Left My OTR Mentor On 3rd Day And Don't Know What To Do.

I had my training paid for by pam at c1 trucking in fortworth texas. As soon as i met my mentor on the first day or my otr training i thought he was a bit off. I didn't over think it i just got in the truck and went with the flow. He was not much older than me he was rude and kept saying negative things about me being a millennial (even though he is also a millennial). This guy would drive me nuts trying to tell me how difficult the job was and he would get ****y when i told him it wasn't that hard. My first day i drove i did just fine and drove perfectly for 8 hours and it was no big deal at all. The only reason i stopped driving is because he told me i was getting to tired and i didn't wanna argue so we pulled over for the night at a flying j in waco. As i started to back in, another truck rolled around the corner and stopped to wait for us to park. My trainer out of nowhere started screaming at this other trucker who was doing nothing wrong. The other trucker got out of the vehicle and calmly asked "what would you like me to do?" As he could do nothing at the time cause another truck was right behind him. My trainer than hopped out of the truck and immediately started to threaten the other man. "I will beat your ass" "don't **** with me" and the other man being shocked just walked back to his vehicle as my trainer said repeatedly "thats what i ****ing thought." I was incredibly upset at this because we are professionals and need to work together and you just don't treat and person like that ever and if the other guy didn't say anything i sure as hell will, and i did. When my trainer got back into the truck i told him how incredibly immature and stupid that was and he should never talk to other people like that, especially when it is unprovoked. He said "no one is gonna tell me how to do my ****ing job". I said i want a different trainer cause he should not be training anyone if that's how he going to act. Its not a new thing to me watching people explode, i worked in construction since i was fifteen all the way up till now (26). If i saw anyone acting like that i would say something trainer or not. As soon as i left the truck he texted me and said he would tell pam i quit. I did not quit i told him several times i wanted a different trainer. But now im thinking that if this is what they consider to be one of the companies better trainers (his words not mine) than maybe i don't want to be part of this company after all. If this is the case what would i have to look forward to? If i ditched pam can i just use my cdl to drive a local route or a garbage truck? Will they take me to court for quitting without paying them back for training? Can i set up a payment plan with them? Will i be black balled from using my CDL for work? Honestly this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth for otr and i might want to do something closer to home just to avoid being in a truck with a trainer for a extended period of time. Please let me know what you think, i wanted to shut up and just let him act tough but i could not let that slide. I would honestly be worried that a person with that demeanor is in control of a 80000 lb machine.

I had my training paid for by pam at c1 trucking in fortworth texas. As soon as i met my mentor on the first day or my otr training i thought he was a bit off. I didn't over think it i just got in the truck and went with the flow. He was not much older than me he was rude and kept saying negative things about me being a millennial (even though he is also a millennial). This guy would drive me nuts trying to tell me how difficult the job was and he would get ****y when i told him it wasn't that hard. My first day i drove i did just fine and drove perfectly for 8 hours and it was no big deal at all. The only reason i stopped driving is because he told me i was getting to tired and i didn't wanna argue so we pulled over for the night at a flying j in waco. As i started to back in, another truck rolled around the corner and stopped to wait for us to park. My trainer out of nowhere started screaming at this other trucker who was doing nothing wrong. The other trucker got out of the vehicle and calmly asked "what would you like me to do?" As he could do nothing at the time cause another truck was right behind him. My trainer than hopped out of the truck and immediately started to threaten the other man. "I will beat your ass" "don't **** with me" and the other man being shocked just walked back to his vehicle as my trainer said repeatedly "thats what i ****ing thought." I was incredibly upset at this because we are professionals and need to work together and you just don't treat and person like that ever and if the other guy didn't say anything i sure as hell will, and i did. When my trainer got back into the truck i told him how incredibly immature and stupid that was and he should never talk to other people like that, especially when it is unprovoked. He said "no one is gonna tell me how to do my ****ing job". I said i want a different trainer cause he should not be training anyone if that's how he going to act. Its not a new thing to me watching people explode, i worked in construction since i was fifteen all the way up till now (26). If i saw anyone acting like that i would say something trainer or not. As soon as i left the truck he texted me and said he would tell pam i quit. I did not quit i told him several times i wanted a different trainer. But now im thinking that if this is what they consider to be one of the companies better trainers (his words not mine) than maybe i don't want to be part of this company after all. If this is the case what would i have to look forward to? If i ditched pam can i just use my cdl to drive a local route or a garbage truck? Will they take me to court for quitting without paying them back for training? Can i set up a payment plan with them? Will i be black balled from using my CDL for work? Honestly this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth for otr and i might want to do something closer to home just to avoid being in a truck with a trainer for a extended period of time. Please let me know what you think, i wanted to shut up and just let him act tough but i could not let that slide. I would honestly be worried that a person with that demeanor is in control of a 80000 lb mact ne.

