Comments By Phantom 850

So, let’s discuss what I learned over the last couple of days. 1.) Sometimes receivers are rude. 2.) Sometimes other drivers are rude. 3.) There are stupid people out here on the road. 4.) A minor mistake can compound into a big one if you’re not careful. 5.) Judging by the fees they charge, I chose the wrong career field. I should have been a lumper.

The first two are self explanatory. The third is where it gets interesting. Coming into Baltimore last night, a suicidal four wheeler chooses wrong on an A-B exit ramp, and decides to use reverse on the interstate. No, really. Reverse. On the interstate. On the far side of a left hand curve. And that’s how I got to use the air horn for the first time.

As for a small mistake compounding... I too made the wrong choice on an A-B exit ramp. It took me through Baltimore instead of around it. This means I got to go through the Ft. McHenry tunnel, aaaaaaand one of those famously narrow toll booths. All on the one week anniversary of my first time driving a road tractor, and seven hours into a driving shift. This is after coming down my first quasi legit grade. (Little Savage Mountain if you’re wondering.) I know that people handle that everyday, multiple times a day, but it was my first. It could have been a nightmare, but with some excellent coaching from my trainer I came through it fine. My hands looked like eagle talons when we got to the customers, and it felt like I was being stabbed when I lovingly gave my trainer the finger after he patted me on the shoulder and thanked me not for killing him, but we made it through. Nothing cracked, bent, or broken.

As for the lumpers. $256 dollars for five pallets of chicken. Forget buying my own truck. I’m buying a pallet jack.

On a side note, I feel that all forum members should know that I do not talk like type. Please add a thick southern accent and at least three expletives per sentence in your head. You may also deduct 100 IQ points for the accent if you wish.

Glad you got a good trainer. My Son is on about his second month solo with Wilson Logistics, and really enjoys the Company. They have taken care of him, that's for sure.

I’m glad to hear that. These people don’t suck.

Rainy is my spirit animal.

Have you been the victim of an attack by a concealed ditch? Did one of these monsters lie in wait, just to attack your truck? Ditch please! Contact the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe. We make sure that these ditches pay, and are never able to prey on an innocent driver again.

(The law firm of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe is in no way affiliated with TruckingTruth.com)

Ooh! Ooh! I’ve got one! When a driver goes on a trucker forum and complains about getting fired for (insert stupid mistake here) and blame the company, the four wheeler, the gps, other truckers, the cops, a blind corner, a concealed ditch, (Seriously though, watch out for those. They’re sneaky.) aliens, Bigfoot, the president of Albania, and or Rainy, (Sorry girl. You’re handle was easiest to remember.) but can’t take responsibility for their own actions. C’mon man!

Ok, stop me if you’ve heard this one. What do you get when you put Florida Man in a Peterbilt with an Ohio State fan? Give up? My D seat training. We pull out of Springfield about 2:00 AM last Tuesday, or about six hours late since the load wasn’t there. Ran pretty hard headed to Detroit, then dead headed over to Grand Rapids. Grabbed a load there headed to Nashville, then on to a Tyson plant in by god Mississippi to get a load headed to Maryland by way of Kentucky. My trainer is exceptional. Old school truck driver that doesn’t just teach me what I have to know, but what I need to know. My problem is I want to run. I hate shutting down. He’s teaching me that running the clock out isn’t always the best thing, and that sitting a little while longer to time traffic patterns is sometimes a better idea with a tight load. To me, that’s a huge advantage over a private school. You can learn to drive a truck anywhere. I’m learning to be a truck driver.

I don’t have an answer for the training part, but I’m with Army about the significant other part. I was in law enforcement before heading to Wilson, and was a firearms instructor. I’ve trained hundreds of LEOs, but when my wife told me she wanted to get her concealed weapon permit I called a buddy of mine. In my case I wasn’t worried about being too easy on her, it was the opposite. I was hard on students because it’s life or death with a firearm. The same goes for a class 8 truck. I thought it was more conducive for a happy marriage if I just stayed away. I didn’t even go to the range with them. Now I won’t tell another grown person what to do, but it’s worth considering.

