Do I Push For What I Want Pretty Badly Or Do I Lay Low And Say Nothing?

They can't say Yes unless you ask!

You are so RIGHT! (I was just playing - when I ribbed you about you driving on the "wrong" side of the road, btw.) And ...sweeeet tractor-trailer by the way. Hope you don't mind if I borrow your quote: "They can't say Yes if you don't ask." I LOVE that. How positive!

I'm going in tomorrow to give it my best shot.

Head-bump.

Thanks, Kiwi!

Don't feel bad Mountain Girl. Driving on the wrong side of the road is weird and strange. Not to mention they have a bunch of midgets (Hobbits lol) living in holes down there. Them "Right Siders" are a strange lot.

I'm late replying to this one - sorry about that - but I want to agree with the others above - definitely talk to those people and request what you want. They're clearly testing you hard and you've shown you're willing and able to handle everything they throw at you. So go after what you want.

But either way you'll wind up with that job. Even if you don't get it now, you'll get it after a few months experience somewhere else - no biggie at all in the grand scheme of things.

One idea that we try to get across to people is that you're being tested constantly as a new driver in the industry. Unfortunately, nobody tells students and new drivers this most of the time and they think they're just being mistreated. And who wouldn't? I mean, if you show up to a school you've paid to attend you're going to assume that the teachers are on your side and want you to succeed. They'd better since you're a paying customer. So naturally you're going to expect them to be nice and supportive and act like a teammate. But a lot of instructors at Independent Truck Driving Schools and at Company-Sponsored Training Programs will continuously try to test or condition their students to handle what they've experienced on the road. They figure that you have to be tough-minded, you have to control your emotions, and you have to have a ton of patience out on the road so they'll start testing you and preparing you for that now while you're in training. They start trying to push your buttons. They'll keep changing your schedule around, moving you from truck to truck, get on your case really hard sometimes - anything they can do to throw you off.

But students aren't expecting that!

I have no problem with instructors spending some time testing and conditioning students for real-life conditions on the road. But for God's sake let the students know that's what you're doing! I mean, can you imagine going into your bank to ask for a loan and being treated like you just arrived at boot camp for the Army??? You walk through the door and people start screaming obscenities at you, make you do push-ups, and spray water in your face with a hose...

I mean, if the bank had told you, "We'll give you the loan if you can complete our boot camp" then fine! No problem - I'll do it. But you have to tell me ahead of time it's going to be like an army boot camp and not a normal library-type atmosphere I'm expecting from a bank.

So just approach everything that everyone says and does as a test. And you'd be surprised how often that really is exactly what they're doing.

Let me just go out on a limb and say that the trucking industry isn't going to win any awards for the job they do setting the proper expectations for new drivers coming into the industry. Many new drivers that drop out of the industry right at the start of their career do so for exactly this reason - their expectations of what CDL training and life on the road will be like are so far from the reality of it they become overwhelmed or disillusioned with the whole industry and run for the hills.

We try like crazy here at TruckingTruth to help prepare people for this kind of stuff so make sure everyone goes through our Truck Driver's Career Guide and our Truck Driving Blogs. There's a mountain of important information there to help you get your career off to a great start.

Good Luck :D

Steal it by ll means :D I stole it from another anyway so easy come, easy go :D I used to be a Kirby salesman, door to door selling vacuums and carpet shampoo accessories, You never met such an upbeat bunch of guys in your life :D Brad DiNunzio's the one I stole it from :D

The tractor Trailer is a Kenworth K200, they still make new COE's in Aussie. New Argosies, new K104/K108/K200, Due to rules and regulations here limiting overall length, a meter removed from the bonnet means a meter of load space added to the payload :D

I'm only driving a Nissan Diesel Condor right now however... Class 2 box body 15 tonner, 30,000-ish pounds, until i get my Class 4.

Schweet. I'll take it. I'm familiar with the Kirby. I'd rather grease a 5th wheel skid plate than clean out a Kirby dirt collection bag. Re your truck: I think I understood about half of your NZ trucker speak. What's a "bonnet?"

Head-bump

They can't say Yes unless you ask!

