12:30! Man, must be nice to be able to skip out on work like that :wink: Actually, I might be swinging through on Thursday, it all depends on if I can get my car loaded with all my b/s tomorrow... I HATE moving!!!

:roll:


Ok, I swear I'm going to stop hijacking this thread now.... at least for tonight :wink:

 

indeed - moving is teh suck! be safe driving in this mess!

/hijack :P

 

are ya out of the shop yet?? Just wondering how you are doing?

tootie

 

Oh, just you go ahead and hijack yourself. I could care less, and the cross-talk is likely a welcomed diversion from Aristotle ops:

So:

Oh...........

My............

Stars..............

"Snoop" is a 2005 KW T-600 with 158,000 miles. Casper hit the skids today at the Dallas yard. I got routed to Dallas from Shreveport yesterday afternoon once having been released from Spa du' FrieghtBreaker. He, and all his myriad of other faults now become someone else's pre-occupation. Hasta, and thanks. Ya done good, buddy.

Powered by a Caterpillar C-15, Snoop moves like a 5-Series BMW. It is uncanny in how much better, overall, this truck is over the FL. First appreciable difference in the engine. While the FL had a Series-60 Detroit, rated impressively @ 515 hp, the C-15 feels as if much more attention was paid to the balancing of its internals. The engine is smoother, in terms of vibration and A WHOLE HECK OF A LOT QUIETER!!!!!!!!!!!

Despite the fact that both tractors came equipped with E/F 10 speeds, the 'box in the T-6 is like buttah. The brake modulation on the K-Dub is light years ahead as well. And guess what? IT'S A LOT QUIETER TOO!!!!!!!

The stereo rocks, the cabin feels really cozy, the seats are superb, the storage compartments are much more logical, and even though the interior feels smaller, it just seems to *work* better. Like someone who drives a truck for a living actually put their brain into the design. AND IT'S A LOT QUIETER. On the freeway, Snoop is almost serene. AT 65 mph, IT'S ALMOST HARD TO TELL IT'S RUNNING!!!!! And, Snoop comes with air horns with attitude. Deafening, actually. We'll stay away from those..... unless absolutely necessary. MEANWHILE...... hehe..... scared ya; didn't I?

OK, thinks I..... What have we learned from this? What made it all work? Why did Arrow choose to right all the wrongs and furnish a now 4 week noob with one of their more prized sleds? They even assigned me to a new driver-manager to boot.

The sheer diplomacy afforded by VP did not just *happen* all by itself. Some may say that I was such a whiner that they did all this just to get me to leave them alone. But I would disagree. While I was not so well-composed with my first DM, my reactionary behavior was in direct proportion to the treatment and BS I was being given. Suck it up, I've been told here. Ain't gonna happen..... I have a voice, and it will be heard. Come what may.

VP really went to bat. We had made some gentleman's agreements over the phone, backed up by several emails, and boom; fixed everything. Our time on the phone together, spanning several calls, amounted to about an hour in total. Not once did the conversation ever escalate to anything I would consider to be regrettable. Quite the opposite. It was so *matter-of-fact*, that it felt like no big deal. Almost to the extent of "why didn't you just call me in the first place?". Almost. And VP, with the precision of a surgeon, took care of each situation ***as promised***. A very honorable man indeed. And continued to follow up with me at each juncture.

Diplomacy, persistence, honor and follow through. This was a perfect study in constructive arbitration with an unusually attentive person. The man deserves recognition for his merits.

Tomorrow, I finish all the documentation concerning the swap. Casper is now empty, Snoop is loaded with all my securement and belongings. He and I are ready to rock and roll. Bob would have liked this truck. The nose of the T-6 is very much like his own. And the steps are much more Doberman-friendly. Poor guy; he got his toe stuck in one of the holes in the FL steps on day one of our journeys together. It took an hour to bring him back to reality from the event. He was very foot-shy. Boy, I miss that dog.......

