My Time At Dart...(The BBQ Sauce Complaint)

I guess we also failed your expectations because we didn't pat you on the back and agree with your machine gun complaints.

Trust me man, if that experience ruffled your feathers that much that you actually had to type 20,000 characters, then you won't handle trucking. I have things happen to me everyday, you don't see calling my company the devil and blaming others. The bottom line is, and I think we can all agree because we've been there and done that, you simply don't have the personality, patience, and perspective you need to thrive in this industry.

Old Schools attempts at getting into the industry were a hundred times more challenging and frustrating than yours was. Except he never complained. That's the personality fit got a trucker. I mean come on, you complained about a damn outlet!

Self-righteousness (also called sanctimoniousness, sententiousness, and holier-than-thou attitudes) is a feeling or display of (usually smug) moral superiority derived from a sense that one's beliefs, actions, or affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average person. Self-righteous individuals are often intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others.

Indy, can you not see how Eric's post was so perfectly illustrative of all the things that we are constantly trying to combat in the typical trucking forum conversation? I mean here's a guy who jumps in here with guns blazing and he feels morally obligated to spread the word about how seriously bad it is to work for Dart. When the honest truth is that he has never even been employed by them, and really doesn't even know the first thing about them. That is what set me off. He, along with so many other new folks to this business feel like they are helping to spare folks from making a mistake when they themselves can't even seem to get a basic grasp of how you make a start in this business. They have proven time and again how to fail miserably, and yet they feel compelled to point the blame at whatever company they happened to screw up at, and want to make sure no one else will fall into the same trap. But the truth is that they fail to understand wherein the real problem lies.

I would say that if anybody is being "sanctimonious" it is the guy who jumped in here blasting a company that he has never even worked for as if he were the final authority on them, even though he has done nothing but show up at an orientation and then get sent home.

OK, I feel compelled to jump in now. Let's take the complaints as a whole. What do they amount to? Eric didn't get what he expected, from having to rearrange his training to a scary cab ride to bad BBQ sauce and a dirty floor in his room. How much was he out of pocket for all of this? Nothing except a theoretical four days of work (which, by the way, wasn't work -- it was vetting for a potential job...vetting that he didn't pass).

The rest of his complaints are just that: complaints. Did the recruiter lie to him? Maybe, but without being able to ask the recruiter, we'll never know. Cross-examination resulted in a profession by the accuser of his pure motives and an assertion that he did everything right, but based on the tone of his accusations and his subsequent statement that he's not going to participate any more, this isn't credible without some corroboration... at least not to me.

It's easy to post something like this and accuse a company of being too awful to work for, but it's hard to admit the one salient fact that was reason enough for them to send him home: he couldn't pass their test.

Guess what? If you pass the pretrip and backing but fail the road test, you don't get a CDL. If you pass the background and **** test and all but one portion of the physical test, you fail, at least at this company.

It doesn't matter if you fail the road test because you shifted gears on a turn even though truckers in real life do it every day. Those are the rules of the test. And duck walking without scraping your back or losing your balance is what Dart requires.

(I admit I laughed when Eric said he get on his hands and knees to inspect the trailer, even in mud. The heck he would!)

The comments about O/Os and lease ops not having to take the test being unfair are ridiculous, since Eric wasn't applying on that basis. Not everyone is treated equal, and in this case for a good business reason: the company isn't paying the insurance for those other guys, but they would be for Eric.

And frankly most of the other complaints are ridiculous as well. The food sounds pretty good, actually, and would to Eric too, after he's eaten a few dozen roller dogs from the truck stop because there's no time for anything else sometimes. A few pubes on the floor? What the heck are you going to do when the only viable options are a nasty port a pot at a shipper on a hot July day in Laredo, or a clandestine arrangement behind the sleeper curtains with a bucket and a bag?

This is not sanctimoniousness, this is just some folks calling a guy out for excessive whining. If he can't handle it, trucking probably isn't the job for him, because frankly what he got here is a lot gentler than what he'd get at any warehouse in the country. ("Oh, you'd like to register a complaint about our 'restroom facilities'? Ok, vato, here's the form to fill out. We'll load you when you return it. What? No, I don't have a pen. Now go back to your truck and remain there until we call you.")

So he didn't pass, his hopes were crushed, he missed out on some pay...and they flew his sorry ass home!? Many if not most companies would have told him to find his own way home.

He's going to have a tough time making it is this business if he doesn't change his attitude and grow a thicker skin. This isn't foosball in the Google coffee lounge. It's trucking. Some people like the idea of it, but this little taste of the reality of it was too much for him, and when the old heads around here tried to gently explain that, he picked up his marbles and went elsewhere. I hope he gets it and become a happy and well-paid driver, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've learned a lot here... the high road program is great... but you guys ... oh nevermind..... so long!

Oh good.....another one who has never driven a truck 15 feet down the highway by himself but he'd like to tell us our approach to mentoring is wrong. Go ahead Indy.....take the floor and give us your thoughts on our approach to trucking and how we could do better.

See, what you guys are failing to realize is that drivers like Old School, Daniel, Bud, and myself don't make the rules governing life in the trucking industry nor do we necessarily agree with the way things are done. But what we've come to realize is that trucking is the way it is and the industry doesn't care if you like it or not. You're not going to change trucking. You're either going to adapt to the way things are done in the industry or you're going to get kicked to the curb. Those are your two choices. There is no third choice that involves complaining about the industry or criticizing companies until everyone comes around to your way of thinking.

