Swift training ***HORROR STORY***

[Wile E. Mile]

I spent 16 days with a swift trainer and fully documented the experience: using the Qualcomm while driving, lugging the engine, feeding the bears, and other amusements. Follow the link.

*** Part II: I've gotten back on the truck. Stay tuned for days 17-42...

[greg3564]

I think you made it worse that it really neeeded it to be. You worried way too much about what your trainer was doing. If it was so bad, why didn't you call Swift and request a new trainer?

By quitting like you did in the middle of training, you've severely limited yourself. Some companies will hit your DAC report with abandonment. With abandonment on your DAC, you'll only be able to get on with companies WORSE than Swift.

[larryh31]

Your time with a Swift Mentor was not really a "Horror Story". It sounds like what 100's of students at big trucking companies experience everyday.

You really should call Swift's training department and see if you can get another mentor and finish your training with them. After you get at least 3 months experience under your belt, you can then go to a better company if you like.

Right now, your options a very limited in the OTR world. If you do get another company to hire you, then you will have to go out with another trainer and start ALL over again. :sad: If you somehow can get your job back at Swift at least you will get credit for the time that you already spent with your 1st trainer. Once you get your own truck, life will get a little better.

[RebelDarlin]

Read his other posts:

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...r=Wile+E.+Mile


Not everyone is cut out for trucking son. Sounds like OTR really isn't for you.

[Wile E. Mile]

Not everyone is cut out for trucking son.

You're right--I haven't learned how to key on the Qualcomm, text on the cell phone, and drive at the same time.

Sounds like OTR really isn't for you.

Why? Because I complained about my trainer doing 15 over on tight curves? Am I the first person to document these things?


Did you open the speadsheet? Look at the mileage columns. I was doing standard shifts past the third day.

[greg3564]

Not everyone is cut out for trucking son.

You're right--I haven't learned how to key on the Qualcomm, text on the cell phone, and drive at the same time.

Sounds like OTR really isn't for you.

Why? Because I complained about my trainer doing 15 over on tight curves? Am I the first person to document these things?


Did you open the speadsheet? Look at the mileage columns. I was doing standard shifts past the third day.

Again, worry about what YOU do not your trainer. By reading your journal, you were way to wrapped up in how he talked on the phone, used the qualcom, text messaging, etc. You should have requested a new trainer.

Now your screwed. Like it was said, you will have to start all over with another company. That's IF another company will take you and IF your DAC doesn't have abandonment under load on it. You should suck it up and beg Swift to take you back.

[Random_Facts]

:shock: I read your diary blog thing, It was pretty entertaining to read actually lol.

[fireman932003]

You just nit-picked the hell out of that guy! Sounds like you didn't want it to work so you found any excuse you could to validate getting off his truck and quiting!

[Useless]

Wile E. Mile:

First off, your trainer was correct in telling you to mark your non driving time as "Sleeper Berth" time.

Secondly, as far as the quality of your trainer, could he have been better?? Sure!!

Could you have done worse??

Mr. Mile, you don't know the meaning of the words "Rude Awakening"!!

The only person you have screwed here is yourself. Abandoning the tuck, even as a trainee, is one of the Cardinal "Thou Shalt Not's" in the trucking industry.

As far as his experience as a Driver and an Owner/Operator leased on with SWIFT??

Well, I have been blessed with considerable success in my life; far, far more than I ever deserved, and I'll tell you a little secret........

......If your trainer could drive as an Owner/Op for SWIFT, and still keep the ink on the bottom line black, he's probably a better man than I am, and he might just know a few things that we don't!!
:wink:

[Skywalker]

Your "mentor" is a "goat". He is running an illegal log book, either because he's just stupid or because he thinks he can get away with it. "Rolling resets" are not legal. At least not to my knowledge.

At any rate, your single greatest error was not calling Swift and requesting another mentor..... You gotta love that word!! You may have screwed yourself "royally"......but then again...CRE will probably hire you....if you lease a truck.

Thats all I'm going to say.... other than: Boys and girls, if you go out with a trainer....and thats all they are, even if the company calls them "gazorps", and you know the gazorp is doing something wrong or unsafe, make the call, and get away from that person as quickly as possible, period!

100 students, 99% retention???? :dung: :dung: :dung: :dung: Or does that mean that he "passes" 99 out of 100?? Did he have a t-shirt with this on the front? :withstupid:

[Wile E. Mile]

I read your diary blog thing, It was pretty entertaining to read actually lol.

Good! It was never met to be a dull tome.

You just nit-picked the hell out of that guy! Sounds like you didn't want it to work so you found any excuse you could to validate getting off his truck and quiting!

We got along well for the first three hours. It wasn't a match for several reasons. We both wanted to run hard, but he wanted to cheat with his logs a little, and I wanted to keep my records above board. Regarding the cell phone: he was on it all the time. 12 PM? 9PM? 3:27 AM? You name it. Driving, communication with the company, and even sleep took second seat to the phone. I had defects, too...my backing wasn't the best, and I had trouble with directions. But this is training, right?

Again, worry about what YOU do not your trainer. By reading your journal, you were way to wrapped up in how he talked on the phone, used the qualcom, text messaging, etc. You should have requested a new trainer.

Yeah, you're right. I'm still a Swift employee, by the way; my DM called and asked why I stepped off the truck. Yes--I brought up my issues with the mentor, and was told that a new mentor would pick me up in a couple of days where and when I left off. No point in giving each other a "bad rub" for the next 42 days...that's why there are a lot of empty rows (days 17-42) in that spreadsheet.

......If your trainer could drive as an owner/op for SWIFT, and still keep ine ink on the bottom lone black, he's probably a better man than I am, and he might just know a few things that we don't!!

He really turns the odometer...there's no question about it. We turned 400,000 miles on his 2006 KW the day I left!

I just have problems with how the miles get put on the truck. Have a look at the spreadsheet. See all the grades? "A" means we really cranked it: 550+ miles each; nearly 1200 miles for the day. We failed (the Fs--there are plenty of them) whenever the truck broke down, or when we did something stupid like accept a pre-plan originating the next day or send the wrong Qualcomm mac. He easily lost his patience if I didn't immediately understand something or had to pull up 3 or more times to make an alley dock.

Your "mentor" is a "goat". He is running an illegal log book, either because he's just stupid or because he thinks he can get away with it. "Rolling resets" are not legal. At least not to my knowledge.

