Ok, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot- I think you have a 'chip' on your shoulder toward- trainers in general after your-- admittedly crappy 1st experience. And I do 'come off"- read-- as being very arrogent and condicending ( and man does this new board sux-- where's the spell check where's all the features!--it even asks you "why" you need to edit) I think you were mad at me several posts back-- for "correcting" your views- I'm sorry for the way I come across. Now to answer these questions and make comments to your above remarks:

Yes, you can travel coast to coast "just holding the steering wheel"-- with big enough fuel tanks/ and a hole cut in the floor the rag head teams do it all the time without ever stopping once.

Yes, I've driven oklahoma's interstates & other hiways- for the last 15years in a commercial vehicle-- I'd venture to guess that combined over the 15years- the miles in reverse at shippers alone in that state would equal the total miles you drove forward with your first trainer. About the condition, yes I agree, as I'm currently driving a Intertrashional 9400 across the state just last week-- you can still feel the potholes a week later and spend 5 minutes every stop just picking up the stuff that bounced out of the crapy cubbies in this truck.

"it would have been a lot better that the training you got"-- ok, I understand and agree with your feelings there-- but the logic of the statement I can't agree with.

You're saying: Just setting in the Passenger seat is better than "wheel time" down the interstate highway?

Not! But Agreed-- he should have treated you better.

Would I expect a "thank you"? #1) I never "ripped" my trainees out of their "training"-- in fact- One quit jumped the truck and wrote back to the company begging to come back-- just put me with another trainer-- because that one "tortured" me! I started every trainee off-- 3 days of Hell-- I wanted to find out early on where their "weakness" and "strengths" were-- so there wouldn't be any surprises down the road.
You got to remember-- those were pre- qualcomm days--- I/ he where on our own back then-- and he had to be trained to handle ANY situation on his own-- cause there was no-- send a message/ phone a dispatcher and find out. The phones were miles apart( at least the one's you could get a rig within walking distance to). Yes, when I first started training-- I was "hoping" I might get a "thank u"-- one day. See, like you I got off MY one TRAINER'S TRUCK at JBHUNT and never thanked him, in fact, I thought he was a "crusty" old gizzer who delighted in showing me-- I didn't know Shit. But 2 years later, I had come to realize-- I owed him a lot. I've supported my family for 15 years now-- because of the TRAINING he provided me. He's dead now-died of cancer . And it's too late-- for thank U. I started training-- as a way to
repay that debt I owed- him. I thought, being as I was still "new" to trucking myself-- with only 2 years of experience that I could do as well or better training MY trainees because I still remembered what it was like to be IN THERE SHOES, I thought that would make up for my lack of experience. That and my EFFORT to do a "real" job of training. But, guess what--- doing the job right-- sometimes means You can't play buddy-Buddy, and just like my experience with my trainer. Never was there a "Thank U" coming from them afterward. Now, I'm considering going back into the training "racket"-- but my greatest fear is -- I've become too impatient over the years.. set in my ways... alone in MY little world ( cab of a truck ) forgotten what it's like to be IN YOUR SHOES.

 

you know this IS kinda funny; I remember my Trainer spending hours while I drove -- cleaning that cabover- still when I got off the truck I gave him only an "ok" on his evaluation in the catogory of "did he keep his truck clean & neat. I thought MY truck would be always cleaner- that I could do better.. Then I found out-- there's only 24hours in a day-- and at .21 cpm you got to keep the left door shut and your tired butt in that seat. Then you're too tired to "clean" house after driving 16hours straight-- and there's no one else there to clean it up for you.

Well, If you ever get the idea of working for Heartland-- where you Terminal Fuel all the time, and don't get very many Shower POINTS added to your Pilot Reward Card-- You'll find smelling nice will cost you about $10.00 per day. And you're cologne expense will go up too.

 

This guy seems to know it all after a couple of weeks with a trainer. Note to the OP: Take advice from veteran drivers graciously.

 

headborg, you seem to have interpreted my previous post when I said, "...if my first mentor would have driven on my book, done 100% of the driving, bought me a nice steak dinner every night and concerts and kiss my butt, it would have been alot better than the training than i got." You fail to continue the thought with the next statement when i said, "...He paid for one dinner, and i said 'thank you', but he covered me being short some change for one meal, and didnt say 'thank you' cause he thought i felt it was DESERVED, when in fact i didnt say THANK YOU, because he could care less about my welfare, and ripping me off the training i was on his truck for." To paraphrase, he didnt teach me SHATner. I drove, sure, but as far as TRAINING, had the ONLY things I took away from those 2 weeks on his truck were steak dinners, and a concert and whatever else you mentioned, i am saying THAT in and of itself was better than the 2 weeks i had on the truck. Dont put words in my mouth by misinterpreting me by saying "i think being in the right seat is the best for any student." that isnt what i am saying.

and for having a chip on my shoulder, i think i am perfectly well balanced....i have a chip on BOTH shoulders. =) (that was a joke for all you reading that). I dont think poorly of trainers in general because of one bad apple. I know there are good ones, and select few who should never drive a truck again. My old trainer happens to fall into the latter.

Does it really matter how much you make? Are you really going to spill that coffee and tell yourself "oh, i'm only making 25 cpm, so i'm not going to clean that up. If you spend a few minutes picking up after yourself, the job (of picking up) is alot easier. You do take a day or two off don't ya? why not spend 15 minutes sweeping out your truck, straighten things out and give it a quick dusting. might take you a whole 30 minutes. what is that....an episode of Sienfeld? so what.

like quite a few of you super truckers who feel the need to drive 70-75mph because maybe you have to make up some time, or get to where you're going before your deadline. How about this...leave earlier. mange your time better. dont spend 20 minutes taking a shower....take 10. then you might have some extra time to clean up your truck. As a trainer, you think it is okay to use an old t-shirt as a snot rag, then leave it laying on the floor??

do i know it all? no...but i do know how i would run my truck...i do know, if i were a trainer, i would atleast look after the welfare of my student. do i look down on all mentors just because i had a bad one? you seem to quickly forget, i LOVE (not that way) my new one. I am getting great experience....and LOVE the KW T2000.

