10/19/09 One Year Exactly from the original post of TruckerDesiree and 130 posts later!! From that scared and frantic student contacting Allen for help, to one of the most determined and influential women in trucking today…offering advice and empathy to all who need it.
**YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY!**
If you would like to read Desiree’s Journal from the beginning, please scroll ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom of the page.
Click on the Blue Words at the bottom of this page: “30 Old Comments are not displayed, Click to display all comments. ”
If you don’t do this, you will miss the first few months of the journal. Thanks, Donna
This Journal will soon be available in book form. We’ll let you know when it’s complete
10/19/08
Allen and I have the honor to communicate with so many people every day. Although we haven’t met the majority of them, I feel a comradery between us and them just the same. Trucking can be a lonely lifestyle in itself, but our websites, truthabouttrucking.com and askthetrucker.com, have introduced us to some of the finest human beings around. We receive letters, gifts, prayers, and friendship from many of our loyal subscribers.
Recently I started communicating by e-mail with a woman by the name of Desiree. Her e-mails describing her life as a truck driver were so detailed and graphic, I felt like I was living the experience right along with her. Her stories were those of courage and integrity and Allen even used one of them in his new version of “The Truth About Trucking“ 4th edition.
I invited Desiree to post some of her stories here, and I hope all of you find them as intriguing, entertaining and fascinating as I did. These stories represent similar experiences that so many other woman truck drivers have lived.
Some of her stories can definitely give you some insight on how trucking companies “value” women truckers.
When I asked her to how she would like to share some of her stories here on our blog, she answered with this reply,
“Well I’d like to start, by starting from the very beginning and navigating my way thru the trucking
school scam and thru the individuals that I teamed with and was trained by, because there
are already tons of funny stories… but great learning experiences. From weight
management to hygiene I’ve been collecting and fine tuning this lifestyle to make it
work.”
Okay, Thanks Desiree. It’s all yours now!
Donna
© 2008 – 2009, AskTheTrucker. All rights reserved.
: Lady Trucker, The Truth About Trucking, truck driver, trucking, trucking companies, women truck drivers, women truckers
It is good to hear that you are working to help change things . keep up the good work .
Okay, men, get this already! Grow up! Women are in the workplace, and they are staying!!! You mean the workers actually SPOKE to you after you complained?! Mine refused to work with me, literally, and never spoke to me after I was ‘forced’ (just as you, following their co. policy) to file a report with ‘HR’. Of course, HR was never out in the van from hell with me, which included five to six (that’s right) harassing men all at once, daily. You think one is bad, try six, every single day. Of course it was an 8 hr day and nothing like the hell you endured (day and night). The rest of your story RIGHT DOWN TO THE GUYS BLAMING YOU, is verbatim what the ‘men’ at my co. told HR. On my second day of employment, I made it clear this was business, not their home, and that their language and sexual comments ‘do you have a boyfriend/what’s with your boyfriend’ and on and on, was not acceptable. I was told by a veteran of the company and I quote ‘There is an established culture here and you are not going to change it.’
Not only did they stop talking to me completely and refuse to answer my questions, they wouldn’t sit by me in the van. The supervisor, who was the one who called me ‘hot’ and said I looked ‘pretty hot’ in the workplace! would say things like ‘you just swore right there’ when he asked me ‘what type of language did they say that you object to?’ Anything to trip up the female and get her to quit. He grabbed the co cellphone out of my hand when I was placing a call to my helper, injuring my hand. Nothing was done. They all kept their jobs.
Our daily group activities no longer included me, and HR (who of course is never there and is at a satellite office 250 miles away and saw none of this!) as well as the owner of this national co. told me that the sexually explicit lyrics I objected to in the WORKPLACE could be played at full volume in the van. They tried to manipulate, even the mgr telling me he ‘figured’ I was on the phone with my help (yes I did seek others to speak for me, and they did not help either) even though he never heard our conversation, and included me having to sit, AT MY OWN WORKPLACE, WITH FOLDER ON MY LAP (they all sat at the table, goading me to say anything to their sexual remarks) FOR OUR APPT’S THAT DAY, AS THEIR ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR CONTINUED in the room (it wasn’t big enough to be an office, it was a room) AND they , according to the manager ‘ all asked not to work with me’ out of the van (ha). After I made the complaint. We really need to talk. You need to come on my radio show on BTR.
This goes on IN SALES AND OTHER COMPANIES AS WELL. I EARNED my CLASS A CDL PERMIT WITH HAZMAT endorsements, and it was very difficult. Your advice here to others is spot on. IF YOU KNOW OF ANY DRIVER WILLING TO TAKE ME OUT SO THAT I CAN PASS MY ROAD TEST AFTER ALL THIS WORK , please let me know. Like you, being business- like and not wishing to discuss or tolerate talk of people’s sex lives and other inappropriate comments in the workplace led to my torture and sabotage.
When I refused to get in a vehicle with my inebriated ‘ride’ to Schneider’s training school (they had a school then) I lost my schooling opporturnity with Scheider, after Schneider recruited ME! There was not one male (or female) driver in my area willing to take me out to learn after earning my CDL permit.
Just started this is anyone receiving?
Loud and clear. I am a retired lady trucker and am interested in what you have to say. I would still be out there but at age 72 I just do not have the physical stamina to do it anymore. I miss it.
Hi Monnie,
Thanks for your comment. Bet you have a lot of stories to share with us.
Allen@truthabouttrucking.com
Have you checked out Desiree’s Blog?
http://www.TruckerDesiree.com
Also,We’re having a radio show on 6/23/09 7:30 PM EST that I have a feeling you will want to hear.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TruthAboutTrucking/2009/06/23/Hostile-Training-and-Work-Environments-within-Trucking
Like Deja-vu all over again, reading these women’s horror stories. I got into trucking when the Fed’s started their requirements for “Professional” truckers, end of ca1989…when the need country’s economy was in close to the same situation, as now. The Driving schools were scams, too…& the companies who’d hire the newbies, were as shiftless and shady as now…but it was a pretty new deal, then…the older drivers, some who’d neared retirement, were being required to go thru the same things as new drivers, because of the electronic/computerized engines/trans, etc…they were tearing up the equipment, trying to “signature” the gears, so they could “slip” the gears and not use the clutch (In Oregon, the demand for truckers got so that they finally let them float the gears, here…(I was in TX, when I started out)
Anyway, 20 yrs later, and thousand’s of dollars, including w/h my tax refunds every year, and refusing to give me a statement of my a/c balance, terms, etc…I finally “settled” and put what they said I still owed, abt $6k, on a credit card, just to get it out of the Federal system…the school and the bank in TX that underwrote the school’s finances, (govm’t funding) both went out of business, never sent me my pmt schedule…etc…at least, I didn’t have to live on $125mo, while paying some sheister company off, being “held hostage” by some I had to work for at lst.
Women aren’t the only victims of the greed machine, either…I heard plenty from the newbie guys, too, who ended up “jumping trucks” when left in some bf-egypt truckstop, 2k miles from their families over a holiday, they’d promised to make it home to. (I was single, but missed most holidays…”because we need to get our guys home for their families”…sometimes I think that the govm’t goes thru the same cycles every 20 yrs, just long enuff for a generation to come up to fill the same shoes and cheaper; in trade for the inexperience.
They’ll take the “cowboy” who’s willing to drive like a maniac to get a load thru, for some dispatcher who’s logistics are as short of a load as his mental aptitude. (He learned dispatching at 7-11, like Michael Fox, learned to shoot…re: Back to the Future? However, I was run as a team, tho I was a solo driver, by the young son of the Co’s owner and my fleet mgr, said…(shhh…just do it, it’s (name)…I’ll get you turned around after this trip..)
Well, I’d been sent, after unloading, to pick up a load in TX, for Phoenix...run night/day…then back to Atlanta, GA…non-stop….and the guys’s son got mad because I wanted a shower and reported me to that fleet mgr, who told him I wasn’t a team and was out of hours…so that really made the guy mad and he refused to dispatch me, til he sent me to pick up soup in California…a dry-box load…and I ran reefer…so that cut the load one pallet, so the soup company was mad that I wouldn’t take the pallet and even if I hadn’t had a drop of fuel in the tanks, I couldn’t have crossed the lst scale with it. There were certain trucks meant to pick up their loads…not with a sleeper and dual tanks and plus a refrigerated unit. I knew from experience that the dispatcher would want me to take it anyway and go down the road to some place, dodging the scales, and transfer the pallet to another driver, somewhere. I didn’t get paid to do anything for that company, but drive the miles…flat rate, no layover pay, no go, no pay. This isn’t a just a matter of being a woman, it’s a matter of what was mentioned abt incompetent dispatchers and corp greed, etc…which only is worse when the economy gets bad, because drivers become more and more “disposable”, the worse it gets.
Women lst....because, like it or not, it’s still the good-ol-boy mentality and when push comes to shove, they’ll make it so hard on whoever they want to “cut from the herd”, you leave voluntarily, or with a tarnished reputation…male or female. After all I saw out there, I still can say without a doubt, that women have to pay more and harder dues than the guys do. I’m not so sure but it’s that the guys just figure it’s not worth sticking it out and head home, when women aren’t so apt to be able to find a good enough paying job, to be able to quit….and, face it, many don’t have a home to go back to, at that point…if they do, they won’t be able to afford to keep it. Guys can be in that situation, also.
Bottom line is, their bottom line and when it gets to that point, white men finish lst. Usually that’s what the company owner is, and can most identify with. They can always go find cheap drivers, when the need arises again…and it will, and it does…and on it goes…I recall, 20 yrs ago, nearly, when a big trucking company in the NW went bankrupt, after the son put all the profits as well as the driver’s pensions up his nose and the company I was driving for took it over. The old drivers would come into the shop and we got two earfuls of educated experience, compliments of their “worst-case scenario”…identical to what’s going on today; only there was no internet and networking like this, to be able to give a voice to all these drivers. It would’ve been great to be able to document all the atrocities suffered out there, on a site like this one, back then.
Thanks for putting it up…it’s a great service and
can only do more in the near future, I believe; tho it’s
a sad prognostication, for sure. Hills & Valleys, are all down the old road of life…and on we go, without much of a map, yet….but the Good Book. The all-time best “owner’s manual” for getting us thru these times.
