This Was My First Week In Training With Conway ...

So far, the training has been decent. Not excellent, but good enough. The first week was orientation, certification on the forklift, dock work and some evaluation on my driving. Eh, we all know that we're going to be under the microscope during the whole training period and throughout most of the 1st year, right? I started out on a bad foot because, if you read my post the night before my first day I was sick as a dawg. Well the first couple of days, were in the classroom getting oriented on rules of driving and the company. From what I'd heard, I didn't think we'd be behind the wheel but on Tuesday afternoon, they said we were going out to the yard to demonstrate some of our skills. Well, I never believed it could until it happened to me but the antibiotics I was taking were messing with my head. I felt woozie and "out of it." I definitely wasn't clear. I did not want to get behind the wheel of a Sterling for any reason. For the first time, I was worried about whether or not I could be safe behind the wheel. As we were headed out the door with our reflective vests on. I pulled one of the instructors aside and told him I wasn't comfortable that day and why. I even told him that as I was speaking to him, I could hear myself talking to him as though I was listening to myself talk while in a dream. It was totally weird. As I spoke to him, he was standing close and looking me straight in the eye - probably looking to see if I was lying. That's ok. I didn't mind anyway because I certainly wasn't. He said, "Ok," and let me refrain from driving. My classmate (there are only 2 of us) drove some of his skills while the 3 of us (2 instructors and I) stood on the black top watching. They said it was cool. It made me nervous because I didn't want to introduce a bunch of drama but it would have been worse had I done something stupid, like not step on the brakes quickly enough to avoid running over an instructor. It just felt like my reaction time might have been slow. I promised them I'd be ready to get behind the wheel the next day - Wednesday (of the first week).

Although I pined over it that night, by the next day, the instructors acted as though they were already past the issue. This day was mostly classroom time and then qualification on the forklift. That was really strange to me, because of the steering from the rear, until I "got it" a few minutes later. Oh wow. What a blast! My instructor told me to take off and and go spin around on the dock (big enough for 120 doors) and get familiar with it. I was hooked. Zing! Zing! Now I want a forklift at home! I just wanna' drive around the house and rearrange furniture, pick up school books from the living room floor, move and haul laundry, drive around the yard. What a trip. I love 'em. They're totally fun. The next day was learning dock work starting at 6:00 am until 10:30 when we broke for lunch. 11:00 am, I was to meet with one of the two main instructors for the skills course in the terminal yard so I could drive around for the next 4 hours. Well, there was a change in plans and dispatch needed my instructor to make a run to Colorado Springs (The Springs) to make a delivery of 1000 lbs of cookie dough. Instead of missing training time, he decided to make me do the driving down South and back. This was probably 2 hours of driving each way at 62 mph on the freeway. Funny thing is: they said 1000 pounds of cookie dough and I'm thinkin' this was some huge vat full of dough, yanno'? And I'm picturing school cooks scooping out the dough and baking cookies for the school kids every day for lunch. LOL! No. These were half a ton of boxes with cookie dough in them, sold to various individuals as a fund-raiser for the school. Apparently, this is a big account for Con-way, so we had to perform and get it done, asap. The drive was great. It felt like a big adventure, running down to the Springs and back to Denver in during the work day. The beginnings of a job, not behind a desk. While he used the hand truck to put the boxes inside the school, I hustled inside the trailer (28' pup) to break down the load off the pallet and stack the boxes on the end of the trailer for him to load onto the 2-wheeler.

He taught me that you hustle on the ground, waste no time during actual delivery, but drive slowly and safely before and after. Driving fast was not the way to make good time. On the ground and stopped, pretrip planning, at the terminal, were the times to hustle and move fast ...but NOT on the road. I like this philosophy.

-mountain girl

...hang on ... There's more ...

-mountain girl

Well come on MG! I am hanging on the edge of my seat here. I filled out an app for Conway, really appied for two different places, Charlotte and Columbia. I fun to hear you talk about a fork lift like that. I have been driving all kinds of different ones with the AF for the last 30 yrs and never think about it. You would love the 10k AT's. They turn in the middle and go anywhere, almost. I have got them stuck before. Ooops :)

...hang on ... There's more ...

-mountain girl

What she (you) said.