You are so RIGHT! (I was just playing - when I ribbed you about you driving on the "wrong" side of the road, btw.) And ...sweeeet tractor-trailer by the way. Hope you don't mind if I borrow your quote: "They can't say Yes if you don't ask." I LOVE that. How positive!

I'm going in tomorrow to give it my best shot.

Head-bump.

Thanks, Kiwi!

Don't feel bad Mountain Girl. Driving on the wrong side of the road is weird and strange. Not to mention they have a bunch of midgets (Hobbits lol) living in holes down there. Them "Right Siders" are a strange lot.

Too funny!

I think I understood about half of your NZ trucker speak. What's a "bonnet?"

Head-bump

For you Americanese speakers, it translates as Hood :D Us English speakers call it a Bonnet :D it's the long bit out front keeping the rain off the engine. :D

So just approach everything that everyone says and does as a test. And you'd be surprised how often that really is exactly what they're doing.

Dear Brett,

First, Thank you for your personal response. You're so right. It's always a test and it's because of Trucking Truth that I was able to do so well in school. I studied quite a bit before school even started and I know that made all the difference in the world. It is also because of TT that I was able to keep the "always being observed" part in the back of my mind during the entire program (air-headed, girly moments which were rare, didn't count.) The school was very subtle but they'd do things like hand you an assignment that say, "Here are your instructions, go find the DMV at this really odd location, drive there in your personal vehicle during this tornado and hail storm (yes, that's exactly what I did) take your permit test, get it done, come back," and they want to see how you do without any assistance.

Unfortunately, my entry in this forum will last way longer than the "sting-of-the-day" and because I got such helpful and supportive responses, I am already way over it and am ready to face new challenges. Hopefully, what's been posted so far, will be helpful to others as well. It's all good. I never expected to be treated with kid gloves but yeah, I was tired and wasn't feeling as thick-skinned that day as one with a good night's rest. But that's going to be part of the deal sometimes, right? And you're right: if you keep in mind that you're always being watched and tested, you feel better prepared.

But I DO like the drill instructor routine at the bank with R. Lee Ermee issuing verbal orders to all the customers he'd probably call "maggots." That has a nice warm feel to it and should be standard procedure! I'm feelin' the "love" already.

You're right. I'll eventually get the job with that company anyway, because I just will someday. I have to admit: I wanted to be able to "hang with the big boys" right off the starting block. But we all have to get real sometimes and just settle down, do a good job. I'll let you know what happens at my exit interview.

No one has said "no" yet and it's like Kiwi303 said:

"They can't say YES if I don't ask!"

Many thanks to you and all the other good gentlemen who've responded and have been so supportive! I appreciate it SO much! I feel much stronger with the backing of guys who have already "been there, gone through that."

You guys are great!

Mountaingirl

Just don't let them get you down. For every jerk out there, you will find 5 more who will almost hurt themselves to help you. I had my rough spots and I wish I had done as well as you. You will be a pro in no time and other people will ask you for guidance!

Never in my life have I EVER gone out looking for a job...I decide where I want to work...then I apply...apply...apply....and I tell them..they might as well hire me, cuz I'm just gonna keep coming back until they do !!! To date, this strategy has always worked...Employers like the fact that you just don't want any job...you want to work for THEM....it strokes their INC ego...lol

If you thought it was bad during that brief time wait til you get a load of actual truck drivers. While most drivers are nice enough in person they turn into some of the biggest cowards on the face of the earth once they are in the cab of their truck and turn on the cb radio. Most are still friendly even then but some drivers for whatever reason really hate women deep inside and they will call a women every name in the book. No way you can find those people either even if you call them out to "talk" about their mouth. Personal I hope those type of people would fall getting out of their trucks and roll under the truck next to theirs and then the driver takes off without checking under their truck.

So just be ready if someone says something that their mother would be embarrassed to hear. It will happen one day unfortunately. But just remember not all of us guys out here are that way.

Just don't let them get you down. For every jerk out there, you will find 5 more who will almost hurt themselves to help you. I had my rough spots and I wish I had done as well as you. You will be a pro in no time and other people will ask you for guidance!

Thanks. You guys all rock. It's all good. I forget easily and bounce back pretty quickly. I'm all good, now, thanks to you guys.

Mountain Girl