Good Luck to All….and I sincerely mean it.
Thanks for sharing! It feels good to talk, where there are those who understand what’s being said. I see that some have had the experience of being blamed for their abuse…the more things change, the more they remain the same?. I think this site may just help!
Keep on keepin’ on….One foot & One mile after the other…we’ll all make it to our destination. Let’s try to continue to help one another, along the way.
Facebook’s starting a new thing, tomorrow…y’all might want to ck it out, if you haven’t….Over ‘n’ Out…
Thanks for writing Sam, (I think that’s what your name is)
You are correct, it’s not really about Women, it’s about Bullying in the workplace and taking advantage of someone down on their luck and desperate for work.
If the facebook project you refer to has to do with bullying in the workplace, I have already joined.
We have created a society of people who feel they are superior to others who simply want to work and take care of their familes.
This chaotic atmosphere has spawned lower rung superiors who have little skill in humanities and ethics to want to impress their will and dominate everyone and everything.
Many times it’s out of their own frustration of what they too have been unable to achieve so they pass their angst to someone who is more passive in nature, or who they percieve is weaker than them.
Smaller does not equal Weak
Bigger Title does not Equal Smart
Quiet should never be interpeted as inferior.
We all have a lot to learn about our conduct in treating other human beings who are sturrling to make ends meet right now.
People who feel “Sucking up” will get them up the ladder, well I have news, …You are being used just like them people you have abused to get to that false pedestal.
I’ve talked to some of these young dispatchers who feel if they do this evil bidding they will move up in the coporate structure.
They are young, stressed out and unhappy.
Anyone who works in the corporate structure knows, it’s dosen’t get any better.
If you go about turning a profit with a total lack of integrity that your harm other peoples as a business model for gain.
It will catch up to you,
I’ will talk about this more another time but for now, there is something everyone should understand.
As long as the lowest level workers and lower management are bickering and fighting, you just gave the corporate greed mongers a blank check off your back.
That goes for trucking as well, put your effort into targeting the real culprits of this corrupt industry and stop name calling on the CB. Stop running around patting yourself on the back about what you coulda, woulda, shoulda done and do it now.
The majority of drivers do not used the internet and are to busy to communicate so if you know how and your have the means, please get involved to be part of the solution, not the problem.
I spoke to a young man who was from the Marines this weekend who was so aggravated about how my company was mistreating him and humiliatiing him.
Of course, no story in my company is complete without “MS” going the extra mile to kick someone when they are down.
He was told to complain about what “MS” had done to him, and guess what? They person who told him to report her no longer works for our company.
Nice people who care about the drivers don’t have longevity in this business, that’s the bottom line.
The end of my team with Valarie was occurring.
I left Florida and returned to Chattanooga as second Hurricane named Ike took aim in the Gulf of Mexico.
The ride back was not as hectic because Gustav had made landfall by the time I came back through Atlanta.
Still, I knew I had a challenge awaiting me, Valerie had shingles or at least she said she did, which most people do not know are contagious if you have not had chicken pox.
As team drivers, we sleep in the same bunk while the truck is in motion.
I was incredibly stressed thinking about Valerie’s poor health, tantrums, contagious disease and whatever she was not telling me.
When I arrive at my terminal I was told by Ace to move our stuff into a NEW TRUCK!!! I went to work right away moving all of my stuff and Valerie’s stuff, including her special mattress by myself.
I avoided her phones calls because I knew she would be calling and screaming on the phone about when I’d be coming to Mississippi to get her. That was another thing I was dreading, driving into a state where NO FREIGHT would be coming out of for a very long time.
I thought she should get a ride up to our terminal so we could get a coast to coast run, but no, she couldn’t do that.
From the moment I arrived from my round trip bus ride to Florida I worked moving all of our things to the new truck, I thought she would at least be happy about that but when I told her she became unglued. “Why are they giving us this truck NOW?” “I Need to Roll!”! She screamed through the phone.
Valerie proceeded to call me every few hours, “Don’t forget my picture”, “Make sure you do …” I did it all, made sure every single thing was exactly where it was in the old truck. I installed the CB, got new antennas, everything. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t happy though about having a brand new truck?
I was so tired after all that work, the mattress, a Serta Orthopedic was a dream to sleep on but a pain in the butt to maneuver in and out from truck to truck. I did it all completely alone.
The constant phone calls were bothering me also, so I finally sat down to grill her. I told Valerie that taking a load into the area she lived would mean we probably would not get another load for awhile because no freight is moving from the evacuation areas. Valerie confessed, she would not be getting back on the truck, she said she was taking a medical leave of absence.
I said “Why didn’t you tell me before I moved all this stuff? they won’t let me keep a brand new truck with no team partner!” She hemmed and hawed but I was angry, I was so tired of running all around to accommodate her. She confessed she was leading the company to believe I was coming to pick her up just so I would deliver her stuff to her door and she would not have to fetch it herself.
I said, “Well, then I am going to be stuck down there with no load and I will have to route back her to find another team partner”.
Valerie said she was tired of the pay cuts, the low miles and being away from home. I suspected her health was worse than what she was letting on and I was not happy that she would come back on the truck with something contagious with a disregard for me and my concerns.
Later that night she called again and said “You understand right? then she said “but if you get a good load I’m gonna get back on the truck for awhile”.
That night I was assigned a load and left the terminal but it was unassigned shortly after, Valerie was screaming at me on the phone, like it was in my control if a load canceled. She was so impatient for me to arrive for her stuff, she didn’t care that half of the surrounding 6 states were in emergency mode, only what she wanted right now.
I basically just gave it to her and said I had had enough of the spoiled child routine. I told her she could have ridden the bus like I had to our terminal, she was only a 5 hour drive from our terminal.
I waited for Ace to come in Monday morning and he asked me on the Qualcomm “Why isn’t Valarie on the Truck”, I told him, because our load was cancelled and she threw a fit.
She had called and said she was taking a medical leave to another supervisor but Ace said she could not do that.
In the end, I don’t know what transpired but I was routed into our terminal again to re_team and then deliver Valerie’s belongings to her in Mississippi.
Either way, I was going to have to go into the Hurricane evacuation area and I knew I’d never get a load out.
Of course, I was passed my 6 months so technically I could go solo but I’d have to move everything back to the old truck again, I was still so sore, the thought of moving it all again.
I called Sam, and left a message that I was seeking a female co-driver.
Just as I arrived, there was Sam who pointed a girl to me.
Great! See, how easy is that? The solution is not only communication but to also communicating with someone who intends to assist you.
One of the biggest problems in these big companies is that they could care less about assisting you. That’s why they put people in charge of matching teams like “MS” who only cares to reap the rewards of fraternizing with certain Students and providing them with “special favors” and deliberately harming others.
Over the course of these six months I was aware many women were getting off trucks at various terminals and asking the very same question. “Is there any women to team with?”
The question still remains to me, why do they never let you get in contact with one another? Why don’t they take control of the constant stream of women getting off of a male co-drivers truck and let them get on with the next guy with no guidance whatsoever?
“The definition of Insanity is doing something over and over and expecting a different result ~ Albert Einstein”
Teaming with a Woman is certainly NOT the Magic Bullet but it is entirely a better environment to learn when sex & power is not the primary element controlling the truck.
Keep in mind though that there are some aggressive females who need to tone it down also, the bottom line is that this is a job.
You got to your job to work not to talk about your sex life or lack of it. If the company has a business model to squeeze every last penny they can out of their cheap labor force, they should spend a few extra minutes to make it crystal clear what WILL NOT be tolerated.
They are wasting their time and money and yours because of poor leadership.
I was glad to meet “CC” right away; she was calm, polite but soft spoken. She said she had trouble with a guy and she wanted to team with a girl. Perfect.
CC said she had worked in logistics prior to becoming a truck driver and when her company downsized she was laid off and offered a workforce voucher to be retrained as a truck driver.
I was glad she understood the supply chain idea and she seemed very bright.
She stalled a bit though and was not eager. She admitted she had met a guy and hoped he would be coming into the terminal and she could see him. I told her it was cool, and gave her my number so she could call me and let me know for sure.
This is another thing to think about when teaming; I’ve seen people get into arguments about it. 1 person has a “special someone” that occasionally you cross paths with, what to do?
I’ve seen jealous outbursts between teammates when this occurs. Also, if you are all part of team trucks and you meet, where do you go? Do you ask your teammate to “take a walk?” You need to make this clear before you team up with someone. It may not be cool with another Woman like it is with 2 guys who team.
Women are very judgmental, men generally keep it to themselves in an environment where you have to live together for a certain period of time in order to learn something, you cannot have everything your certain way you demand it in real life.
As it turned out CC’s friend did not arrive but she called that evening and said she wanted to team, my trainer friend told me I should have considered her delay a red flag. He said it indicated she was not serious about her job but she told me it had been 2 months since she had seen her beau and so I didn’t mind waiting overnight.
I was dreading the inevitable, driving a load into the evacuation area to home deliver Valarie’s belongings.
The truck was packed with all our stuff and Valerie’s stuff that I was told to drive to her in Mississippi.
The load we got was already late, a repower from Virginia of Hurricane Supplies for FEMA.
We waited several hours for the truck to bring us the trailer of tarps and when it finally arrived in the middle of the night the driver I switch with told me to be advised that all 10 trucks carting tarps had incorrect bills, the weight was maxed out at over 40K but all the bills said 10K and that was part of the delay.
Leave it to the US Government to screw up a 1 page document.
CC never got of the bunk to help with the swapping of trailers and I thought nothing of it, we didn’t have far to drive to Valarie’s, just 5 hours so I didn’t mind that she didn’t come out of the sleeper.
I had heard her making a few comments from the bunk though, but I didn’t pay it much mind, kind of like Back seat driving from bed is what it was.
There was a sense of excitement in the air, we knew that Hurricane Ike was heading toward Louisiana and that was where this load of tarps was headed.
Having to stop in Mississippi to deliver Valarie’s stuff and be sent straight into a Hurricane knowing we would have to stay there and not knowing what Ike would bring was nerve wracking.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, no one did.