I hope for eveyone's sake that the weather lets up in the central part of the country. All the news suggests that it is wreaking havock on business. Dallas is no exception. All I can wish for now is that day nine brings a QC with a nice phat juicy run to, like, Maui or Fiji or Tonga.... but San Diego would be cool too.

I salute you, Arrow. Nice work.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but this thing is REALLY A LOT QUIETER!"

:lol:

 

<hehe> I wouldn't necessarily have volunteered for that one. :shock:

So what desk do you drive, anyway? PM me sometime.

Thanks, toner. Where ever you are....

 

My '05 Freightliner had the kitty under it. Shift it at low RPMs, and let it lag down to about 900rpm before grabbing the next gear and that engine will out perform any in Arrow's fleet.

The guys on the lease side never understood how I could get this "inferior" truck to constantly out perform on fuel mileage. Few people read the manual on how to drive CAT's ACERT engines! :wink: As a company driver, that will allow the truck to open up to 68 that much faster for you - for me, it kept money in my pocket at the fuel desk!

 

Hey clint, I PMed you but never heard back :cry: oh well....good luck to ya. The KW is a much nicer truck.

when you are ready.....dont forget about doberman rescue!! :lol:

tootie

 

Hi Clint.........

I start orientation at Arrow on Feb. 12th. Just wondered, I've been told about an obstacle course/road test. What's it like? Is it pass/fail as in fail and you're going home? I have enjoyed reading your adventures and just when I thought I better look harder for other companies the VP calls you out and takes the bull by the horns so to speak. That was all I needed so I'm off to Tulsa. I am a noob so anything you can tell me about orientation and training will be greatly appreciated.
BOL 2 U

 

......And the rays of sunshine continue to peek through the clouds.

Last night I had a great time hanging out in the sparsely decorated driver's lounge in Tulsa. The decor, laughably, includes an aluminum angle-iron secured TV. I just love that..... very industrial.....

For starters though, me and Snoop had a nice getting-to-know-you run up to Tulsa from Dallas. What an elegant piece of machinery, the T-600. It simply g-l-i-d-e-s along the highway. I'm loving it. Again, I feel compelled to express my sincere appreciation to all of those who made the transition possible.

While chillin' with the fella's in the Arrow Industrial Lounge, I happened upon an extremely warm person who goes by the name "Mr. Please". This guy outsizes me considerably. I would NOT EVER wish to be on this person's sh%t list.... Like, ever. Yet, he was one of the most engaging people I have met at Arrow to date. There were some equally cool people there too. We had a great time laughing at people who would be so dumb as to spend their days and nights before orientation partying and then come all the way down to school only to fail their drug screens horribly. We laughed and laughed.

I went on to speak with Mr. Please about my recent dilemmas. After being ridiculed mercilessly by my fellow alumni, Mr. Please and I had some time to share some deeper camaraderie and insight. He is an extremely well-articulated person. We looked at everything together and were able to constructively analyze everything. I reminded him that first and foremost, I came to Arrow to work; not twiddle. Our chat lasted for an hour or so and came away from the experience with some valuable information on how I might better align myself with my superiors.

Yes; I do *need* to be told from time to time, as I am a highly independent thinker, and not one to cave easily to those in places above my position. But, I believe that things are on the mend.

0800. My first experience with the "safety lane" at the Arrow repair facility. What a cool thing. They look at everything on the truck in this area of the shop. Apparently, Snoop hadn't seen the inside of a shop in a while. I knew, beforehand, that he was overdue for service, and that was why I was so insistent on getting him back to Tulsa. The safety check revealed a few things requiring service that even I wasn't aware of. Can ya believe that one???? Very thorough. Snoop gets a "medical card" from these guys, promptly gets put out of service, and off I go to the service desk to get him placed in the work schedule. He should be seen by the doctors on the night shift and ready to go tomorrow.

With that in mind, I check in with my new DM and we conclude that I *can* go home for a couple days. Cool. Call a cab, reserve a car at Thrifty, and I'm ready to head back to my home in Neosho. Nice.

