Frustrated Isn't The Word For This New Truck Driver!!!!

Are you going to get breakdown pay? Did your DM say anything about getting you in a different truck?

Yeah that only bad part is I don't think the breakdown pay kicks in until you've been down 24hrs

Dang dude, straight into the fire!

Don`t sweat any of this. Keep all of your receipts and definitely check into the 24 hr thing for breakdown pay. My company starts it after 2 hrs (4 if doing a PM). Keep a good attitude at all times toward your DM, the mechanics and other drivers at the terminals (you never know who you may be talking to). It will pay off.

Just come on here and release your frustration like I do

Are you going to get breakdown pay? Did your DM say anything about getting you in a different truck?

Yeah that only bad part is I don't think the breakdown pay kicks in until you've been down 24hrs

Dang dude, straight into the fire!

Don`t sweat any of this. Keep all of your receipts and definitely check into the 24 hr thing for breakdown pay. My company starts it after 2 hrs (4 if doing a PM). Keep a good attitude at all times toward your DM, the mechanics and other drivers at the terminals (you never know who you may be talking to). It will pay off.

Just come on here and release your frustration like I do

Y Yeah my DM sent me a text apologizing that I had to go through all of this. I guess he couldn't let no one hear him being soft!lol

Boom! There you go, small victory! Just trying to help you turn lemons to lemonade here but sounds like as bad as this start is you may have got lucky with putting somewhat of a "favor" in your back pocket right out of the shoot! Advantage DeJuan J.!

Boom! There you go, small victory! Just trying to help you turn lemons to lemonade here but sounds like as bad as this start is you may have got lucky with putting somewhat of a "favor" in your back pocket right out of the shoot! Advantage DeJuan J.!

Sure hope so!lol

DeJuan, I guess you know I'm with Knight, and I'm out of the Gulfport, MS terminal. I know you are new at this, but I'll tell you that my DM throws extra money at me all the time - he'll pay me for three stops when I only had two, or he'll put a double tarp pay on me when I really only had to tarp the load once, and they are always fair about breakdown pay. Some of this stuff won't happen until they know you are a dependable employee that knows how to get things done, but you do that and they will take care of you. Just hang in there and keep a great attitude - I promise you they love that.

I know it seems crazy to you, and to many of the others that have heard your tale, but it is just not that unusual for a new solo driver to be asked to go recover one of these abandoned trucks like this. Sometimes they are so nasty inside that you'd think the best thing to do with it is pour about five gallons of gas on it and throw a match to it. The other thing that happened to you that is very common in these large trucking companies is that the right hand seldom seems to know what the left hand is doing. Crazy isn't it how they had you go get a truck that the mechanic has been saying isn't fit to drive. Stuff like this happens fairly often in these trucking companies. Some dispatcher in a different terminal sees on his computer screen where a truck is sitting and all he can tell from the notes is that it is sitting idle and needs a driver in it so he sends a new driver to go get it. Then it starts to develop into a scenario like you are experiencing. Trust me on this one thing though, it does not mean that this is a bad company. Just hang tough and it will all be righted in a relatively short time and they will have you rolling down the highway in a truck that will serve you well.

DeJuan, I guess you know I'm with Knight, and I'm out of the Gulfport, MS terminal. I know you are new at this, but I'll tell you that my DM throws extra money at me all the time - he'll pay me for three stops when I only had two, or he'll put a double tarp pay on me when I really only had to tarp the load once, and they are always fair about breakdown pay. Some of this stuff won't happen until they know you are a dependable employee that knows how to get things done, but you do that and they will take care of you. Just hang in there and keep a great attitude - I promise you they love that.

I know it seems crazy to you, and to many of the others that have heard your tale, but it is just not that unusual for a new solo driver to be asked to go recover one of these abandoned trucks like this. Sometimes they are so nasty inside that you'd think the best thing to do with it is pour about five gallons of gas on it and throw a match to it. The other thing that happened to you that is very common in these large trucking companies is that the right hand seldom seems to know what the left hand is doing. Crazy isn't it how they had you go get a truck that the mechanic has been saying isn't fit to drive. Stuff like this happens fairly often in these trucking companies. Some dispatcher in a different terminal sees on his computer screen where a truck is sitting and all he can tell from the notes is that it is sitting idle and needs a driver in it so he sends a new driver to go get it. Then it starts to develop into a scenario like you are experiencing. Trust me on this one thing though, it does not mean that this is a bad company. Just hang tough and it will all be righted in a relatively short time and they will have you rolling down the highway in a truck that will serve you well.

Again more wisdom

Wow, the replies and encouragement everyone has given is simply stellar and right on. Every word I've read in this entire conversation I've agreed with 100%. It just really hit me as I was reading through this how many people in this forum really get it when it comes to working with dispatch and understanding the nature of large trucking companies and life on the road. That is what being a true professional is all about. Wow. This is really a fun thing to be a part of I'll tell ya.

maybe they'll recognize your good attitude and reward you

....shortly after....

They just put me in a motel

Excellent! As they should. They immediately did the first right thing they could think of to do at the time when they realized the terrible situation they put you in. Someone screwed up...there's no debating that. But everyone is right - they're going to reward you for having a great attitude and handling yourself like a professional. Believe me, if you do this long enough you will have days like that. I have 100 stories of wild goose chases, unnecessary breakdowns caused by careless mechanics, waiting for days just for them to find me an empty trailer for the next load, and all kinds of stuff. Almost none of it ever should have happened. But you're dealing with a tremendous number of people trying to share tons of information that's constantly changing 24 / 7 / 365. People make mistakes. But if you'll handle yourself like a professional you'll work through situations without getting in fights or making enemies and you'll be soooooo much better off when you do that.

