Trainee From H3LL (Ranting...)

so forgive me.

I cannot comprehend how someone who claims they want to drive a truck has so little motivation to learn anything. Literally anything at all. However our student coordinator says she's certainly seen it before.

New company drivers in training : Do yourself and your trainer a favor. Be interested in anything and everything they want to teach you. Speak up, ask lots of questions.

so forgive me.

I cannot comprehend how someone who claims they want to drive a truck has so little motivation to learn anything. Literally anything at all. However our student coordinator says she's certainly seen it before.

New company drivers in training : Do yourself and your trainer a favor. Be interested in anything and everything they want to teach you. Speak up, ask lots of questions.

We just had someone in the yard like that for hostler training. Thankfully I wasn't in charge of training him. He argued with everything he was told. Got to the point he and the trainer wouldn't even talk to each other. I tried teaching him too and eventually gave up--dude just wasn't interested in learning. Then he tried to blame it on us when he wasn't allowed to continue yard training..

New company drivers in training : Do yourself and your trainer a favor. Be interested in anything and everything they want to teach you. Speak up, ask lots of questions.

This is actually a great point. I'm getting ready to head to training, so it's been foremost on mind over the last several days. I think mental preparation is a good thing. I've read many many articles on this site about what to bring and what kinds of things to expect. Trucker Mike had a couple great articles on making yourself useful and being engaged in learning etc... You definitely need to realise that you are a guest in someone else's truck. Part of being a good guest isn't just being helpful in action but being a good guest in conversation. Its a difficult situation for the trainee as well as the trainer. Just like on a first date, if you leave the other person to carry the conversation... don't expect a second date!

I've tried til I'm blue in the face. This gal is both dangerous and clueless. I was hoping to have her back in Cedar Rapids today, but it looks like it will be Sunday or Monday instead. She barely speaks-- unless we are away from the truck and its not a trucking related topic. Stalls the truck in all kinds of inappropriate places, ignores road/traffic signs, refuses to drive much of the time, refuses to trip plan, conveniently disappears or goes to bed when its time to do tripsheets and scan them into transflow. Decides to shower AFTER our break is over and we NEED TO ROLL TO MAKE OUR APPOINTMENT. I told her next time, I WILL drive off and leave her if she does it again. Won't get up when we need to roll (my other half told me to just roll anyway and if she falls out of the upper bunk so be it), but I'm not that mean. Is oblivious to the need to manage her time on her elogs , has multiple errors on them but STILL hasn't called in to get those errors corrected. Last night I asked her again if she had called (because we can't even do minor edits ourselves ) she said no.. I asked her what she was waiting for.. *. crickets, * then told her.. oh well, I'm not telling you again, its YOUR LOGS and YOUR LOGBOOK VIOLATIONS. Oh the list goes much further. I've wasted way too much time with this one. I've not yelled, I've managed to stay calm, I have gone out of my way to try to make her feel welcome on my truck, but I'm done and so is she.

I would gladly help. Although I would probably have her crying, rolled into a ball in the corner, sucking her thumb in a span of 5 minutes. Don't let my nice guy facade fool you. I am a type A personality with A standing for *******.

Thanks for the offer. I've simply been keeping a record and relaying the info to our student coordinator. I remind her that she must have a certain amount of hours of driving and know how to run a truck on her own or they will put her with another trainer or send her home. She actually came from Werner. Somehow made it through their training and went solo for about 9? days lol.. yes nine whole days. I cannot imagine how she passed her cdl much less tested out to solo at Werner. When asked why she left, she says she didn't like it there and they had lots of "dispatch problems ". Pretty much I've told her the problem wasn't Werner and attempted to explain why. Also said I'd attempt to help her get a good start here, but I give up. The cdl school she attended does their own testing too-- go figure. She's actually nice, but I'm not sure trucking is her forte. Pennsylvania terrified her and so has some of the places we have to dock. Yesterday I had to back down a narrow residential alley to offset blindside into a dock while squeezing between 3 utility poles, a huge metal spike and 2 carport awnings located behind some homes. My mirrors were maybe 3" from the obstrucions and I had to angle to clear the utility poles and power lines. I took photos for our safety department letting them know this shipper was probably best for a day cab.

