I'm Trying To Find A Good Cdl School Around Middle Tennessee

Victor, I'm going to be honest with you - as I always am with everyone whether it's good or bad. You have extremely strong opinions about pretty much everything and it seems to be fitting a very common pattern. Everything that everyone else thinks, says, or does is stupid or wrong unless they agree with you or it makes sense to you.

Trucking schools, instructors, orange cones, pre-hires , trucking companies, company policies, Federal Laws - pretty much everything and everyone has been blasted by your opinions. And hey - you totally have that right. But unfortunately it's going to get your *ss booted out of the trucking industry in about 10 minutes.

You keep talking about your age and experience. Well then you should know very well that you can't go into something brand new with both guns blazing and think you're going to tell everyone how things are going to be done. Quite honestly, like rookies in any other field, nobody really cares what a rookie truck driver thinks about much of anything. Until you've put in your time and you've proven your value as a driver, nobody in charge of trucking schools, trucking companies, or law enforcement really wants to hear much of anything about anything from you. Prove what you can do and then consider sharing your opinions on how companies that have been around for 50 years are doing things.

And I'm not saying don't share your opinions with us. By all means do! That way we can discuss things. But when it comes to dealing with schools and companies, you have to understand that trucking attracts a lot of very loud, opinionated people, stubborn people. It's the nature of the job. And as a rookie nobody is going to stand for it very long. Company-sponsored programs send home nearly 3/4 of all the people they bring in and a lot of the time it's because of attitude & personality, not their driving skills.

My suggestion is to keep things on the down-low for a while. Just relax, go with the flow, listen & learn. Once you've been out there for a while a lot of laws and policies will make a lot more sense. In the beginning a lot of it won't. That's par for the course.

But I can assure you - the experienced drivers here like myself are already worried about your approach. We've seen this kind of thing a million times and we'd love to see you be successful out there. That's why we're here. And that's why I'm telling you to relax and roll with things for a while. Otherwise, like countless people that tried that approach before you, it's going to end badly.

hmm let me think about this!

when i am going out solo i will respond to this reply of your sir.

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears , take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

Victor....I am also a Christian. And I know the valley of spending time in your church. But getting a trucking job that gives you every single Sunday off at your home is a tough one for an experienced trucker to land. And when you are a new driver, you have to put in your time, work your way up the ladder, prove what your made of, etc. Now if the company you choose happens to have a regional run,or a round robin short haul that they offer to new drivers...thats great, and I'd like to see you get into that. But for us that have been around for awhile..we don't hear about alot of those types of jobs. That would be something that you would have to ask the recruiter, when you talk with them. I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way. That is the trouble with the written word vs face to face conversation. Had we been sitting and talking, you may have seen the light hearted humor in my words....And you would have seen that I am not a SIR...I am a Lady Professional Driver. Good Luck with your research.

Valley ??? where did that come from ??? should have said VALUE... sorry.

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears , take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

that is very good right there woody!

Victor....I am also a Christian. And I know the valley of spending time in your church. But getting a trucking job that gives you every single Sunday off at your home is a tough one for an experienced trucker to land. And when you are a new driver, you have to put in your time, work your way up the ladder, prove what your made of, etc. Now if the company you choose happens to have a regional run,or a round robin short haul that they offer to new drivers...thats great, and I'd like to see you get into that. But for us that have been around for awhile..we don't hear about alot of those types of jobs. That would be something that you would have to ask the recruiter, when you talk with them. I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way. That is the trouble with the written word vs face to face conversation. Had we been sitting and talking, you may have seen the light hearted humor in my words....And you would have seen that I am not a SIR...I am a Lady Professional Driver. Good Luck with your research.

forgive me my sister. i didn't look at your profile. i'm sorry and believe me i was trying to start something. or looking for trouble here. it's just that i really would like to try team driving, for the money and also for being with someone, two can put 10,000 to flight! i just think all the people in my class are told, what is important to you! well that is number 1, if everybody reject this, then ok, i will see what else is out there as far as jobs are concerned! i just think even we a team drives all week monday to saturday straight through, then we both should be out of time way before sunday! 70 hour week would be over before, but if for some reason we still had driving time available, i want to see if i can get it in writing that 2 hours be put aside for church. i know at least one company stays closed from friday to saturday because they are 7 day adventist. i don't care about home time. and i am willing to drive like i am driving miss daisy during my time behind the wheel to keep stress down and safety up and drive nights or whatever it takes, but just like clint eastwood says at the end of the movie, a man needs to know his limitations, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2JnCXvm_Qc church attendance for me is going to happen, it might not be in the trucking industry but it will happen for sure.

