Fired On The First Day

So i know im gonna be made fun of....whatever. Im posting on here to see if anyone can give me some advice. I started working for Swift. (I know first mistake...yea yea ive heard it all)

I am fresh out of school through somewhere else and was trying to get TRAINING so that i could start my career.....so i got paired with a trainer. I met my trainer yesterday... nice guy but HEAVY foreign accent...very hard to understand and chain smoker to where i had to hang my head out the window to breathe.

I met with him at the terminal first thing that morning before leaving the terminal had a oil leak.. i crawled down checking it, tried to do my pre trip and wasnt afraid to get dirty...i was humble and transparent. Told him im fresh from school, never drove except for taking my test.

He had me drive IMMEDIATELY. I drove from the terminal in decatur.. within the first 30 minutes i was driving i was to make a left turn... he said "turn left" so i went to turn left(properly) when he all of a sudden starts yelling "straight, stay straight,go straight, stay straight" so i listened and ended up in oncoming lane and he told me to jump the median....so i did. He had me continue to drive into ATL on the highway to mcdonough where i dropped and picked up a load.

His driver lead called and told him to drop me back at the terminal because they had seen the camera footage... he had me drive back through ATL to DECATUR to the terminal where i stayed the night in the truck until this AM when they fired me without ever allowing me to even plead my case or anything.

I know im gonna be made fun of. Whatever i dont care but keep in mind it was my first day ever driving and i was made to drive thru heavily congested areas immediately and i was listening to my trainer whom kept contradicting everything he said and also everything I WAS ALREADY taught. ALSO worthy of noting that as i continued to drive i got better, making corrections as needed and was scanning my mirrors as i was taught. He actually would tell me stop even looking at a specific mirror and was never properly clear on instructions.

I made this post to ask is there ANYTHING that i can do but move on..im sitting at the terminal waiting on a ride home

We don't make fun of anyone that has driven for Swift. There are a number of people here that got their start with Swift and I have a friend that drove for them for 13 years before moving to another company.

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Use our link and apply everywhere. Be forewarned however, it's going to be tough to get another job because of the economy and your lack of experience. There is nothing wrong with Swift or any of the other companies that are made fun of. Even they are having a tough time in this economy and can be very choosy about who they hire. You need to get on the road quickly so you can't be choosy in who you go with. If you're off the road too long your license will become stale and you will have a harder time getting hired on.

Laura

I would try to talk to the safety head and see if you can be placed eith a other trainer. Admut u messed up.and didnt attend swifts schooling.

David, Swift is such a huge company that it’s kind of the luck of the draw as to what kind of trainer you get. Sounds like you had a bombastic one that made you nervous. But DON’T GIVE UP without a fight, so to speak. Do what Kearsey recommended, that is good advice. If that fails, do what Ramper Romper recommended.

Ideally, you can get paired with a more compatible trainer and stay with Swift. Swift is okay to get started with, many successful drivers have.

Keep us posted as to what happens.

I was trained by and drove for Swift for three years. I never had a problem with them, and yes, for some reason Swift and Swifties are the butts of jokes. As for the trainer, I thought Swift had the Smoking/Non-smoking option for trainer selection. Contact your recruiter and discuss it with them.

You surely drove for your CDL test, and that means you should have driven at your school. Road driving is a genuine requirement for the training you receive. No, that's not enough for you to go solo to haul freight. But you should have the minimum experience at your start.

As others have said, many quality drivers got their start at Swift. See if you can really take charge of this. Identify where your mistakes were, come up with a plan not to repeat them, vocalize this to safety. I would recommend avoiding placing blame on the trainer. Its much more profession to just state that you had dificulty following his directives and working with him. There is no failure except in no longer trying. I would express interest in attending their Top Gun program, and even see if you could take a refresher course through them. It may take you several well thought out professional communications, but its worth trying.

Move on and stay away from ANY OTR ....End of story !

Move on and stay away from ANY OTR ....End of story !

Please elaborate on this. There's many drivers that make a career driving OTR and are happy with it. Besides, who would bring the local guys the product we take to the end customer?

Rob, Mike is having trouble getting his comments approved. He's got some kind of burr in his saddle about OTR companies. He just can't seem to hold a civil conversation without using obscenities when speaking about OTR.

Move on and stay away from ANY OTR ....End of story !

There must be quite a story behind such a radical opinion.

OTR is not for everyone for various reasons, but for those of us who do it, it is what we each make of it. I really like to hear the experiences of local and regional drivers, but I have no desire to do anything other than OTR. Why? Because it fits my circumstances like a glove. It’s a great adventure, satisfying, productive work and some fun all mixed into one ball of life.

Like the song says “The road goes on forever and the party never ends”.