Yes--we're both singing the same tune.

At any rate, your single greatest error was not calling Swift and requesting another mentor..... You gotta love that word!! You may have screwed yourself "royally"......but then again...CRE will probably hire you....if you lease a truck.

I agree. Bonehead mistake on my part for not doing so immediately.

[greg3564]

Yeah, you're right. I'm still a Swift employee, by the way; my DM called and asked why I stepped off the truck. Yes--I brought up my issues with the mentor, and was told that a new mentor would pick me up in a couple of days where and when I left off. No point in giving each other a "bad rub" for the next 42 days...that's why there are a lot of empty rows (days 17-42) in that spreadsheet.

Great. Now just go and tough it out. Before you know it you'll be on your own and not have to worry about all this. Good luck and do keep us posted.

[Shawster]

I'm reading and enjoying it, even though I should be sleeping. It's pretty well-written, which is a bonus.

[geeshock]

I saw "some" things in there that might be out of the norm but not much. I tend to agree with the others. You nit picked to much. even though I agree you shouldn't muti task to much you will have to eventualy. I seriously think trucking isn't the job for you, even though I have been known to be a poor judge at times. if you do get on a truck again, pls try to learn and not be to critical on the next mentor. remember they have faults and no two ppl drive exactly alike, hell i don't drive anything like my old trainer but he taught me well.

[Useless]

I'm reading and enjoying it, even though I should be sleeping. It's pretty well-written, which is a bonus.

Yep, yer rite there, Shawster!!

He does right gooder than alot uv people; must be one of them high falutin city folks you see who go to them fansey restrunts wear tha dont evin got a drive-thru winder!!

[dtryanxpress]

could some1 copy and paste that? I cant get it to work

[RebelDarlin]

could some1 copy and paste that? I cant get it to work

Here ya go, the colors didn't work though

Negative issues are presented in boldface orange.
Grave issues are highlighted in boldface red.
Positive points are indicated in boldface green.

July 25th, 2007: Day 1 of 42

I’ve decided to keep a daily journal of my experience with Swift—in somewhat more detail than the other blogs I’ve read.

I met my trainer Anon in Los Angeles at 9:00 A.M. We met each other at the consignee near the intersection of Florence and Alameda. Anon is an owner-operator with ~8 years of tractor-trailer experience, and he claims to have mentored over 100 students, with 99% retention. It’s currently 10:30 (I’ll be using military time from now on), and we are headed to Van Nuys to pick up a pre-loaded trailer at an Anheuser-Bush warehouse.

Some things I’ve learned about my mentor so far:

• He bought a Kenworth T2000 for about $105,000; he’s still paying it off…;
• He worked for 10 years as a GM with Pizza Hut before deciding to drive truck;
• Anon is married and lives in Phoenix;
• He just finished mentoring a 22-year-old student (Damien), and he is giving Damien advice over the cell phone while driving! We’ve already gone OOR because of this…;
• He’s had two accidents: one jackknife, one “collision” with a UPS truck while near Donner Pass.

We arrived at the A-H plant at around 11:30 and spent about 15 minutes looking for a really old M.S. Carriers trailer stocked with pallets of Bud Light. [Anon showed me how to do an alley dock earlier (45-degree back), and it took me four pull-ups just to get the rig straight (with extensive help!).] When we went to the exit scale, we were 500 pounds overweight on the tandems, and so we went ahead and slid them forward two holes; our gross is ~79,000 lb, which is 1,000 lb shy of the aggregate limit.

Anon made it clear that his truck “runs hard”—6000 miles per week for a fully-developed team is not unreason able.

NB. I was encouraged to remain on line 2 while in the seat so my hours wouldn’t run out.

July 26th, 2007: Day 2 of 42

We started out from the Phoenix terminal at 06:30, four hours behind schedule (Anon wanted to reset his 11- and 14-hour allotments). My mentor will put me in the first seat when we get to Tucson, and he will know almost immediately whether I am road-worthy. I was told to log my on-duty time as “sleeper berth” so that my driving allotment wouldn’t be affected.

We’re currently rolling on I-10E, about 15 miles outside of Phoenix, just outside the metro area. I finally got hungry and asked that we pull over at “Wally World” (Wal-Mart) for a 5-day supply of food. I spent about $50.00 on paper cups, plastic spoons, and healthier food. Anon is also an Herbalife distributor in addition to a “trucking tycoon.” He asked me to consider the benefit of extra protein in my diet while flashing a fancy brochure for Herbalife supplements and wellness products. We ended up stopping at Arizona mile marker 321 for a photo-op and to switch seats: this would be my first time on the road outside school. Apparently I did well on my first up-shift onto the freeway: no gears grinding or clashing, and I only popped the clutch once while ascending through the low-range gears.

I continued to drive through New Mexico and through El Paso, our final destination for the Anheuser-Bush run. Anon ended up doing the coupling to our new load, which—surprise!—takes us back to California (near San Diego). I ended up driving the first 200 miles of this return trip, into the early part of the night. I had to ask to switch seats at 20:00 because of fatigue, but I’m sure I would have been allowed to drive for another couple hours.

Both of us had ample opportunity to demonstrate our photographic prowess from the vantage point of a moving truck. In other words, we were using the camera purely for the sake of entertainment and diversion. It’s 20:40 now, and I think I’ll upload all the photos I’ve taken to this computer and play around with them a bit.

Bedtime is at 21:00 tonight. G’day….

July 27th, 2007: Day 3 of 42

We were officially a team operation as of 21:00 yesterday. Anon stopped short of Tucson to take the two-hour rest needed to split his DOT break. I woke up several times during the night because of the uneven pavement and sometimes sudden stops.
Anon had also set his alarm for 02:30, which woke me up right after I had finally gotten to bed!
The truck stopped at about 05:00 because Anon was (finally) getting tired. He rested an hour (and was kind enough to give me the lower bunk despite his initial inclination), and was rolling again at 06:00, at which time I got up. We made it out of Tucson well before rush hour, which may have saved us 30 minutes or more.
It’s 08:30 now (all times are referred to the time zones in which our home terminals lie, per DOT regulations), and we are 43 miles outside of California. My trainer is texting while driving—is this something Swift wants its new drivers to learn!? Anon will reach his 14-hour limit at 11:30, which means I’ll probably end up taking the last 50 miles of the trip into our “final.”

