Comments By Roehl-Lee

Ok ladies- if you're built like me then you know what I'm talking about. any suggestions? I'm almost considering researching all the highways and highlighting them in the atlas so I can dress accordingly...

Thanks Tim- good to know. The 99% of my brain that's usually pretty sane can use that to subdue the panicking 1% lol

PJ- no, I wish I was 10 years younger, I would do flatbed in a heartbeat..unfortunately I think I'd probably get hurt even if I could manage to get in!!

G-Town - thanks you for helping to clarify what I was trying to convey in the earlier post -the DOT physical is bare minimum requirements, black and white, for safety. The Company physical (what I called a 'different beast') is an employers screening for economic viability or as could be said- a companies CYA procedure. I have NO problem with that. At no point did I whine about 'those meanies who unfairly discriminated against me for silly irrelevant blah blah' --no, because I GET IT. I've hired, fired, sat unemployment hearings, priced group insurance policies. The Company procedures that I was caught in are NOBODIES fault. I don't think the policies are bad, wrong, or unfair. The point I was trying to make in the earlier posting was this- Don't confuse the policies and rationale of the DOT physical for the policies and rationale of the Company physical. When I got to the Company physical after delays for buses with no heat, no brakes, snow storms, multiple extended visits in bus terminals (13 hours in Chicago OMG) arriving a day late, bunking with a hyper-wound Puerto Rican girl who talked until midnight..... Yeah- I wasn't as clearly focused as I could have been. I would have benefited from remembering that this company is not my friend (as in a social setting) they are a business entity looking for potential red flags...DON'T GIVE THEM ANY. And that, my friend, was the tip I was alluding to. Not lying, not being unsafe or disregarding the safety imperative of this line of work. I'm very sorry the convo turned in that direction because I don't perceive either of us needing those reminders. But perhaps I misread your intent. Either way- no harm, no foul. I've got last minute details to wrap up here, so to all- be well, be safe. Lee _/\_

Right on point- no more, no less. volunteering info that I had taken a drug that 1-would have shown up on a drug screen and 2- that hadn't been in my system for over 6 months...led them to request the script log that showed the last refill on November 3. When I squeezed in my last appointment before i my insurance ended on Nov 30. I'm NOT hiding behind HIPAA- I'm saying that if it was a drug I was still taking it would absolutely show up in any drug screening- the 1 I took for a local job on Nov 6, the DOT one on Jan 3, the company one on Jan 14, or the hair and urine one I just took last week. I stopped taking it when I considered changing employment. But I filled it on my old insurance because I don't 600$ out of pocket. So that being said- if I'm NOT taking it, and NOT testing positive for it, there is no reason they would find it without me 1- opening my damn mouth2- for no good reason, and signing a HIPAA release. They asked if I had any open scrips, so I thought I was being honest. Having 56 out of the last 2 bottles sitting in my medicine cabinet and not ingesting any since last summer doesn't mean anything, I need to wait 6 months since my first provable clean date, the drug test on Nov 6. I'm not hiding anything, not here now, or in general as a principle in my life. And although I have no way of proving it to you, there is no-one here or in your circle of friends and coworkers that takes the responsibility of other peoples health and safety more seriously than I do.

Lee _/\_

Rainy- kinda northeast, but I tend to call 'here' the southern Canadian annex ROTFLMAO....( Watertown NY). And thanks for the welcome- reading your comments is part of why I know I can do this.

Hobo- funny thing that- the DOT physical that I've done twice now, was no big deal really, at least for me. I'm at a decent weight, probably a BMI of 24 or 25, always had low range blood pressure. I smoked my last cig on 10/1/17, stay busy with renovating an old house and keeping up with a border collie pup. But the Roehl physical capacity test has me terrified. I don't know why. I tried lifting 30 lbs overhead, I used a propane tank, it weighed out a little over 25lb on the scale, and that seemed easy enough. I push, pull, squat, lift, I've been framing and roofing and lugging demolished cast iron and etc for what feels like forever!!!! But people say they got flunked out of the Roehl on the test and I'm legit scared!!!~ All I can say is that the DOT requirements are written out in black and white and seem very straight forward. The COMPANY physical however, is a different beast, and they may ask you other questions not DOT specific. I might suggest that you carefully consider ANY voluntary information that couldn't be found out without a HIPAA release. I thought I was being open and straightforward about something from last year, and if I'd kept my mouth shut I'd be driving with Rainy right now instead of missing another mortgage payment... :-( Saying I can start work in a few months doesn't do much for my banks opinion of me...

Roehl now pays for the hotel and food bit not sure about the transportation. Maybe you could find that out.

Randall- I leave Friday on a Greyhound (I paid for the ticket) to Appleton. The information I was sent on Monday from Sara , my recruiter, says that I get a room and hotel hot breakfast, and they provide lunch. Dinner and weekend meals are on me.

I do wonder however if there might be a bit of recruiter discretion in extreme situations? can't hurt to ask.. Lee

Tx Turtle. failure is not an option here. and I know I have the aptitude...but everything I've witnessed in my every FUBAR and clusterf**k, and what I read here confirms- it's the attitude. and I'm a bit more desperate that I'm comfortable with. I really need this to work. so just gotta keep steady, not panic.

Putting that out there both for feedback and as way of introduction. I'm so extremely looking forward to the solitude aspect of the job...but I'm also being realistic that in the next 4 months my ego, brain and soul are going to be melted, crushed, stretched, twisted and reassembled multiple times, so I'm planning on using youse guys as a sanity check, sounding board, etc. to help me thru this.

so- introducing myself- Hi- I'm Lee. I just turned 50, I have my permit and physical (getting the permit in NY requires the medical cert first). I have had a trial go with another Big CDL trainer which resulted in me still having an offer, but with a start date delayed for a few months. Since I've been unemployed for a month so I can't really work with that...so I'm off to Wisconsin. Wish me luck...