Rough First Week Solo!

Kat, I don't know if there is any comfort in this but I want you to realize that almost everybody has those kind of weeks when they are trying to get this career started. It really is tough, and we get turned loose before we really even know what we are doing. I think there is some sort of a twisted method to all this, but I can't be for sure. It generally tells the company a lot about their new hires when they see how they handle all that stress that ensues when they first go out as a solo driver. The ones who can humbly admit their mistakes and learn from them will quickly develop into better drivers. The ones who come up with a long list of excuses and lay the blame anywhere they can besides themselves will usually end up looking for a new job. This is a job that is all about personal responsibility and the ability to make good sound decisions when under stress. It doesn't take long for a driver manager or safety manager to recognize the traits that will make for a good responsible driver.

Hang in there, you can do this. There's been many a new driver who has wiped their tears away and made up their mind that they could do this after going through a series of small disasters like you did. I still remember a tall lanky man coming over to me at a shippers location one time with big old tears rolling down his cheeks, and he said, "I just don't think I can do this job!" He was completely frustrated because he had gotten lost on the way to this shipper and when he arrived they had quit loading for the day. It was his first week solo, and he was struggling. I gave him some food, and showed him where he could park so that he would be there first thing in the morning to get loaded. He was going to violate his HOS rules just to go back to the interstate to find a truck stop. He had no food or even water on the truck, and he was completely unprepared to spend the night there.

Big deal you ran over a bush and scraped a trailer. I hit a concrete barrier in front of a fuel pump...knocked a tandem axle off and was fully loaded. They had to bring me a new trailer and swap my load then have the other driver bring the trailer back to sprimo.

Have you seen some of our trailers? You think all those scrapes and dents are from yard dogs? Yeah sure they are. You didn't hurt anyone. And we have a "trailer rebuild Dept" for a reason. Lol

I don't know if you were around when I locked myself out of the truck. I woke up at 8pm, it was still lighty out and there were no trucks around me. I thought t was 8am which I should have been 300 miles away at a customer by then. I jumped up to start the truck and message dispatch as I was trying to change clothes and exposed my bare breasts to a guy next to me. When the QC came on and I realized I had only slept 3 hours not 15, I laughed changed and went into store with my phone to talk about how stupid I was. I didn't realize how true that was until I got to the truck. I wear my door key around my neck at all times and have another for the starter. When I changed shirts I pulled the door key off. Locked out....in KY where everything moves slow including locksmiths. My friend who started with me just locked himself out at a customers gate entrance.....blocking the incoming trucks. We've all done it. We've alll hit something.

If you wanna really laugh take a look at the swing room coming around the corner from primes inbound to the drop yard. I swung really wide then a pick up truck came flying up the alley between the two buildings. To avoid hitting him I swung back and ran over the corner with my tandems. There was a security golf cart parked there and I thought nothing of it. When I dropped the trailer and cane back the golf cart was gone and I thought I hit it. Lol

I ran into the tire shop to ask if the golf cart was OK.,the guy was like "is the flower bed torn up? If not You didn't hit the golf cart. They put that huge rock there on the corner to prevent that. If anything you would have scraped the rock not the golf cart, but those bushes and flowers get run over about every two months "

I was coming into prime with six months safety and 70k miles solo and terrified I destroyed a security golf cart praying they wouldn't make me watch the video. Lol.

Its a new week. Take a breath. If money is an issue ask FM for an advance with a comchek But keep in mind that it will probably keep you in the hole for a bit. FMs understand all rookies have rough starts. Laugh learn and become the best driver in his fleet. Next week another driver will have problems and he'll forget yours. My accident was six months ago and my FM doesn't even remember it. Lol

Something else...don't let other drivers scare you. When my steer tire blew at the customer as i was backing into the door, not only did other prime drivers at the scene tell me it would count as a preventable accident, but so did this forum. When I asked the safety lady about it, she laughed. "Its a tire. They blow. You were parked for two hours then creeped into the customer. I can tell that by the QC. You didn't fly down a mountain with hot brakes and tires. Now if you were flying around a curve and jumped a curb or something that might have been an issue.". Kelsi in safety is really nice and if you ever need to ask questions give her a call.

When I hit the pump barrier she said " is there deisel shooting up like a water spout? Did you hit anyone? No...now stop the crying." Hahha

Hang in there. Its a right of passage. Call me if you need to talk. ;)

Kat we've all been in your shoes in one way or another. All of the advice you got is spot-on and thoughtful. Many times the driver becomes there own worst enemy by dwelling on the mistakes. Try not to beat yourself up, learn from it and move on. I definitely agree with Tractor Man, focus. Never lose focus.

One additional suggestion when you are maneuvering in tight/close quarters; go extra slow and roll your windows down. What you cannot "feel", you will hear.

Good luck. It gets better!

Trust me, locking yourself out of the truck will only happen once. I did it at a rest area on the NY thruway and had to pay the Mafia nearly $400 to get back in. Just don't over-think. We all make mistakes. I see them daily. I make them daily. Fortunately they are usually very minor. The only real mistakes are the ones from which you don't learn. And here's a GA insider parking tip. If you ever find yourself at Tyson in Cumming, the Lowe's on Market Place Blvd is truck friendly if you go in amd let them know how long you'll be there.