I started driving at 11:45, just after fueling at the Golden Acorn Casino in Campo, CA. Campo is at an elevation of around 4,000 feet, and so I spent the first hour descending a mountain in 7th gear. I also drove on some of the major freeways around SD, just before the afternoon rush hour.

When we got to the yard, I was asked to set up and back the truck into a “hole” (parking spot). Anon wanted me to be straight with the trailer instead of at a slight angle; I was taught the latter in school. It took me about seven tries with extensive help to get the trailer straight in the hole (I guess this is my weakness).

Now it is 15:00, and we will be held over ~24 hours because Anon accidentally accepted a pre-plan scheduled for the 28th. We will have ample opportunity to drive, though—it’s a 2,300-mile load!

July 28th, 2007: Day 4 of 42

Anon will have enough downtime to reset his recap today—our load has a 15:00 ETA, and he has not been driving for the last ~24 hours. We are still regretting our poor impulse control back in Otay Mesa, since we are now behind schedule one full day or, equivalently, 1,000 miles.
Our load arrived at 13:15, although we didn’t know this until 30 minutes later. Our assigned trailer looked terrible: dents, scrapes, and cracks everywhere. The passenger-side marker lamp was not working, so I went inside the terminal office and got a new lamp. Replacing the lamp didn’t work; the problem was with the three-prong connector to the electrical system which, after “extensive research,” was found to have only two prongs. We installed a new connector and fixed the problem. Anon was totally fine with running with a defective lamp. Anon wanted me to drive as much as possible (at least until 21:00) so that he could get his “70” back. I started out from the yard and had to travel three different highways to get onto I-8—almost missing our connections on two occasions.
The mountain leading up to Campo, CA was mine: Anon helped me select the right gear for the ascent a few times, since I was intermittently lugging the engine after up-shifting on hills. He complemented me on my downhills, though, although he wanted me to take my curves a bit slower and look further ahead.
We had to stop at an immigration inspection station in AZ; Anon needed to show his resident alien card to the guard. The driving was fairly easy through much of AZ, but became more difficult at around 18:00, when we encountered 20-mi/h winds. I had my first taste of bad weather at 18:45 on SR-65 heading into Phoenix, and acquired a white-knuckle grip for most of the way. We passed through the outer boundary of a thunderstorm, which was pretty cool but at the same time dangerous for me as a new driver. Anon stopped me in Buckeye, AZ, at 20:30, because he felt I was getting tired; I closed the day with 330 miles out of a target of 500: 66%—that’s a “D”!

July 29th, 2007: Day 5 of 42

I woke up at 06:15. We were 68 miles inside the NM border at that time.

Nature was calling 911, and so I asked Anon to stop so I could use the “Lou.” Anon had driven 369 miles since 21:00 last night (it’s 07:05 now). He got tired at 01:45 and had to stop for two hours, but otherwise he has been rolling continuously. I took the wheel in Ft. Hancock, TX, at 09:30, right after stopping at a gas station to go to the bathroom.
Anon got a bit scared when I tried to make a buttonhook turn onto the on-ramp, but calmed down when he realized what I was doing.
Anon finally felt comfortable enough with my driving to take a few hours’ rest. I drove through the first quarter of the east-west transect through the widest part of Texas, and pulled up to a rest stop at MM 169 on I-20E. There were no bathrooms, and so I had to water the plants near a fence across a road running parallel to the highway. I then tried lying down on the “grass” to do my sit-/push-ups but got *****ed by sharp burrs. Anon told me the difference between a “rest stop” and a “picnic area”: bathrooms.
We left the picnic area at 14:00; this is where things got interesting. An 11-truck-long convoy was doing about 75 mi/h on the interstate, and was rapidly catching up to me. I turned on the CB to see what the story was, and got nothing but crude language and occasional comments about Swift. One example: “…have you destroyed anything yet?”
In any case, I was getting passed by two trucks every minute, which probably meant that I would either be passing them when (1) they go to refuel on account of their getting <= 3.0 mpg, or (2) my partner/trainer takes over and drives when they are sleeping.
One comment from the CB that did seem reasonable: we needed to turn off the Jake brake. We have always been doing at least a partial Jake: on flat ground, up and down hills, in the rain—you name it!
I ended up doing the last 90 miles into the Dallas area after stopping at a (real) rest area near the interstate. I had some trouble finding I-35E leading into Lancaster, but Anon gave me some help. My trailer tandems almost tracked onto a curb after I tried to take a U-turn at the top of third gear! We dropped the trailer in Dallas so that Anon could bobtail to his house to check his mail. He invited me inside his 7-bedroom house, which he purchased for $245,000 during the construction phase; the house is only one year old, and it seems (and smells) like it was built yesterday. I seriously wonder how Anon is able to support five children, including an incredibly-spoiled 17-year-old daughter, with a $350,000 debt and maximum gross earnings of $200,000 per year. Anon’s financial background is really none of my business, but he seems especially open to telling me about his success as an owner-operator. We went to Wally World at about 22:00 to get some provisions, and I went to sleep 30 minutes later.

July 30th, 2007: Day 6 of 42

I woke up at 07:15, just as we were crossing the Mississippi state line. Anon’s shift ends at 11:00, which probably means I’ll be landing the truck in Blythewood. Anon is an expert at multitasking behind the wheel: he can drive 68 mi/h around curves—in heavy rain—and speak on the cell phone at the same time! Oh, and he taught me how to take my eyes off the road and drive with one hand.
We stopped at a rest area at about 08:45 for a bathroom break. Anon is doing a fine job with his diet, and once he saw me running around the park, he decided to take a walk—this after he did 50 partial push-ups. Good for him!
Anon is constantly speaking on the phone, usually with his family in Spanish. He called one of his friends from Swift (who is also a trainer) at 09:15 this morning to catch up. Anon’s friend’s student could not shift a 10-speed or back the rig, but who cares...mentoring a student enables the truck to be run as a team operation, which means more money! Anon makes $1.25 per mile plus $1.20 for every mile I drive.
We’re in the middle of a construction zone (it’s 09:45) and Anon is doing 10 over in a 50 mi/h zone.
I took the wheel in Tuscaloosa, AL at 11:30. Anon had just finished driving ~600 miles, putting our previous day’s team total at around 1,170! Nothing particularly amazing happened for the next four hours: we stopped in Morgan County, GA, so Anon could go to the bathroom. He also admitted that money was his chief motivator in his decision to train students.