Thank all the universe and heavens for you being a strong and determined women. What you have written has happened to me. The crazy men demanding sex, dispatchers starving me out b/c I complained about bullys in the workplace, unsafe working enviornments…..working all month 13,000 miles and only being paid $300.00…and being told that ‘that should do me for the month’……being yelled at and called HO and bitch and feminsit…all b/c I would not trade sex or a blowjob…Being kicked out of the truck b/c I would not ride/drive with a drunken teammate…..finding out my teammate rented a ‘layover’ hotel room with only one bed……..wakeing up after my sleep and finding out that not only could my partner NOT READ ENGLISH…but we were 600 miles in the opposite direction …and he would not phone dispatch…I had too!!….being told that I was a troublemaker with a big mouth b/c I complained about safety issues….
Thank you Desiree for speaking out and thank you for NOT QUITTING!!!!
Forever SISTER….I got your back! anytime, anywhere.
Hi Dee,
You and Desiree speak for many women AND LOUDER than the fools who would rather hide the truth from the masses. For some reason they believe that by living in denial or covering up the horrible events that women have endured, it will be “better for trucking”
Here’s an idea: Expose and eliminate the offenders and keep the the the best drivers DRIVING…That’s what will be better for Trucking!
Donna Smith
Thanks Dee and Donna:
I agree that the thing that need to be done now is to EXPOSE the offending Companies.
I prefer http://www.ripoffreport.com because they are not part of the trucking industry.
I am finding more recently that many umemployment vouchers for CDL School are being given and unsuspecting hopeful student truckers are being put through horrific training and not even be able to get a job later.
This is another SCAM that needs to be exposed.
These companies are using taxpayer dollars and those organizations who are recruiting right now are accomplices.
These people want jobs and the trucking industry is using them to get taxpayers dollars and toss them out the back door after they have them work for peanuts for a short time.
What kind of monster has been created here?
How quickly that would all change if there was a clause on all government grants and loans that stated: Money back guarantee if you graduate and we can’t find you a job within X amount of months. I wonder how many people they would take on then….KNOWING THEY WEREN’T GOING TO GET HIRED!..
Donna
Please tell me about the 2 companies you mentioned. I am about to start CDL school with private instruction and I live in Georgia and this is a new career change for me.
Thanks
Tracie
After the tense delivery of Valerie’s belongings, CC and I continued south to the command post for FEMA in Carville Louisiana. I had neatly packed everything for Valerie and given special care to her breakables. She didn’t speak a word to me but later did text me to say “Thanks”. She also texted to say she felt hurt because she felt she had helped me and I was going on without her.
I texted back and said “we helped each other like two people drowning in a storm, but we swam to different islands” Valerie had 8 years driving experience, I don’t. She didn’t want to be OTR anymore, I do. I have to be OTR right now to get to the next level.
No matter that Valerie was my friend, I was not anyone’s “property” and that is what the lesson here is with all of these team partners, Male and Female. How did we come to accept the mentality that acting in a humane, ethical manner to someone gives you the right to own them forever?
Valerie felt she owned me now that we had teamed up and saved me from the hell I was experiencing before. Valerie was also in hell though because she couldn’t keep a team partner and she didn’t feel she was a good enough trainer, she was very unhappy.
What does that have to do with your truck training experience? Well, a lot, because most people you will meet in the first year are ego-driven , power hungry and eager to control another human being … and that my friend…. is you.
The problem you will encounter is that you are a grown up already, not a 5 year old and this behavior will catch you by surprise. You need to know this person’s expertise in trucking to get to the next level so to a certain extent, man or woman you have to play their mental games.
They simply over hire and do not have enough suitable, qualified trainers which I think needs to be stopped. My advice to Big Trucking Companies who run these Student Training “Indentured Servitude” Operations: If you cannot produce a professional training environment then you should not be permitted to train human beings, end of problem… no government cheese.
So anyways, when we get to Carville it’s late, the rural area is a single lane to nowhere and finally we come upon a huge white tent with a single file line of trucks waiting to get inside. There is nothing outside the gates to the tented area, no stores or bathrooms, no buildings. Just flat land, a couple sand dunes and a massive white tent behind a fence we can’t get to.
Hours we sat in that single file line to get to the gate and by the time we did it was raining. It was very late at night, it was a weekend. In trucking that translates into ZERO Support from your company if anything happens, and it ALWAYS does happen on the weekends. In fact every above mentioned event occurred shortly after Friday after 6pm.
The scene that night when we dropped the trailer was right out of a fake Hollywood rainstorm, sheets of water blowing the wrong way and some guy screaming “drop it right there”, as a procession of trucks came in beside us and dropped theirs one right after another.
Row after to row, an ocean of other trailers. Then we were directed to park in the bobtail sections with the other hundred other bobtails. We were invited into the command center to use the facilities which included: Washers/Dryers, Bunk beds, Pool Tables, Big Screen TV’s, Couches, Showers, Toilets it was huge.
There were lots of personnel but there was no clear order to anything. It seemed like units of people were doing things a certain way over here and then another group doing it completely different over there. I notice stuff like that, I am an observer, It seemed confusing for everyone there, no one really knew who was doing what; it was like they were making the system as they went along.
It’s perfectly understandable; I am not bashing FEMA in anyway. I volunteered at the Red Cross Call Center during Katrina after I watched in horror the television images of the people stranded for days. There was no system at all that time. Considering what I saw this go round and knowing what I experienced from the call center, I see the intention is definitely there. It’s hard to plan for the unpredictable. You are talking about a storm that keeps changing course. Ike had not decided whether he was going to make us the ones who rescued Texas or if we would be evacuees.
Plus, many of these people were not from Louisiana; they were from DC and Virginia so they didn’t know the area, the landscape, and the landmarks. I think that is a hindrance that should be addressed. Everyone was trying to do their very best but with no system already in place it was just a huge 24/7 operation, an enormous task.
No advice was given from our company on what to do and because no one ever answers the phones on the weekend we dropped the trailer with the hundreds of others and moved to the bobtail section as we were told. I sent a QUALCOMM message asking for guidance but it was never answered, so we just got in our bunks and went to sleep inside the compound.
The area was under curfew at this time for looters, the closest stores were several miles away and they were all closed by 6pm, 8pm No vehicles were supposed to be out on the roads. Shops, Starbucks everything in the area was under special hours of operation to allow employees to get home before curfew.
There were no services available so we were safer on the makeshift command center awaiting word on what to do next. I figured we could sleep until morning but at about 2am someone began pounding on the door and said we did not have permission to stay on the base.
I said, “We dropped our trailer right there”, uh-oh … the trailer was gone, all of the trailers were gone and steady streams of more loaded trucks were coming in. I told the guy we could not leave, we needed our trailer. He said everyone without the “special pass” had to go to make room for all the incoming trucks. Most everyone had the “special pass”, we did not.
Under curfew and with no trailer I hesitated to comply. I sent more QUALCOMM messages and called my company to tell them and the “KID” dispatcher said, “Well, then leave then.”
At least I had it on the Qualcomm which is always your objective; get it on there for your own evidence. What I’ve learned since is to photograph it because you cannot trust anyone enough to know it’s in there. Everyone is trying to shift blame because basically many of these dispatchers have less experience than someone who operates the French fry vat at McDonalds and those are the Monday thru Friday staff. Weekends and Nights, forget it, you’d get more assistance from calling Miss Cleo or Dial-a prayer.
I bobtailed out in the rain to the great unknown, we had no idea where the storm was and we had no advice from our company of what to do. The wind gusts came occasionally with rain squalls; we didn’t have any communication with anyone. Just 2 people in an upright can with wheels.
In the morning, our Qualcomm beeped, “Where’s your Trailer?” why did you drop your trailer?” I wrote back and told them what transpired, the reply “you need to go find that trailer” I said, “Why didn’t you advise us when we were on the base? Why couldn’t anyone tell us what to do while we were there? All those trailers have been dispatched to small parishes now to give emergency supplies to residents; do you not realize they are under Marshall Law down here?”
The response “You need to find that trailer.” So, I drove back to Carville and waited in another single file line for hours to get inside the gates, they didn’t want to let me in because now I had now I had no trailer, so I had no reason to come inside. I told some cockamamie story and they believed me so I finally got in and went to his, boss, her boss, their boss to get half an answer. As it turned out my trailer was long gone as I suspected just five minutes after we dropped it to be taken to where it was needed, there was no way to get it and no one knew how to find it. No one knew where it was dispatched.
There were hundreds of trailers being brought in with supplies of food, tarps, ice, water and MRE’s… basically, as soon as then trailers arrived, shuttle trucks took them to affected parishes, to churches and community center parking lots, even alongside the road and residents came in a steady procession with their car trunks open and drove through these makeshift depots.
The National Guardsman opened the back of the loaded trailers and heaved one of everything to each person’s vehicle, these steady lines continued for days and weeks. When the trailer was empty another was dispatched and brought from Carville.
The problem was no one knew whatever happened to all those empty trailers? See, that’s a problem…absolutely zero freight, was leaving the entire gulf region. You have an enormous amount of trailers coming in, getting empty then poof… where are all the trailers?
It was part of the FEMA plan than was not planned on, well not with my company anyways and here is why from what I gathered.
This was a big payday contract to get on these FEMA loads, $100.00 a day! For a Student Trucker that is like hitting the lottery! Come to find out that the Owner-Operators sitting down there were getting $2500.00 a day, shoot; even US Express Drivers were getting $300.00 a day.
As it turned out, only “special assigned” teams got the FEMA pay and the CORRECT information on what to do in the event the trailer was taken. CC and I were not “specially assigned”, we were just sent into the Mosquito Coast as a favor for Valerie.
There was no plan, No Plan during a multi-state evacuation during the second arrival of a hurricane that was still reeling from Gustav which had just hit there!
Ok, so inside the gates, there are actually lots of drivers looking for their trailers, it was kind of like that game where everybody throws their shoes in a pile and then you have to find yours except the pile was the entire state.
Still, there was a lot of good spirits, especially when CC and I turned out to be the only Women present amongst several hundred truckers. When we pulled inside guys came up on our running boards and it kind of freaked me out at first. I felt like Rhett Butler trying to get the last horse out of Atlanta, beating them down so we could inch our way through the crowd.
