I couldn't agree more. Well stated.
Nervous newbie
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
Josh, remember that you are the captain of your ship. When that white stuff gets too iffy, park it and let dispatch know. Do not let anyone bully you. No load is more important than your lives. If something were to happen they wouldn't have any problem blaming you for it and letting you go.
Oh, and being stressed out is normal. I drove tractor trailers a long time before then I did the van thing for years and I was still nervous for a few months when I jumped in my straight truck.
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Oh, and being stressed out is normal. I drove tractor trailers a long time before then I did the van thing for years and I was still nervous for a few months when I jumped in my straight truck.
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That's where I hold my ground. I will rush for no one. I will not under any circumstance be pushed into anything un safe. I worked at a meat packing plant for 8 years. I've seen what can happen when people are rushed/careless. People losing fingers left and right. I was a supervisor for years and was heavily involved with the safety program. Upper management of any job will be on a time limit, and worrying about prophet all the time. Making sure everyone is as efficient as possible. I don't need anyone to micromanage me, I can do it well on my own. As crappy as it makes me sound, once people start ordering me around, being disrespectful, forcing me to work out of my comfort zone, I'll leave. Plenty of jobs for people that don't mind hard work.
Thank you guys for all the support and kind words/advice. It goes a long way.
Well said brother, you Rock.
If there were more people like you around, we all would be better for it.
It's no wonder you have an Awesome Wife.
I hope we meet sometime.
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If there were more people like you around, we all would be better for it.
It's no wonder you have an Awesome Wife.
I hope we meet sometime.
Sent from my SM-N910V using EO Forums mobile app
Appreciate the kind words.
Today was a cluster f***. Had about 200 miles to go this morning to get to the truck. We got an early start and we're making good time. We got an address and was told the truck is at an A&w. Ok cool. ...Negatory. Gps brought us to a farm field. We pull off to the side of the road to figure it out. Expeditors is not open on the weekends so we were on our own. Re read the email with the location details and it says "centex A&w". Check the truckers path app for nearby centex's and proceed to call all of them asking if they have an a&w also. Went something like this.
First place -
Me - do you have an a&w also?
Male attendant - no we do not.
Me - ok thank you
Second place
Me - hello, so you have an a&w also?
Female attendant - ..no .. we do not
Me - ok. Thank you
Me to my wife - man, she sounded super rude, your calling the next one
Third place
Wife- hello, do you have an a&w at your location?
Female attendant - no, we don't, you are looking for a petro/centex on the other side of town past Walmart.
Wife- ok thank you.
She then says why the hell did everyone become so rude all of a sudden. Come to find out, we called the same number all three times. Lmao. The app has a "call" button and we never thought to check the number.
We find a road that goes past a Walmart onto a centex. We head there and, EUREKA!! There is the fed ex truck. Awesome.
It appeared to be in good shape, 177k miles. Same as ours only with a tag axle, that apparently needs to raise and lower every time your turn the key on or off.
Truck only has a 1/4 tank of gas, but the fuel card was in the truck and we were told it is good to go.
On the way out I park at the pump, swipe card, and it was like the first day all over again. New questions, ones I've never seen before, and didn't know the answers for, also asked for the mileage around 1,058 times. With my memory of a gold fish I had to keep checking the mileage every time it asked for it.
So let me set the mood. Swipe, button mashing, mile check, button mash, mile check again, argue with the pump out loud, check miles again, meanwhile every time I turn the key to check the miles the axle lets out a loud WOOOSH of air and makes its appearance with an up/down motion as if to wave to everyone who is staring at me at this point. Finally I get a declined message over the screen.
Sigh.. let's try the card for the other truck. You can just go ahead and re read the above paragraph since it all happened again. Including the declined message.
Ok fine. We can't use our card at this brand of gas station. You win this round gas pump.
We head out. Rolled for about 200-300 miles before the wife started to get low on hours. We spent the last hour looking for truck stops that don't exist. In this area. Find a kwik trip with 10, count them, TEN spots. Which are filled. Ok. I'll get fuel here then...
Low and behold this pump also asks a million questions that I don't know the answers to, not to mention I pulled in the wrong way and was parked at the pump facing the wrong way. Go ahead and re read the above paragraph for a third time, seem to be getting pretty good at this. Screen displays "card not active" I yell to the wife at the pump next to me who looks hella professional with her truck pulled in facing the correct way and say give me your fuel card, she can't hear me, so I yell it again while my truck axle proceeds to bench press the pavement. Finally after pressing more buttons than I would entering a PlayStation cheat code I get the approval. But for only on side of the pump.
it, top it off and head out, with a 1/4 tank of fuel. Super glad I was able to get to exactly where I started 4-6 hours earlier. Managed to find a rest stop up the road with open spots. Out for the night.