We pulled into a Pilot (MM 200 on I-20E in GA), and parked just before the start of a massive cloudburst. Anon treated me to a shower, but we had to overcome torrential rain to get to the facility that was about a quarter mile away. I got there soaked, but Anon seemed relatively unabashed.
My driving was worst during the rainstorm: the windshield got fogged up, and I didn’t know how to turn on the defogger. I also tried shifting into 5th from a dead stop, and stalled the truck. Anon kept telling me that these conditions were the norm, and that my mistakes were easily correctable…he seems more interested in getting me to back up at this point.
We arrived at the consignee at 20:00, and had to stand by so security could open the gate. Anon tried calling security from the intercom, but was told to wait. I suggested a different extension which connected us immediately and assigned an immediate appointment. After getting such a quick response, I thought “shaking the tree” was a universal way to get my way, and so I bet Anon $1.00 that the gate wouldn’t open for another 30 minutes, but was quickly humbled when it opened a mere 30 seconds after I had prepared to go to sleep!
The consignee really rushed us: present BOL; back truck; slide tandems; get lost. Anon was thoroughly versed in this kind of treatment from customers—we did our drop and hook in 5 minutes, and exited immediately with an empty trailer.
Lot lizards: Anon was almost able to show me this exotic species from the vantage point of our cab. We couldn’t find parking in a truck stop, so we had to rest at a gas station (21:30). A lizard came up to the truck and asked Anon if I was available for ``quick service’’ for $20.00. Contracting an STD was the last thing on my mind that late; I really had to pass. Both of us got to bed at 20:15.

July 31st, 2007: Day 7 of 42

I woke up at 06:45 to heavy traffic MM 68, I-20E, inside the southern border of NC. The cab of the truck was shaking all morning because there was some hope of clearing the construction equipment 2000 ft ahead. DOT has the right lane shut down, so everyone will be filtered into a single lane, with no hope of moving ahead in line. We’re entering the bottleneck now (07:15).
Having the Jake brake on all the time is getting really annoying: we’re getting thrown forward every time we slow down for traffic.
We arrived at the Kimberly-Clark plant at about 09:00, and Anon made me back the truck into the dock. I had the right setup, but got crooked toward the end and had to pull up about three times. This attempt was better than all the others, though…. Our new trailer was pre-loaded with Styrofoam rolls that weighed about 900 lbs each. We both did a pre-trip on the trailer and tractor, and found that tread was peeling off a recapped tire in the tandems. Anon also found a big, 2’’ nail piercing one of his passenger-side drive tires—this forced us to shut down for about three hours. We went to Bill’s truck stop on MM 86 on I-85N to get the punctured drive tire capped and the tandem tire replaced. Swift’s On-Road service deserves recognition for having marathon waiting times: First, the truck stop tried contacting them, and got disconnected after spending 45 minutes on the phone. I then tried calling, and got a human on the line about 40 minutes later. We got out of the shop at 11:45.
We pulled into a rest stop at 12:45 (I-40W, MM 135) to switch seats and do our vehicle inspection. I tried to start the ignition, but the truck wouldn’t turn over…the solenoid got stuck and so the starter front-end couldn’t couple to the flywheel. We are waiting for a tow truck (as of 13:50) to take the power unit in to KW for service.
Anon rolled out from the rest stop at 14:30 after getting a $125.00 “tug” from a wrecker to make a rolling start. KW told us that the earliest appointment was tomorrow at 07:00, and they gave us explicit directions to the site, but we managed to get lost anyway because Anon got in a heated conversation with his wife on the cell phone while driving; this adding another 30 minutes to our trip. Anon has ground the gears on three out of every five gear shifts: he has basically been holding his phone with one hand and shifting with the other. We almost went off the road during a turn because he missed a gear and grabbed the wheel at the last second.

August 1st, 2007: Day 8 of 42

We started the day at 03:45, and drove into the KW at 04:15. Anon had a new starter assembly installed and replaced the signal relay. I spent my time using Anon’s computer to check e-mail, make a payment on my credit card, and post a message on classadrivers.com “highlighting” our experiences, including the time we almost flipped over.
Yesterday I dropped down to line 4 do to a PTI, but Anon told me to erase that time and remain off-duty so I would get a 70-hour reset. We left Hickory, NC at 07:30, and rolled through the Appalachians on the west end of the state. The scenery was awesome: everything was green, in stark contrast to the burnt-brown landscapes of Arizona and Southern California.
Anon showed me the mountains of Tennessee on our way into Knoxville and later Nashville. I wanted to take some pictures, but there was an annoying speck on the lens of my camera, and so I tried to clean the lens using Q-Tips and my own saliva. This really messed up the lens. A camera dealer told me I needed to use a special cleaning solution for multi-coated lenses and a fine cloth—almost the opposite of what I was doing. The next item was my cell phone bill. T-Mobile charges $5.00 for a CSR to take a payment over the phone, which meant I was at the mercy of the VRU if I wanted to avoid the fee. It took two hours to pay the bill because I kept losing reception in the mountains and because the VRU kept returning errors after I keyed my information….
We switched at the Longville, TN rest stop. I ran two circuits around the dirt road there and Anon walked same. I was compelled to spend a whole dollar on a candy bar because we ran out of food, and Anon wanted to keep the truck rolling. Our next stop was I-24W, MM 35, in IL at 16:45, four-and-one-half hours following our shift change. I rolled on for another hour and forty-five minutes until we arrived at Mt. Vernon, IL. We went to Wally World to pick up food (finally!), and I pushed on for another hour before reaching St. Louis. My eyes started to water up really bad through the city, and I almost lost visibility when going through the most difficult part of my shift…I was probably blinking five times per second to displace all those tears. We made it through, though, but were dangerously low on fuel about 20 miles west on I-70. I suggested that we stop, and Anon had me exit immediately so we could fuel at the QT in St. Peters, MO.
We left St. Peters at 21:45, and I started to get tired at 23:00. Anon knew of a pilot in Boontown, MO; I shut down there at 00:00.

