My Road Training At Wel

So, the last week was spent with a local trainer who helped hone some city driving and backing a bit more.

I met my trainer this afternoon, and we picked up a load to go to Macon GA. He didn't have much time left, so we only went a few miles.

We went over the training expectations and timeline.

He showed me how to slide the tandems , check in with a shipper , and went over some trip planning.

In the morning I'll be driving, and I'll update as I can.

I haven't posted in a couple days because I'm trying to figure out how to handle some things with my trainer. I figure maybe some of the veterans on here can give me some pointers.

My trainer has been swearing and calling me names like "don't be a f*****g retard" I was in the navy, so whatever, but what I can't tolerate is feeling as if my safety is being put in jeopardy by him tailgating and and texting while driving along with other unsafe driving practices.

Although still doing my research into the Industry and reading posts while taking breaks from the High Road Training Program I see a post like this and wonder, "When is it weeding out the weak links or just abusive". I understand that the Trainer has a job to do but is screaming profanities and being insulting the NORM? I would imagine unsafe driving ie: texting or hands on cell conversations would be considered unacceptable behavior. I have a lot of the Training Diaries, some folks got real lucky, some requested up to 3 trainers before they made it to the end, some just gave up and a few just dissipated. I did read Old School's Diary and it was a journey, man that Dude has some think skin, gotta respect the Man, but I still crack up thinking about him explaining the Daily Lesson plan, the .driving story and the no radar thing, it just doesn't get any funnier than that! Hang in there Mike L., I am sure some of the fine people here at TT will chime in with great advise.

The abusive language, is one thing, ignorance However chronic tailgating and texting while driving;...totally unacceptable, he should be fired.

Ask for another trainer and tell them exactly why.

I meant the Distracted Driving lesson where his Trainer is on the phone with his Wife, messing with the Qualcomm and explaining the rules of distracted all at the same time, too funny.

See I'm trying to decide if I ask for a new trainer and tell them why, or if I just report the behavior after my training is up. I can deal for the next 3 weeks, and the company is fairly small. I'm not trying to rock the boat, and I realize part of his job is to try to break me or at least push me to my breaking point. I wish him the best of luck with that one since I was in the Navy, and my stepfather growing up was extremely abusive. I can take a lot and feel like it might just be best to hold out the three weeks and then talk to someone.

Mike L wrote:

Then the government limit is 20k per axle.

Mike it is NOT your trainers job to try and break you. His job is to teach you safe and efficient operation of the truck. That starts by leading by example. If what you say is true, he is failing you.

Sorry my friend...your trainer is dangerous.

Thank you for the replies and input! I have decided to hold off on asking for a new trainer since today marks the end of the first week of me in the truck. Company policy is we are to try to work out our differences before going to the company. We've been talking since I posted, and we've sorted most of them out. I'm now starting to do 75-80% of the driving and working towards doing 95%+, so his unsafe habits will not be as big of an issue.

He's very knowledgeable, for the most part a very patient and good trainer in his approach, and I do like that he doesn't believe in running the truck as a team operation because he can train if he's sleeping. Company policy is the first 2 weeks it's a solo truck, and the remainder of the time it has to be agreed on mutually by the trainer and trainee.

Now, a training update:

I've been struggling with the backing, and today, our first customer was extremely tight, and the trainer asked me "this is going to be extremely tight, so you're welcome to do it if you want, or I will. Just please don't do it if you're very uncomfortable because that's when accidents happen." I looked the space over as we were approaching the docks and said I didn't think this was the time to try such a tight spot. The next customer was tighter than anything I had tried before, and I had a great approach getting as close as I could to the trailers. While we were waiting for another truck to pull out, the trainer got out to guide me and when he looked at the door, wouldn't you know it was one of the only 2 doors that has to be blind sided because of where the empty trailers were parked. I was thinking "man I can't catch a break." We're on a manifest load now, so we have 6 stops in total, so I can do plenty of backing on this load.