Frustrations With Werner Enterprises, I'm Finished With Them

G-Town: You nailed it on the head. I'm still writing software for a major defense contractor and, even though I'm a senior by years, I still have a mentor assigned here to help me with any questions I might have. And it's definitely a two way street. She's expected to check-in on me and I'm expected to ask her questions if she's not forthcoming on her own. It should be a 50/50 relationship but I'd say it's more like 90/10 with me asking most of the time and her just not checking in on me. Is this a bad situation? Absolutely not. She's super receptive, friendly, and helpful... it's just that I need to get off my butt and ask her (actually spin my chair around since we share a cube). And this relationship works (for two years now), no complaints, and I don't want another mentor... granted I use her less after two years. Haha. Still, my point mirrors G-Town's: I had to ask, I had to take control of my learning process and that's okay.

I get the feeling ad356 expected them (every company he's been with) to lay it all out for him on a silver platter and spoon feed him. He's probably a true internet warrior in that he's meek in real life but can fire it up behind the anonymity offered by the internet. I gather from his copious posts that he also expects to be given the high roller jobs via his self bravado and talking himself up. You guys have mentioned many times (reading Old School's blog too) about putting in the time, working with your DM , and even doing the crap jobs to prove yourself so you can become a high roller. I think he wants to train and go straight high roller, skipping the proving yourself phase.

Ryan: I'll go copy and paste a portion of his post, but, as mentioned above, it's more of the same: "for whatever reason i was training with rist and got a phone call. the manager called and told me for whatever reason the weren't going to invest anymore time or money into me. i was training with them for 1-1/2 weeks. it ended very abruptly, no real explanation given, just that i was going to be dropped off at the terminal at the end of the day and i was done. i have come to a decision, i will no longer be driving truck. not for Werner, not rist, or any other company. this is the last straw."

And "my employment with rist ended extremely abruptly with a 43 second phone call."

And "besides being alone and away from home (a big one for me), i have a huge issue with the 34 hour unpaid resets. imagine if i worked a full time job and was able to get paid for 34 hours extra a week lol. i come from a industry where if you are at work you get paid. im not used to being told to "camp" out and your not going to get anything for it. i would never be willing to accept camping out at any job i ever had in the past and not get paid for it. i have a very hard time willing to accept that now."

I'll stop now as it just goes on and on. I was surprised that no one commented on the unpaid 34 hour reset. Heck, I have an unpaid 48 hour reset... it's called the weekend. I've never once thought of complaining that I should be paid for that time. /scribbles note to self... maybe I should start a movement. Haha

I'm glad I'm anywhere from 3-18 months from making this career change as it's more time for me to soak in life lessons and suggestions from you guys. Thanks a ton!

I was surprised that no one commented on the unpaid 34 hour reset. Heck, I have an unpaid 48 hour reset... it's called the weekend.

It's funny, because if that dude had actually worked hard enough that he needed a 34 hour reset he wouldn't be complaining about finally getting a day off. You have to run really hard to get to the point that a 34 hour reset is actually necessary. There are a ton of drivers who turn big miles and almost never take resets. So if you ran so hard that you've exhausted your 70 hour clock and you're not getting enough hours back to keep running a reasonable amount of hours over the next few days then you've put in some seriously hard work and you're almost certainly ready for a break.

Just a quick note to say Thank you to Old School for the links at the beginning of this thread and to Brett for the podcasts, great info. Only thing I will say is boot camp is only 3 months but point well taken

I was surprised that no one commented on the unpaid 34 hour reset. Heck, I have an unpaid 48 hour reset... it's called the weekend.

It's funny, because if that dude had actually worked hard enough that he needed a 34 hour reset he wouldn't be complaining about finally getting a day off. You have to run really hard to get to the point that a 34 hour reset is actually necessary. There are a ton of drivers who turn big miles and almost never take resets. So if you ran so hard that you've exhausted your 70 hour clock and you're not getting enough hours back to keep running a reasonable amount of hours over the next few days then you've put in some seriously hard work and you're almost certainly ready for a break.

That's why I take a 34 every weekend if I feel the need to. Running from Monday through Saturday and ending my day with anywhere from 8-15h on my 70, take the rest of Saturday and all of sunday off, full 70 back on Monday seems like a much better deal than running short days sunday and Monday and running off recap from Tuesday on while dispatch is trying to get me home on Friday.

More on topic. This was a great thread and all newcomers to this site should be encouraged to read this all the way through. OP was pretty much the poster child of how not to go into trucking.

This was definitely a great thread to read. The only thing I will give the OP some credence for, is that during the presentation at my community college Driving School was that the Werner recruiter was pushing the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar accounts for new drivers. He was raving about the home time and the money you can make. Seriously, I was thinking how can a new driver handle the strip malls? I shop at those stores all the time and with my limited experience I have looked at how difficult it would be to get into some of those places for a newbie. I'm not bashing Werner in any way because Schneider also touts those accounts. Just got my CDL and my email, texts, and phone is ringing off the hook. I applied to over 10 companies I will try to whittle it down this week. I don't have a problem being alone, I've always been that way. I paid my own way for truck driving school so a company that reimburses tuition is a plus. Plus, I'm older than those that get into this business so insurance premiums and benefits weigh heavily into my decision. I want to see the country so OTR or Regional will work for me. I do have a 14 year old from a previous marriage that I have to see sometime. But I have talked to her about this and ask her if she'd like to go with me after I get situated during her vacations. I'm sure her head would be buried in her phone most of the time but it already is when I'm with her LOL. I kind of have it down to a handful of companies. All major carriers because I know this is where I should start. Thanks for all the guidance guys.