Rough Last Week Up Ahead...

Soo..... i no longer am succeeding at making my trainer happy at all anymore. Everytime i seem to take one step forward i seem to just take three jumps back. This all stems from one main culprit. He is quitting dip tobacco cold turkey my last week on the truck.

Yesterday for example. The apu kept dying off on us. So it got hot in the truck. Yesterday in troutdale washington it got to 101 degrees all day. I slept in the top bunk and tossed and turned and got horrid sleep all day. Maybe 2 hour chunks of bad sleep in one go before i had to wake from the heat.

So with this on and off sleep, he's out enjoying his 34 reset no worries. I dont care im alone with the peace and quiet, no worries. I wake up and im exhausted from the crappy sleep. I got a 170 mile drive to the first receiver then another 18 mile drive to the 90. No problem easy enough.

I go in and grab a cup of coffee splash cold water on my face to try to wake myself up. It sorta works. Definitely enough to safely get to our destination.

I walk up to him and he's flirting with the bartender there. I tell him hey i'm grabbing coffee and i'm all good in here. He tells me another half up to an hour.

At this point i'm thinking. Ok, i'm tired a little and he has told me as a driver we grab sleep whenever and wherever. So i text him if he minded if i took a nap. That royally ****ed him off to the point of him saying "fff- it i'll drive the darn (rn=m) miles. I sent no no it's ok i can drive i'm just trying to get sleep because of the bad quality i got earlier.

This led to a whole fiasco of how he said reading that text told him that i was unfit as a driver and if i needed more than 15 hours (if unbroken and was from off duty to on duty. This wasn't the case anywhere near that) then i could just sit in the bunk the whole time and he'll drop me off at sprimo and sign the papers saying i need a new trainer and a new dispatcher because i'll be unfit for that board. I'm sitting there like seriously? Wtf.... if that were to happen there goes the bus ticket for my fiancee and all my hard work and effort blows up in my face.

In the end i feel like utter feces and driving my miles while he sleeps happily in the bunk. He's been a grouch ever since 3 days ago.... is it wednesday the 30th yet?

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Reaper, I had a trainer like that. The only thing that made him feel good about himself was if he could make everyone else around him feel smaller than him. He was constantly on a power trip trying to manipulate me at every turn. I just ignored him and did my job - didn't matter to me if he got so mad he had smoke coming out of his ears. I knew early on I was not going to please this guy and there was no sense in trying. I just hung in there and got my freedom eventually.

We will let you vent in here, and it sounds as if you need somewhere to do it. Just hold on and get through this last week. We are all pulling for you!

When you go solo you can come in here and ask questions if you need some help. There will always be someone in here with some good advice for you.

I forgot to mention that those threats of dropping you off in Sprimo, are nothing but idle threats. That is an attempt at manipulation and undermining your confidence. Don't even let this guy bother you. He needs you on that truck in a bad way, and he is so twisted that he thinks that is the way to keep you begging him to keep you there.

Reaper...you know how to handle this. You dealt with worse...

Focus on doing the job, don't feed into his fire so to speak...

When I stated reading your post, at first I thought you hit something,...glad that wasn't the case.

And for future reference: if the APU dies like that, park at a truck stop with a hotel.next to it or find a hotel with parking. The FM will add money to your Comdata card to write a check. You can cash it at a truck stop but if you call ahead some hotels near trucking companies might take it, just like the Ramada in Sprimo & SLC. Be sure to scan the hotel receipt with your trip sheet and message your FM or email it directly to them (that way he can't miss it. Nothing worse than getting your pay and something stupid got overlooked).

Hang in there. Your almost done.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hang in there reaper show that bully that you wear bigger pants than he does. Your reward will be waiting for you in Rainy's dungeon.

Hang in there reaper show that bully that you wear bigger pants than he does. Your reward will be waiting for you in Rainy's dungeon.

Reaper, I'm still considering trucking as a career so I don't have much insight into your particular situation, but I will add the following:

One week to go. Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your mouth shut, do your best, and get this last week out of the way. Keep in mind that 7 more days and you never have to look at this jerk again. For what it's worth I'm truly impressed with your self-control and character you are displaying by continuing to hang in there.

Lol umm phrasing? Lol and im definitely the bigger person. Yessir no sir. Then complain to my fiancee to vent then here for advice lol. I havent hit anything yet.

*Knocks on the shattered pallets in back of trailer*

Im proud of out of my entire training. Ive missed 2 turns for highway off ramps and just missed the reciever today because they only have a little banner on their building behind construction. Other than those ive been right on route especially when exits and detours seem to love me.

G-Town , I talked to swift and they told me that they have a Dollar General route for you lol