This one guy came up to me so eager about CC, he said “he really NEEDED to have HER on his truck and he could TEACH her because he was a trainer” … (UM yeah… ok. we already heard all that Jack so move it, she’s with me, but thanks)
Oh boy, we got job offers from this one and that one. Here’s a tip girls, every Tom, Dick and Harry will offer to “Teach” you everything they know. You will get a zillion and one offers but BEWARE! DO NOT let your ego get the best of you. These guys don’t really want to make the long-term commitment to teach you they just want to get you on their truck. They want you to be in a dependent situation with them and there is NO Guarantee you will learn anything about driving the truck.
I saw many girls meet someone like this and then snub everyone and say “Oh, he is going to teach me, I’m leaving here for a better gig” then guess what? The gig is the guy wants an on board sex slave and you just quit your job. Now you don’t have enough experience to get back into a company. You also just burned your bridge with your training company, now you are done.
CC was flattered, I was flattered but we kept our wits about us. Inside the command center we were advised to take a case of MRE’s and a case of water. We should have taken two. There was no one who had a clue about the missing trailers but they told us to sit and wait.
By this time I had contacted the person in my company actually was assigned to the FEMA detail and she told me that the weekend shift had strict orders to call her on her cell phone should a situation arise like what had happened to us. Communication breakdown perhaps? I don’t know, I just drive a truck.
She was doing the best she could do under the circumstances but my dispatcher kept sending the same annoying message “Did you get the trailer?” “Where the Trailer?” it was so crazy that I was talking to this lady at my company who seemed to have her act together and getting these dumb messages from Ace at the same time, like doesn’t he watch CNN?
It was in this chaos a utility vehicle pulled up to all the bobtails who were sitting waiting on word about what to next, we were given a paper, actually an order, to go retrieve an empty trailer. I called my company, Ace said “NO, you have to find your empty trailer”, it was at this time I had to pull rank on ACE and clue him in on what a Military order means, he didn’t get it.
The storm was changing course and we were told it was coming straight for us. We had just a few hours to get to the small parish and retrieve the trailer. Ace kept telling me to cease driving and find the other specific trailer. I finally stopped and called the other lady, I read her what the paper said, she told me to go inside the closest merchant I could find and tell them it was a matter of Homeland Security or something like that that I need to use their fax, and I did. Five minutes later I was advised I need to go retrieve whatever trailer I could as ordered by, whoever ordered me to do it. I said, “Can you tell Ace that please?”
We drove into the outer banks of Louisiana to areas where telephone poles were down and the electricity had been out for some time. The area where we drove had water breaching either side of the narrow highway. We had to cross a railroad track where the arms were malfunctioning, going up and down, the lights flashing and the bells ringing. It was the only way to get to the small town called Pierre Part, Louisiana to get the trailer.
I sat at the edge of the tracks waiting for the right time as the arms swung up and down over and over zoomed through before it touched the roof, we made it! I had no idea these low lying flat communities existed, with a storm surge they would surely be submerged in water.
We arrived into the small village just before they locked the trailers for the day. I spied one that had my company name on it, I was so excited! I went running up to the Commanding officer and told him I needed THAT trailer. I explained that although I was sent to retrieve empties, I really really really needed that particular one with my company name.
There were two owner-operators helping unload the heavy tarps with the National Guardsmen, they usually left at this time but because of my predicament they agreed to stay and unload that particular trailer so I could have it. I just can’t tell you how damn happy I was to see that trailer. It was sitting about one foot from sea level and with the Hurricane scheduled to make land fall by morning, that trailer would be long gone if I did not get it right now.
While they finished unloading it I went and spoke to the “Dude in Charge” from FEMA and asked him how I could find one particular trailer. Even though I felt I had a victory but retrieving one of the many missing company trailers from my company, I still wanted to located mine in particular. He said they did have transponders on them that can be tracked. He apologized about what had happened but it was understandable, everyone was doing their best under the circumstances. He was really cool and good looking too!
The trailer was lodged in a small church parking lot with barely enough room to budge, the guys offered to help me get it out but I said “No thanks, I can do it”, they all looked worried, because it truly was a small parking lot with a pole in the center, but I did it. As I made the corner and got my tractor and trailer straight I looked at the FEMA guy and saw he had a big smile on his face.
I hung my head out the window and said “I’m really not a truck driver; I just slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” He laughed.
I was in heaven over this stupid trailer, I couldn’t wait to call Ace and tell him I rescued a company trailer from a Hurricane’s path! As we drove back to Carville we could see IKE approaching land. Of course we were still very far into an area where most people had evacuated. An empty trailer is like an umbrella in the wind, but being bobtail isn’t much better.
Again, as we had before, we sat in that single file line to get in the gates at Carville, this time though we sat there for 10 hours! Yes, 10 hours in a single file line of trucks, no bathrooms, nothing. A golf cart came around to give us water and MRE’s, we had Pot Roast in those self heating bags, it was pretty good actually. We had to go hike out to the sand dunes to go potty.
For 10 hours we sat, no way to get out of the line, gates shut in front of us. The word was they were trying to formulate a massive evacuation of the entire command center.
CC had for the most part stayed in the bunk, mumbling every now and again. We had no phone service. Just a case of water and MRE’s But we had a trailer.
Desiree, Good gravy, you make me want to get down and kiss the ground. I didn’t realize how many horrible hassles I side stepped when I trained to become a truck driver. Yes, I am well aware most male drivers hope a women driver, especially a good lookin one like yourself, will turn out to be a “lot lizard on wheels” but like you I never even gave that a consideration. Maybe because I never went through a bona fide “trucking school” I didn’t end up dealing with the low class men you and other women got stuck with…Praise the Lord for small favors!
Your stories would do well in a book form, they are what people are wanting to hear, all the dirt and bad behavior from “those guys.” My book deals more with my experiences of handling the truck, following strange directions, backing into “oh my god” spaces and driving in inclement weather. You tell your story well, it needs editing but take that comment not as a criticism but as an observation from someone who reads excessively. M Ellen
So Since most of us male trainers are just looking for a “lot lizard on wheels” then I guess most women who enter trucking are just looking for a guy to take care of all that dirty work RIGHT
I can not believe we are still lumping all the good people with all the bad people! How on earth can you use words like “most” or “majority” and say the kind of things the that have been said about trainers first and now the attacks have turned to men. I have seen that happen out of men and women BOTH!! But let’s put it to the flip side. Why aren’t we talking about the students (again men and women both) who think that they will get on their trainers truck and “sleep” their way through the training process? NOW if a trainer is low enough to take this offer, then he or she is no higher then pond scum!! Please when making statements, be it here or any other forum, remember, that truck drivers are not the only ones who read these things, and not ALL MEN, WOMEN or TRAINERS are bad people!!
A Tractor without a Trailer is like having a new car with no tires, you can’t go anywhere. You will not get another load without a trailer.
When we were permitted inside the gates the next morning we saw trucks from many different companies pulling our company trailers. Like us, they had been given orders to retrieve any empties scattered about regardless of what company the belonged to.
I saw some of our tractors also pulling the trailers of other companies even though we had strict orders not to pull equipment that was not ours. Because the storm’s arrival was only hours away I thought we would certainly be permitted to leave quickly now that we had a trailer.
I took the initiative to ask drivers who were pulling our equipment to switch with our other drivers who had empties that did not belong to us so we could all get out of there as soon as we got word from our dispatchers.
I ran around convincing drivers to let us have our company equipment at the same time the commander of the Carville Post was ordering us to park in a storm pattern which made it impossible for anyone to move once parked.
Rows upon rows we formed, packed like sardines, our trucks parked side by side and end to end with barely enough space to fit through for walking or opening the door. Then the sirens began blaring, an emergency evacuation meeting was called.
Our Truck was tucked snuggly in the front row and we walked inside to hear what the evacuation plan would be. We were told no one would be permitted to leave unless they were pulling something to help get everything out of Carville. The first plan was that everyone would go to a Wal-Mart Parking lot in a nearby town and recreate the storm parking pattern. One trucker protested because he said it was an abandoned store that was patrolled by the National Guard in a very bad neighborhood. The location did not have bathroom facilities so it was nixed.
I thought it was weird that the Commander did not know this seeing how they just had an evacuation from Hurricane Gustav. He postponed his orders and spoke with several truckers to get a better grasp on where a suitable evacuation site would be.
I saw that there was a lot of value for him to consult with these professional drivers who know the areas and where they can drive.
After about 40 minutes another more suitable Wal-Mart was selected, we were then ordered to begin moving out in a convoy to this location. Being that we were in the front row, we were one of the first trucks instructed to move out BUT NOT without a final command.
Tempers were flaring, we had been up all night in that single file line and many drivers had been up for days. Log Rules were thrown out the window, many of these drivers had been working 24/7 in this operation and they were at their wits end from all the waiting.
One senior driver started screaming at me to move out but other drivers said I could not without the command of the FEMA personnel. That driver took it out on me because I am a Woman so he began screaming at me because I was in the front row.
I ignored him at first but when he got out of control I snapped at him and he shut up. Some guys on the CB also took up for me which helped to get him under control.
As we began to pull up into two rows, a girl came running up screaming “That’s my Trailer, I need that trailer”.
She was another student team who had the same problem as we had but she had not done anything to remedy her situation. She had been sitting idle at the corner for the past 24 hours, she did none of the work we had all done to locate trailers and she demanded ours.
She screamed and yelled like I stole the trailer, she began screaming a CC who was about to punch her in the face. She called her dispatcher and my Qualcomm beeped, “Give Truck ***** the trailer you retrieved”.
I was so mad! Here we had worked our butts off and helped everyone else who had no trailer get one and one phone call and ours was taken away, there was no “I’m sorry but…” nothing. Then another beep, “Where’s the trailer you brought down there?” “You need to find that trailer”
I explained we were being evacuated or I’d love to sit and tell them the entire story for the 15th time, the reply was. “You’re not being evacuated; we don’t have any sort of information like that. You have to stay there and find that trailer”.
These are the kinds of morons who are dispatchers; these are the kinds of people who will be in charge of your life when you are in a blizzard, a hurricane or a tornado. They don’t answer the phone, they can’t look at the TV hanging over their desk that is tuned to “The Weather Channel” and decipher what state they are in , let alone what state you are in that is covered with a big multicolored circle different from everything else on the map.
So, we gave up the trailer to the screaming girl and her mealy mouth boyfriend who quietly apologized to us. I continued to get messages over the Qualcomm, “Where’s your trailer?” “You need to get that trailer” … I’d had it, I took the Bills of Lading(BOL) from the missing trailer and looked at all the Phone numbers in Washington D.C.
