to downshift. Not exactly sure on the timing of that either, but I've just been trying to follow what he says to do as best as I can. He's recently told me about a few times he's been in the hole on his payments from leasing so I know he's been in a rush to get these loads in on time. I'm just not sure how I should approach him, he's a nice guy, I really want this for myself and I want to be as safe as possible, but I just don't know how to go about opening up the barrier for conversation on ways to improve myself. I'm enjoying my experience so far. It's still very early, I'm not at all discouraged, this is just one of those tiny humps I'll have to hop over to progress further. Any advice TT?