Beginning New Career With PTL. (A Diary)

I'm loving your attitude Scott, I think you've got this!

Well I've got a pretty good story/ gripe for this update. We had load that delivered in Roanoke TX which is west of Dallas at 0800 Sunday. I turned over the wheel to co- driver in Benton AR and went to sleep with the idea that he would drive receiver and see if they would take it early. He wakes me up some time later to tell me that they wouldn't take it and we are 60 miles away. So I get up at 0530 and have some coffee (Starbucks at Rockwall TX pilot). Go do a pre trip and take the load in. Turns out to be an excel warehouse/trans loader type place. I asked the guard shack lady why they wouldn't take 12 hrs ago. She says they open 24/7 and always take delivery. So while getting unload I decided to poke around the log. Co-driver, who will be refered to from here on as sleeper berth or line 2, drove from Benton to Texarkana and took a 115 minute break. From there drove 158 miles to Rockwall where he informed me that we could not deliver. This guy was actually asleep in the bunk for 19 straight hours just the day before. So he lies to me and does a total of about 325 miles. I have had my doubts all alon about his work ethic and suspected he had told some lies too but I didn't really have proof until now. I kind of had a talk with him and remained fairly calm when what I really wanted to do was take him between two trailers and see how well fat lazy liars can box. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do but I think I'm just gonna stick it out. I don't wanna be the guy calling Murray and crying for a new p2 partner and I'm not the tattling type anyway. But we have definitely established who is "the boss" around here now. And I had 7 mins on my clock when I shook line 2 out of his bunk today. I'll let your laziness effect my time as a trainee and my paycheck for a few weeks but I'll be durned if I'm gonna be pleasant about it.

We got a nice little run from Irving TX to Chippewa Falls WI now. Load doesn't deliver til Tuesday but I'll be handling that aspect from now on. We'll see.

I'm loving your attitude Scott, I think you've got this!

Thanks Mr. School. Love the picture of you playing in the snow by the way. One day I'm gonna get around to changing that stock photo of mine so y'all can see how stunningly good looking I am.

Scott, if I were in your shoes I'd take charge and plan my trips so that you're the one handling the last leg of the trips from now on. When it's his turn to drive make it clear how far he needs to get and leave your self some wiggle room because this weasel you're working with can not be relied upon. The sooner you can be shed of him the better, but I think it would be better to not have to change partners in the middle of your training miles. You don't have much to work with here, but do the best you can and figure out a way to make it work. It sounds like you will be finished before too long - keep us posted, and keep your cool.

"What a maroon."

My favorite quote from Bugs. Did it apply here . . . you decide . . . pick up where? Drop off where?? Could happen to any of us . . . I saw a post a while back that said, "This Irish guy walks down the street, past a bar . . . HEY!It could happen . . . " " . . . drop off at the pick up and pick up at the drop off? Hey! IT could happen . . . " I am NOT looking forward to going into the NJ/NY area - been there in a car once and THAT was hard enough . . .

Jopa

Went straight to received in Chippewa falls WI and got unloaded. Then went to small town outside Minneapolis and got load for st Louis. Ran another load from St Louis to Indy terminal and picked up one going to south jersey. Running like crazy this week. Everything runs fine as long as Sleeper Berth sleeps 17 hrs a day and I sleep for 2. Don't know how long I can keep it up though. We stopped in Carlisle PA to shower and do some laundry and I've now been back for 2.5 hrs. No sign of Sleeper Berth. If I wasn't completely out of drive time, I think I'd leave him here.

Went straight to received in Chippewa falls WI and got unloaded. Then went to small town outside Minneapolis and got load for st Louis. Ran another load from St Louis to Indy terminal and picked up one going to south jersey. Running like crazy this week. Everything runs fine as long as Sleeper Berth sleeps 17 hrs a day and I sleep for 2. Don't know how long I can keep it up though. We stopped in Carlisle PA to shower and do some laundry and I've now been back for 2.5 hrs. No sign of Sleeper Berth. If I wasn't completely out of drive time, I think I'd leave him here.

Man, you GOTTA keep this diary up . . . I'm sitting here in a puclic library laughing my butt off and emabarraaing myself . . .

If I wasn't completely out of drive time, I think I'd leave him here.

Can you imagine the look on his face as he see the truck tail lights fading into the distance??

Jopa

I couldn't really do that. I just went ahead and went to sleep and be apparently woke himself up all by him widdle self and left Carlisle about 3 hrs later. Navigo was acting really stupid but I had already worked out our route with mileages and everything. He left himself exactly 2 hours to get the last 110 miles. Then he blindly followed the Navigo (which I already knew he would) through rush hour in Philadelphia. We were 2.5 hrs late to our delivery after being 110 miles out with 11 hrs to get there. Today he's dealt with morning rush in Philly. A shipper that made him leave and sweep out the trailer and now he's in evening rush in Baltimore. I'm just laughing to myself, napping and reading a book. I hope he enjoyed his nap at the TA.

Good news is we have run to Atlanta. I have last leg and am gonna run by the house and take care of something then be at receiver around 0700. That should let me beat traffic and the ETA that Line 2 set at 1400.

I'm still enjoying myself immensely out here and making what I consider dang good money for trainee pay. Partner only has about 4000 more miles until he upgrades and gets the worlds most expensive 32" bunk all to his own.

Scott, I just want to publicly commend you for your handling of this phase of your training. My training was similar, but not quite as bad as your partner. I know what it's like to have to run with an idiot who expects you to do all the real work. Believe it or not this is good preparation for being solo. Patience is something we learn to exercise when we have to, and my father used to always tell me when things weren't going well that the experiences I was going through were building character - so think of all the character you are building! I learned to just laugh at my trainer and wait for my time to be up. In a years time you will probably look back on this experience and enjoy getting to tell some great stories about your crazy start in the trucking business.

Yeah School this situation is so temporary it's almost not even worth commenting on. I usually update this thread after having just driven 500 miles and I'm tired and a little loopy so I'm sure it shows in my writing. Line 2 now has 25k of his 30k so he won't be my problem but another week if that. We even butted heads a little today. He asked me "why do you b&T$h so much every time I stop this truck?" I kinda just pulled up my bill pay screen on Bank of America app and handed him my phone.

If what you say is true ( and I know that it is) I have built so much character in the last 15 yrs that I'm all full. I have enough already. I'm done, finished. I hope and pray that I don't build one more iota of character in the next 15 years.