Beginning New Career With PTL. (A Diary)

Scott,

It is reminiscent of my first 12 hours at bootcamp (G.L.,IL - 1981), man when they say paperwork it brings on a whole other meaning. Hours upon hours of filling in essentially the same crap!

I'm sure day two will be something different and much more enjoyable, all the best!!

Want to know why they ask the same questions over and over during the "paperwork" phase of employment and ask it in a slightly different way? Its simple......Fact Checking. The want to make sure that all the info is correct and not same made up BS to make it look good. Its one of the ways that some companies weed out people that lie of there paper work.

Perhaps but you also got some tools that do not know what they are doing also this is a fact

Co driver is a tolerable guy. I would never mention anyone's name on here though because I will inevitably complain at some point. It seems he really really really wants to be a truck driver but dosent really wanna move freight if that makes any sense. All his ring tones sound like Jerry Lee talking on a CB. Wears all the t-shirts that you find in a zillion truck stops, wallet chain you get the picture. But whenever we are in a terminal , truck stop, shipper he seems real happy about being able to walk around and show people he's a driver but when the wheels are rolling it's a constant stream of complaints about 4 wheelers, traffic, dispatch, etc. Guess it's a case of classic Billy Big Rigger. Nothing i can't live with to get done what needs to be done. He should be ecstatic now because we are back in Murray waiting on the shop to open so (hopefully) we can get a preloaded trailer out of the locked service bay.

I believe I said earlier in this post that me complaining about a co-driver was inevitable, didn't I?

when the wheels are rolling it's a constant stream of complaints

One of the big things people discover pretty quickly out there is that you have to conserve your mental energy. The days are really long for truck drivers . You can't afford to waste your energy getting all worked up over little things. Even having the FM radio or CB radio on all the time is mentally exhausting.

Most of the time I used to sit in silence and enjoy some relaxing thoughts about the world around me. Keep it simple...conserve your energy.

Pre load was paroled at 0630 and is now headed for Joliet. Hopefully getting up there in the freight lane improve the loads. Haven't made a fuel stop anywhere but the terminal since I've been out ( a whopping 3 days ) and it's definitely shower time. Didn't being own towel so showering in terminal is out and all shower credits are expired. I've gotta get pretty ripe before I'll pay 13 bucks tho. Speaking of money, 2nd check was roughly 400 but I only worked fri thru mon.

I've gotta get pretty ripe before I'll pay 13 bucks tho

Oh God.....don't let yourself start slipping down that path. You may not feel a shower is worth $13, but your integrity is, and you should also respect the people around you. Even if you can't smell yourself, everyone else can. You don't want to be that guy.

My ma always says, "You have to make sure you're happy and enjoying yourself too. What are you working for if you can't be happy and enjoy the benefits of your labor?"

Get yourself a nice hot shower and a good meal. You're out there working hard...you deserve it. And for all of the hard work, risk, and sacrifices you endure to get the job done out there you deserve to be respected as the professional that you are. So you have to keep your standards high.

Guess I should have said "before I'll pay 13 bucks when free is available a few hours away". There is a point where that will happen but I'm just not quite there yet. No matter what, I'll be clean before the stroke of midnight.

Got a nice run out of Joliet. Deadhead to Battle Creek Michigan and unload in Olive branch Mississippi. From there bobtailed to Memphis to pick up load going to Louisville on Monday. FM approved 100$ short haul pay and promised us a sweet load on Monday. All in all not a bad deal for noon the day before Easter. Looks like someone on the other end of the Qualcomm realizes that we're running as nonstop as the loads will let us which makes me feel pretty good. I really didn't expect to get too great a load at noon he day before Easter but with the bonus and the promise things are looking up. We haven't decided who yet, but one of us can get a 34 hr on this load and after some careful explaining my co- driver now agrees as to the benefit.

Wow just saw that I'd been here 2 months and 1 week. When I joined this site I was just thinking about taking up trucking. Now I'm paying the bills and enjoying the country. It's really been a kind of whirlwind ride. Seems like a much longer time period has passed since I feel I've accomplished a lot in that period. I was really worried that my past would keep me out of this business so I waited probably 3 weeks after deciding I wanted to do this before cutting a check for school. Very few companies other than PTL were willing to take a chance on me and I'll never forget that and I hope to repay them 1000 fold and make a nice living for myself in the process.

Yeah, the way the training is setup in the trucking industry they don't waste much time moving the process along. They cram every bit of knowledge down your throat they can, push you through the exams, get you out there with a trainer long enough to give you the feel for things, and throw you into the fire!

Trucking is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure!

Yeah, the way the training is setup in the trucking industry they don't waste much time moving the process along. They cram every bit of knowledge down your throat they can, push you through the exams, get you out there with a trainer long enough to give you the feel for things, and throw you into the fire!

Trucking is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure!

That is the reason we are here at Truckingtruth.com. Imagine trying to get I to trucking and through school without the great help we offer totally for free. Sure you might could have struggled through it and got a job but it's a lot easier when your prepared ahead of time and have half the stress of those that are going into trucking blind.