Howdy, Kam; and welcome to Trucking Truth ~!!

I'm kinda surprised nobody with more experience than me (a 20 year trucker's wife) has replied to you, but here goes:

First of all, you should have come to visit us here, BEFORE you got off his truck; our experienced veterans on here would have convinced you to handle it differently, but what's done is done. You're gonna need a little more moxie in this industry to succeed~!! (ie: Thick Skin!)

Is there ANY way you can stay on with PAM, and try for another trainer? They most likely will NOT release your 160 hour certificate you have probably earrned from C1 Training (Driver Solutions?) until they are paid in full. I'm not sure how strict THEY are about this, but some companies take this VERY seriously, and 'don't play' ... at all. Below is an example:

I / we wish you well in your plight, Kam. Seriously, though...if you have NO plans on going back to PAM, it would be in your best interest to pay OFF your training with a loan, perhaps from your credit union, rather than leave them hanging. This could be a career killer. Also, if you were to go with ANOTHER training company, say, Swift, perhaps... you will have ANOTHER loan/school to pay for, if you don't stay that 'full year.' Your CDL is NOT really 'yours,' just yet.

Hopefully you'll stop back and let us know what gives; Best wishes!

~ Anne ~

Kam, there are a lot of hot heads in trucking. You met one of them and decided to bail. Now you're saying you don't know what to do.

As soon as i left the truck he texted me and said he would tell pam i quit. I did not quit i told him several times i wanted a different trainer. But now im thinking that if this is what they consider to be one of the companies better trainers (his words not mine) than maybe i don't want to be part of this company after all. If this is the case what would i have to look forward to?

Kam, I had a terrible trainer. I stuck with it. Training is a very short time period in your career. I have been a very successful driver earning some of the highest pay at my company - that is exactly what you had to look forward to. You should have been given contact information during your orientation for who to talk to about issues with your trainer. You don't tell your trainer that you want another trainer. That is not how the chain of command works. He's got every right to tell them you quit if you just abandoned the truck at a truck stop. You don't have to like your trainer. I certainly was not fond of mine. You do have to figure out how to get through training. Maybe you need a different trainer. If you do, you contact the folks who can make that happen. That contact is not your current trainer.

What is going on now with you? Can you give us an update?

One more thing about your situation. We see new drivers doing this all the time. They want to paint a picture of the whole company based on one bad experience with one trainer. That makes no sense. That trainer has no control over how the company is run or operated. He's one goofball in the mix of employees there. Truckers are a diverse lot. Many of them are hot headed blow-hards. So what? You met one and decided you were done. That was extremely short sighted. I hope you can figure out how to move forward. I hope you will update us on your progress.

I have rescheduled to go back out on the 12th of this month. I still want to be an otr driver but i don't feel bad for jumping my trainers butt for being so juvenile as to bully another person just to feel like a tough guy.

That's great Kam! I'm glad to see you're still in the game.

I have rescheduled to go back out on the 12th of this month. I still want to be an otr driver but i don't feel bad for jumping my trainers butt for being so juvenile as to bully another person just to feel like a tough guy.

That's great Kam! I'm glad to see you're still in the game.

Me also~!!!! ^^^^

GREATEST MOVE, MAN~

~ Anne ~

So? What happened? How's it going?