I typed back to my company, “Why don’t you call Washington DC with the ESN number on this BOL and ask for yourself? What’s the point of having a satellite tracking device on the trailer if you don’t know how to track it?” They ignored me, figures.
I called and said “You want me to call Washington D.C? , I will call them myself” The voice on the other end protested, “No, No, don’t do that” , but I’d had enough of these inept do-nothings, I called and within 15 minutes I had satellite coordinates with an aerial photograph of that trailer with it coordinates. The Woman from I spoke to with Homeland Security emailed me the photo with information on the spot and I forwarded to Ace. “There’s the trailer!” I told him, it was also still loaded and unable to be moved from its location.
You think my company was happy? You think they said “Good Job”? NO! My dispatcher Ace called in a sullen voice and said to me. ‘You take too much initiative”! Apparently that’s bad in trucking.
I was very hurt when Ace said this to me. I had been up for days, CC had done nothing the entire time but borrow my phone to call her boyfriend who was a driver on another truck. I had not slept but a few hours since I had returned on the Greyhound round trip to Florida to get the Haz mat endorsement, moved into the new truck with all Valerie’s stuff. I was so exhausted.
This was a huge slap in my face to be told I took too much initiative, I was truly stunned yet again that I was being encouraged to do a bad job.
Under the circumstances, we were permitted to leave without any trailer and go to the designated Wal-Mart where the truck evacuation was being staged. CC drove and it was clear that she was nervous, she was upset about the bugs on the windshield, she wanted to see her boyfriend, she didn’t understand that we were in an evacuation for a natural disaster, she just wanted her boyfriend.
She ignored the parking orders and parked the bobtail as if we were just coming for shopping. By this time the winds were gusting hard. I did not want to step on her toes because I knew she was edgy but shopping carts kept zooming by our brand new truck.
I lived in Hawaii during “Iniki” and in Key West for 11 years, I am well aware of how something small can become a rocket in a hurricane. I wondered if CC would get the hint when 5 shopping carts went rolling by very fast and slammed into a car denting it. She did not; she just sat in the driver’s seat and stared into space.
I told her I thought we should move closer to the other trucks to shield us, especially now that we didn’t even have a trailer to hold us down. She barked back “It’s doesn’t make any difference where we park, those shopping carts won’t do any damage”.
I wasn’t going to argue with her, if the truck got damaged I knew we would be charged, I was in no fighting mood. Ace had burst my bubble, so I didn’t even bother consulting with him. I left her in the truck and went to the massaging chair for a pedicure.
I was so glad to see civilization after being stuck at Carville, even if there was a run on the store going on. It was a madhouse. People were scrambling to buy every last crumb of food and water, pandemonium & Hysteria leading the way. I grabbed the latest people magazine & went to that Wal-Mart Nail Salon for a French pedicure. Who knows how long we would be trapped, I’d at least like my feet to look nice on my corpse.
When I got back to the truck there was a QUALCOMM message that said “You are being evacuated, you must got to xyz Wal-Mart location and await further directions”. This was the Wal-Mart location that was earlier nixed because the lack of facilities, here it was several hours later and we were being told to pull out of a secure area and go to an unsecure area. We weren’t being asked either.
Oh yes we told them it was in an area that had looters and was under watch of the National Guard who were armed. We also told them there was no toilet; it was just a condemned building with Humvees blocking the driveways with armed men. Did that make a difference? No, it did not.
So off we went to this place that was every bit as worse as it was described. A neighborhood devastated by crime and poverty and ravaged by hurricanes’ past. Six trucks, six humvees with 4 armed soldiers blocking each driveway. Pallets strewn around were meant to make some sort of blockade. Cases of bottled water lay in the center of the parking lot, our complimentary “supplies” and a filthy outhouse sat at the far corner of the lot. Probably would not be drinking any of that water, I thought to myself.
We were there about thirty minutes until CC came unglued. I let her go crazy with the dispatchers, I was done trying to explain to them & the more I asked for assistance the less I got it.
CC got some action; we go an empty move north to Mississippi to another Wal-Mart, just out of the storm’s path. We sat unmoved for several days, no word, nothing.
We didn’t even know what happened, did the storm ever come? We didn’t know. CC had a meltdown, she wanted to see her boyfriend, he was on his way to our home terminal and she was chomping at the bit to see him.
Here is what was going on. CC hoped her boyfriend would have missed her enough that he would want to team with her He was encouraging her to find a reason to have our truck routed back to the terminal.
Remember we had been an entire week now in the same place; we had no miles under our belts, no paychecks coming in at all. We were also informed we would not even get the $100 per day FEMA pay because we weren’t on the “Special Assigned” teams. We were only doing a favor for Valerie to deliver her stuff. We also did not get any “layover” pay because they moved out truck just before we would have qualified to get any. This is another common trick these truck training companies pull.
They say they will pay you if you are sitting with no load for a certain number of hours. In my company it’s the 49th hour then you get $50 layover pay. A very common practice is that you are ordered to go pick up a trailer 15 miles away or something stupid to make you move the truck, then you don’t qualify for this pay.
I’ve heard this happen constantly to some drivers. These are all tactics to make you get frustrated and quit. Remember, your success is not important to these companies, your cheap labor is. At your 5 or 6th month they are trying to “squeeze you out’ or “starve you out” as Allen Smith so aptly puts it.
The weekend Hurricane Ike made landfall. We stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot just out of the storm’s path.
CC started sending messages on the Qualcomm that “she needed to get off the truck”, as she wanted them to route us back to our terminal immediately. I knew it was because of her Boyfriend who kept pressuring her but she was putting it in the Qualcomm as though it was because of me.
A reply came back asking her what “I” was doing to “her”.
I had not shared my past experiences with CC, I just wanted them to go away, but I knew the same feeble in-house structure of my company would try to find a reason to make it seem like I was the problem.
When I saw what CC was doing I confronted her, I told her that if she wanted to go back to see her boyfriend to be honest & don’t try to make a drama where there isn’t one because I had been to hell and back with these people.
At first, CC said she didn’t like that I talked to Ace so much , then she confessed that she wasn’t trying to do too much work, even though she could, it wasn’t her intention. She felt she needed to be on a truck with a man so they could do the work. Also, she didn’t like the bugs on the windshield.
YEAH!!! That’s what she said! Bugs on the Windshield were more than she could bear! I’m thinking to myself this girl needs to return to Career corner if she did not consult with her Workforce Professional that this job requires sitting in front of glass all day that moves at 62 mph? Not a good choice for someone with bugaphobia!
At least CC was big enough to respond on the Qualcomm that in fact, it was HER not me that was the problem. We sat about 3 days in that parking lot; the only time she talked was when I offered to cook up some MRE’s we had left over from Carville. Like Lily before her, CC always perked up when I catered to her whims.
On Monday, we finally got an order to move the truck. It was an empty move to get an empty trailer. An empty move to get an empty trailer from Mississippi to Missouri. YES!!! Let me say that again. After sitting a week looking for a specific empty trailer in a Hurricane Evacuation Area that turned out to be still loaded and no possible way to take it anyways, then left sitting for another 3 days after that was determined, we were given an empty move several states away to get an empty trailer. Does that make cost efficient sense to anyone? I hope not because then I would really be scared.
CC was ecstatic because we were going to Joplin from S. Mississippi away from the bugs and then once we got the empty we would get a load back to our terminal so she team up with her dream man that she met in just 2 months as a trucker, Magic!
In order to accommodate her further I agreed to get those nasty devils off the grill and put some extra elbow grease into scrubbing the windshield. CC supervised by hopping up and down at the Pilot Travel Center and screaming out loud when I pulled a deceased but unusually large flying insect from the wiper blade. Keeping the sanity in an insane spectacle was my goal.
We arrived to Joplin, Missouri at about 1am, drove around, around and around the shipping facility but did not see anything recognizable belonging to our company, then we asked, then we sent a QUALCOMM, nothing.
Nothing as in, we just drove from Mississippi to Missouri to get an empty Trailer that was gone. It would have been quicker to route us straight back to Chattanooga so Romeo and Juliet could be together but no, that would be to boring.
It’s just too ridiculous to revisit really, but at least we were out of the south, we actually had a chance now to get something.
By some strange stroke of luck, we got an assignment that sent us from Joplin to “Re-power” a refrigerated unit for a driver who need to take his tractor to the shop. So off we went in the wee hours we traveled south into Oklahoma to help a fellow driver. We had a trailer with a real load! Our first since we got the tarps to take to Louisiana over a week ago.
I can’t even remember where that load was going but in any case we made it back to our terminal but CC was acting different AGAIN. I sensed her sweetheart was giving her the “brush off”. Technically, I didn’t need a teammate anymore, but she did. It was looking to me like she gambled and lost.
I had heard her making phone calls during the final stretch into the terminal. It didn’t sound too good. She was still going to see her dude but he wasn’t intending to team with her, she was trying to rustle up someone else, other guys she had met during her orientation.
I got the feeling that CC realized she had shot herself in the foot by running back to this guy, but still she seemed very naïve about the fact that she was fresh meat.
When we parked at the terminal, she was very slow about packing her stuff. I opened the curtain and said “CC, if this does not work out with your boyfriend I want you to know that you did not burn your bridge with me. You are welcome to come back.” CC seemed relieved.
Our company was having a safety event that week; I went to Ace who wanted to know what CC’s problem was. He was pretty upset that she had duped him into thinking it was urgent she get off the truck and made him route us back for a booty call.
He told me to tell CC she needed to attend the Safety Event at least, I did but she simply stopped by with her Beau, signed in and left out the back door.
She spent a couple days with him but he wasn’t going to break up his team with his friend and take her. He got what he wanted and she had the company, me and Ace accommodate and facilitate it.
After the safety event, CC got back on the truck with me and we left. Now we could work, I think?
It was actually time for me to take home time in California. CC knew this was part of the deal to stay with me; she would have to ride to California and wait for me to have my break.
Ace put us on a High Security Load from North Carolina to California, we were not to stop. I had only one other like this and I understood clearly the security risk these loads carry. CC said she had done many of these loads and she went about being the authority on how and when we would stop.