August 2nd, 2007: Day 9 of 42

I woke up at 07:45 right after we went over some really rough road: Anon drove 275 miles since taking his shift and put is in the middle of Nebraska on I-80W. He was listening to coverage of the aftermath of the bridge collapse on I-35W in Minneapolis. At least four people died and tens were injured; Anon and I both expect lawsuits to be filed against the state.
Anon kindly stopped at a rest stop in Goehner, NE, at MM 374 so I could go to the bathroom and do my 60/60 routine. He got irritated, though, when I ate a fresh clove of garlic before getting in the truck: he associates the smell with cigarette smoke! In any case, I told him I’d be more considerate and refrain from eating garlic when we are close to each other. Anon is flossing his teeth while driving (09:30)….
I started my shift at 13:30 at the Bessemer’s in Big Spring, NE. Anon treated me to a shower, probably because he wanted to get rid of the strong stench of garlic. The showers were really, really clean—of the caliber of a decent hotel. We left the Bessemer’s at 14:45, and I drove through Nebraska and passed into Wyoming at about 16:00. I knew the weather wasn’t going to cooperate when I saw lightning and rainshadows about 20 miles down the road. Anon actually went into the sleeper an hour before we crossed the state line, so I was basically running solo. It got dark and started to rain around 16:30; Anon took a look out the windshield only when the rain was coming down in sheets. He kept asking me if I was nervous, which was irritating because I told him this was my first experience with heavy rain in a truck, and that I would need his help.
We pushed on until the driver’s side wiper blade started to come loose and scrape against the windshield. Anon told me to take the next exit so we could fix the blade. I was laughing the whole way up the off-ramp because the wiper fluid hose broke only a few hours ago.
Anon was still asking how nervous I was: he said he could read my body language and heard me making weird breathing noises. His questions continued through 19:30, when we reached our next stop on I-80W at MM 228; the rain let up at the same time.
Anon and I almost got into a fight after I (jokingly) told him that the Swift driver’s manual says students aren’t supposed to drive in extreme conditions until the third week. He took great offense at this (even though my sarcasm was obvious) and told me that if I wanted to follow policy, he would force me to do full pre-trips and only drive 3-4 hours per day. He said he would put on the blue uniform and act like a drill sergeant for the rest of my training. He also threatened to drop me off at some arbitrary place if I wasn’t happy with the way he ran his truck. One of Anon’s students complained to Swift about not being allowed to do ``enough’’ backings (he only did 15 of the 28 needed for release); Anon learned about the complaint, and told the student to find another mentor. I was given a pep talk toward the end of our 45-minute exchange about how I should ``fully utilize’’ my mentor, but I didn’t see how this was possible with Anon dozing off in the sleeper during the most difficult and dangerous parts of our trip. I’m also getting tired of having to say everything twice or scream to get Anon to hear me. Every time I say something, he says ``huh?’’, and I have to yell or speak really slowly. Anon came to the US in 1986, and has only acquired an advanced beginner’s knowledge of English.


August 3rd, 2007: Day 10 of 42

We arrived at the customer at 01:45 and Anon asked me to everything from check-in to the drop-and-hook. I really didn’t have a problem maneuvering at the consignee, but I started to grind the lower gears because of the difficult driving conditions and verbal argument from yesterday.
Anon needed to go into Salt Lake City to trace the problem with his Qualcomm and get his wiper blades replaced. We arrived at the terminal at around 03:00 and took a three-hour nap. I woke up to loud hammering on the headache board of the cab, got startled, and shook the truck. Anon and the mechanic were outside when I got up, and the mechanic told Anon that there cannot be anyone in the truck when work is being done.
I got out, and saw that the receiver dome for the Qualcomm was lying on the catwalk. KW must have shorted the dome when they were power-cycling the tractor when we had the starter replaced. It took about an hour to get the dome, wiper blades, and hose fixed.
We got to the Wal-Mart terminal at 11:00. Wal-Mart actually sources a large part of its transportation logistics to Swift, and so Swift built its own mini-OC inside the grounds. We hooked to a load heading to Las Vegas and set out at 12:00. This will be a round trip: Anon is running the southern leg; I’ll run the other way.
We actually switched in Beaver, UT, because Anon didn’t feel comfortable with me driving in the early morning at this point. I started to pick up speed along the mountainous descent into Nevada, so Anon told me to brake and shift down a gear. There were many curves rated for 55 mi/h or less, so I tried to be careful and slow the truck to the bottom of 7th gear when going through them. We went straight through to Las Vegas, and arrived in the city proper at 20:30. Anon allowed me to handle the traffic on the freeway and surface streets myself; however, we ended up getting a bit lost because we took a right turn when we should have taken a left. We made a U-turn (against company policy) to save some time, and got back on the correct route.
Our first stop was the Wal-Mart near the intersection of Flamingo Road and Boulder Highway. Anon wanted me to back into the dock, so I went ahead and shifted into reverse.
I started out with the wrong setup, which really pissed him off, probably because we had a tight appointment. He didn’t have the time to coach me in, so he just took over. The most annoying things about Wal-Mart drops are getting hold of a manager, backing into their tight docks, and peeling off the little ID stickers from the pallets and putting them on the bill.
Our second and last stop was at a Wal-Mart in the same area, just a few miles north on I-515. Again, Anon had me do the backing. I almost got the correct setup, but made the cut too soon. He had to coach me in, even though it was just a straight-line back. It took me about 20 minutes to bump the dock, and the Wal-Mart staff were actually clapping and cheering when I finally made it. Anon and someone else were making fun of me a little bit, which is understandable—if you’ve been in practice for the last eight years.
I was actually fairly frustrated with my performance in traffic and backing, and ended up stopping the truck in gear because I was so flustered. I told my mentor that I didn’t feel safe driving, and he shook violently because he was anticipating my driving another 200 miles for the night. I said I’d be willing to drive if necessary, but he seemed pretty angry and said, ‘’maybe I’ll just take solo runs if you’re going to get frustrated every time we go to a dock.’’ He went to sleep immediately, and I followed at 00:00 the next day.

