|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 9, 2003 12:47:01 GMT -5
I toured all the schools in my area and picked the one that is the best fit. It had one of the longest programs, best reputations, and it wasn't an extremely long commute. Their equipment was within a few years old and their instructors seemed very knowledgable. Strange things kept happening though that made me think that their office staff was messing with me though.
The initial tour went well, the application process smooth, and they even gave me a tip of getting a grant that panned out. I actually got financial aid when I thought for sure the government hated me.
Then came time to get my physical. They gave me directions to the medical facility that they used. The directions weren't even close to being right though. They had the street name almost right, and the city correct. I drove around in heavy traffic until I found the place. I was in my car but there was still no safe place to turn around. I just sort of had to orbit the city blocks until I was lined up to hit the street that sounded remotely like what the guy told me. It wasn't anywhere near where his directions took me, but it turned out to be right. I found the place tucked back in behind a mall.
Next came my drug screening. It was on the same day as the physical but at a different location. BUT, I didn't know this... I came out of the docs office and my cell phone had a voice mail. "Russ, we need you to come in to do your drug screening today." It's three in the afternoon, I am two hours away, and I need to be there by five. Remember that snarled traffic? Yeah, it didn't get any better... I still managed to make it on time though.
Then came the permit test the next day. This was no fault of the schools, but they had to know what I was walking into. I got there early to beat the normal crowd, so I was one of the first customers for the day. I took the test then proceeded to stand there for two and a half hours while the lady fumbled through turning my authorization to test, into a learners permit.
Ahh finally I am ready to go to school, get my CDL and get on with it. Nope, not until you have six prehires mister! I came home with a stack of applications to fill out that would cramp my penmanship for days. It was a daunting stack of papers, and I spent an entire evening fill them out redundantly making sure to press hard on those that had multiple copies. This annoyed me for days as I already had the prehire that I wanted. I wondered why they did all this to me and suddenly it dawned on me. Crappy directions, rushed orders, long waits, and a heaping pile of paperwork to end the day with; looks like I just got lesson number one.
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 9, 2003 13:42:43 GMT -5
Keep a sense of humor about the crappy directions they gave you to the medical center. These are the same kind of dirctions you will get to the shipper and consignee. Only, orbiting around city blocks in a tractor-trailer is not the easiest thing to do. So it will be best to plan your route to where ever you are loading or unloading, then call the company and tell them you need directions from such -n- such road that you are coming into town on.
|
|
|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 9, 2003 14:08:24 GMT -5
The directions were to turn onto kenwood drive off of main street. I looked ata map and found main street but no kenwood drive. I was worried but figured I could find it by knowing main street. I didn't have a phone number for the place and it wasn't in the phone book. I set off anyhow, although I did go a few hours early.
I got on main street and there was nothing there... I searched everywhere, and even asked some people on the street. Finally it dawned on me that "main street" wasn't the MAIN STREET in this town. That was State Street. So I went down state street and found one named Kerwood Ave. I couldn't turn down it though so I had to orbit out around the city on an inner belt and approach from the other way. I finally got lined up and shot down that street and found the place.
It was a mess... there was a bunch of construction in town and an end dump had broken down on a steep grade right in the middle of the detour. There were trucks trying to squeeze through in both directions so It took every bit of my extra two hours to get there. I ended up just 15 minutes early.
|
|
|
Post by Christopher on Sept 9, 2003 16:51:53 GMT -5
LOL! Great post. We've all had that happen, and of course it will continue - mine was in Detroit. At 3 A.M.
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 9, 2003 18:23:31 GMT -5
LOL! Great post. We've all had that happen, and of course it will continue - mine was in Detroit. At 3 A.M. You got lucky, it first happened to me in Yonkers, NY. at 4:00 in the afternoon.....
|
|
|
Post by truckertom on Sept 9, 2003 19:21:47 GMT -5
Man oh man....I may have to print this one out and show my students when they have to wait more than 20 minutes for a test results! I know NYC is hated by alot of truckers. Loathed by the rest and tolorated by those who must go there. But it is still a great town and if you learn to drive there, everything else will be a cinch! (except mountains)
I take students through downtown Fort Worth Texas and they nearly have a melt down! Ha ha ha!
What is funny is when a student fails a drugscreen after being asked by a recruiter 1 million times if they can pass it, and because they passed it at the headshop, they think they can pass anything......WRONG!
