Location:
Columbus, OH
Driving Status:
Rookie Solo Driver
Social Link:
I am 52 years old. I have 2 grown children. I was born and raised in Los Angles near Venice Beach. I left when I was 20. I walked away from a life that was headed for either death or prison and never looked back. I have lived in 6 states since then. I get restless and need a new adventure so I pick up and move, somewhere, anywhere. I have been a hairdresser for 32 years, I have been a safety coordinator for BP, I have built above ground pools and put up siding on houses, I worked in real estate, I worked for the Veterans Affairs Hospitals in West Los Angeles and Columbus Ohio, I got my GED and my Associate of Arts degree with a focus on Psychology from Columbus State Community College with a GPA of 3.67 at age 46. I then attended Ohio State University for a year. I have 96 semester credits towards a psychology degree. I then dropped out due to my step fathers death and losing the house he was renting to me for 250.00 a month so I could go to college. I went to Charlotte North Carolina and Managed 3 Great Clips Salons over the next 3 1/2 years. I threw myself into my work and became known as a fixer. I took stores that were in serious decline and put them on the path of growth. I think I became a really good manager, but I just was not seeing any real satisfaction in my position and I needed a break. I needed to figure out what would make me happy and give me a sense of satisfaction, so I quit my job, packed up and came back to Columbus Ohio where my children, my mother and my sister live. I have been back now for 6 months working as a stylist at Great Clips, (I am very fast and good at cutting so I make about 20.00 an hour). I crash at my mothers, have a storage unit, minimal bills and no ties to anyone or any place. My children are 21 and 34 years old. They don't really need me hanging around anymore. My passion is writing and I think I am pretty good at it so I have started writing a fiction novel that seems to have developed into a young adult story.
That is where I am now in my life and how I ended up contemplating what to do next. I am bored in my career and can no longer seem to enjoy standing on slab cement 35 hours a week cutting 100+ people a week. And so I had the brilliant idea of becoming a long distance truck driver. I grew up with a few truck drivers so I knew the life. I have always been a true loner, I have driven across the country 5 times, I am a rule follower and a pretty good driver. My last ticket for no seat belt was in 2002, my last speeding ticket was 26 years ago and my only DUI was 25 years ago but was pleaded down to a Reckless Operation. I learned my lesson big time.
Driving a truck just sounded perfect. I could be alone, write and drive all over the country. I worried that I would not qualify because of my age and height. I am only 5' 1 1/2", but getting on this forum has made me realize that it is possible. So I have been working my way through the High Road CDL prep tests and studying every chance I get. I think I have decided to apply for Roehl Transport so I can do their school. I am saving money so I have a couple of months of bill and food, etc. money to get me though until I start the training, which they advertise as paying 500.00 a week. I can live off that.
I am sitting at Panera Bread with my laptop getting ready to study more since I want to be totally prepared before I apply for my new career. That is my story.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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They call me Miss Daisy cause I am always below speed limit. Getting there 10 min earlier is just not worth the risk.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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No problem. I bring things up as they come to me. I have been a student most of my life mainly because I can't sit still. I enjoy learning new things, but I suffer from a high IQ, so I am constantly testing my boundaries. Hence, my familiarity with failure. And my acceptance of humility. Lol. I also enjoy the wisdom that is offered up on this site. I just feel the need to point it out when I see, which sometimes it does, sway towards being a b*** session for trainers. Not a learning experience for trainees. I always have viewed this as a no bulls*** site that gives a positive perspective of truck driving for newbies. Not a place for trainers to bash their trainees. That will definitely not draw new drivers to this site.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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Thank you. I am on a roll. I just think we need to accept that there is always room to grow.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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I am hearing this alot from trainers lately. It really bothers me. You need to think as a trainee. You need to figure things out. You need to know why you are doing what you are doing. Just because we are ignorant when we first started out does not mean we are stupid. Why would a trainer threaten to throw you off the truck because you wanted to try following a different route instead of explaining why that would not be a great decision, and having an adult conversation about it. Maybe it's just me but lately I have been seeing alot of egos flying in the face of what is supposed to be called mentoring.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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I just wanted to say how I view failure. Without failure you will never truly know success. It is the same with happiness. How do you know what happiness is if you have never experienced sadness. When we screw up we learn and we become better at what we do. Perfect people are only a pain in the a**. Nobody likes them or can learn from them. My motto is always, " there are no mistakes, only opportunities.". Just wanted to put my thoughts out there. As a newbie that screws up on a regular basis, but who owns it and learns from it.
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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I am confused. What does politics have to do with a student who is having trouble owning up to his own short comings? When someone has this issue it is usually fear that is driving it. Try addressing his fear of failure. Help him to understand that each time you fail you have more information and ability to succeed. You can not succeed if you do not experience failure. They coincide. One leads to the other. The trick is to do it gracefully.
Posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
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Thanks for the replies. I have never worked this long and hard without days off. I think because I am still learning I get so exhausted. I have had two days I had to park because of weather and one reset since Dec 22nd. I love making the money, which is alot more than I was making managing salons, but I am an overacheiver and have a tendency to run till I want to quit. So I was just trying to get a sense of what was an appropriate amount of time to ask for and when to ask for it.
Posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
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Just wanted to get a sense of how often people take home time and how long do you usually stay out before requesting time off.
Posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
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Advice on making tight right turns
Thanks. I have been having nightmares about it all night. After that right turn off Gravel Hill Road going to DHL in PA. I am gun shy
Posted: 5 years, 9 months ago
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Failure
I am glad that you posted that clarification. Sometimes I read from a trainer their view of a trainees mistake and I wonder why they react with such an attitude of "just don't do that!!". I guess it just bothered me when I read the threads about the guy that was excited about his new GPS. I understand what you are saying about some mistakes being not acceptable. But when it comes to understanding why we have to do certain things instead of just doing them, I feel that once we get out there and we are alone we need to have that understanding. My experience s were based in backing and understanding the GPS. It took many hours of backing by myself with the help of many amazing truckers to understand how the truck reacts to my movements because the trainers I had just told me how to do it instead of helping me understand why it works that way. I also was never told how the Qualcomm and GPS differ. It took time for me to understand how to use them together and when to not pay attention to the GPS. I just feel that when a student is ignorant to certain things and starts to make a bad decision regarding making a turn down a road that leads nowhere a trainer shouldn't get on this site and boast about how he or she threatened to throw him off the truck because of that. Maybe I read it wrong or was a bit too sensitive to the situation. I apologize if I took it the wrong way. I just know how it feels to be new and excited about this career and feeling crushed by my inability to understand what and why a trainer is telling me to do something.