By New Mexico, CC had developed an “attitude” of superiority and advised me that we could stop because she knew we were only being tracked by satellite the first 200 miles and no one would care. Seeing how she was “all-knowing” now that she had 2.5 months under her belt I did not protest.
CC went about telling me how she knew about this and that. Boy oh Boy she seemed like she knew it all! Then our Qualcomm went BEEP>”why are you stopping?” Answer: Ah because CC said we could, she’s real smart.
Actually, I did not say that but I did ask CC to respond being that she was more qualified and all.
As it turned out we were being tracked by an outside satellite tracking company who then called our company to ask them why we stopped. We had many eyes on those smokes. Which leads me to wonder how some trailers just vanish? Or do they?
It was a teachable moment, I hope for CC anyways. I should have said something but then I would be a bitch so you are always in this lose-lose situation. Especially when you have no back up support from your employer. Many of these Truck training companies put more effort into provoking you to lose your temper than they do to give you logistics support in the field.
I was so glad to get to California and take my first real home time where I could relax. It had been one year since I started CDL School in Miami. I was done with the required 6 months of teaming but with the collapse of the economy, going to another company was not a good choice.
CC was happy to be at our California terminal also, she had friends there and I sensed she would meet someone and take off with them while I was on my Home time. She did just that.
I was very lucky; I had my Hazardous Materials Endorsement and enough time to be considered for another division.
My first choice was to stay on a California to Arizona account but I was told the Female dispatcher did not like Women Drivers so even if I did get hired she would make sure I got fired shortly after. NOT COOL!
This has been something I’ve seen in the Trucking Industry that really bothers me; Women treat each other like crap. Not all of them but many who are in some supervisory position.
Since I began this story I learned that 70% of Women experience bullying from other Women in the Workplace.
I also learned that the best thing that has happened to help Women overcome Sexual Harassment in the Workplace has been Men raising the standards because had Daughters they did not want to see mistreated.
I learned that what is happening in trucking is not just Sexual Harassment but also harassment with regards to “starving out”, charging to idle, and regular psychological games played on both genders to make you get frustrated and quit which can place you in a catch 22 situation.
I learned about Cheap Freight and that Student Trucking Fleets are killing the American Trucker in the U.S.A., one of the last “Mom & Pop” Businesses our country has.
I learned that “Non-Profit Organization’s” are a sham and advocate for nothing to help those who are suffering unless it will benefit their ego.
I did learn to drive the truck!
My advice for incoming Student Truckers is to document everything & DON’T QUIT! They want you to quit, that makes room for more students. Don’t do it! A reputable company wants MORE than 6 months of accident-free experience, so don’t company jump even if the ads are promising something better.
I unraveled a lot of ugliness about this industry and the people making money of the cheap labor of student truckers this year.
I love the job but I’m sad to say none of the supposed “leaders” are doing much more than finding a way to make money of your cheap labor.
All at the expense of Highway Safety.
My next Installment will be my last; it is about my first Hazardous Materials Load…I hope we will all learn something from it. I know I did.
I’m very happy for you Desiree… Your accounts of these events are a little over the top but that’s ok… There are a lot of good lessons here and I hope you ladies get what you need. You should really write a book girl because you have a great imagination. I thought I’d be upset about what was reported to me but if it’s not the truth how could it hurt. It’s too funny absolutely funny… One more thing you should really take something called self evaluation. You are too much… wish you the best girl, keep on trucking and stay safe.
Dear CC:
I’m glad you have been here and wondered if you stayed trucking. The last time I spoke to you you said you were thinking of going home. You also shared some of your training experiences with me and the guy we met at Carville shared some of his reminders when he was present at youe test out.
There is no way I could write all of the details, the good the bad then fun the drama with the amount of time I did all this in and complete my driving schedule.
Yes, this is my perspective so of course it’s one sided. I am a serious person. I like to work and I don’t like baloney. When it’s time for fun, I like to have fun. When I get focused on a project I zoom into it like Lion and I go for it.
I can be very short and impatient with people who are not as focused as I am when I am working on a project. I am competitvie, I like to win but I am not a sore loser.
I sit back an observe a situation before I attempt to attack it and I generally size up how everyone else failed before me before I make my strategy.
I am sometimes assumed to be aloof or a snob because I am very much an observer, I also do not socialize very much because it does not benefit anyone and wastes time.
I do try to listen to people who need someone to vent on, I do not have many solutions for them but I see that sometimes just listening to them helps them to blow off steam.
I do wish I had solutions though and that is the reason I wrote this story. I enjoyed meeting every single person and I had good days and bad with every one of them.
I wish you all the best.
It was extremely interesting reading ur story Desiree. I too am a female new to the trucking industry. I got very lucky in that my trainers were mostly pretty decent (although I had issues with one who would yell @ me when I was trying to back the truck). I was very fortunate with my first trainer who was a real gentleman and very knowledgeable. He still continues to help me learn as we stay in touch via cell. But I know there r true horror stories out there of females being accosted by their male trainers. I’ve heard of rapes that have occurred by trainers in the company I’m with and little was done. It’s a very sad thing that so many male drives have difficulty viewing us as equals on the road. I’ve been verbally abused on the CB by some jerk who felt that women “should not be behind the wheel of an 80,000 lb bullet.” Ha! I could drive and back circles around my last trainer (at least he was a nice guy and never tried anything on me). Yesterday I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a driver at the TA I was at who is a 34 yr veteran of driving. Now here’s this guy from the old school and he had more respect for women drivers than from our “modern” male drivers.
Unfortunately I am one of those cheap labor students as it was the only way I could break into this industry. I look forward to the day when I can move over to a better company, but for now I have to stick it out with this one to get the experience on the road and hope that they will start giving me enough miles to actually get a pay settlement soon. I’ve only been on my own solo without a trainer for a little over 3 weeks now. It’s hard to not be impatient about moving on to a better driving position, but seeing as how no one else will hire me yet anyway I have no choice. I’ll just keep on rolling these wheels in the meantime and do the best I can.
I’m approaching retirement and looking to drive next year. I have done lot of researche over the past ten months and I would hope you provide me with your thoughts and experiences as you began through your current position.
I’m currently employed, empty nester with lots of time on my hands as I approache my retirement date. I have dreamed and I have a passion for wanting to drive OTR.
I plan on attending a college base CDL course in the spring of 2010. I have looked at the following truck companies, Werner, Prime, Roehl, Knight’s Squire Program, and Stevents.
Tell me your thoughts on those companies.
Dear CJ:
Thanks for posting and introducing yourself to me on Twitter. It’s very valuable for us to stay in touch via internet to help each other out.
There have been times I had a question and by reaching out through Twitter I could get immediate assistance and support from everything to my Sprint Issues to looking at my failing A/C when I could not get support from my company.
In my final installment I will finalize the freedom I fely going solo and my opinion of having even conscientious student trucker pulling Hazardous Materials which as you know being this fresh of your trainers truck there is still some much to grasp daily about what you are doing out here with regards to the log book, directions and managing your time effectively.
Once I complete this Student Trucker story I will continue to write about what happened when I joined “Women in Trucking” and other Organizations in hopes that their Mission would be for the purpose to assist drivers to overcome the many many obstacles in their path.( As they suggest in their mission statements) I am sorry to say, I did not have that experience and was very DISAPPOINTED. Because of the eye opening revelation, I realized that:
NO Organizations are needed because there truly are plenty of GOOD People more than willing to help you be successful in your trucking because they actually CARE.
Allen & Donna Smith are the ONLY advocates for Student Trucker I have found. Male or Female.
Sorting out the haters, the Ego Driven and phoneys takes quite a bit of time, money and patience and I intend to share all of these experiences.
I am just approaching my 2 years of driving and I still work for peanuts .27 cents per mile which when you do the math comes out on an average of $10.00 per hour to live in a truck.
I cannot afford a car or a place to live on that pay right now so I stay out as much a 3 months at a time and stay with a friend for 1 week ( my off time does not accumulate) to go to the dentist, doctor and take Karma to the Vet.
That leaves little time to try to have any sort of life or time with friends or family.
It is a sacrifice I was willing to make to do this job and other entering this line of work should clearly understand that this is what it takes.
Let’s keep in touch on Twitter…
Desiree
[...] with our Blog readers and Newsletter subscribers. She said yes she would and thus “ A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker” and TruckerDesiree was born, and the trucking industry would never be quite the [...]
Well I do hope you did get permission from the company you work for to allow Dan Rather in the truck and to allow the camera to film you while were driving cuz any company that is a blantant violation of company policy
Dear Greg:
There are a number of truckers who have their own cameras inside their trucks an are quite popular on you tube. They film themselves with their own camera equipment.
I appreciate your concern for me.
It appears my company does and did know I was being followed for some time be more than one film crew.
No rider was ever on my truck, except my new dog and she has permission … and rabies shots.
Most truckers these days do have video equipment and electronics in their truck, I guess I decided in my downtime I’d rather write than play XBOX , watch Movies or make practical Joke videos to put on You Tube … By the Way, the Dan Rather Producers have contacted me today to let me know that the segment will be put up on You Tube so that everyone can view it for free.
This story is not about me, It’s just that I decided to spend every spare moment I have had for the past year writing to the outside world hoping someone outside the industry would read and listen and give their opinion.
Obviously, those inside the industry don’t want that to happen.
I would like to why you only tell what others have done to wrong you & not allowed them to defend themselves. Why have you blocked fellow co-workers from following on twitter and not telling your followers what it was that you may have done wrong while in training and on all your team trucks. Why haven’t any of your followers asked you what you may have done wrong, because it is clear that you are only allowing your side of the stories to be read! I will say that I am in contact with your former trainers and co-drivers to get their sides of these stories and will be postn this info soon.
I also would like to add this so your readers will know who I am! I am a Master Trainer at Covenant Transport, has a BA in political science, paralegal studies, & history, on the Jan. 2007 cover of Through The Gears, 2008 TN Truck Driving Championship, Covenant Transport Safety video on pre-trip procedures. I will say I do not know you personally but has seen you on several occassions & I’m not discrediting your accounts as to your experiences to date here at Covenant, nor speaking on Covenants behalf. If everything you say is true then wrong is wrong, but I will say your statement about trainers getting priority miles, not caring/ being qualified to train/teach, & can’t get along to team with others & these are the one’s who are the MAJORITY of the trainers is a false statement! I also would like to know what made you feel that you were qualified enough to become a trainer when you have less than 2yrs of exprience? I do realize Covenant allows people w/ 6 months experience to become trainers & personally I do not feel that’s enough experience! If you like you can talk to me personally, just have your dispatcher send me a message or ask someone for my number. I look forward to talking to you & hopefully try to help you be a successful driver here at Covenant Transport.
