United Tractor Trailer

I figured I'd post in here about my progress. This weekend is my 3rd weekend at United Tractor Trailer private school.

I've got pretty good with pre trip inspection, and getting there quickly with air brakes test. I've learned pull straight forward and straight backing. Today was super, I can back up pretty straight. I also started practicing the lane change, which I also did pretty well with.

Had an argument with one of the trainers this morning, as I was taught by another trainer that when the buzzer warning indicator for low pressure comes on, you stop the truck and rev the engine rpm to build up pressure to an acceptable level. When I tried to do that, he wouldn't let me and told me to keep driving. I tried explaining to him why I needed to build pressure (psi was under 60) so I got really upset and gave him a piece of my mind....lol Later on, I think he realized that I was tryng to do the right thing. I ended up giving him a hug, he said he was sorry, I said I was sorry...all good. The instructors are great, they WANT us to succeed. I guess it's bound to happen that sometimes, some personalities will clash. I hate fighting/arguying with people, I like to smile and be happy. So the rest of the day went on AWESOME. Going back tomorrow, 50 degrees and raining it will be. Where the hell is New England winter?? They are taking me out to drive on the ROADS....so a fair warning, STAY OFF THE ROADS IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE!! Hahahahaha

Thanks for sharing your experience at United! I look forward to reading more about your adventures. Regarding the miscommunication with the instructor, that will happen. Regarding this:

Where the hell is New England winter??

Be careful what you wonder about :-) I was looking at a weather map, and it looks like your area is getting a taste of winter today, January 13, 2016.

Stay Safe (and warm)

Ha. We merely had a centimeter of the white stuff. : /

Alright...so here goes. Sunday was the "test drive" at private school, to see where each one of us is at. We went in order of who got there first in the morning; I showed up at 7:30, there was two classmates who beat me to it, so I was third to test. It started bad for me. First maneuver was lane change, finished with straight backing. It all went perfectly fine, until the end...I did my first get out to go check behind my trailer to see how far I still had to back up to have my ICC bumper in the red box. 2 feet. Ok, I take mental note of markers on the ground to give me that two feet....I back up.....one ****ing inch too many. I get out again, my ICC number is barely touching the freakin white line...but it is touching it. FAIL. Being the perfectionist that I am...and not expecting to fail THAT one, it threw me off real hard, messing up my head. I was ****ed. Second maneuver....blindside parallel park. I got this. Yup. Except....I practice maybe once, weeks ago, with an instructor guiding me, how to correct it when you have MORE than two cones and half. I've done correcting of LESS than two cones and half plenty of times, but not the other way around. Here I am, stuck, with more than 3 friggin cones. I have no clue what to do. I sit there trying to think the logical way to correct this. I know I have to pull up....but I don't know where to steer after that. I'm ****ed. I get out of the truck, throw my arms up in the air, tell my instructor I never got the chance to practice correcting more than...he explains me how to do it. I'm so shaken up at that point, my eyes are tearing up, and I ask him if I can just do it over later....I'm THIS CLOSE to walking away from the truck. Then my pride takes over and I get back in that truck. I fix this effin maneuver....but then I got no space to do a pull up in my box, end up with mud flap on the line. **** my life. I'm in the truck and the tears are rolling down. I've done these maneuvers like a champ, and now I'm effin it up. Now I go set up for sight side parallel park. Aced it. Then alley dock, aced it. The two hardest maneuvers that I usually have a harder time with are the ones I passed. The two guys who went before me, they're good. They failed the ones I passed. Go figure??

Then I'm off to test on pre-trip. Aced it at 99%....only thing I kinda did wrong was in cab inspection with the initial timing of the oil pressure going up to 30 within 10 seconds...he said I wasn't looking down at my watch to time the 10 seconds at an appropriate time. Then came the air brakes test. I failed. Know why? Because I forgot to take the damn key in my pocket when I exited the truck!! My instructor was like "V!! Wtf?! You had everything pinned down to pass and you forgot the key!?" Ugh!!!!

Then came the road test.....again, same bull****. I failed because of ONE tiny little mistake.....I missed one gear while downshifting to stop at a red light. Wtf?! Everything else was great, speed limit, bridges, turns, upshift, downshift.... *shake my head*

Although my instructors were happy with me, and told me I did very good...I left to go home very frustrated at myself. I could have passed those maneuvers, if I could have avoided those tiny mistakes.

PS...for those who were wondering....I'm still alive and pursuing this new career change. Private message me if you want to know what I've been up to. :)

Enjoy reading your posts.

RV; I apologize in advance for what I am about to say, cause you are not going to like it.

Your emotional responses to the issues you faced during your test will not serve you well once you are out in the real world of trucking. I know you really want this, but expect that you will make mistakes, especially in the beginning. "Beating yourself up" when this happens will only make it worse, shifting your focus away from the business at hand. I make mistakes every day, we all do. Keeping your cool and safely recovering from the mistake is most important and relevant to what you will be faced with "out here".

And just to be clear, missing a gear and coasting to a stop at an intersection may be a tiny thing when your truck is light and empty. If this occurs under a 44,000lb load it's possible your truck will come to a full stop in the middle of the intersection after pushing a minivan into opposing traffic. Again it comes back to keeping a cool head and recovering from the mistake...

I sincerely wish you good luck. Lace up your boots and climb back on the horse. You will have a second chance, make the most of it.

G-town...my "emotional response", asides from the tears (that I hid well, didn't do that in front of anyone, and it wasn't full blown crying, just tears rolling down from my eyes tearing up), was not as bad as you think it might have been, and actually no different than some of the other guys who were effing up their maneuvers. It's not like I'd get angry and start slamming the truck door, or be rude to people, or have a mental breakdown.

However, I will give you that...I AM hard on myself. Probably more than most. It's aggravating. This comes from years of being told by some people in my life that I'm not good enough. And I guess I came to believing it. So at this point in my life, I have the unbearable feeling that I have to prove myself to these people, and well...myself included. I k ow I have to find a way to allow myself to make errors and agree that "it's ok". It's just really...really hard. Maybe the upside of this is that I will always strive to do my very best, and in trucking...I think it's important.

We were taught to leave it in gear until we came to a stop unless it turned green on you as you were slowing to stop?

We were taught to leave it in gear until we came to a stop unless it turned green on you as you were slowing to stop?

RV was downshifting when she approached the intersection and missed a gear.

G-town...my "emotional response", asides from the tears (that I hid well, didn't do that in front of anyone, and it wasn't full blown crying, just tears rolling down from my eyes tearing up), was not as bad as you think it might have been, and actually no different than some of the other guys who were effing up their maneuvers. It's not like I'd get angry and start slamming the truck door, or be rude to people, or have a mental breakdown.

However, I will give you that...I AM hard on myself. Probably more than most. It's aggravating. This comes from years of being told by some people in my life that I'm not good enough. And I guess I came to believing it. So at this point in my life, I have the unbearable feeling that I have to prove myself to these people, and well...myself included. I k ow I have to find a way to allow myself to make errors and agree that "it's ok". It's just really...really hard. Maybe the upside of this is that I will always strive to do my very best, and in trucking...I think it's important.

You definitely understood where I was coming from. Trying to help you. You'll get there...