I do my errands in Tulsa, book a massage, get back in the car and I'm heading east on 40. A little voice tells me to call my landlord and see how things are up in Neosho. I come to find out that most of the community is without power, including my house. Murphy strikes again. Shucks.

OK. Deep breath. I check in at the Days Inn West; Arrow's newly-approved hotel. Lug the luggage up to the room, fire up my trusty Powerbook, and guess what? Their modem is crashed. I call up the front desk and ask them to re-boot the modem and the router; nothing. Breath again. Lug the luggage *back* down the stairs, get a refund and drive back east *again* to another hotel where I know the network works. Hallelujah. Got heat, hot water and a wireless signal that works. Wheew.

Call the DM back and tell him I'll be staying in town as opposed to staying in a dark house. He tells me to check in in person with dispatch @ 0730 tomorrow and see about getting a load. I really like this guy. His very first QuaalCom to me was "don't call me unless it's an emergency". Hmm, wonder if someone told him something..... Anyway, we had a great chat, he's cool and both of us shared some well deserved laughs. Things are improving rapidly.

I am feeling much better. I will also be mailing thank you cards to the people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to work with me. My energy, respect and commitment has been restored to the extent that I would happily recommend this company to anyone seeking to get into flatbed.

[quote] mtnelson94 wrote: I start orientation at Arrow on Feb. 12th. Just wondered, I've been told about an obstacle course/road test. What's it like? Is it pass/fail as in fail and you're going home?[quote]

My orientation class was truncated due to xmas. We didn't get the full whamma-jamma. It is my understanding that if your driving skills leave the trainers feeling uncomfortable, you might be required to run with a trainer for a while. This has been the case with one new-hire, whose partner I email regularly.

Understand where this comes from: Flatbedding differs from van hauling in that load securement is critical, for all the obvious reasons. If the headspace of a new driver is consumed with simply managing the truck over the road, there simply won't be enough resources available to contemplate and configure a strategy for proper securement.

The requirement of running with a trainer isn't an insult by any means, which is how some people might take it. To the contrary, it is Arrow's way in which they can do everything reasonably possible, with a potential new hire, to insure that you will be fit, on all levels, to properly handle a rig *and* secure a load, both legally and safely.

Take it as a gesture recognizing your potential, and not as an insult, and you will be profoundly rewarded for your open-mindedness. To be sure, these people in driver-development are tough, but they have to be. The opportunity for disaster is enormous, where securement is concerned.

Good luck, man. Do your honest best, and absorb *everything*.

 

And so we begin with another driver's experience at Arrow:

My S/O was supposed to start orientation w/Arrow on Jan 3 but do to my health issues, he didn't set out until last Saturday, Jan 13. Little did he know that an ice storm was about to hit the Texas/Oklahoma area and he ended up diverted to El Paso and stuck; no buses heading out! According to the recruiter, many "soon to be" Arrow drivers were stranded in various areas and just as stuck!

To Arrow's credit, on Tuesday, they flew each and every one of those prospective drivers into Tulsa to begin their much awaited orientation. Honey's first shock was that they were two to a room - an industry norm - though he was unaware as his first company put you in your own room. The training has been hurried due to time lost by the storm(s), but as others have stated; there is a focus on safety and attention to detail.

To my honey's disappointment, he was determined to need additional time w/a trainer and no Clint, this had absolutely nothing to do w/securement. This particular group did not secure a single load during orientation/training due to time constraints. My S/O's issue was backing and only backing. They commented that he did perfectly well (very good as a matter of fact) on all other facets of driving.

My question, and it is best answered by tndieselgrl or any other driver that has been trained, or knows the trainers at Arrow, is; how are their trainers and what is the training "climate?" He had an absolutely horrendous experience at his former company - the guy yelled and screamed almost constantly :x - and this often had nothing to do w/my honey! The guy was your typical "type A" stressed out nut! He is dreading going out w/a trainer for the simple fact that he does not want a repeat of that experience and WILL NOT accept it this time around!