Profile For Bagheera

Bagheera's Info

  • Location:
    Miami, FL

  • Driving Status:
    In CDL School

  • Social Link:

  • Joined Us:
    10 years, 3 months ago

Bagheera's Bio

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Posted:  9 years, 11 months ago

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From Office Lady to Road Warrior - (MTTI - Miami, FL)

Hi, I would like to share my story. It all started on February last year with a 15-passenger van my brother bought at a county auction. He planned to use it as a food delivery van (or any cargo), but I suggested him to better use it to take tourists from the airport to hotels/ports and vice-versa. At that time I was still unemployed and still looking for administrative jobs (I have been working in administrative positions for almost 15 years, and also some web administration, graphic design and video editing, but things today are harsh in these fields). So he asked me to gather information about how to start a passenger transportation business and so I called the Consumer Affairs Department of Miami-Dade. A guy there told me that I needed a CDL class C to drive that vehicle and I had to look for someone willing to lease their PMC permit so I could operate, plus getting a hack license. Well, so there my accidental CDL story began. Time later I realized and was convinced by a lot of people, including the guys at DMV, that I didn't need a CDL to operate a passenger van (yup, that guy was a complete jerk for giving me the wrong info, and I was plain 'naive' for knowing nothing about transportation industry, generally speaking), but anyway I did need both the PMC and hack license. I already got the hack license, the DOT medical card, but leasing a PMC was expensive mostly due to the liability insurance the lady who agreed to lease the permit. At this moment you may scratch your heads and ask yourselves: And what the 'truck' (thanks Mr. Aquila for that one; I read your book and was awesome!) does it have to do with trucking? Well, here comes that part: I started reading the CDL manual and also was looking for reliable practice tests online. Then I found TruckingTruth.com, with awesome info about CDL generally speaking; at that moment I still didn't consider driving a truck but a passenger van, then a shuttle, then a coach or possibly a transit bus. Things started changing when looking for a school for the driving test (I passed the CDL exam at DMV and also the P endorsement, but didn't take the air brakes test since at that moment I wasn't going to drive a vehicle with that feature); after getting info for the road test, I found Metropolitan Trucking and Technical Institute. Like their competitors, they offered me an unlimited preparation page but I had to repeatedly decline since I couldn't afford it (I was unemployed and unlucky trying to find a decent job). Then one of their managers, a lady, offered me the WIA program because I met the requirements. But the only 'problem' was that this federal help was only for Class A vehicles (yeah, you guessed!). Anyway I told her: I'll take it! and I applied for it and later on I was sent to a CareerSource center (formerly South Florida Workforce). After two months of orientation, job searches, and taking mandatory (and boring) workshops by CareerSource, I finally was enrolled at MTTI in November, without me paying a dime. I may admit that on day one I was scared to death about the sole idea of driving a huge vehicle (even worse because I could never learn to drive a manual vehicle in my home country). You see, I always had fear and respect to trucks wherever I drove; I never challenged them neither cut them off like lots of people do in my area. Anyways, as soon as I sat on the truck and having one of the instructors teach me how to shift from R to N to 1 and coordinate my feet and pedals, all fear turned into excitement. But one thing I'll never lose is RESPECT TO TRUCKS. They're gentle giants but may pose dangerous and lethal if you underestimate them! Days passed and everybody there was telling me how good driver I was, even better than men (that was overkill lol). I was one of the few women enrolled in this school, not because of prejudices but maybe because of some persisting stereotypes about how truck drivers are seen by people. I was feeling more confident whenever I was behind the wheel, practicing the straight, offset, and later, the parallel parkings. Also my plans started experiencing changes. I wasn't only considering to apply for the county for a bus driver position or any private bus company but I was being open to the idea of driving trucks, especially with that exciting idea of going places with more freedom. I already applied to many companies through your website, I've received calls and emails but still working to get more pre-hires (already got one from Werner before in order to meet Careersource's elegibility requirements for WIA). Personally, I have been an unorthodox woman when it comes to gender-specific tasks. When I was a kid, I was some sort of an adventurous and intrepid tomboy, I played soccer when it was taboo for girls in my country (and still is), also played with toy cars and tops instead of dolls, and years later I had dreams of becoming an air pilot or race driver. Driving a big rig will fulfill a dream as a woman and human being, and also a personal challenge for me. So folks, I'm so far into 130 hours out of 184, I just passed the pre-trip last Friday at my first attempt, and I'm still preparing for both the parking and road tests. I can't wait to finally get my CDL A and graduate so I could be hired, start my company training and going places, and having fun on the road while paying off my debts and helping my family. And I'm sure I'll never ever go back to work in an office! :)

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