One time I was empty and dispatch insisted that I drive dead into the center of the worst snowstorm of the year rolling across the Northern Plains. They said one of our loaded trucks went off the road and tipped over. They needed me to take the empty trailer there so they could offload him onto me. Now I'm from outside Buffalo, NY - lived my whole life in a heavy snow region. I told dispatch calmly but quite seriously, "I'm either going home or I'm parking this truck but I know better than to drive into the middle of a blizzard with an empty trailer. It's suicide. And nobody would question me on this because if I won't drive through it, nobody can." They let me go home and wait out the blizzard for a few days and all was well. I understood the situation. They were looking at their computer screens, saw the opportunity to get that load rescued, and told me to do it. What they didn't understand was what I would be seeing out my window if I drove into that blizzard. They did their job properly and I did my job properly. No hard feelings, no arguments, no problem. We just talked it over until they understood what I was saying.

So just try to stay positive and relax. Count your blessings. Just being a healthy American that's driving a big rig for a living makes you better off than 90% of the worlds population right there!

Situations like this are what gives a driver the opportunity to set themselves apart from the rest. Any knucklehead can take the gravy runs and will be easy to get along with when things are going well. But when you're in a really tough situation, whether it's a really important load on a tight schedule, heavy traffic, bad weather, or in this case a wild goose chase in 20 degree temperatures without heat - this is when you have the opportunity to really show the people you're working with the type of character you have and the type of driver you are. And they don't forget that stuff. They'll forget 95% of the little things that happen every day, but they'll remember this kind of stuff.

So keep your head up. You have the rest of your life to make money in trucking. Give them the opportunity to make this up to you in some way. However it works out just ask them for the next assignment and get after it. Every day is a new day. Sometimes you'll have days (or even weeks!) that are just better off forgotten like they never happened. Don't let it bother ya. Because you'll see....very soon you're going to find yourself relaxing and cruising down the highway on a beautiful sunny day listening to the chatter on the radio and you're going to be lovin' life! Nothing lasts...it's all just temporary. Roll through the tough times and there will always be more good times right around the corner. People forget that sometimes and handle situations poorly. You have to keep that awareness.

The drivers that work hard, consistently get the job done safely, and handle themselves like professionals are the ones who have it made at any company out there. You have to know how to work with the people in the offices. You have to help them do their job the way they help you. One of these days you're going to make a mistake and you'll be the one apologizing. They'll remember how you handled yourself when they were the ones that screwed up and you can expect them to be understanding and move on without any problems the same way you did. No hard feelings. That's just life.

Don't mean to sound rude but all you need to do is search YouTube for Johnny Cash - Ain't No Easy Run.

Sorry if my sympathy levels are low. However once you pull through this most things will seem downright small.

I've waited for these other responses as I often get accused of telling the same stories OVER and OVER again!

My son, Sean (Trucktograper) had a similar experience with his rookie truck pickup. He flew from FL to MN to get a 2015 Kenworth with only 22K miles on it. He ran bobtail to the terminal in WI and then got his first load. Yay!! Then the fun began: dropped his first load and the DEF system faulted. He was depowered and finally limped to a dealership. They "fixed" the problem and a day or so later (note: DAY or so later) he picked up another load and then had the DEF system fault AGAIN - under load. So, had to call for a re-power to pick up the load AND get towed to a dealership.....anyway, long story short, he killed almost two weeks living in a broken truck or in a motel near a dealership until a really fine shop discovered what the real electrical problem was and got him on the road - since then, not a problem and that 2015 Kenworth is running like a top. All this pretty much answered the question of why a rookie got a brand new KW T680!! But, what started as a lemon has turned into a dependable truck!

Dejuan, hang in there. Roll with the punches and grow from the experience. What you are going through, as others have pointed out, isn't new or different. Heck, if all this was easy everyone would be doing it! Besides, these make great "war stories" when talking with other rookies!!

DeJuan, I guess you know I'm with Knight, and I'm out of the Gulfport, MS terminal. I know you are new at this, but I'll tell you that my DM throws extra money at me all the time - he'll pay me for three stops when I only had two, or he'll put a double tarp pay on me when I really only had to tarp the load once, and they are always fair about breakdown pay. Some of this stuff won't happen until they know you are a dependable employee that knows how to get things done, but you do that and they will take care of you. Just hang in there and keep a great attitude - I promise you they love that.

I know it seems crazy to you, and to many of the others that have heard your tale, but it is just not that unusual for a new solo driver to be asked to go recover one of these abandoned trucks like this. Sometimes they are so nasty inside that you'd think the best thing to do with it is pour about five gallons of gas on it and throw a match to it. The other thing that happened to you that is very common in these large trucking companies is that the right hand seldom seems to know what the left hand is doing. Crazy isn't it how they had you go get a truck that the mechanic has been saying isn't fit to drive. Stuff like this happens fairly often in these trucking companies. Some dispatcher in a different terminal sees on his computer screen where a truck is sitting and all he can tell from the notes is that it is sitting idle and needs a driver in it so he sends a new driver to go get it. Then it starts to develop into a scenario like you are experiencing. Trust me on this one thing though, it does not mean that this is a bad company. Just hang tough and it will all be righted in a relatively short time and they will have you rolling down the highway in a truck that will serve you well.

Your wisdom hasn't let me down yet!!