I think the big picture is getting clouded. A persons experiences are what they will relay. If a broad stroke is used then that is the way they see and experienced it. Yes, there are many good trainers, as well as good companies that can and should be taken as a given. However there is the other side as well, and this is what needs to be looked at\reviewed. Can positive change and should positive change take place, I think the answer should be yes, in every circumstance. If something helps someone in someway to avoid the mistakes or to make different decisions that will benefit them and help them then that is what we all should be looking for. It starts with we, not you and not me. And I think and I have been wrong plenty of times before that, that really was the point. Lastly I respect and applaud all the you have brought to the table. I’m Out.
Dear Cherie:
Everything in these posts was handwritten and I still have all copies and documentation, photos, reports and emails.
I have had so many conferences in person I cannot count them all.
I do not want to be a trainer but at the time I was with Valerie in my story she thought I should and I was ready so we routed in.
I also do not think anyone should train with that little amount of experience but at that time I knew people were becoming trainers with just 3 months experience… and they were Great Trainers.
I know “Tony” was becoming a trainer, “Lily” was trying to become a trainer. The First guy that told me he was becoming a trainer to “Git a Female on his Truck” was made a trainer right after the incident with me.
I know he had a complaint shortly afterwards and was no longer a trainer, someone stopped me to tell me what he had done and I was sickened because I wrote 33 pages by hand about what his intent was and nothing was done.
The Woman who was in the Million Mile Club ended up with “lily” on her truck and if you could hear our two stories you would be pretty dissapointed in what familiar names covered up what was going on.
I was curious to see what would be said to me if i attempted to become a trainer and it was a rather stunning display when the HR Lady took a shuttle right over to sit down next to me and play her lame cat and mouse game with me.
There were observers who noted it and that is all I will say.
I am successful , I have almost 2 years now accident free miles, I am on a dedicated account with a great dispatcher who I never speak to.
I get my assignments, I do my job and he does his … It’s a beautiful thing….
When I started in 2007 it was a 3 ring circus…. it is very quiet and peaceful around the halls today.
I started writing this 1 year ago about what happen the year before.
Many upper management have know about this story for close to a year, including our former VP of Operations who resigned suddenly.
There is much you do not know….
There are a few girls I helped into the division I am in now and we are all doing well.
Some say they must have “Done Something” to get on this account… we did, we stuck together and helped each other out, we call each other and answer questions and most importantly…
We do not judge, try to dominate or belittle each other.
There were other women I met I did not try to help, they were gossips, they had questionable driving skills and I wpold not stick my neck out for them.
The girls I helped could drive and just wanted to work and do a good job like me… we keep to ourselves, we just want to work.
we aren’t there to socialize, we are all happy in our fleet and with our dispatcher.
My friend who was in the million Mile Club unfortunately was terminated in a snowstorm and she participated in the interview but it did not make it in.
Many people would be shocked by how this woman was treated after her longterm employment.
I spoke to her today and she is going to get to a computer and post in the next day or so, she does not have immediate access.
I would LOVE to sit in a room with all of these characters and let you hear what they have to say with the eyewitnesses.
The biggest complaint I had from everyone of my co-drivers was ….. My PDA … they absolutley were crazy that it did so many things.
I tried to teach Tony to use it but he would have a fir because he couldn’t see well, Lily came to rely on it so much she became insensed even in an HR Meeting that she did not have 24 hour access to it yet did not want to spend the money for her own.
Bill liked me and was truly upset when I got off the truck, he got mad I wouldn’t listen to him but I didn’t because he was “Impaired” in his judgement and I knew I was going to have an accident with him.
I’m pretty sure you could go ask “Sam” about “Mag” and find out what a piece of crap he was.
I think you know who that is.
There are lots of people upstairs who know and have known about all of this for a very longtime… I just never went and told other drivers.
This is MY story , This is what happen to me, This is what I saw…
There is actually much more that I didn’t even have time to write and the end installmet is already 2000 words, I haven’t finished.
I have had peace since I went solo except that I have been writing and on Twitter.
I have blocked only a handful of people, 5 stalkers who became crazed that I was getting attention and not them.
I site that had porno on it and in the past few days I blocked one person because Twitter is complex.
People who come on and just follow me get confused rather quickly.
It takes well over a month to understand what is happening.
I’ve had many people become confused and agitated because they come on Twitter and only follow me so thay have no idea that I’m talking to over 4000 people with an influence than can potentially spread to 100,000
No one can see them, they are sitting in a room alone complaining, they get more and more agitated like not understanding they are invisible to this entire group of people who are all talking at once.
It’s better to learn twitter and then follow me so you can understand what is happening better.
Not until you get 500 to 1000 followers can you fully appracaite the activity that is occuring and the speed at which it is happening.
I have coached many people on Twitter and some have more followers than me.
It takes work and commitment to be relevant.
If someone want to learn Twitter they can email me TruckerDesiree@gmail.com but if they just come to stalk me and argue I’m not wasting my time.
I’m enjoying 4000 friends who are laughing and sharing their ideas, with the whole world.
It’s not like a forum with a couple trolls who just nag everyone
Here is a post I made about CRST some months back on my wordpress.
Understand that A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker is MY Experience. BUT There are many other people who have an experience they would like the public to know also, they just do not have anyone who will listen to them.
Please read the comments…. People are reaching out to speak. They have been intimidated to remain quiet for a very longtime and now the interrnet & Twitter is making it possible for people to connect.
It’s really as simple as that.
http://truckerdesiree.com/2009/05/25/crst/
[...] about “Queen of the Road” with comments section. Remember that not even a smidgen of my Student Trucker Story was told on this show because of the time constraints, so before the speculators start speculating [...]
Desiree, you may want to watch what you say to people! It has been mention that now you are going around making claims that a female was gang raped, you represent all female drivers, and a few other things. Please make sure you have your facts on issue of that nature before you go mentioning them, for it can get you in trouble. Also as a female driver, you do not represent me nor can you represent me as a driver in this industry. You can only speak on issues that have affected you and only you! I do not know what point you are trying to make or if you really know what you are doing being that you only have less than 2yrs in this industry. You still have a lot to learn and will continue to learn new things on a daily basis. There is no 1 expert in this industry, because we all learn new things every day out here. It takes all of us to make this industry better for all of us (male & females)! Remember make sure you have your facts before making claims/statements you may not know the whole story about!
Desiree has not claimed to represent all females. This is absurd, and it’s how things get twisted. In the future, for the benefit of your credibility, please reference these allegations. Thanks, Donna
Dear Cherie:
This is exactly how the rumor mills about “Well I heard this & I heard that” begin.
I just spoke to a girl who knows you, Dated “Tony” from my story & knows a Woman I think we all know who was the lady who called safety about my trainer.
This girl asked me lots of questions about Rumors She Heard & tried to defend many things she felt were misstatements but confessed she has not personally read everything in its entirety.
Also she & I discussed a Number of recent items & She Said “Oh Yes at Hutchins” But there is more to the story…… YES there is….There always is in every single story…
The fact that I just got back in my truck & you posted is incredible that the actual conversation was “tweaked a bit.”
I do know some of the people who were present at the time of the occurrence & this forum is most certainly not the place to discuss it.
I am involved with a Rape Group in Dallas Texas & have written about some Texas Rape Legislation in which I testified for the passage of the law.
Rumors are part of the problem when people want to insert themselves into an already chaotic situation.
The Article by Allen “The Truck Drivers Worst Enemy” is in order to be cited here.
This is MY Story… MINE
When did you testify in Texas Rape Legislation I couldnt find any reference to you in anyway I am courious to read your testimony
1st: To Donna
I DO NOT need to reference any allegations bc one I’m not the one talking to the tv shows or to others in the tv industry, but if I was I would certsinly have all my I’ dotted and T’s crossed! Further more my credibility is not the 1 on the line with the public nor with the company that I work for! I do belive Ms. Wood knows what I’m refering to for she has responded to my comment. Like everyone else at our company we want to make sure she has her facts about certain issues so it doesn’t twist the issues any more than what they already are! Thank!
2nd To Desiree: Yes I was contacted about the said conversation you had this morning! As you can see I also did not mention the facts to that conversation, just highlighted some points that were addressed. Yes rumors do get started like that, but I can say it won’t be me to start because I will address whatever is said and back it! Also it’s understood that this is your story, which some find very interesting & a bit entertaining to read. Yes there are several of us that have read all your stuff and told people where they can read it. The main concern is that your facts are correct and we are all giving you the benifit of the doubt to be telling the correct info. As for the issue in Texas, I did not mention where it took place and nor should you have mentioned the location.
Perhaps you should contact Dan Rather Reports if you feel you have information that will help the investigation, especially if you can “untwist” facts. I’ve written you a private email. Donna
Well I do hope ALL the facts eventually come to light
Yes, we all do. It will be the best thing for all of us in the trucking industry.
Hey. I wasn’t the only female at my CDL mill, but I was one of three, and very few of the men in the class were enlightened enough to take us seriously. As a result, when the other two females discovered a difference (hmm… wonder what?), they were quick to ostracize me in order to raise themselves into higher esteem with their male colleagues. Did something similar ever happen to you?
Christie, I don’t see any ” lumping all the good people with all the bad people”…but you seem to be. This would be like being mugged by a green martian and then saying “all green martians are awful” People are not this stupid. donna
Donna,
I am not lumping people together here. I’m saying that the statement that was made was unfair on many levels. The statement said MOST men are looking for a “lot lizard on wheels” I was simply stating that these wordings are painting a negative picture of all men, women and trainers as well as students in the industry! I am not trying to “lump” anybody together. That would be like me saying most students are too incapable of driving a truck! That would be an unfair statement to make and I would be lumping all students together, of which I would never do! There are ways to word the things that want to be (and need to be) said without being so generalized! I guess what I’m trying to say here is this: the industry in a whole needs an overhaul. Starting at the school level, but making such generalized statements, puts the character of every truck driver on the road in question. Male, Female, Student, Trainer all the same, all being painted to be bad!
