Comments By Mike H

Having a criminal background is not as earth shattering as you seem to believe it is. I have been driving for 15 years. I love every minute of it. Probally I retirement party will consist of the dot prying my dead hands off the wheel and being taking to the graveyard.

But before all that I spent 1 year at Cummins Unit(minimum security) penitentiary and 4 years at Tucker max in Arkansas for fighting and nearly killing someone while at the Cummings Unit.

I appreciate the honesty and maybe 19 years ago it wasn't that hard to get into and keep a job with a background like yours. Mine is similar but with another charge or 2 on top of that. But today with insurance companies dictating who can be hired to the companies they insure it is extremely important as a rookie with a bad back round to keep a squeaky clean driving record because after you prove you can drive safely they tend to start turning a blind eye to the criminal stuff. I know I wont be stuck with my current company forever but I also know if I get any kind of violation even in my personal vehicle I lessen my chances of moving on. This has been told to me by numerous recruiters.

Also I don't let it hold me back society still uses it against me. I also know that I have to be safer and work a little harder then the person without the background that is all I was saying.

Having a criminal background is not as earth shattering as you seem to believe it is. I have been driving for 15 years. I love every minute of it. Probally I retirement party will consist of the dot prying my dead hands off the wheel and being taking to the graveyard.

But before all that I spent 1 year at Cummins Unit(minimum security) penitentiary and 4 years at Tucker max in Arkansas for fighting and nearly killing someone while at the Cummings Unit.

I appreciate the honesty and maybe 19 years ago it wasn't that hard to get into and keep a job with a background like yours. Mine is similar but with another charge or 2 on top of that. But today with insurance companies dictating who can be hired to the companies they insure it is extremely important as a rookie with a bad back round to keep a squeaky clean driving record because after you prove you can drive safely they tend to start turning a blind eye to the criminal stuff. I know I wont be stuck with my current company forever but I also know if I get any kind of violation even in my personal vehicle I lessen my chances of moving on. This has been told to me by numerous recruiters.

Let me apologize for coming off like a **** I gotta stop posting after my shift I tend to be a little cranky. Bret I know you are right I should tone it down and handled it different with dispatch "more flies with honey" right. Redgator I know you weren't against me I know you were trying to help and I apologize for insinuating you were taking dispatch side. Crazy Rebel what you said about the QUALCOMM even if that were to work which I only know for sure it works with over weight my company would never do that and if I did drive with the lights out and gotten caught I would have been in a world of crap with safety and the owner. I mean possible being fired deff suspension. They have a zero tolerance policy on unsafe and illegal driving they let you get away with it until you get caught. As far as csa scores effecting your future employment it may not have effected yours but with my criminal stuff it sure will mine I can 't afford anything on my record even something extremely minor for a while.

Im really not trying to be rude when I say this but you really need to change your attitude. All of your post seem borderline aggressive. The worst thing you can do in this industry is have a bad attitue. Sometimes a little finess goes a long way. As a rookie you need to count your blessings that you have a good paying job. Appreciate your oppurtunitys and learn from your errors. Yes it was wrong of dispatch to say that but it was just as wrong of you to handle it that way. Ive been out here 7 months and have never had issues because I have a positive attitude. Ive faced trials yes but found solutions because I have a POSITIVE ATTITUDE.

Maybe my post are a little aggressive that is the type of person I am and I have yet to make a mistake so not much of me to learn from. Also I thought this was a truck driver website all I'm hearing is people sticking up for the dispatch. Here's something for new and old drivers and I really shouldn't have to say this everybody should already know. With Csa 2010 everything falls on the driver so and it is our RESPONIBILTY to drive safe equipment and do it in a safe manner. If I would have let dispatch and my shop talk me into driving with 8 lights out I would have been fined and placed out of service at the scale house. I explained that to her and my shop and that is why I sat not because I was ****y or rude because at first I wasn't. And when she started to scream at me like I'm a child instead is cursing her out like I want to I hung up and went over her head. And it worked I got fixed delivered and am headed to Orlando in the morning for a pick up. Also got a call from the owner thanking me for being smart and not driving the truck until it was fixed.

"And the 2nd rule of trucking is "Do not aggravate or show up your dispatcher" or you'll be saying things like "I sat 10 hours before they decided to give me approval to call roadside repair". Now I can almost assure you that you're "in the doghouse" as they say and you're not going to get any favors from dispatch for quite a long time. They most certainly made you wait on purpose because they're aggravated with you. Even when you disagree with them, keep it respectful and polite. The difference between happiness and misery in trucking is exactly one mad dispatcher. So tread lightly when dealing with dispatch. Don't scream and yell, don't threaten or call names, and don't try to make them look bad."

