CR England Training Day 1

Alcohol violations. They found a case of water bottles filled with vodka!

Lol, can't believe people do things like that. Good that they found that, otherwise she would have been doing the same thing while driving.

Congratulations Michelle

I know it's been a while since the last update, sorry. I did my 30 days otr with a trainer. It could have been worse lol. I learned a lot but not really my trainer. He slept after my first 10 minutes behind the wheel. After that if I was driving he was sleeping. He wouldn't let me back the truck though. So when I got to a shipper he'd kick me out of the driver's seat. After my 30 days I went back to south Holland yard and upgraded. This consists of a road test and an alley dock which the guy there was nice enough to teach me. I'm now in a truck with a lady that went to school with me running team. Neither of us can back for **** but I'm learning. My problem is that my CO driver doesn't like mountains, weather, driving at night, or driving mode than 7 hours. She won't do any of the paperwork or use the Qualcomm. This leaves me doing 80%of the work for 50% of the pay.

Welcome back and congratulations on your upgrade! Sorry that you had a training experience like that, but luckily you had the will to stick with it for your own benefit. Great job! As for backing woes now, just remember that each time you perform one, the more experience you are gaining. Experience is truly the single best way to master backing, so when you are just starting out, it’s not going to be easy. Don’t get discouraged, though, as it will usually take a driver at least six months to get “decent”, and maybe as much as two YEARS to master it. Practice it as you can often. Empty lots at the shipper or receiver, truck stops during the middle of the day, wherever and whenever you can. As far as teaming at CRE, is that a permanent situation there?

As far as teaming at CRE, is that a permanent situation there? I'm in what they call phase II. In this phase you have to team for 3 months. After that your training is complete and you can go team or solo

Since you had the grit to tough it out with your trainer, my suggestion would be to tough it out with your team driver now. Do the three months, keep improving your skill set, and continue to improve. When Summer rolls around, you can be on your own, and once you go solo, it gets much, much better believe me! On another note regarding your teammate: if she wants to continue her ways you described, she’s not going to be around long, especially after you split. The cream always rises to the top. There’s NO faking it out here. You’re on the right track now, so keep your eye on the prize.

I was going to try to though it out with my CO driver. She was calling me some pretty nasty names. Very aggressive driving and major anger issues. I just couldn't take it. So, we had a load to Chicago, about 15 minutes from one of our facilities. We pulled in about 1am Saturday and could not deliver until 10am Monday so I went to our facility for the weekend. I called my weekend driver manager and he told me to get my stuff and he'd put me in a motel until they found me another truck. This morning, Sunday, he called me and said the truck is mine. My former Co driver was leaving the truck. I go back to the yard. I find the truck but no trailer. I call my dm. He doesn't know where the load is but he's checking into it. I then look over the messages on the Qualcomm. I see where she had asked about insurance cards and where somebody had sent her info on a towing company. I call the towing company to find out that she had driven under a too low under laws and tore the top off of the trailer. Towing company has the trailer. They transferred the load to one of their refers and they are going to deliver the load. Still waiting for my dm to call me. But I guess I'm solo for the time being.

Wow Michelle, you are getting to see the worst of the worse out here. Hang in there, I'm pretty sure I see a future in this for you. Resilience is a valuable trait in a successful trucker.

Thank you old school. I am a survivor. Lol. I just take it all as a learning experience. I'm not impressed with my company. However I will honor my commitment, get some hard earned experience, and go from there. By the time my year is up I will be able to make a well informed decision on whether to stay or move on.

Michelle, just tough it out, and don't stress your mind and emotions laying blame on the company. C. R. England has a long list of million miler drivers, so that tells you something positive. It's easy for newbies to be distracted with the whole "good company/bad company" drama, but it's honestly wasted effort and emotion, a distraction at best.

Focus all your efforts on improving your results. Your productivity will be what's important, and eventually you'll figure out how you are in control of that part. Reliable productive drivers can do very well no matter whose name is on the truck's doors. You're already demonstrating some positive characteristics, just keep a positive attitude and a willingness to learn. You're going to find that humility, resilience, and a willing spirit will get you where you need to be.