 

LOL. Your a pretty funny guy Kevin. I was "like" you at one time. I wasn't going to "ever" drink coffee to stay awake. Life is funny. I've been drinking coffee while driving, for the last 18 years. Just so you know...I've been driving professionally for 30 years.
Coffee really does nothing to keep me awake. It does help get me going in the morning. But it's more of a "comfort" thing now.

As a "Driver" your going to be hard pressed to eat right, get plenty of exercise, get plenty of rest and do your job too. Gawd I wish I looked now like I did when I was 25! After three 14 hour days in a row, I am hard pressed to stay awake long enough to walk around a pissed up parking lot enough to qualify as having gotten a "bit" of exercise. I don't know which is worse. The "I know I'm going to be better than you" guy, who already knoows the answers or the "I'm not walking all the way to that stinking building" guy, who drains his bladder under his truck...or under the truck next to him.

As for the "mid-day" nap. Maybe your full of piss and vinegar now...but stay in a truck for even 4 years, and Dude...your going to be wanting that mid-day nap. Drive LA traffic :eek: a few times and you will be happy to take that nap.

And as far as this little speel goes, "like quite a few of you super truckers who feel the need to drive 70-75mph because maybe you have to make up some time, or get to where you're going before your deadline. How about this...leave earlier. mange your time better. dont spend 20 minutes taking a shower....take 10. then you might have some extra time to clean up your truck", Your going to once more be hard pressed to "leave earlier" when a shipper delays you for 3 or 4 hours, just because, yet will still expect you to deliver his or her load "Ontime'. Delays are "your" problem, not theirs. You think your going to only spend 20 minutes taking a shower? There will be plenty of times when your going to wait twice that just for the shower stall to be available.

 

Well, it seems that the board is back to normal.

 

Well actually, no. Let's take a peek at how this thread started, shall we?

You asked a very simple question: How do I get a new mentor. The first response was the correct one: Talk to your company and ask them. Apparently that was too rough for your poor feelings, and you decided to go on the attack, claiming my opinions were "ignorant".

It's quite clear, judging by the responses you are now getting, who has the attitude.

 

well that was an ignorant post. Tell me, if someone happens to pull to the side of the road with clearly a flat tire, and some young kid asks "how do you fix it", i bet your answer would be "um, well, you just fix it". Tell me how that is helpfull? This board is here to HELP, not to tell someone how wrong they are. Go back and see where this thread took the dive. It all starts with headborg. I can listen to GOOD advice and someones opinion, but start telling me how bad a driver i am just because i am new, and you'll get it shoveled back in your face.

we can also have a civil and professional conversation without the need to piss in each others corn flakes.

 

I read back were this post went wrong. It's classic example of how posts in a forum are taken out of context.

The problem with forums is that, when you read a forum post, you put a "voice" to the post in your head. You control how it's read and how it's taken, which could be completely opposite from what the original poster intended.

I read the offending post as if it was giving advice, then read it again as if an experienced trucker was putting down a rookie.

I could see how it was taken the wrong way. I truly believe advice was being given, and he was also asking other questions in that post.

As for training methods, I used to train new drivers in the company I used to work for.

I had a 5 day training template that I came up with and used.

The first day they did nothing but watched, by friday I did nothing but watched. I could easily pick out who was going to make it and who was not.

Overwhelming a new driver with doing everything their first day is not always the best option. It's better to gradually introduce them to company's way of doing things.

 

Well my father was a truck driver. i remembe when i was a kid, wanting to 'be a man' and drink coffee, so i tried his. Never liked it. I've tried it again a few years ago, still didnt like it. So i know as sure as i sit here typing this, i wont drink coffee. I was headed to columbia, mo, and made a wrong turn. My mentor woke up as i was turning around to get back on the interstate, and he wanted me to 'look at the map'. All he needed to tell me was "stop the truck cause i gotta take a leak". He proceeded to open the passenger door (this was at night) stand at the top running board, and relieve himself right there. I wanted to jerk the truck forward so he pissed all over himself. HAHAHA. I didn't like his level of 'professionalism', the guy was a bum. he drove for 5 years, and if you think i am going to be like that in 5 years, let alone 10-15 years, sorry...i've got a little more self-respect to do anything like he did it.

I have been in truck stops where there was a line for the showers. There is a little book that tells you how many showers a truck stop has. I wont stop for a shower mid-day and expect to get right in. I wont stand in line for a half hour waiting for one either. Most of our terminals have showers, so i will try going there. I know there will be times i will have to take one at a truck stop, but i will take mine at night when most drivers are sleeping. and if i have to wait in line, ill just go back to my truck and sleep for 6-7 hours. either that, or get dinner/lunch then go back.

And I know there will be shippers who will delay you 'just because'. There are always those out there who will screw with people 'just because'. Because they have other issues with themselves, and the best way to make them feel better is just to screw with the next guy in line. Would that not be when you call your DM, and say "hey look, they took 3-4 hours loading me, and expect me to make this 600 mile run in 8 hours....seeing how i am in a truck that cannot go faster than 70, i'm going to have issues." then you ask them to show your ETA a couple hours later. maybe you get it, maybe you dont. but i tell you what, if i get a preplan showing that same shipper, ill decline it and then call my DM and say "not going back to them because they detained me 3-4 hours last time, expected me to make a 600 mile run in 8 hours, and i got knocked with a service failure...next load please"