Any Advice For A Potential Trucker?

G-Town, I appreciate all the past advice you have offered. I do, infact, listen intently to advice given here by you and other experienced drivers.

You don't agree with some of my statements and that is also fair. You have probably forgotten more about trucking than I will likely learn.

However, that said, I do not appreciate this idea of being told that adjusting my understanding is "futile." Kind of comes off extremely smug instead of being truly helpful.

I offered my two cents based on my limited experience. But make no mistake, I have spent many years behind the wheel of various tow trucks in very dangerous places. This my be another unpopular opinion here, but I feel being a tow truck operator is vastly more dangerous than long haul trucking. So that said, I know a thing or two about safety and common sense.

We may agree to disagree on one's footwear while inside the cab of a truck, but I am not some green 21 year old fresh out of CDL school with zero prior experience in the workforce in general. Lets just get that right.

I have the utmost respect for the experienced drivers on this forum. If you or any moderators feel my comments are "too radical" and/or violated any community standards than, by all means, lock or delete my posts.

So then Drew with all of your experience why would you suggest to a pre-rookie to go barefoot? When they were looking for advice on school, employers… precursors and a long way from considering the crux of your initial reply.

I offered examples, factual ones pointing out that your choice of footwear, or lack there-of is not good advice for a greenhorn. Especially the snarky reply offered in response to PackRat and Bruce,

I give people the benefit of the doubt before I block or delete their posts. Still applies to you…

I tried giving the guy a brief synopsis of my limited experience thus far. Even paraphrased it as such in my first response.

Aside from the footwear debacle, I felt like I provided some positive takeaways.

As far as my "snarky" response, I can admit that perhaps that was misdirected. But I stand by my comment of common sense applies. If you are in a flatbed or heavy haul, yeah, make sure you are protected.

But you are in an automatic reefer truck with the cruise control set for the majority of your trip, whats the harm in getting a bit more comfortable? Obviously people take issue with that and it is what it is.

I get that people are passionate about certain key issues like the old floating vs double clutching argument. My CDL school taught exclusively floating, my tester didn't even verify if I could DC (I can) and my company actively discourages double clutching. Yet I had people here tell me how that is more or less blasphemy.

But not to get off topic, I will refrain from posting my experiences in the future as you and other mods have a specific path for which to guide newer drivers. And thats cool. I am a guest here at the end of the day. And I have received valuable help here so I'm not discrediting or discounting that.

But ease up on the barefoot express man. 😂

So then Drew with all of your experience why would you suggest to a pre-rookie to go barefoot? When they were looking for advice on school, employers… precursors and a long way from considering the crux of your initial reply.

I offered examples, factual ones pointing out that your choice of footwear, or lack there-of is not good advice for a greenhorn. Especially the snarky reply offered in response to PackRat and Bruce,

I give people the benefit of the doubt before I block or delete their posts. Still applies to you…

Drew...

Reply to the question asked, please.

And besides, you knew your unconditional reply about footwear wasn't going to bode well with us... you "said it" as a precursor to your suggestion. So then again, why suggest something like that to a Pre-Newbie? I think, hope you get my point. And if you don't read other drivers on her giving you push back for the same reason.

You went to school, got your CDL , experienced the angst of selecting a company, dealt with road training and went solo. We helped you...as best we could as you progressed to where you are now. Advise people thinking about trucking as a career relevant to what they are asking. That is primarily what I took exception to. You write well, have a quick wit and obviously got to where you are with determination, skill, smarts and a cool head. Share that kind of thing with a completely unaware inquiry about trucking and you will gain respect and credibility and more than likely help the person asking the question. We need more assets on here that know how to get things done and are capable of writing about it so its understandable and sensible...I think you have what it takes to be one of those assets.

You want to get creative, that's fine but consider who you are addressing and go from there. Peace.