H.O. Wolding

On the bus and on my way. Isn't looking good. Have to wait and see if there is enough people. If not my 2 hour layover will get a lot longer. I am beginning to think I should of just rented a car and called it good, lol. I rather be driving than riding anyway.

lol. I rather be driving than riding anyway.

Oh...... don't worry. Before long you'll be doing LOTS of driving! Good Luck

Thank you.

Well... I made it to Chicago. Now begins another layover. All this hurrying up to wait is almost worse than the military, lol. I truly dislike being unproductive. I am a do'er. Sitting here just waiting is borderline mind numbing. Then again it could just be the initial stages of sleep deprivation kicking in. Back to people watching I go. I will keep everybody up to speed.

Well... I made it to Chicago. Now begins another layover. All this hurrying up to wait is almost worse than the military, lol. I truly dislike being unproductive. I am a do'er. Sitting here just waiting is borderline mind numbing. Then again it could just be the initial stages of sleep deprivation kicking in. Back to people watching I go. I will keep everybody up to speed.

Please do keep us updated! I have honestly heard nothing but good things about H.O. Wolding! That's always a positive.

Well... I made it to Chicago. Now begins another layover. All this hurrying up to wait is almost worse than the military, lol. I truly dislike being unproductive. I am a do'er. Sitting here just waiting is borderline mind numbing. Then again it could just be the initial stages of sleep deprivation kicking in. Back to people watching I go. I will keep everybody up to speed.

I'd like to point out something here. Hurry up and wait is something you're going to be seeing a LOT of in the trucking industry. I strongly suspect that drivers in training are INTENTIONALLY exposed to long days, odd delays, and problems, to see how they react to irritating situations. It's far better for a company to discover someone has no patience and/or has a bad attitude during the training process, than after they get on the road.

Example:

You are assigned a load overnight. Your appointment is 0900, and getting there will be tight.

You manage to get there, barely on time.

You drop your trailer, and then have to sit for twelve hours before your load is ready.

You are expected to be ready to drive a full day after those twelve hours. If you can't, you won't make it to final on time.

BUT the timing of everything has put you off your normal sleep schedule, and you only got two hours sleep.

If you really can't drive due to fatigue, you might have to delay getting on the road or take a nap after a while to get some rest.

That leads to you only getting a couple hundred miles in before the load is repowered off you to a team or trainer truck that can get the delivery there on time.

**

The driver that most companies want, would simply do what they can do safely, and document on the trip sheet that they came off the sleeper line four hours before going back into sleeper. The next time that driver speaks to the DM , they will be calm, collected, and ask nicely for a load with plenty of time and a lot of miles to compensate for the tight load they couldn't complete due to sleep-time flipflopping.

I understand patience is a virtue. I am fully aware I am not a very virtuous person in that arena. I am not going to be jumping up and down and acting a fool. I will get grumpy and sarcastic though. Well, more sarcastic. I am already a very sarcastic individual.

I figure if I do things right I should find constructive ways to utilize down time.

I'd like to point out something here. Hurry up and wait is something you're going to be seeing a LOT of in the trucking industry. I strongly suspect that drivers in training are INTENTIONALLY exposed to long days, odd delays, and problems, to see how they react to irritating situations. It's far better for a company to discover someone has no patience and/or has a bad attitude during the training process, than after they get on the road.

I agree with this completely. I believe the entire training process and orientation process is one long interview. They're going to be testing you to see if you're the type of person that has the right attitude, demeanor, listening skills, and ambition to handle this job. So approach everything that happens as if they're testing you to see how you'll react.

I will get grumpy and sarcastic though

You'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you do that in the beginning. People that work in the offices and experienced drivers that are doing the training do not take well to that sort of thing. Now once you really get to know someone you can probably cut loose a little bit. But in the beginning especially, lay low for a while. Wait until you see how many really lousy attitudes you're going to come across there from the other new drivers. Within a few hours of interacting with the others you're going to instantly be able to spot people who won't be around for long. And trust me, the people running these programs are watching closely for this also.

In fact, they're not only looking for lousy attitudes but they're looking to see which people hang out a lot with those lousy attitudes. So you would do yourself a favor to stay away from them. I can assure you there will be people who get sent home within the first few days simply because they don't have the right attitude to handle the challenges that are coming and stick around through it all. These companies aren't going to waste their time and money on people who will quit in a month anyhow, and they can spot em quickly.

So just lay low and go with the flow. That's the best approach to take. It's like a tryout to make the team and most people will not make the team. You'll see what I mean.

Well.. I am here at the terminal. Bunk house is Spartan, but comfortable. Tomorrow will start bright and early at 6 am.

First day is complete. Today we all went out to breakfast as 6am. After that we signed out vehicles and went to do physicals. We were broke down into 2 groups and sent separate places for physicals. There are 5 of us in orientation. I guess that is a big group for orientation. Normally they only have 2 to 4 people. After physicals we did road tests. After road tests was lunch. After lunch we went down to 1 of the 2 training yards. We worked on a 90 degree back with a 53' trailer. We backed between 2 trailers. The out of bounds is 50' from the edge of the trailers. We also worked on button hook turns. I thought is was cool because 1 of the owning family came down to watch the training. I know I am going to enjoy working here. Everybody calls each other by first names. Everybody has been super friendly and approachable. Of all the drivers I have talked to, they all say the same thing. Focus on safety and work hard. If you work hard, the company will bend over backwards to get you home time. Even it means sending you home deadhead or bobtail. Btw, we get paid the same rate regardless of loaded, unloaded, or bobtail. Well, time to go. Need to go grab some supper.