"I' been eatin' golden seal for a week!" they say.
And I reply.."Yes, and that is one of the first things they screen for".
Then I find out they smoked their last joint a week ago. And then I tell them it will take at least a full month to get it out of their system.
"I'll be back" They say, but they never are. I guess they shovel out stock pens full of Marijuna fertilizer.
Now there is a job where you can smoke all the pot you want to!LOL!
Oh yeah! We had a student that we suspected was smoking the "mystic green leafy substance" so we took him back to the clinic.....and after an hour went looking for him. We found him behind the clinic, peeing in the bushes! When we asked him what he thought he was doing. He said just trying to get it right!
Can you say "WASHED OUT?"
|
|
|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 9, 2003 21:42:04 GMT -5
I have no fear, mine is cleeeeean. I was joking around saying it was clean enough to drink. They tried calling my bluff by offering me the cup. I called theirs and actually acted like I was gonna drink it. LOL The dude just about lost it. I haven't even taken tylenol since like 1997... They wouldn't even find caffeine in my urine.
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 10, 2003 7:07:11 GMT -5
Tom, in 7 yrs. of driving OTR, I 've only had to go to NYC 2 times, The first to Yonkers, (which I explained above) and the second time to Brooklyn. I did not care for either time, and I really have no desire to go back. I've seen enough.
|
|
|
Post by DoctorWho on Sept 10, 2003 10:12:25 GMT -5
OK Bullet don't you be talking bad about my place of birth!!!!
"the second time to Brooklyn. I did not care for either time, and I really have no desire to go back. I've seen enough"
There's nothing wrong with going to NYC, well except if it is in Flushing, Queens and some lunatic is driving on the sidewalk.(a story for another time)
Durng a road trip with the other half of the Chemical Brothers we encountered a group of students from a local trucking school and in passing I heard the trainer say something about New York and telling the students that they should tell their dispatchers they will not go. Real good thing to tell a new driver. Me being the person I am, stopped and told the instructor that he was wrong and that if I was a dispatcher and some new driver told me he wasn't going to NY, that would be the first place they would go. Not to mention that it was not the type of attitude to teach anyone. He was supposed to be teaching PROFESSIONALISM!!!
The instructor was more than upset with me and my brother, which was fine, but I did what I had to do.
I'd make one hell of an instructor...
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 10, 2003 16:18:32 GMT -5
Sorry to have ruffled your feathers there Doc. ;D I do think that every driver should go to NYC at least once. It would be good training. But I've been twice, I already have my NYC training and really don't need anymore. I also don't care to drive in Ohio, California, New Jersey, (sorry Doc.) Florida, or Illinois.
|
|
|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 10, 2003 18:04:25 GMT -5
Would they dare send a brand new driver into a heavy metro area? I suspect that they would, but it sounds rather dumb to me.
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 10, 2003 20:17:50 GMT -5
Would they dare send a brand new driver into a heavy metro area? I suspect that they would, but it sounds rather dumb to me. Yes they will......It's all part of training. Along with mountains. (which is where the real training comes in.) Try crossing the Rockies in a snowstorm. Not fun. I crossed Donners Pass one time in the winter where all you could see was about 6 inches of the tops of the road signs.
|
|
|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 10, 2003 20:40:13 GMT -5
and I chose NOVEMBER as the time to start my career.
|
|
|
Post by SilverBullet on Sept 11, 2003 8:29:35 GMT -5
and I chose NOVEMBER as the time to start my career. Just take it easy. Common sense plays a big part in winter driving. I have driven in weather that I knew I shouldn't be driving in. But once I get scared or uncomfortable with it, I pull over at the nearest T/S, rest area, etc. I shutdown in Ohio just north of Dayton in the winter of 2001. I stopped because the roads were all freezing over. I woke up to about 8 inches of snow. I got my truck cleaned off, and got back on the Interstate, and there were numerous cars and trucks in the median. Not to mention 2 Ohio State Trooper cars flipped in the median due to icy roads the night before. I use my own judgement on what is safe for me to drive in, not a dispatchers judgement who is seated in a warm office a thousand miles away.
|
|
|
Post by Arcflash on Sept 11, 2003 11:40:27 GMT -5
Yeah, I am used to driving in ice and snow. I don't mind heavy snow so much, but I hate ice. Pulling a trailer on it will just compound my hate for it even more.
I would definately pull over and stop before I'd even chain up to keep moving.
|
|