I went to school and got my CDL in May
I took a job with a local company in Iowa that was leased on to large company.
I was put with a trainer for what was suppose to be 25,000 miles of training.
Our first load was a load to Wisconsin. We took off for the trip, we had gone about 100 miles and the trainer asked if I wanted to drive and I said sure. I started driving and the trainer sat in the jump seat for maybe 20 miles and said you are doing good and he went to bed. We finished delivering the load and picked up a return load. No real problems on this trip.
Our 2nd trip was a load to Pittsburgh with a reload to Wisconsin. We shared the driving to Pittsburgh with no problems. On the return trip I was driving and we got to Chicago. The trainer was sleeping and I was driving through Chicago something I had never done before let alone I was in a truck driving through Chicago. No real problems on this trip.
Our 3rd trip was a load to LA. We shared the driving on the trip out there. I had never seen the mountains before in my life. The trainer was sleeping and I hit the mountains in Wyoming and tried to remember everything I had learned in school about mountain driving. I didn't have any real problems but it was a little scarey to say the least.
We got to LA and I drove into town and we got to our destination to unload with no problems. We had to go bakerfield to reload for our return trip home. This is when all the trouble started. I had trouble sleeping in a moving truck all the way there and had very little sleep in 3 days and was tired and not really sharp on my driving.
I was driving up a steep incline in a construction zone and went to downshift and missed the gear and I tried again and missed the gear again and lost all my ground speed and stopped. The trainer came flying out of the sleeper screaming and yelling obsentities at me and told me get out of the seat and he took it on up the hill and stopped at the top and went back to the sleeper. I drove us to our pickup location and I told him I would like to back the trailer in to the dock. I was backing into the dock and I didn't think I was doing too bad of a job when he jumped up on the stairs and grabbed the wheel and said turn this way. I was a little mad at this point and told him I didn't think that was necessary being there were 12 docks there and not another trailer backed into any of them. I may have been 3 feet off and a pull up would of corrected my backup.
Last night I was driving and he was in the sleeper as usual and I had to use the restroom bad so I pulled into a rest area that was full of trucks, there was a empty spot to park. I was in a hurry to use the facilities and pulled in too short and I seen I was short in the mirror so I stopped and woke him up and said I shorted my turn and I got to go. I jumped out and ran for the restroom and when I came out he had parked the truck and was back in the sleeper. When I got in he started yelling how stupid I and would never be a truck driver as good as he was. I took off driving again and ignored his yelling and went about 200 miles and my eyes started to cross and I was falling asleep at the wheel so I pulled off on a onramp and pulled over. He yelled what are you doing and I told him I was tired being I hadn't really slept in days and I was going to take a nap. He started yelling we got to go. Then he started in again I was stupid and would never be a truck driver and I needed to go back to being a shipping mgr where I came from. I said yeah you are probably right and another mile would be too far with you and I told him I was getting out. He started laughing and said you can't get out here in the middle of nowhere. I said watch me and started packing up my stuff. He said you can just ride the rest of the trip and we will be home tomorrow, I said no not going another mile with you as a so called trainer. He started yelling again how stupid I was bla bla bla and I started laughing at him telling him how right he was for be being stupid enough to go all the way to California with a jerk like him. I got out right there on the onramp and told him get the hell away from me. He said you don't really want me to leave do you. I said get going your load is going to be late. He finally left and I walked into town and called my wife to come get me at 3:30am
My question is:
What should I expect from a trainer?
I am nowhere near where I need to be in safely operating a truck across the country and I know that. I expected a trainer to have a little patience with my screwups and tell me what I did wrong and how to correct the problem in the future, not yell I was stupid. Am I wrong for expecting this?
What I hate is the company is a really good company where you can run anywhere you want. You can take off any days you want. You can come home and stay off as long as you need to. I had heard from a friend of mine who started there that the trainer was a jerk and it would be a challege to get through the 25k miles. He said he about left many times during his training. This guy is the only trainer they have so this company is out for me now.