Rick makes a good point. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you. The big question is always why. What was the “critical event” that was automatically reported, and could your co-driver have really been in fear for his life? Maybe you didn’t see it as a big thing, but perception is reality. If dude is in the sleeper racked out and you had to lay into the brakes it would scare me too. Now that’s just a hypothetical example, but you see what I’m getting at. Could it have been a little get back? Of course. People can be like that, but be honest with yourself. You’ve got some spots on your record. It is what it is. You might have really scared ol boy. The long and the short of it is if you want to drive for a company you’ve gotta play by their rules. As for the shared account? After a very intensive cryptological forensic analysis, (I read the posts) I have determined that the writing style, vocabulary, idioms, and general demeanor of these posts are consistent with that of a single author. In other words... C’mon man!

The moral of todays story boys and girls is, to move forward you have to go backwards. A whole day of backing. Straight, offset, 90, and parallel. Eight hours of it. They only problem is there was one instructor for 9 or 10 of us. I know it’s Saturday so I’m not worried about it. I guess now would be a good time to talk about my class. I was told by my recruiter that we were going to be the biggest class they’d ever had. There were nine of us. One guy never showed, one guy fail the urinalysis, and one guy ended up not being able to get his permit due to some weird DMV snafu in Texas from ten years ago. Yea, that last one confuses me too. That leaves six of us. A couple of guys headed out with their trainer yesterday, a couple today, and the rest of us tomorrow or Monday. I know there’s a lot of drivers out there that read these to see what the next generation is like, guys that have signed on with a company to see what to expect, but I want to talk to the people that are here thinking about making a career choice or change. I can’t tell you to come to Wilson because different companies work for different people. What I can tell you is that I’m a fan of this company. If you’ve read my other posts you know I’ve had a little bit of an uphill battle with some of my paperwork. These guys have stood by me every step of the way. As for those of you that may not have a spotless record, give them a call. I’ve met some drivers and students that have made mistakes in the past. It doesn’t have to be a full stop no go, and I have seen absolutely zero judgement. For veterans, there is a slew of us, and Wilson is the company that hauls The Wall That Heals replica Vietnam Memorial replica. As I said, different people are looking for different things, but if you’re thinking of making a move I would encourage you to give them a look.

Let’s start today’s update with some great news. I got my med card and permit today! That’s right kids. There’s one more person in the world that’s allowed to drive an 80k pound death machine. Now the not bad, but could be better news. I’m not heading out for my D seat until Monday. While sitting around smokin and jokin at the terminal today I’m talking with a driver I’d met the day before. Great guy. Army vet like me. Even the same MOS. We hit it off, and it turns out he’s a trainer. Next the we come to is we’re both from Florida. Not real close, be he has to run I10 to get home. I’m not far from I10 myself. Finally he asks me if I’d like to ride with him. Sure. It’ll work out for both of us. I’ll get home when he does, and he’ll grab me on the way back. He goes over to the training manager and asks for me personally. Boss man says sure as long as I can get my permit today. I get it, and it looks like we might catch a load out tonight. Well, here comes the not so great part. We beat feet over corporate country to talk to compliance. Turns out that’s since I got my permit today they can’t get a MVR until Monday. I tell my trainer this and encourage him to grab another guy and get out of town. I don’t want to mess with his money. This man that’s a professional driver, and has only known me for a day and a half says no. He says, “I stuck my neck out to get you, and I’m committed to you.” Come on. Who does that for a fresh faced, wet behind the ears student? He tells me to follow him and we got talk to his fleet manager. He’s ask his manager for a short run that’ll get him back Monday morning to pick me up. Manager makes it happen, and then to top it all off he gives me a ride back to the hotel in his brand new 2020 Peterbilt. Look guys, I’m a realist. Companies can talk all they want about being family, but at the end of the day it’s about making money. Now, that goes both way. Driver are like that too, but after everything I’ve been through in the last week these guys have stood beside me every step of the way. A lot of people would have send me packing, with a “good luck getting home.” After all that I want to go on the record and say this. Wilson Logistics has my loyalty. That means something to me. As for the training, I got to learn offset backing and parallel parking in a real live semi. How cool is that?