Profile For Miss Rose

Congratulations! Big Thanks for sharing your training experience in such great detail.

Great idea for a feature! Thanks for setting that up, Brett.

Simple as 1, 2, 3.

#1: If you are at orientation, you are filling out the hiring paperwork. It's up to you to make sure you don't lose the job! That's right, you have a job, don't screw up now! You listed the common things people do to lose a job at this point.

#2: People who get and keep that job rarely have time to get the good news posted. Trucking Truth members are the exception. The ones who lose out (see #1) have to whine, complain and blame their problems on someone else.

#3: If you come in with a mature, can-do and modest attitude, you'll listen and understand, stay realistic in your expectations, and have the common sense needed to do a great job for your company.

^^^^ This exactly

John,

Congratulations!

I had meant to study more of The High Road Training Program tonight but, I ended up pulled in by reading diaries. I gravitated towards yours when I read that you are in Virginia. I'm in Yorktown and was considering the TCC program. I haven't decided against it completely but, I have enough existing student debt with my undergraduate degree and graduate program; adding more to it is the last thing I want to do.

Thank you for sharing your diary. It's very detailed and well-written. At this point, I'm thinking that we should have a signature line available that always reads "Thanks, Brett! and Thank You, Trucking Truth!"

Congrats again on your CDL! Looking forward to your updates.

Just spent the last hour or so binge-reading Llandros' diary. Completely engrossed in his journey...reading replies...scrolling...more scrolling...where is he? He left us with a cliffhanger. I'm sure I'm not the only one biting my nails while waiting for the next chapter.

Llandros, wherever you and and whatever is happening, I sincerely hope it's getting better. Stay strong! Dark clouds not allowed.

Great pictures! Thanks for posting! The Navy brat in me loves ships.

If you're ever near Mobile, Alabama, the USS Drum is a decommissioned diesel that's on display in Battleship Memorial Park as a museum that can be toured. I found it really cool since I had only ever been on aircraft carriers and tug boats.

Photo Credit: By Dimitri Smith - www.farrider.us, GFDL, Link

Occasionally we would show up with 2 dozen donuts for the crew. It go to where they would get us unloaded before we could get the chains put away.

We've been through several moves as a military family. We always provide meals and drinks while the movers load/unload our household goods. It's amazing how friendly, careful with our belongings, and efficient they are when you offer them a stack of pizzas and cold sodas, fresh coffee and donuts, icy bottles of water on a sweltering day etc. We offer it because they're doing a difficult job and deserve the appreciation.

That "kill'em with kindess" strategy is hard to deploy sometimes but, it does work. Those shippers and receivers may be feeling as underappreciated as you do. Offer some appreciation of their time, and they're likely to do the same for you. Someone always has to make the first move.

Mathias,

First...down to 180 from 450! WOW!

I can't speak from the perspective of someone who has survived a potential trucking career orientation. So, I apologize for not being able to answer your question about people who make it through to solo driving.

But, I can tell you that we're all capable of more than we think. To avoid boring you and everyone else with "This is My Life" details, I'll just say that I had very good reason to never see myself at this age and weight and pushing myself through 40-hour Defensive Tactics course, baton, and OC spray training with the police department. The realization that I was able to perform alongside, and with some skills out-perform cadets half my age...was awesome. I had two toes broken and was sore as hell from head to toe for a week afterwards but, I did it!

Have you spoken to your wife about your concerns? Talk it through with her and decide on a Plan B if you can. And it doesn't really matter how many others moved on to solo. No need in judging yourself based on others. Judge yourself based on what you know you can do.

Think of of the time and dedication you were capable of in order to accomplish your substantial weight loss. I think if you go into orientation with a positive attitude about your capabilities, you'll do great.

Yup, I've been following your diary and got the solid impression that you are dedicated to learning the skills and getting that CDL. No doubt you'll have it in your hand very soon!

There is no end to the lessons and learning available on this forum; you guys are awesome! Thank you Mr. M, Pat, Old School, Brett, and Isaac.

Absolutely! And thanks to everyone who offered their insight.

My experience in a truck has been, so far, limited to being boosted up into the seat by my dad as a kid, and being able to help hand wash the outside of the truck. One of my brothers is a trucker. He was involved in an accident with a 4-wheeler who made the tragic mistake of running a red light at an intersection. Each day since, my brother has to live with the death of that driver and the questions about what he may have been able to do to prevent it from happening. Being married to a trucker has also made me very aware of the mistakes that are made by 4-wheelers. I learned years ago to give a wide berth to big trucks when I'm on the road in my little Nissan. And I've taught both of my teen drivers to do the same. There have been many occasions of seeing a car cut off a trucker and I'm outraged that they could do something so reckless and stupid. One day on the way to work, I saw a car merge into a lane just feet....yup, feet in front of the truck. Fortunately, the trucker avoided hitting the driver. Icing on the cake was that a State Trooper also saw this and immediately pulled the car over.

Lionheart13, please heed the advice of the others and accept this as a very inexpensive lesson learned. It's miraculous that little damage was done to the vehicles, you kept your job, and most importantly, no lives were lost.