Really not that bad of a day. Got about 800 miles left.
Stopped for the night. 450 miles to go. For anyone wondering, 2 straight trucks will fit in one spot assuming you can get the tail up over the curb. Watch your stabilizer jacks and apparently an air tank on the back underneath the truck if you have a tag axle. front truck sticks out some feet but I'm sure whoever gets the last spot here will appreciate us not taking up two.
EDIT:: pilot charges you twice for team shower.ty. After days without showering I'm not gonna complain too much
EDIT #2 :: for anyone wondering why a 1000 mile drive is taking 3 days, half of the 1st day was spent getting to the truck, but the bigger set back was today. Stopped at a t/a for wipers. There was a communication issue somewhere between t/a and expeditors on who was waiting on who. After 20 minutes I asked the guy to give me a call when we were all good, I was gonna go sit in the truck. He said that was fine. Me and the wife jump in the truck and we put the phone on loud and laid down... and fell asleep.. turns out, I was asleep for a bit. About 2 hrs to be exact. I freak out a bit and go inside. Told the guy I would just pay for the wipers, oil, and coolant we planned to get. Right about then is when the order went through and got approved. Awesome.
Embarrassing to say we lost 3hrs because of me carelessly falling asleep while waiting. But it happened. Good thing we don't have a load. Still lost time though.
EDIT:: pilot charges you twice for team shower.
ty. After days without showering I'm not gonna complain too muchEDIT #2 :: for anyone wondering why a 1000 mile drive is taking 3 days, half of the 1st day was spent getting to the truck, but the bigger set back was today. Stopped at a t/a for wipers. There was a communication issue somewhere between t/a and expeditors on who was waiting on who. After 20 minutes I asked the guy to give me a call when we were all good, I was gonna go sit in the truck. He said that was fine. Me and the wife jump in the truck and we put the phone on loud and laid down... and fell asleep.. turns out, I was asleep for a bit. About 2 hrs to be exact. I freak out a bit and go inside. Told the guy I would just pay for the wipers, oil, and coolant we planned to get. Right about then is when the order went through and got approved. Awesome.
Embarrassing to say we lost 3hrs because of me carelessly falling asleep while waiting. But it happened. Good thing we don't have a load. Still lost time though.
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Just go in and get A shower and then meet in the shower area and go in together. They charge way more than enough for one shower to cover several showers, not just two.
You guys are taking ONE shower, not 2.
One shower to clean and prepare for the next customer.
You are actually saving them time and water.
Naps are a good thing, it worked out for the best after all..
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One shower to clean and prepare for the next customer.
You are actually saving them time and water.
Naps are a good thing, it worked out for the best after all..
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I see so many issues that if you had spent time with a trainer would have walked you right thru this and not where your wallet was at risk with every decision (thus allowing you to be 100% focused on the info). Please, if reading this and not having any experience, get with a road trainer or spend time with a Class A Road trainer. Saves SOOOO many headaches. (I spent a while as a road trainer years ago) And yes almost every question you can come up with has been asked and 43 different ways. Trainers tend to be patient, have great stories and the better ones will not only teach you the job, but also how to enjoy what you do and tips on how to maximize your earning potential
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At Pilot/Flying J, one has to request a teem shower at the counter. They just charge your rewards card for one shower.
Thanks for sharing your adventures.
Thanks for sharing your adventures.
My 2 cents, when you ask for a TEAM shower many PFJ people will assume you are 2 unrelated drivers, not a couple. We ALWAYS share the shower, as said above, I order a shower (which are free because we get 90% of our gas at PFJ) and we go to the shower, find the person working back there and ask for a second towel set. NEVER had a problem
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Back in the day Teem was a soda drink.
Kinda golden in color.
Naw.....I won't go there.
Ok here we go. Not sure where I last left off but whatever.
We got to FedEx yesterday right after closing hours. Expeditors said we could leave the keys to the truck with security and they would handle the rest. Ok cool. While doing the post trip we find that the recovered truck is leaking coolant from the heater box under the bunk. Every part of me wanted to just ignore it and leave. But all I could think about is another newbie couple over heating on the side of the road. I'm not thatty. So we agree to wait until morning and call it in the next day (today). FedEx has a parking lot, showers, drivers Lounge, laundry, etc. so not that bad.
We head into the lounge to hit up the vending machines (pretty much out of food at this point) and spotted 3 other drivers in there. Spoke for a good bit about our newbie struggles and it was all quite entertaining. Two other drivers came in (husband and wife) and offered up warm dinner for everyone. They had apparently made way too much for themselves. So naturally me and the wife dove right in. While telling them we couldn't get our heat to function properly they offered to show us how it worked. We agreed and headed outside, they were able to conclude our heat is broken, he explained what was wrong but I didn't retain much of it. I'm not gonna be the one fixing it anyway. We ended up talking with them for a few hours. They showed us their truck (super awesome inside) and were generally just good company after a long day of driving.