It can be brutal at times. We just keep on keepin on.

Oh ma-an did he ever grill me on my shifting. In keeping with some of the Smith System practices, he made me verbalize every shifting move and my every intention or motive behind my thoughts to either shift or think about shifting. This was difficult on my first day behind the wheel after 5-6 since school. He grilled me and grilled me, talking and talking the whole time. It was a great exercise in my ability to handle the stress and be strong and bold in front of him. I'd get frustrated and we'd bark back and forth at each other but it was all good. Well, almost: towards the end of the drive back to the terminal , we approached a large open intersection. I was to describe my down-shifting and why, lalala. The green light was becoming stale and I could tell it was going to turn. He plugged me and pushed me hard. "What are you gonna' DO, (my name)?" he pressed. I had to not only explain my every thought but actually shift. The light was getting closer and closer and I was still trying to explain my down-shifting strategy. This was what sounded like an escalating argument between a married couple in a setting not unlike "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." We were both barking at each other at the same time. In the meantime, I was trying to find my next gear down. Clutch-vroom-clutch right? No. I wasn't revving enough to get the truck back into gear. Vroom, scratch, vroom scratch "What are you gonna' do (my name)?!" We're both shouting here: "I'm trying to get into my gear!"

"Why are you doing that? Talk to me! You better tell me why!" "I'm approaching the intersection! I've cars moving in every direction! The light is green! It's getting stale. It's turning yellow!" clutch-vroom-scratch-scratch. No gear. "When are you going to get into gear (my name)!? Slow down (my name)." "I'm taking this intersection because there's no time for me to come to a screeching hault! I can't get into my gear!" The stress was really high at this point. I was truly struggling with the combined tasks of driving, "Smithing," watching traffic on all sides, shifting that was failing, slowing down, deciding whether I should stop or take the yellow light and possibly run a red light.

"You're going to run a red light!"

I lost my gear, I never got back into gear, I ran the yellow light and it turned red just as I crossed the intersection at a speed in which I was way too uncomfortable driving.

No one was hurt, I made it to the other side of the intersection without a major incident but I turned to him and laid down the law, firmly stating, "R-----, I canNOT argue and drive at the same time." I wasn't livid but I was extremely firm about my limits and he had just pushed it way too far. It was all good. I wasn't angry. Just firm. He backed down, as I had taken charge of the situation (a little late anyway) and let him know that this was clearly not a safe and effective way to teach me something. He was extremely cool about it and voiced his plan to change his strategy in teaching me. "I'm going to try a different approach next time. But you did a great job on this run, it wasn't the regular training that we were supposed to do, but I presented you with a challenge and you took it and did well."

The next day, Friday, was half dock-work, half skills course, (for me) while my classmate went out on the road with the same instructor. It was a tough afternoon for me, since I was getting used to the 28' pup instead of the 53' trailer/sleeper combination from school. I couldn't do one straight-line backing, alley dock, offset, or parallel park, as the pups react a whole lot more quickly to my adjustments than the long combinations.

It was all a good week though.

-mountain girl

...hang on ... There's more ...

-mountain girl

What she (you) said.

-Rolling Thunder

TOO funny!

-mountain girl

...hang on ... There's more ...

-mountain girl

What she (you) said.

It can be brutal at times. We just keep on keepin on.

oops.

You will get a feel of What you are driving and pulling which will make your backing the easy part.

Well come on MG! I am hanging on the edge of my seat here. I filled out an app for Conway, really appied for two different places, Charlotte and Columbia. I fun to hear you talk about a fork lift like that. I have been driving all kinds of different ones with the AF for the last 30 yrs and never think about it. You would love the 10k AT's. They turn in the middle and go anywhere, almost. I have got them stuck before. Ooops :)

-Chris L.

Cool! I hope you get the job.

Oh YEAH it was fun! My instructor was saying, "Keep your foot on the brake to control it and use the throttle at whatever speed you need. Okay good. Now c'MON. Rev that thing like a race car!"

My eyes widened as an evil grin spread across my face and I took off at "lightning" forklift speed. I couldn't believe they were paying me to do this. It was just too danged fun.

-mountain girl

Thanks for sharing about your experiences so far MG. I've been following. You're doing great!

Thanks, Man.

-mountain girl