You're joining trucking, not the other way around. You're the rookie who has to prove themselves to the veterans in the offices and the veterans in the trucks that you have what it takes to make it out there. Because we've watched countless people fail. Often times they were smart, tough people that should have had all the success in the world. But they didn't. Why? The overwhelming majority of the time they simply have the wrong attitude and expectations. And it goes way beyond just being surprised at the way things are done in trucking. People brand spankin' new to the industry believe they know how things should be done and become indignant at what they perceive to be everyone else's incompetence. Old School put it perfectly:

He, along with so many other new folks to this business feel like they are helping to spare folks from making a mistake when they themselves can't even seem to get a basic grasp of how you make a start in this business. They have proven time and again how to fail miserably, and yet they feel compelled to point the blame at whatever company they happened to screw up at, and want to make sure no one else will fall into the same trap. But the truth is that they fail to understand wherein the real problem lies.

I mean think about it.....did the original poster really want a career in trucking? Was he just dying to make it happen no matter what like someone was pointing a gun at his head? I mean, he complained about the free BBQ sauce.....twice! Free BBQ sauce for God's sake. If you had two hungry babies and a sad wife living in a cardboard box somewhere waiting on you to find a job would you be thinking about BBQ sauce? If you really understood just how difficult and dangerous this job is.....just how stressful life on the road is.....the solitude, the erratic sleep patterns, the snowstorms, the traffic....risking your life every day out there.....would you be worried about the outlet covers in the hotel?

Instead of showing any kind of understanding about how gruelling and dangerous this job will be or how big this opportunity is he walked in a soft-skinned rookie with his own ideals and expectations and found out in a hurry how much anyone else cares what he thinks. That's the reality of life in the trucking industry. I didn't make up that reality, nor did any of the other drivers here. But we learned how to thrive in that reality and we're trying to teach others what it's going to take to make it out there.

None of the veterans in the trucks or in the offices are going to care very much what a rookie thinks about much of anything because chances are he won't be around long anyhow. Until you can prove yourself in this industry nobody really values your opinions. Until you've done this job successfully over a period of time you simply have little of value to offer. That's true for any rookie in any career - truck driving, NFL Football, steel mills, or teachers - doesn't matter. You prove yourself by doing the job well over a period of time. That's how you earn the respect that veterans get.

Indy, you may not like the things we're saying but if you ignore them you'll learn the hard way too. We could just tell you things you'd like to hear but our job is to prepare you for the realities of life in this industry and a lot of those realities aren't pretty. If you don't like what you're hearing about the industry then take it as a warning that this might not be for you. If you simply don't like the way we're saying it then you're really not going to like the way people talk to you when you're out on the road. Our society isn't too fond of truckers and many of them are not shy about letting you know it.

Eric, if you think you got sent home because of a tiny technicality on a lifting exercise you're kidding yourself. Good drivers are extremely hard to come by and no company is going to give up on one because they brushed their back on something. You were sent home because they didn't think you were ready for this, and they were right. That doesn't mean you're not capable of it. It just means you have to be prepared to live up to the expectations of the veterans in this industry, not the other way around. Someday you might be able to set the rules and call the shots, but that day won't come for a very long time.

Hit up cre...you'll have your cdl in two weeks if you can drive a truck. You will still have to make it under and climb the simulated trailer. Plenty of companies out there..choose one.

I was going to jump in a say some things to the OP..But old school ,brett, daniel pretty much said everything i was going to say.So with that bring said can we lock the thread lol

WOW! that was a LOT to read thru! lol Only thing that, kinda bothers me, is the "Duck Walk" Having 2 T brackets, 10 screws in my right knee @ top of Tibia. My knee only bends 90 degrees due to "scar tissue" I'm told now, by my Ortho doc. (dealing with broken shin bone in a slip & fall Sept 30/2014)

Now from my 10+ years as a diesel tech, long before any injuries to my right leg. I did Calif B.I.T. annual inspections and repairs. So I know how to manuever around under a truck, and don't think I'd have real trouble doing Pre-trips.

Guess I'm asking if this duck walk thing is done at all, if not most, physicals?? Using hands for balance shouldn't be a defining factor, squatting down there, gettin' r' Dun! lol

Hate to see my trucking bubble burst, before I even get started!

Thanks

Its not part of the physical needed for DOT . The duck walk is part of something that carriers do..not all but most. It is usually the duck walk,climbing up (like into the back of a trailer) and carrying weight and push and pull.

Well - I can't duck-walk (at the moment), so I guess I won't be applying to Dart either. But just went outside my house and pre-tripped a trailer out there - but I DID "balance myself" with a hand on the trailer.

As far as the OP goes - weather delays, bad cab drivers, crappy motel rooms, tasteless BBQ Sauce (c'mon Texas, what's with the BAD BBQ SAUCE?) - all part of the game - it could have happened if you were interviewing to be a Wal-Mart stock clerk (though I doubt Wally would be kind enough to put you on a plane instead of a bus).

You didn't mention whether or not you had to pay for stale peanuts on the plane? (actually, they no longer sell peanuts on planes, because of all the people with nut allergies).

Had you restricted your comments to the FUNCTIONAL PART of your orientation process, or the fact that you were sent home simply because you couldn't "duck walk" - maybe you wouldn't have been perceived as such a WHINER. But when every phase of the process, most of which had nothing to do with the ACTUAL ORIENTATION PROCESS - was commented upon in such glorious detail - well, it looks like WHINING.

And if you got all ****y with the examiner while you were doing your "agility tests", the SHE was the one that probably bounced you.

Despite the negativity in the original posts, I don't think Dart "set him up" to send him home. But he was landed on real hard here - because all he showed us was WHINE WHINE WHINE.

Rick