August 4th, 2007: Day 11 of 42

Cock-a-doodle-Qualcomm? I woke at 09:00 and found Anon using his cell phone and reading the Qualcomm while driving. We seem to be in higher spirits today: I’ll try to put in the last 500-or-so miles into Cheyenne, WY, our final destination for our next load. We are back in Utah, and will drop off our empty trailer at the distribution center (hereafter DC) at about 11:00.
Anon took us up the mountain to Evanston in WY: we arrived at 15:45. I drove from Evanston to a rest area at MM 142 on I-80E and got a quick lesson on how to ``land’’ the truck at a curb and snake the tractor. We left the rest area at 06:30 and got to Cheyenne, WY, at about 22:00. (Swift relocated us to the Colorado-Wyoming areas to fill a driver shortage; Anon showed me how to send a ``bogus’’ MT call macro in order to get paid for the miles driven to the relocation point before actually reaching final.) We pulled into the adjacent Pilot and tried to find a place to park, but (almost) every spot was taken. We found a truck trying to do a ``45’’ into a spot about 10 minutes later; the driver actually gave up after the third pull-up, and we got the spot. We showered, and returned to the truck at 23:00.
The drive to Denver from Cheyenne was easy: it was only 100 miles, and I only saw one bear on the interstate. I-25 through northern Colorado is a very easy road to drive compared to I-80 through northeastern Utah.
We landed at the Swift terminal at 01:45, but couldn’t find parking, so Anon told me to be creative and make my own parking space. He found us a spot near some old engine hoods, and we shut down.


August 5th, 2007: Day 12 of 42

We woke up at 09:00 at the terminal, and went to Wally World to get some food for the next couple days. The shipper will load us out of Golden, CO, at 16:00, and we’ll set out for Virginia immediately following. ``Anon’’ found out about this journal! He asked me if I had written anything bad about him, and I (truthfully) told him that I journalize anything that’s interesting, broadly defined. He got really upset and told me to stop documenting what he’s doing, and to only write about myself and what I’ve learned. He did have a bit of leverage: I’ve been using his real first name up until this paragraph, and he did have legal recourse if his career was negatively affected as a result of my making this publicly available. In any case, this project is now incognito: if my mentor finds out that I’m still writing about him or how the truck is operated, he could eject me from training and leave me stranded somewhere.
There’s a Sinclair near the Swift OC; we went there to do laundry because there was only one working washer at the terminal. We still ended up waiting forever to finish, though, because people forgot about their clothes in the dryer; we had to have one of the service reps actually remove completed loads. Anon told me to never take out someone’s laundry from the dryer, if I wanted to avoid getting punched in the face....
Anon and I returned to the terminal at about 13:00 to practice some backings. We came across a married couple pulling doubles on Swift’s Rite-Aid account, and got a basic demo on how to couple a trailer to a converter dolly. Afterwards, we began the backing exercise: Anon wanted me to back into an empty angled parking space adjacent to a bobtail and a trailer. I had a bad setup on the first attempt, and almost crashed the tractor into another parked trailer. The other three tries went okay, but I took about 10 minutes each time.
We left for Golden, CO at 15:00 to get loaded at the Coors regional DC. Coors is a very picky customer; our trailer was almost rejected because the operations manager thought something was wrong with the front-end interior. The trailer was eventually approved, and loaded with 20 pallets of empty beer cans destined for Virginia.
Loading took about 20 minutes—I used that time to run 10 laps around part of the staging area, and got so exhausted that I ended up falling asleep for the rest of the day (and night).

August 6th, 2007: Day 13 of 42

Anon drove through the previous night into Junction, KS. I woke up at 00:30 ready to drive, and set out 15 minutes later—this is the first time he has put me on morning shift. I started out a bit tired, but recouped about 30 minutes into the trip. Sunrise was at 04:15, and I had the sun in my face for the latter hour and 30 minutes of the five-hour first leg into Warrenton, MO.
I tried to ``snake’’ the trailer into the parking spot like Anon told me, but I still ended up crooked. Anon told me how to back out of it and straighten up the trailer…the parking job went from pathetic to professional in the scope of a single minute!
I was at the East end of Missouri at about 07:00 while traveling on I-70 when traffic started to suddenly move into the left lane. I found out why almost too late: there was a huge gator in the granny lane. I turned on my four-ways, and immediately cut into the left lane. Luckily there were no cars beside me; otherwise, I could have caused a major accident.
We reached Evanston, IN, at around 10:30—Anon was fast asleep, despite my almost flipping over a little over three hours ago. Anon and I showered at the nearby Pilot. The bathroom was big enough to accommodate some basic exercise routines; I took advantage and did 60 push-ups and 60 sit-ups. Midway through, someone came by the door and thought I was committing suicide, probably because of all my grunting and repositioning. It’s always a treat to take a shower, especially since we only shower every other day. No wonder Anon always thinks the truck stinks!
I had only used 9 of my 11 driving hours, and so Anon wanted me to drive for another two hours. (My mentor is running out of 70-hour-rule hours, but he will recap about 10 of those hours tonight.) We left Evanston at 11:00, and set out for Louisville.
At 12:00, I asked Anon if he could request a load destined for California sometime next week, since we were both considering TAH soon. Anon told me that he wanted to go home later in the month, but I remained adamant (I’ve decided that Swift is really not for me; getting home is the key to a clean[er] resignation and a ticket out of this guy’s truck!), and compelled Art to get me home within the next eight days, even though he is apparently under no obligation to suspend training for home time.
I picked up speed through the hills just east of Louisville, and was getting teased on the CB because I was cracking the limit in the worst possible place in Indiana. Still, I was passing trucks that had lost time on the steeper grades, which made me feel like I was gaining huge amounts of time. Just one problem: I had only 30 minutes of driving time left, and we were still 20 miles outside of the city! I told my mentor, and he said to pull into the nearest rest or truck stop. We kept searching for a safe place to land, but couldn’t find one. Now I only had two minutes to shut down. Anon had a quick solution: turn on my four-ways and immediately cross two lanes of traffic during peak rush-hour. Next, park on the shoulder for an emergency logbook update and shift change. Anon said this was a routine way teams avoided HOS violations.