I don't have any experience with training except my own of course, but i did see some students at my cdl school who didn't seem to want to put in much effort. My guess is that some people are there just because they can't think of anything else to do. I think some of the cdl students were having it paid for by a state job program or by someone else.

I'm a witch. I would tell her we were leaving two hours earlier than we needed. Then tell her to go shower now. After shower And eating I'd tell her to do pretrp. By that time it'd be ready to roll.

Or....just sit back and say "this load is yours to do solo, affecting your safety and service record".

I almost understand not talking while in the truck cause my mental wheels turned constantly trying to remember everything.

But trucking is just not for some people. I've been in scheduled classes all week and decided I can't go back to a normal job with someone dictating my every move. Not only is it annoying....but I'm freaking exhausted trying to fit in the truck transfer to a new one. I'm guessing some of the CDL schools are illegally passing some people who shouldn't and they will get caught. Too many trainers say " he can't make a turn without jumping a curb" or some such thing.

Sue, I totally understand how you feel and I agree wholeheartedly that it's appalling to see the complete lack of interest and motivation some people have. People like this must have somehow stumbled blindly into one of the most demanding professions out there and it's just bad news for themselves and everyone that has to deal with them. Everyone with experience in this industry can instantly see that this person has zero chance of being happy, successful, or productive without major changes to their attitude and approach, which very rarely happens.

But what really gets me about most of these types is if you give them a self-evaluation form they'll give themselves a glowing report. I don't know if they genuinely so clueless that they believe they're the type of employee someone would want around or if they know they're of no value but aren't about to admit it. But these types never seem to be the problem in their own minds. It's always everyone around them that's no good - the company as a whole, the trainer, the industry, the dispatcher , the other drivers, the customers, etc. Even though they're the only ones not performing they really do seem to believe that they're the only ones who are.

As a mentor you have to be able to identify these people and tell them very frankly, "If you don't change your attitude, approach, and effort in a major way, and quickly, you're gonna be on a bus home." And when they predictably make no further efforts just hand em a bus ticket, wish em luck, and look for someone else to help that's actually interested in doing this. And Sue, I know you know that and I know you'll do exactly that.

I'm one of those super motivated people who's always into all kinds of things so I'm always floored by a lack of effort or enthusiasm. In fact, I wasn't around Thursday because I left the house at 2:30 a.m. and drove five hours to Mt Goodnow in the Adirondacks, hiked a 4 mile round trip up 1,100 feet to the summit to get pictures in negative 5 degree temperatures with 40 pounds of gear in my pack, got back in the truck and drove 1.5 hours to Lake Placid, NY and did 3 hours of snowboarding before heading home on the last 5.5 hours of the trip. Arrived home about 9:00 p.m.

And that was just for fun! Imagine how hard I work when I'm getting paid to do something.

And finally, what do these types wind up doing when they do receive that bus ticket home? That's right, they tell every last person on Earth willing to listen how horrible their last company was and how unfair they were treated and how they were "set up for failure" and the whole industry is a scam.

And they can be so convincing that when people listen to their stories, and then listen to what we have to say about dedicating yourself to this profession, people think we're the ones who are full of it! Many, many times I've been called a "shill for the major carriers" because I profess you can be happy and successful and make great money if you dedicate yourself to your trade and handle yourself like a true professional. But the cynics don't believe it for a moment. They think I'm a shill, the major carriers are evil, and everyone is out to get them.

So I tell people they can either be motivated to pursue their new career or they can be cynical toward their own company and industry. There are countless drivers on both sides of that fence and the results they've experienced are in stark contrast to each other.

I'm guessing some of the CDL schools are illegally passing some people who shouldn't and they will get caught. Too many trainers say " he can't make a turn without jumping a curb" or some such thing.

Ya know, sometimes I think students just get lucky when it comes time for testing with the state. They might be awful throughout their weeks of training and it probably seems they will almost certainly fail. But come test time, for whatever reason, they just happened to have the best day they've had yet! Things fall into place, they pass the state exams, and get their CDL. Of course they can't drive worth a lick so everyone wonders how on Earth they managed to get as far as they did in the first place.

I don't think there are many schools passing people who shouldn't be passing because it's their reputation on the line. If they're turning out lousy students, companies aren't going to be willing to hire from the school. If the school can't place graduates with major companies they aren't going to land enough students in the future to be around for very long.