Growing Pains On The Road With WEL

Bummer Red Gator :(

On the other hand, I am a huge proponent of positive thinking. If I was in your shoes (I have small feet, they might fit) I would stay focused on my goals and let the chips fall where they may and reasess

Pretty much all I can do. Alot of our Fleet is experiencing similar issues but to me when you promise me its going to get better and it doesn't it kinda upsets ya. But Im tired of stressing it. Things will be exactly the way they should be.

Bummer Red Gator :(

On the other hand, I am a huge proponent of positive thinking. If I was in your shoes (I have small feet, they might fit) I would stay focused on my goals and let the chips fall where they may and reasess

Sorry to hear you're having a rough time of it and hope it gets better for you. Sometimes when people hear of these conversations, it makes you wonder if they're really thinking about their drivers. The company survives by keeping wheels turning, drivers only survive by keeping the wheels turning. Granted, everyone has heard the stories from drivers not having enough miles but that's generally someone who isn't applying themselves or simply can't cut it in the industry. Your case is completely different as everyone in your company knows who you are and has recognized you for your accomplishments.

I wish you all the best and hope it all works out for you. .......

Hoping things get better for you. I still look for the pink accessories when I pass a WEL truck in PA.

I can relate to RedGator in a lot of ways with WEL. A few years ago I made an application to WEL, spoke numerous times to a recruiter and was told so many things that turned out to be untrue. I was going to be regional Mid-Atlantic out of Allentown, Pa. I was told Mid-Atlantic area only out of Allentown, Pa. Take truck home and home every week. Flew to Wisconsin for orientation, company person who was picking up drivers at airport was 3 hours late, took us to breakfast and then to terminal. Showed us the used trucks we would be assigned after we were told nothing older than 2 years which wasn't true and no new mattress for anyone. We were told so many lies that were not what we were promised when talking to recruiter that when questioned we were told to "suck it up". I went back to motel that evening and booked a flight home and told the recruiter if this is how WEL treated new prospects they could count me out as I wasn't going to accept this treatment in the beginning as it would probably get worse.

Navypoppop, were any of their "guarantees" put in writing? You did know enough to get anything important that was promised in writing?

Also, you do understand that you will find some recruiters are more honest than others and that one single employee should never be considered the measuring stick for an entire company with many hundreds or even thousands of employees, right?

You've always seemed like a guy who really "gets it" when it comes to managing your career and your expectations and dealing with people and all that. You certainly never came across as some naive kid or someone who was impulsive or had unrealistic expectations.

But your post today paints a little bit different picture of you than the image I've had to this point. You dig up a 4 year old post on a company just to tell us you signed up with them years ago but jumped on a plane after one day because you weren't given a brand new truck or mattress?

Also, help me understand this:

I wasn't going to accept this treatment in the beginning as it would probably get worse.

So you assume that brand new drivers getting off the bus are getting the best treatment they're ever going to get from the company? So then the drivers who stick around for the long term and prove themselves to be fantastic drivers are going to get treated worse than the day they got off the bus?

I would've thought you'd be on the opposite side of the fence. I thought you'd be the one telling newbies to pay their dues, prove themselves, work hard, stick it out, have realistic expectations. I wouldn't have expected you to be the impulsive one to immediately jump on a plane after the first day because you weren't lavished with gifts.

Easy Brett, No one is perfect and my reply was only to a situation similar to a negative that RedGator brought up. My experience with WEL was the one and only experience that I had happen to me during my 44 years behind the wheel and came after a layoff and no work to be found where I was living. I am sure that I did not pay attention to everything that was promised to me during the recruitment session and again after I arrived at their terminal and began asking questions. I never said new truck but just new mattress as I wouldn't want to sleep on someone else's area. My feelings at the time were if I was not told the truth in the beginning could it get worse? Personal feeling at the time Brett not necessarily the entire picture. And no I did not expect or say that I was expecting "lavish" gifts just do what you recruited a prospective new driver during your conversation with him as you represent the company. Please do not judge one posting as an overall conclusion of someone's true being. I do not judge you by your postings even if they are not in line with my feelings or perspectives but because you are an intelligent and experienced person. Thanks.

There was nothing wrong with what I said. I was being respectful about it but I was also being honest with you. I had a different impression of you. For some reason I pictured you being more of that old school, gritty, tough guy type. The Clint Eastwood type. Quitting your job and flying home the first day because you couldn't get a new mattress totally caught me off guard.

I guess it's because of your Nickname "Navypoppop" - my Sicilian grandfather was in the Navy. That dude was tough as iron. He came from a family of 6 brothers and they were all brickmasons. They were built like Schwarzenegger and they were old school Italians. If you even glanced at them funny you'd better run like hell cuz it was on!

So I guess I was picturing you like that. The new mattress thing....I didn't see that coming.

I have to be honest, I miss the old days when people were tough. I was raised to value toughness and grit. You wouldn't dare get caught crybabying about something little like everyone does proudly today. "Be a man" and "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" is all I ever heard my entire life. Nowadays all I ever hear is, "He hurt my feelings!!!"

I didn't know you were so sensitive. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

What caught me off guard is responding with something that happened "a few years ago " to a thread that was posted nearly 4 YEARS ago. No offense navy pop but it came across as whiney. Sure it'd be nice to have a new mattress but for that to be a deal breaker is surprising. You can always buy one. Besides, how many people sleep in hotels where there's been THOUSANDS of different people who have slept, and done god knows what else on the mattress but nobody thinks any different of it. Throw some bedsheets on it and call it a day.