August 7th, 2007: Day 14 of 42

I rose at 03:00 while we were on the customer’s grounds in Elkton, VA—well after Anon had dropped our load at the staging area. I spent the morning thinking about how badly I needed to go to the bathroom, and got out of the truck two hours after waking up to look for one. Anon was still a bit asleep from last night’s trip through Appalachia, and I didn’t want to bug him with stupid questions like, ``where can I take a piss?’’ I found a couple of port-a-potties on a construction site adjacent to Receiving, and promptly made use of the means. A foreman immediately stopped me as I was leaving, and wanted to know who I was. He told me that I was in a construction area (duh), and asked me what my business was. I told him I was a truck driver and was desperate for a bathroom, but couldn’t find one on-site. He went silent for a few seconds, and then sternly said, “You better go back to your truck….” Matter closed; I didn’t want to get a fist in the face or anything.
Anon told me there was a bathroom near the guard shack in front of the scale—about 50 feet from the truck. I guess keeping silent during a time of dire need leads to nonsense from construction workers. In any case, Anon had me deal with the consignee all by myself, from beginning to end, excluding the necessary Qualcomm macros. We set out at 05:45 for a return trip to Golden, CO. Our load: empty plastic pallets stacked to the roof of the van. Anon told me to be very careful going around curves and to not exceed 65 mi/h (I cracked 75 and did five-over on a couple of tight turns during the trip).
The most difficult part of the trip was the beginning: West Virginia would give me my first real mountain driving experience, much more so because my mentor was sleeping in the back the truck for much of this leg of the trip. (Anon wrote down the route before we left the customer.) Anon always uses the Jake brake, except in bad weather. He wanted me to do the same because he wanted to save his brakes. I told him that constantly doing a full Jake negatively affects fuel efficiency…is this true?
It started to rain when I reached the summit of the climb on I-64W/I-81W. I was cool with a little bit of rain, but then it started to rain really hard, to the point where I couldn’t see beyond 100 feet and had to turn on my four-ways. The rain got so bad that four-wheelers started to swerve to the shoulder and stop in the middle of the road. A red Cadillac cut me off and almost came to a full stop in my lane as we were going down a 5% grade…I had about two seconds of space between his bumper and mine: the choice was to either brake into a skid or rear-end the guy. Out of sheer luck, the Caddy cut onto the right shoulder about a tenth of a second before I would have clipped his bumper and caused a major accident.
The rest of the mountains were relatively easy. We were descending in good weather, and taking the curves and downgrades at the right speeds. The super-truckers were all doing ten-over, but who cares…keep reading to see how I get vindicated.
We pull into Morton, WV, for a rest and some food. I went to TCBY and ordered ice cream for the first time in about a year…it tasted really good, probably because the novelty of frozen yogurt returned after such a long time. We started again at 11:15, and passed Charleston just in time to capture some of the best light of the day. Anon took some photos of the golden rotunda, but said they all came out blurry (thanks for trying, anyway!)
Traffic came to a sudden stop about 5 west of the capital. A Werner truck was driving over the posted speeds and clipped a pickup truck with the rear of his trailer while making a lane change. The pickup did a 360, and spun out into a ditch just east of an off-ramp. The DOT bumper of the rig involved was bent vertically and missing a segment near its right end; both drivers were talking to a state trooper at the side of the road. The Werner driver might consider creative writing as a second career—it will take a lot of crafty explanation to convince another company to hire him after having a DACcident like that….
We continued through West Virginia, and crossed into Kentucky at about 13:30.
I noticed an idiot light flickering on and off by the fuel gauge just after we got past the state line. Anon had told me before about the Low Fuel light, and how the truck was ``warning’’ us that we only had 200 miles left on our tanks. I drove another 100 miles after first seeing the light and started to get scared because I wasn’t convinced that the buffer was 200 miles. My mentor was sleeping, and I couldn’t wake him after shouting at the sleeper four times, so I just drove to the next exit with a truck stop. Eventually I found a Pilot, and took that exit. Anon finally woke up (after the fact), and asked me where I was going. I told him about the Pilot. Just one problem: right location, wrong time—the truck stop was under construction! We aborted the turn into the stop, and continued down a state highway for about five miles to find a place to turn around. Anon found a plausible turn-around, and told me to take a turn at the next intersection. I asked him whether he meant right or left, and he said to turn left. I entered the left turn lane and signaled left, but he wanted to go right instead, after I had already entered the intersection to take a left. He kept telling me to take a right from the left turn lane and to just wait until cross traffic cleared. I told him trying to hang right from where I was would be extremely dangerous, and he just withdrew and said “do what you gotta do” (one of his favorite phrases). (We ended up turning left, by the way.) We drove another 1000 feet and found a wide intersection. Anon told me to make a U-turn in the intersection, even through there was an open dirt lot another 500 feet to the left. I went ahead and did a donut in the intersection to reverse course. Anon aggressively asked me why I didn’t try to wake him up when I saw we were low on fuel. I told him hoe I shouted to the back of the cab four times, No dice. He said to use the highway horn (!) to wake him up in the future. We ended up fueling at a Shell (no shower points); Anon had me handle the transaction myself so I could get experience using the Comdata card, presenting credentials, and signing receipts. We left shell at 14:45; it took us over an hour to fuel the truck.
I landed in Indiana at MM 58 after driving about 570 miles; Anon gave me a bottle of water to recognize my hard work, which ended at 17:30.

August 8th, 2007: Day 15 of 42

I’ve reached the next pay step: a whopping $400 a week—that’s over $50 per day (after claiming six allowances)!
Anon reached Junction City at 07:30 and let me take over. We were headed back to the Golden, CO DC (dispatch had us directed somewhere in central Kansas, but that turned out to be a computer glitch) to drop our load and possibly return to Virginia with more empty cans. Anon immediately went to sleep as soon as I got on the highway; I did the first 300 miles without eating or drinking any water. I took my break at 12:15, about 8 miles from the eastern Colorado border. Anon woke up five minutes later to brush his teeth and chat with his family a bit (note from 08-09-07: Anon was doing sit-ups and lifting weights in the back of the cab while I was still in Kansas). My section of the refrigerator was empty, which—aha!—meant that I ran out of food except for some really old peanut butter and frozen jelly. I had a scant sandwich, and set out for another three hours and 15 minutes of driving to reach Denver.
Eventually I hit traffic, and Anon got out of bed. It was rush hour in the city, and so traffic was stop-and-go for about the next 10 miles. I had to shift gears every 10 seconds (even after keeping the 7 seconds of space)—it was like playing Gran Tursimo with an old joystick. Anon wanted to see if I would get lost on the way to the customer; he kept quiet until I tried to take the wrong exit. Other than that, we made it to Coors and dropped our trailer in a staging area near the dock we backed into three days prior.
Coors tends to load its trailers to near, or even over, the gross limit. We couldn’t use their scale, so we had to head east on I-70 to exit 266 and get weighed at the TA.
I had to turn left into a narrow driveway, but a truck was too close to the centerline for me to make a conventional turn safely. I ended up hitting my right-side curb with the tractor while trying to buttonhook the turn. Anon just said to go slow….
We got 100 gallons of fuel and both bought some water. (Anon is very good about drinking enough water and he can see when I’m getting dehydrated.) Just after leaving the shop, we found a swift trailer trying to swing-back into a spot opposite ours. The other driver was being spotted into a narrow hole, but already had his trailer jackknifed. He idled into reverse to recover, but his trailer was headed straight for our tractor. Anon had me blow the highway horn to try to stop this guy from backing into us; luckily, the other driver stopped (inches!) before his trailer made contact. He wasn’t so lucky with his tractor, though: his mud flap pierced the sidewall of one of our drive tires. We got out looking for damage, but we only saw a scuff mark, so we just kept rolling.
We got preplanned for a trip to Camarillo, CA, which is about 70 miles NNW of Los Angeles (remember: I’m trying to bail from this guy’s truck, so I’ll have to convince him to drop me off a bit closer to the city). Anon took shift for the rest of the night; I wasn’t about to drive through the Rockies without seeing someone do it first! His KW can pull close to 80,000 lbs in 5th gear (eight-speed E-F transmission), which is one better than the company trucks. Some parts were a bit scary, especially when we hit 2200 RPM in 7th gear, doing a full Jake, on a 7% grade.
Well, it’s 20:30, and I have to wake up early tomorrow to start my shift. Tomorrow’s entry might be the last!