Come morning time. We called expeditors and explained the issue. They asked us to bring the truck to bolt which was on the way to where we were headed anyway and they would continue to pay the mileage. Ok sure. We figure we would get our apu and beat checked out at the same time since there is a thermoking down the street. We were able to make it before "overtime" hours kicked in so first thing tomorrow morning we will bring the truck in.
To the guy above who mentioned a trainer, I agree. This is not for the weak. Is is possible to jump in blind and succeed? I hope so since that's where we're at. But very much not recommended. Had I known it would have been the headache it has been I may have reconsidered. But at the end of the day (this day in particular since my mood will change with the wind) I don't have any regrets. While it has been a roller coaster ride with surprise bags of flying at me randomly so far, it hasn't been "bad", with the 4 loads we did and the money we made from the truck recovery we are good financially for another month and a half (we don't have a lot of financial obligations. Lol). Our truck will be good (knock on wood) after this apu service and heat fixing and we'll grab a few more loads and that should bring us to home time for a week of relaxing.
Feeling pretty optimistic right now, hopefully that feeling stays for awhile.
We got to FedEx yesterday right after closing hours. Expeditors said we could leave the keys to the truck with security and they would handle the rest. Ok cool. While doing the post trip we find that the recovered truck is leaking coolant from the heater box under the bunk. Every part of me wanted to just ignore it and leave. But all I could think about is another newbie couple over heating on the side of the road. I'm not that
ty. So we agree to wait until morning and call it in the next day (today). FedEx has a parking lot, showers, drivers Lounge, laundry, etc. so not that bad. We head into the lounge to hit up the vending machines (pretty much out of food at this point) and spotted 3 other drivers in there. Spoke for a good bit about our newbie struggles and it was all quite entertaining. Two other drivers came in (husband and wife) and offered up warm dinner for everyone. They had apparently made way too much for themselves. So naturally me and the wife dove right in. While telling them we couldn't get our heat to function properly they offered to show us how it worked. We agreed and headed outside, they were able to conclude our heat is broken, he explained what was wrong but I didn't retain much of it. I'm not gonna be the one fixing it anyway. We ended up talking with them for a few hours. They showed us their truck (super awesome inside) and were generally just good company after a long day of driving.
Come morning time. We called expeditors and explained the issue. They asked us to bring the truck to bolt which was on the way to where we were headed anyway and they would continue to pay the mileage. Ok sure. We figure we would get our apu and beat checked out at the same time since there is a thermoking down the street. We were able to make it before "overtime" hours kicked in so first thing tomorrow morning we will bring the truck in.
To the guy above who mentioned a trainer, I agree. This is not for the weak. Is is possible to jump in blind and succeed? I hope so since that's where we're at. But very much not recommended. Had I known it would have been the headache it has been I may have reconsidered. But at the end of the day (this day in particular since my mood will change with the wind) I don't have any regrets. While it has been a roller coaster ride with surprise bags of
flying at me randomly so far, it hasn't been "bad", with the 4 loads we did and the money we made from the truck recovery we are good financially for another month and a half (we don't have a lot of financial obligations. Lol). Our truck will be good (knock on wood) after this apu service and heat fixing and we'll grab a few more loads and that should bring us to home time for a week of relaxing. Feeling pretty optimistic right now, hopefully that feeling stays for awhile.
Got our dog on thurs, grabbed a load to Kentucky and delivered on Friday. Ended up sitting the whole weekend waiting for a load to go near home. Got a load out of Kentucky on Monday to Ohio. Then got a load from Ohio to Wisconsin (waiting to pick up now) and then we'll be heading home. We also accepted a load from Illinois back to Indiana tomorrow but it got canceled.
Little note on home time. Expeditors gives you 200 miles every month paid for. I didn't realize that was 200 miles to get home. So if you want to go home, or your home time comes around, you need to get a load that will bring you close. Anything over 200 miles you'll be paying for out of pocket. Wisconsin is about 220miles away from where we need to be so we did pretty well. But we did not realize this until kinda last minute.
Dog is having some serious anxiety issues with being in the truck. Hopefully he comes around.
Little note on home time. Expeditors gives you 200 miles every month paid for. I didn't realize that was 200 miles to get home. So if you want to go home, or your home time comes around, you need to get a load that will bring you close. Anything over 200 miles you'll be paying for out of pocket. Wisconsin is about 220miles away from where we need to be so we did pretty well. But we did not realize this until kinda last minute.
Dog is having some serious anxiety issues with being in the truck. Hopefully he comes around.
Perhaps after their Teem shower they slammed down a Rondo™