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears , take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

that is very good right there woody!

should have said i am not trying to start any trouble! now i'm stressed out ,lol! nah, doing comedy, that is stressful , driving while a guy has a gun to your head , that is stressful, driving for me is a pleasure! i can't get enough of it! it clears up my mind and helps me see things clearly! when i drive my cab slowly i can last 15 hours, when i drive too fast , because passengers hurry me up and dispatchers, then i can drive less, over here driving a truck, it is rather different though, you have only a 14 hour on duty window, with 11 hours of driving! and according to the stevens recruiter it might be 8 hours total driving time per day! if the federal government has it's way! but if everybody rejects my idea in every company , then i will drive solo! then i control what i do and where i do it! i just wanted to see if this contract can be done with a 120 minute sunday morning exception. lets see if it happens! take care everybody , i will be double clutching in a couple of hours and i need my sleep! lol

I never said i need sunday off i do believe, just two hours for sunday service, i hear teams keep the wheels rolling 24/7! i have a hot load i have to get clear across the country! :D

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears , take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

no doubt stress like drugs will magnify who you really are! i expect stress in any job! cabbing or trucking or doing a comedy show at a private party! but even the director and the manager sided with me! first you learn, then you deal with new skills and how to handle stress! i used to have a girlfriend who was a kung fu instructor in new york city, for graduation they used to close the street. then the student had to jump out of a second story of a building, hit the ground rolling and come up doing a move! i am sure they didn't start throwing students out the window the first day right?! :D nah you build up to it! most companies when you first dive a cab, they will tell you straight up the bad zones! why, because they don't want to lose the driver the very first day out! it makes no sense! now if later on i want to take my chances and pick up a person in the middle of the night and he looks like oj simpson with a bloody knife in his hand, then that is on me right? i am a grown man and i am taking a chance that i will make money or die trying! did i have to take a guy who has murdered two people and looks like he just killed some more in my cab, to be sitting behind me!? lol i will deal with the driving stress when i am behind the wheel of a rig with my trainer , but for now, that cone is a piece of plastic! not an old lady with a stroller i just dragged down the street! that while line painted on the ground is most like some they purchased at home depot maybe lowes, not a baby in a baby stroller! even police academies start you off small right, reading laws, getting in shape, learning how to use your weapon, they don't tell you , hey , we know it's your first day and we are going to send you to the site of a bank robbery where armed gunmen with heavy body armour on have been mowing down all the police and swat, and we think it would be nice to for to get some experience with this new stressful situation! lol maybe i am wrong here, what do you think?

There are chapel services at almost every TA truckstop in the country that you can stop at for two hours on Sunday. While it probally will not happen that you get to go to YOUR church you can get to a church at a truck stop.

While a persons faith is important to them you have to remember that your job comes first and you may be stuck in the middle of no where when Sunday comes around. It happens.

If you need to have a "restart" for two hours each Sunday then you can do that anywhere cause church is where your worship your god and you can do that in your truck also. The chances of you being able to go to a real church every Sunday will not happen due to church locations. Most times they are in places you can not take a truck and if your under a load then you cant leave it just sitting there unattended.

You have to bend a little and if you want to drive a truck you have will have to realize you will miss some Sundays in a real church. If that is not acceptable then trucking will may not be for you. Just remember your faith is your faith and its up to you to take care of it but trucking companies expect you to get the load there on time and if your late for pickup or delivery "I had to stop for church" is not a valid excuse.