Ouch! Too much to reply to. I can help you with 1 thing. Get an extra key made and use a zip tie and fasten it somewhere under the hood. There are lots of options where it will not be in plain sight. Hell, most drivers I see never open their OWN hood.

I do this on all my 4-wheelers too. Since everything is RFID fobs now.

Have a spare fob wrapped in foil, duct taped under a seat - and a regular key zip tied under the vehicle.

Yeah Kat - yer getting all the funky stuff out of the way your first week.

But with statements like this:

It's been a really rough rookie start, but I'm still having a good time, trying to laugh at my mishaps and trying not to let my errors get the best of me.

it sounds like your spirits are still good, and your head is in the right place.

Keep up the good attitude and stop running over stuff (careful slow, GOAL, don't rush), and you should be fine.

Rick

I left with my first load out of Springfield headed to McDonough, GA last Saturday. Everything went great except for the fact that I had a really hard time finding a place to park at 4am. When I got to my 90, I had a moment of panic where I set up wrong to back into a parking spot to wait for a door, but thankfully another Prime driver got out and helped me. Once I calmed down, backing into the dock was easy. Left there, dropped my empty in Newnan and headed to Columbus for a day at home. While I was there...Monday...low hanging branches caught my CB antenna and broke it. Thus a message to dispatch and my first accident report. Deemed not preventable, I felt slightly better.

Finished my home time, picked my empty back up and headed toward my next load's 01. Since it was going to be another late night, I decided to give Walmart parking a try. Everything would have been fine had I just pulled in and parked. Instead, I decided that I needed to turn the truck around so that I would be parked facing the way I needed to pull out because it would surely be busier in the morning...right? In the process of doing that and trying not to hit any parked cars, I ran over a small tree in one of the medians with the trailer, scratching it up pretty good and rippling the bottom rail. The worst part is that I didn't feel it and didn't notice, so the next morning, Walmart management woke me up with the news saying they had me on video and there were witnesses. Two hours later, after tears and messages/phone calls to dispatch and safety, it was resolved and I was on my way again...this time back to Springfield to speak to people in person and terrified I was going to be fired.

Everyone was actually really nice about it, much to my relief. My next adventure was bob tailing all the way from Springfield to Aurora, IL to grab an empty and position myself for a decent load. Things were perfect until I stopped for fuel and had all kinds of issues with comdata. Finally got all that to work, fuel up, go to get in my truck...and I'm locked out. My cell phone was inside too. Long story short, the lady inside the Pilot wasn't too keen on being helpful, so I ended up waiting for another Prime driver to come along.

About an hour later, I got lucky and was able to use his QC to contact road assist. Got a locksmith to let me back in my truck and was back on the road. My current load brought me to Edwardsville, IL for a drop/hook at Hershey. Had a 13:30 appt and was early only to be told that Hershey isn't releasing that load until tomorrow morning at the earliest.... So now I sit. I've been here for five hours waiting for Prime to figure out what they want me to do. Last week my paycheck was negative and this week isn't looking much better now that I am stuck.

It's been a really rough rookie start, but I'm still having a good time, trying to laugh at my mishaps and trying not to let my errors get the best of me. On a good note, my backing skills are better than I thought. Had a tight wash out place where you have to pull around the side of the building and then back up into a space to line up with the bay. The guy said I did a great job for a rookie and talked some smack about some CRST drivers that he's had to back their trucks up for. LOL I hope as time goes on things will get a little easier.

You just hang in there. Before you know it you will become very comfortable with your skills and decisions. Always watch other truckers when you are sitting, to see how they do it. Before long, they will be watching you for guidance. : )

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the stories and encouragement. I never expected this to be easy, but I didn't expect to have a first week quite so....exciting? LOL I will never make those mistakes again. Ever! I am so thankful that Prime is the kind of company they are and that I found this forum before this adventure started.

Right now, I am sitting in Edwardsville still waiting on my load that was supposed to be ready yesterday. 😕 Such is the life though! No matter how bad of a day I have trucking, it still won't come close to the bad days I had in the classroom and dealing with an administrator I despised! This is definitely the best decision I could have made.

Rainy....shoot me an email with your real name and contact info. I have a very short list of people I can call for advice. 😋 My email is katherinepoteat at gmail.

Trust me, locking yourself out of the truck will only happen once. I did it at a rest area on the NY thruway and had to pay the Mafia nearly $400 to get back in. Just don't over-think. We all make mistakes. I see them daily. I make them daily. Fortunately they are usually very minor. The only real mistakes are the ones from which you don't learn. And here's a GA insider parking tip. If you ever find yourself at Tyson in Cumming, the Lowe's on Market Place Blvd is truck friendly if you go in amd let them know how long you'll be there.

It happens more than once lol. I usually lock myself out about once a week. Maintenance just told me how to break in my truck and I go about my business lol.

It happens more than once lol. I usually lock myself out about once a week. Maintenance just told me how to break in my truck and I go about my business lol.

Jake, It's easier to "break in" with a spare key!!!!!

It happens more than once lol. I usually lock myself out about once a week. Maintenance just told me how to break in my truck and I go about my business lol.

Jake, It's easier to "break in" with a spare key!!!!!

Tractor man that is not very supportive. Maybe he has a lock out addiction. We should have an intervention