Bret trust me I know and have heard stories of the way dispatchers can screw you if you upset them and that is the last thing I wanted to do. But this is not my normal dispatcher it is the nighttime weekend dispatcher so I won't have many issues to deal with thank god and also I'm not going to let anyone even the owner of the company try to tell me I have to drive a truck unsafe and illegal makes no difference if I have 3 months or 30 years it's not going to happen I was trained better then that at school and with the trainer I had here. I had no other option but to call safety they were not going to budge unless I either sat there until the normal dispatcher and breakdown dept people were in this morning or safety called and told them to get me fixed.

My first thought is how a pretrip might have been beneficial in this case, would have circumvented the whole nightmare.

Wow a pretrip what a great idea I should have thought about that. I did do a pretrip that is how I got green lights through every scale house from California to Florida. I do my pretrips and enroutes like i'm supposed to. This problem was not able to be picked up on a pretrip.

My stepmother thinks I made a mistake by becoming a truck driver. She thinks I should quit before I get fired. I look at it this way. If I was going to get fired, I don't think they would have continued to put me on other loads.

Dave

Have you gotten into any accidents, fines, oos, freight claims, or caused damage to anything besides maybe your truck? If not then nothing to worry about stuff happens. Keep on trucking and drive safely.

The subject is not a typo that is actually a statement made to me from my breakdown department and my dispatcher. Here's what happened. Coming across I-10 east into Florida pass the agriculture inspection station then the weigh station green lights at both places so I keep on trucking down the road. About 20 miles later I move to the hammer lane to allow anther truck to merge onto the interstate. Put my flasher on and check my left mirror and see I have a marker light out at rear of trailer. I think great not first time this has happened to me hopefully a lose bulb. See a rest area is 2 miles down the road stop there get out and I have 8 lights out not 1. 2 of which are a break light and turn signal. Call the shop tell them they call back and say 80 miles down the road is a TA drive there and get fixed. I politely tell them no my truck will not move with one light out let alone 8. He says I'll call you back. 20 minutes later I get a call from dispatch demanding me to drive to the TA and get repaired and politely again I tell her no. Then she starts yelling at me saying you will be fined if you are late on this delivery. I inform her that I am 36 hours early and only 450 miles away and if I am late it will be because I'm on the phone arguing with you and not calling roadside repair to come fix me and I hang up on her. Message safety then call him and he has my back like I knew he would. Long story short I sat 10 hours before they decided to give me approval to call roadside repair then another 3 hours for the guy to get to me and repair me. Fun times.

Yeah, I totally agree with Freightdog. I've watched people for years struggle to get a shot in the trucking industry with problems on their record. Some people never do get an opportunity and wind up finding work outside of trucking altogether. It seems to me you have every reason to be thrilled that someone is giving you a chance to show you can be a safe, professional driver in spite of past discretions.

And 3 months in the trucking industry proves nothing. That's barely dipping your toes in the water. It's definitely going to take at least a year to get more opportunities with major carriers, and possibly longer. Some carriers have a policy of no felonies or DUI's in a person's lifetime and they won't give you a chance at all. But many will eventually give you an opportunity, but not after three months.

To be out there getting fantastic miles, making extra bucks as a trainer, and having an opportunity to drive a rig for a living in spite of your past is an incredible blessing that I hope you can appreciate and make the most of. I think your expectations are definitely a bit too high.

And I know I'm not the only one that's wondering what you're unhappy with at your current company. If your expectations of getting an opportunity with other companies after only three months were a bit too high then maybe your expectations of your current company are a bit off track also. They took a big risk by giving you an opportunity. They've made you a trainer. They're giving you awesome miles. From the looks of your picture you're driving a real nice Volvo. I'm not sure what else they're supposed to be doing for ya at this point.

Guess it's the "grass always looks greener on the other side' thing I was going thru. My problem with my current company is dispatch and the way the planner plan the loads. Also the fact that we the drivers do everything from setting the appointments to constantly talking with the brokers. I have 4 friends that work for 4 different companies that say this is not normal for a company driver to do. Dispatch messages me the load and fuel route and that is it I'm on my own. Now on the plus side my 4 friends 2 of which work for the 2 big companies tell me I'm making way more money then them so I guess I should follow everybody's advice and don't worry too much about the dispatch issues I am having. Just do my job the best I can be as safe and professional as I can and be patient and things will fall into place. And Brett it a 2011 International Prostar not a Volvo.

Sounds like a problem of high expectations and low acceptance. I've found that living life with a high level of acceptance for whatever is thrown my way and low expectations of how things "should" be instead keeps me much more centered, happy, and healthy than when I lived the other way around. It sounds like you've been given a pretty good opportunity to keep distancing yourself from your past, so just keep rolling with the punches, maintain a good attitude (try going an entire day without complaining about anything at all, either out loud or in your head and then try again the next day, and the day after, and so on. Be pleasant and smile with anyone you come across, even if you have to force it. I'll bet that within a week you'll be amazed at how differently you feel.), and keep a safe driving and service record, and before you know it the next right opportunity will come along. Best of luck to you, driver.

Yes freightdog you may be correct. And I like your advise and will give it a try. Thanks