Diagram for 08/09/07: Get Out and Look!

August 9th, 2007: Day 16 of 42

I got up at 06:00, and had my log updated so I could start driving immediately. Anon was still at the wheel when I got out of bed, though—I didn’t actually start until 10:30 because he had taken a nap for two hours this morning.
The refrigerator and cabinets were literally empty: I had no food. Luckily, I bought a Wal-Mart version of the Road Atlas and was able to find a Wally World in Cedar City, UT. Anon wanted to move quickly, since he knew that I would be leaving the truck today and consequently push back his ETA into Camarillo, CA. We got the essentials…I picked up a pre-made colossal turkey sub and Anon just got more water (his diet is mostly Herbalife shakes, which are mostly water anyway).
We switched in Cedar City and headed for a TA in Barstow, CA. I drove the truck through some considerable wind, and even had the trailer fish-tail a little bit, but otherwise the drive was routine. Anon and I showered at the TA at about 16:00. You need to key a pin code to get access to showers at TA, and with that amount of front-end technology, you might expect the Emerald City behind the door. The actual shower room was very disappointing: the shower mat looked like an artifact out of the 1980s, and there was a roach near the left side of the sink.
I made arrangements to get picked up by my friend in Pasadena, CA, because I thought Anon couldn’t go OOR to drop me off. I was surprised when Anon offered to drop me off within a tenth of a mile of my house: he didn’t want either me or my friend to be inconvenienced. That was it: I would be getting off the truck in about three hours. We left Barstow at 17:30 destined for Los Angeles.
Driving into Los Angeles was my “final exam.” I first had to negotiate the 12-mile downgrade leading out of Hesperia and into Ontario. I shifted into 7th and turned on the Jake, but was already doing 10 over at the top of the grade (which was rated for only 45 mi/h). We were part of a convoy of about five trucks which were overusing their brakes—I actually started to smell smoke from the trucks that were doing 10 and even 15 over, and were desperately trying to stop. By the time I saw the sign for the weigh station, I was doing about 60 mi/h, and radioed to the northbound side to see if the scales were closed. No one answered, but the trucks behind me got a response immediately! Good—I didn’t have to smoke the brakes to get scaled.
We transitioned to 10-W from 15-S in Ontario at 18:30. Traffic was heavy, despite it being late in the day, but, then again, Los Angeles freeways are always crowded. Another driver tried to merge onto the freeway from a tight cloverleaf, but missed a gear and stalled in the slow lane. This effectively shut down the two right lanes, and caused a conflict as I was passing by. Anon wanted me to go very slow to avoid ramming the four-wheelers merging left without looking. I continued west with the sun in my eyes, which, along with the faint striping on the freeway, made it extremely difficult to keep my lane. We hit traffic at 19:15, at the intersection of
I-5S with I-10W, and couldn’t go beyond 5th gear…Los Angeles sees a lot of tourism, and most of the congestion was from people on their August vacation or students on their summer break.
I really got some exercise when we reached Downtown. Traffic was stop-and-go for the next 10 miles, and I probably shifted gears 100 times to keep up with the flow.
We’re getting close now, and the sun has just set. Anon said my driving skills were good, but that I needed some help with backing, and had yet to master trip planning. He also said he would welcome me back in his truck if I couldn’t find another mentor. I updated my log, and got off the truck at 08:30.


Well, that’s all, folks.... I really think Swift has room for improvement, especially when someone like Anon is able to achieve “Senior Mentor” status in light of what has happened in the scope of just two weeks. If you’ve read this far, you’re very patient, and probably have some concerns about this company that I’ve failed to address here. I’ll post a sequel to this 16-day prologue if I go back out OTR…

***END: Part I***

Let me know what you think! Did I provide too little information? Too much? If you’re an experienced Swift driver, was my treatment fair? Did you leave Swift for reasons mentioned above? Send me feedback at <jminamora@yahoo.com>.

[Wolfhound]

Sorry it didn't work out for you...

I only made it through 3 pages, well written to be sure, but I didn't like the content..

Seems like you spent way to much time scrutinizing your trainer...

You forgot an essential element of the story though....He already know's how to drive a truck and you didn't..

You squandered an opportunity to learn, instead focusing on your trainers defects...

Well, guess what pal?....You have them too..

He was trying to teach you how to make a living out here, and you wanna worry about how he pays his bills..

I'd put a boot in your ass, after a couple of days....You seem like a whiner to me..

Good luck in your new endeavors, stay away from trucks though....It's not for you..

[fireman932003]

Yep, yer rite there, Shawster!!

He does right gooder than alot uv people; must be one of them high falutin city folks you see who go to them fansey restrunts wear tha dont evin got a drive-thru winder!!

USELESS, you crack me up!!!!!! LOL

[K.POP]

The part where that your trainer said "do what you gotta do" is so true it seems like. I am not a driver yet but during my adventures as a teen thats what we always had to do. All I have to say about what I learnings from my trips was the bigger man wins and bring your own towel.

Yep, yer rite there, Shawster!!

He does right gooder than alot uv people; must be one of them high falutin city folks you see who go to them fansey restrunts wear tha dont evin got a drive-thru winder!!

USELESS, you crack me up!!!!!! LOL

the ones where they get mad if you put ketchup all over the food.