New Job Is Exhausting

One last thing. G Town. Finally read Old School's first post. Appreciated your recommendation. Already stretching and doing core work. Was keeping up with the things I learned in PT for an injury I have to keep working on. Was planning on adding in Yoga. For sure will now.

Training is over. Getting a truck and trailer tomorrow. Off to the races.

One last thing. G Town. Finally read Old School's first post. Appreciated your recommendation. Already stretching and doing core work. Was keeping up with the things I learned in PT for an injury I have to keep working on. Was planning on adding in Yoga. For sure will now.

Best wishes, Matthew! Personally, I'm STILL overcoming a torn rotator cuff injury from MONTHS ago. What a process; especially at my age! My physical therapist is AWESOME; her training via water therapy really helps. Get a jacuzzi room once in awhile, and self train!

She's got me using resistance bands at home/on the road now; I'm learning!

When I'm working from home (per usual,) I can actually fit in fair amount of Yoga, right here in my office. I'm all for it!

Another really valuable YouTuber for dealing with injuries in a P/T way, is Athlean X. There are so many videos, I wouldn't know which to link you to; so just look it up! He's actually an 'older' (ish) guy, with a lot of science behind his ways. If I told you who told me about him, you wouldn't believe me. Check it!

Best to ya; wish you well!!

~ Anne ~

ps: Hoping you'll share pix (and the name!) of your new rig! Again, Kudos!

Well, I'm not so wiped out by the end of the week anymore. This job is turned out to be pretty enjoyable so far. I get a little worried about hauling some stuff. I did I beams and threw all 10 of my chains on those. I could have strapped but I just don't trust that on something that heavy with the potential to come to the cab in an accident or a hard stop. Google maps has been a lifesaver for me too. I've been using street view to look around near my delivery sites. I've been pretty lucky to find parking close to my sites. Street view is pretty cool because you can look around and get a feel for the general area. It has been kind of fun problem solving and meeting some of the challenges this job is throwing at me.

Matthew P

To clarify on my prior comment, it looks like your disposition is improving to the extent that the job not as challenging now. As with many new drivers the learning curve is steep and challenging, which you encountered. Once you get past that initial challenging stage, in my experience, the job becomes more manageable and, therefore, your disposition improves.

Congratulations.

Ditto the Chief, Matthew.

It's good to see/hear confidence in your voice/postings again, lately!

Best going forward, onward, and upwards! YOU got this.

~ Anne & Tom ~

Matthew P

To clarify on my prior comment, it looks like your disposition is improving to the extent that the job not as challenging now. As with many new drivers the learning curve is steep and challenging, which you encountered. Once you get past that initial challenging stage, in my experience, the job becomes more manageable and, therefore, your disposition improves.

Congratulations.

And I just ****ed up. More to.follow later. Not HUGE but I will be discussing with safety in the AM. Could be curtains on this job. They're very strict

And as usual I panicked. Last career a mistake could be costly to people. It was grueling work mentally. In the back of my mind, I feared harming anyone. Not to the point of being ineffective. I just knew there was a potential for serious harm at every interaction.

Trucking......yes and no. A mistake can be deadly. Not every mistake is deadly. Most are benign. There are some pretty deadly ones though. One of our drivers pulled over to look at something. Got hit. As he was responding to the accident a second car crashed and hit him. He's critical. Prayers that he makes it through.

We had our discussion and it was a good one. Lot of feedback on how to perform better. Minor mistake, cost the company a few thousand. The overall feedback I've gotten from the head of safety down to my fleet manager is.......you are doing a good job. We expect errors early on. Keep grinding away and doing your work. Don't make a habit of your mistake. Best thing I did was stopped right away when I knew I was over my head and reached out for help.

I respected the conversations. They weren't pleasant yet not horrible. Matter of fact and in ways I could understand easily. I have a new found respect for some of the execs and managers. They're not all turds and I know I can trust them if I need something. Reassuring.

I have more tools now to be successful. That is the part I most appreciated. I didn't get beat up. Just a review of performance in this matter and direction on how to do better. I can handle stuff like that all day long and keep a good attitude.

And as a last comment. My fleet manager is the bomb. I am starting to trust him. I think he feels the same. This was a tough yet good week. Now, there is a freezer beer that awaits me. Have a good weekend folks.

And I just ****ed up. More to.follow later. Not HUGE but I will be discussing with safety in the AM. Could be curtains on this job. They're very strict

Matthew, I’m unsure of what your mistake was. Read your comment several times, but perhaps you could clarify exactly what happened. Thanks.

And I just ****ed up. More to.follow later. Not HUGE but I will be discussing with safety in the AM. Could be curtains on this job. They're very strict

I, as well, am curious. What happened, and what can we (collectively) do to help? I'm sure it's NOTHING that one of the folks on here haven't been through, honestly.

Wishing you well, hoping you'll let us know. So much advice within these walls, so many have been there before you, good sir.

~ Anne ~

ps: Maybe the 'freezer of beer' means you're taking the 'weekend off' from dealing?!? LoL ...

Matthew, I’m unsure of what your mistake was. Read your comment several times, but perhaps you could clarify exactly what happened. Thanks.

Hey everyone. In the scheme of things......this was minor, I got lost, ended up in a residential and a tight turn where I curbed the truck. I ahd a 47K coil sitting on the center of the trailer. You can all Monday morning QB all you want. Yes,........I shouldn't have been back there and yes I was anyhow. When flatbedding and with the different delivery sites, you WILL find yourself in confusing situations. Hard to explain fully without a few paragraphs. Just take my word for it please. It was bad decision making with fatigue and a road closure involved. Beginning and end of that story.

I stopped once I curbed the truck. I had a heavy coil, It was tipped a little and when I went to back out with the thought of calling the local PD to get me out of there, I had the tractor bucking and the load starting to oscillate. With a high center of gravity and that instability I just pulled the brakes, called the company for help and figured I'd take the beating. They had to get a wrecker out there to pull the trailer off the curb, flatten out the load and get me going again.

I did get some finger wagging from safety. That is to be expected. The best thing was I quit digging myself into a hole and recognized the potential for real trouble. It was frustrating the night I made my initial post.

Don't get me wrong. Not taking it lightly. But still appreciating that I was in a tough situation I made the right decision to shut things down and call for help. It could have cost me my job, it could have been worse than that. I didn't damage an expensive tractor, a trailer or the load. All those things are important. I could have walked away with my head held high knowing I did the right thing after making a big mistake had I been let go. I guess these are rookie mistakes that are forgivable?

Other than that, things are going well with the job. I am making delivery times. Customer service is excellent. I am following company policy.