Dakota's Prime Inc. Diary

That is true. I’m not opposed to giving him a shot seeing as how I only talked to him for about thirty minutes. Part of me just feels like our personalities are going to clash. My roommate who has been a driver for quite awhile told me that I should steer clear of him, but I’m still on the fence.

We won’t actually leave until Sunday and I could probably get it changed tomorrow if I wanted to, I just want to make sure I’m not making a wrong move here.

So I met my trainer today and I’m not 100% sure if we’re going to click. He came on pretty strong with enforcing that he’s been driving for 19 years and he knows what he’s doing and not to tell him he’s inexperienced. I understand that he wanted me to be confident in him, but it was borderline hostile sounding. He assured me that he would yell, but then would explain why he yelled and he’d go right back to being a nice guy.

What are yalls opinion on this? I know I’m new so I could be reading him really wrong, but it was kind of hard to read him. One minute he seemed hostile and the next he was being cordial. I thought maybe I would give it a week at the least, but I also don’t want to waste his time if I’m already having second thoughts after talking to him for 30 minutes.

From a lot of the diaries I have read it seems like that's how a lot of the trainers are. Heck, a lot of truck driver's in general seem to be that way. Type A personalities. I say stick with it and see how it goes. Hard to tell a lot from a 30 minute introduction. Of course if you are with him for a week and simply can't stand to be in the truck with him then speak with your recruiter and see if you can get a change. It will most likely slow you down a couple of days waiting for them to find you a new trainer but what do I know LOL I'm not even there yet. If he's been driving 19 years and is a trainer with Prime I'm sure he knows his stuff and could impart a wealth of knowledge if you can get along. Just my 2 cents. I'm sure a veteran will chime in with some sage advice for you. Best of luck.

Brett, you seem to always come in with the hard truth, do you have any advice for me?

Quick question. What division do you plan on going to? Reefer , flatbed or tanker?

New to the forum and I've really enjoyed reading these diaries. they really help give a prospective student an idea of what to expect. I too am going to go to prime. I'm just trying to make sure my blood pressure is exactly where it needs to be so I don't have any hiccups once I get to the Prime facility. I'm in California so I will be attending orientation in Utah instead of Missouri though.

My question regarding your question is: What is best in your opinion and why? I'm going after all my endorsements so I can with any of them.

To INIKITS, congrats on passing your permit tests! I too am not keen on the bus ride thing... I may opt to fly myself out there if I can afford a plane ticket.

I am partial to tanker because that is my division. Honestly though I would recommend starting in reefer or flatbed. Being a new driver driving a fully loaded tank is a whole nother animal. You really can't go wrong with reefer or flatbed either. There is a lot of money to be made here. Best of luck..

So I met my trainer today and I’m not 100% sure if we’re going to click. He came on pretty strong with enforcing that he’s been driving for 19 years and he knows what he’s doing and not to tell him he’s inexperienced. I understand that he wanted me to be confident in him, but it was borderline hostile sounding. He assured me that he would yell, but then would explain why he yelled and he’d go right back to being a nice guy.

What are yalls opinion on this? I know I’m new so I could be reading him really wrong, but it was kind of hard to read him. One minute he seemed hostile and the next he was being cordial. I thought maybe I would give it a week at the least, but I also don’t want to waste his time if I’m already having second thoughts after talking to him for 30 minutes.

Remember that it works both ways. Not only is he interviewing you but you are also getting a feel for him. This is your learning environment and your career. If you don't feel comfortable with him then you are well within your right to go with someone else and going into the reefer division then there are no shortage of trainers. Also you could maybe give it a try and if things don't click then you can easily switch trainers and Prime will not give you any problems at all about it.

Thanks again, Ice! I think I’m going to go ahead and ask to switch today after class. I talked to a few other seasoned drivers and they told me if I’m already having doubts about us getting along I should just switch now and that I need to learn to trust my gut feeling the first time. Like I said, he seemed like an alright guy, but something about him just didn’t feel right to me and some of the things he said rubbed me the wrong way. I’ll keep you guys in the loop.

Today started at about 6:15 am for me. I got up, hit the shuttle to go to Millennium, and we got to listen to a safety meeting that had a lot of good information in it. Then we had a small class about our health and have gone on a little tour of the entire campus.

So I met my trainer today and I’m not 100% sure if we’re going to click. He came on pretty strong with enforcing that he’s been driving for 19 years and he knows what he’s doing and not to tell him he’s inexperienced. I understand that he wanted me to be confident in him, but it was borderline hostile sounding. He assured me that he would yell, but then would explain why he yelled and he’d go right back to being a nice guy.

What are yalls opinion on this? I know I’m new so I could be reading him really wrong, but it was kind of hard to read him. One minute he seemed hostile and the next he was being cordial. I thought maybe I would give it a week at the least, but I also don’t want to waste his time if I’m already having second thoughts after talking to him for 30 minutes.

Remember that it works both ways. Not only is he interviewing you but you are also getting a feel for him. This is your learning environment and your career. If you don't feel comfortable with him then you are well within your right to go with someone else and going into the reefer division then there are no shortage of trainers. Also you could maybe give it a try and if things don't click then you can easily switch trainers and Prime will not give you any problems at all about it.

So, after the class we went out to the pads and studied pretrip and got to take a lap around the pad in a manual truck, which by the way, I am TERRIBLE at apparently. We only got to do one lap though and there wasn’t much time to get a feel for it because there’s a lot of people in my class.

Now, I spent some time with my assigned trainer outside and did pretrip with him and I think I may have misjudged him to an extent. He is DEFINITELY a little aggressive, but he seems to know his stuff and wants me to pass everything, and after all that’s what I came here to do. I think yesterday I may have just been tired and nervous about the whole situation in general so the slightly off putting first meeting gave me bad juju. SO, I’m just going to stick it out and try to soak up as much information as I can from him, given he says he’s been at prime for something like 16 years.

So my trainer wanted me to stay the night with him in his truck last night and I was at his house all day yesterday. This is a little unexpected, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to go on with him as my trainer because the cigarette smoke has my sinuses really screwed up to the point I’m having trouble breathing and sleeping. I didn’t think this would be an issue since I smoked for quite awhile but I haven’t had a cigarette in a month now so I think it’s catching up to me. The only reason I’m thinking it’s the cigarette smoke is because I was fine all this week up until spending time at his house, where he smokes inside. At this point it has nothing to do with his personality and more to do with me not knowing I couldn’t handle being around cigarette smoke like I used to. I’m going to talk to him about it today.

I’ll keep updating.

New update! So i talked to my trainer and we both agreed it would be better for my health if I switched trainers. We’re going to talk to our FM in the morning so I’m back at campus and about to order a pizza. I’ve been here for a couple of hours now and I already feel way better than I did earlier today regarding my sinuses and stuff.

Nice, I am not sure if it is an option, but I will request a non smoker as a trainer. My grandma smoked around me for years as a kid, and I honestly can't stand the smell never mind second hand smoke is pretty bad for your health.

That is absolutely an option! They give you a few different options so you’re not stuck with one thing.

Nice, I am not sure if it is an option, but I will request a non smoker as a trainer. My grandma smoked around me for years as a kid, and I honestly can't stand the smell never mind second hand smoke is pretty bad for your health.