Ta Da!!!
I’m going to finish this story…. I have trying to have time to sit and do it forever but so much as taken my attention it has been impossible.
So let’s talk about when I finally went Solo! Yay! Yay! Yay!
Each week a notice came out on our Qualcomm that had different dedicated accounts that would become available. Now that I finally had the required experience and the Hazardous materials Endorsement required, I could get on one of those accounts.
Despite all the drama I had endured during my student team phase, it was truly a miracle I had not had any accidents under the pressure and stress of what was occurring to me.
That made me eligible, but no one ever answered the phone line for those jobs! BIG Surprise at MY Company! Good Luck ever getting someone to answer.
I had already learned the art of sorting out those who actually CARE and those who just wear the button around the company hallways that say they do.
Now that the nasty remarks had been removed from my computer screen and my record could stand alone, I hoped I could be judged for what I really was, an efficient worker and safe driver.
Honestly though, it does still say “Hispanic Female” on the main screen when you pull up my info and I know that logistics system has many inner field categories that have leveled access so who knows, maybe I have “BEWARE of this One, Make her go quietly” written in there with 5 gold stars and a skull with crossbones. Who knows …? I just know something is different.
In any case, I got on the dedicated account and my new dispatcher knew nothing about what happened to me. From day one on my new fleet I was treated entirely different. It was great to be treated like a normal human being for once since I came to this company.
In order to be assigned my first load in my dedicated account I had to get out of California. This is because the account only lets me cover areas East of I-35, which is a North/South Interstate through Texas up to Minneapolis. Most of the freight leaving California is team freight which cannot stop so I had several fits and starts before I actually could get a load to Texas.
Going from a team truck to solo with no guidance was an adjustment also. I never had to worry about parking for the night before, running out of hours. I wanted so badly to show I could do it all perfect but I was never was trained on my team truck for what to do once I was on my own.
My first solo load was dispatched to me late in the day, in Southern California that means TRAFFIC! I have an advantage over many student truckers and that is I learned to drive as a teenager on the Los Angeles freeway system, so although time is always a factor, the gridlock does not bother me.
Still, finding a trailer to go get the load was a pain as usual. You always feel like you just hit the lottery when that Qualcomm beeps with a load, then you feel the adrenaline rush to accept it and get ready before it gets taken away from you. What if you don’t reply fast enough? What if it’s scheduled poorly and you are late? Then you won’t get another load and you will be punished? How many miles is it? Will you get a load after that? What about a trailer? Are there any empty trailers?
You just cannot understand the hysteria unleashed in your mind when the Qualcomm beeps until you have lived it, just take my word for it. It’s like the old newsreels of the trained chicken in a lab experiment that pecks the lever to get some cracked corn when the red light goes off. It’s totally deranged but you truly are isolated with no word from anyone until that thing beeps so your mind gets trained. Beep = Food and you better get it fast before they give it to someone else.
So, I get this load to pick up in like Cypress, California, not the best part of town but whatever. I get the very last trailer on our lot and I go to get it. I get it docked by myself even though guys are jumping on my running board saying “Ya want me to do it for you?” “Do you need me to help you?” it’s very distracting when you have 5 guys trying to give you directions 5 different ways.
Still, I push that out of my mind and I got it in there, and I waited, and waited…. Hours went by. All the other trucks had left, even lots of the warehouse guys had left. The sun went down too.
I had a time limit to get this load to Texas, my 14 hour legal shift was burning up and I had to get through all the Los Angeles traffic and get out of there. Remember, you only get paid to drive, not sit and wait. If the shipper burns up your shift, you don’t get that day back of unpaid labor, sitting & waiting. Plus, now your schedule is a day behind so you can’t look forward to another load until…. Well, who knows? It’s stressful.
Now, that I was solo, I have to worry about finding a parking spot in one of the least desirable states to drive a truck! The shortage of parking and unfriendly atmosphere in California is legendary in my native state. More stress, plus I’m tired now.
I finally went inside to see what the holdup was and the Spanish speaking worker handed my “Bills of Lading” with Hazardous Materials Placards, then he locked up and went home.
No one even told me it would be Hazardous Materials and now it was totally dark outside. I was trying to remember all the things I was supposed to do.
The trailer was sealed so how would I even know what he put in there? How would I know if they did it right? How could I understand him? I understand some Spanish but I couldn’t speak enough back to him to ask him any questions, and now he was gone!
I called my friend, and he called his friend who talked to me over the phone to talk me through what I was supposed to do but had not ever had to actually do before.
I got under the trailer to do a more thorough inspection seeing how I had Hazardous Materials and being from California, this would not sit well if I ended up on ABC 7 news in some incident that shut down the 405 Freeway of Friday Night, which would be bad form, truly.
I was having visions of my parents seeing me on the news yelling at the TV about the dumb trucker who caused a huge Haz Mat Spill causing massive backups and the news camera panning in on ME!
In my eagerness to get the load, my ecstasy over finding an empty trailer, I did a half assed job noticing one tire had an issue. An issue that could get me in a whole bunch of trouble if I was caught driving that way and an issue if I had an accident with Hazardous Materials in Southern California where most of the population are self appointed do gooder citizens police!, Oh MY , I thought, his was no good. Another stressor!
Here is the thing I hear with many student companies; the equipment is not the best. Which makes sense right? Why have people who don’t really know what they are doing ruining your brand spanking new stuff! But wait, why are they allowed to pull something Hazardous then?
Why are the least trained, with the crappiest equipment allowed to even get a Hazardous Materials Endorsement by the Transportation Security Administration when they cannot even drive a truck? WHY?
So here I am in total darkness in a Los Angeles inner city industrial area, with a very bad tire on a trailer of Hazardous Materials wondering how far I can get on it.
Many times drivers report losing loads from wasting their unpaid working hours messing around with trailers left in disrepair from the last drivers using them, and worse, having to haggle with your company to convince them that the tire really does need to be replaced. After all it’s YOUR ticket if you get caught.
For my predicament though getting safely to Barstow and out of Los Angeles was what I needed to do to get the tire removed, it was horrible with a huge flat spot and wires coming out.
I was so relieved to make it into the shop, I slept in my truck while the repair took place inside the mechanics bays, and I hoped to make it at least to Arizona before my legal shift to drive expired.
It’s common to have to carry the old tire carcass into a terminal and so when the mechanic told me he was done, I went to look for the carcass. I looked, and looked some more, but didn’t see it.
The mechanic had taken off and his supervisor was finishing up the ticket, I asked for the carcass and she said “Oh he probably just threw it in the trailer” WHAT?? “I said “I hope not, that is a sealed trailer of Hazardous Materials and better not be opened!” that got her attention and she came around the counter to help me find the carcass.
When she finally located it, I looked at the tire and said “This is the wrong tire!” then I pointed the tire with very visible damage and said “how can anyone not see that is the tire with damage?” she wholeheartedly agreed that they messed up pretty bad.
It took awhile to track down butthead the mechanic and somehow they convinced my company that both tires needed replacement which I found very odd how the tire they first replaced had a huge gouge in it that I never saw before and was not worn in any way shape or form. Still, the gouge went all the way to the wire. So even if it was vandalized by them, it was now ruined.
My point is this, there are lots of people who have their hands on this freight in the supply chain and have some sort of access to it along its way to its destination and they may not be the salt of the earth but it is ultimately the driver who is responsible for the contents.
Any numbers of things CAN and DO happen on a trip across the country even with a load of paper. A Student Trucker has many things on their minds trying to learn in their first year with regards to parking, managing time, and doing their logbook properly. I think it’s ridiculous that this endorsement is given out to persons who have so many other things on their minds trying to learn to do a good job.
You have so many breaches of communication and security along the way and as an inexperienced driver you do not realize the magnitude of what responsibility you carry until such an event occurs.
This licensing process is also a false sense of Homeland Security because the disqualifying factors really do not disqualify for much.
If you read the immigration status it covers the gambit and then take into consideration that people seeking asylum, and those who are from other countries on work visas are eligible and their criminal backgrounds are not in our FBI Database, so why should they get this clearance right off the bat without proving first they can even make it through one winter as a student truck driver?
Even if they are U.S. Citizens they can get this clearance if they have been convicted of sexual crimes and other violent offenses as long as it has been over 5 – 7 years, but sex crimes and pedophilia are not curable so why does the FBI give a false sense of security by permitting these people to travel state to state?
Why is a student truck driver given all of this responsibility from day one before they even know how to operate the truck? It’s a recipe for disaster and now the ATA wants heavier Trucks! Who will be hauling those trucks? Perhaps, student fleets will be hauling those heavier trucks but this is unclear right now. Maybe we should discover what Shippers want heavy Trucks and ask if they employ Student Fleets? Hmmm, interesting? I have yet to meet a truck driver who thinks heavy trucks are safe for anyone, let alone a student. I have met fleet owners who say “Sorry, I am about the bottom line and I am FOR Heavy Trucks …and lighter Tractors” Well I am for the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus but I don’t get an Easter basket every year and sometimes my stocking comes up empty!!!
A student who starts out in March is feeling very confident about their abilities by fall, then winter comes and they feel they “Know it all”, many will be involved in accidents that could have been preventable if they were trained better.
If the trucking industry cannot provide professional trainers they should not be training the volume of students they are recruiting.
It’s true that some good students emerge like me who have been trained poorly, everyone deserves the chance IF there is indeed a DRIVER SHORTAGE but the ATA says there is NO DRIVER SHORTAGE so I think they have some phones calls to make to some CDL Mills and Training Fleets.
What I see is the trucking industry giving false hope in depressed areas where people are desperate for work and that is not fair when so many people is distress.
I’ve heard of people who were encouraged to take a workforce voucher to pay for CDL Training from the unemployment office when they had no prior inclinations to become a trucker. I SMELL A RAT and it’s eating Government Cheese!!!
The ATA is telling one story and the Department of Labor/Unemployment Offices, CDL schools and Student Trucking Fleets are telling quite another .
Since I began writing this story things have changed, Experienced Trainers who CARE have been left to sit with no miles, more less experienced trainers are entering to train new students. Allen Smith calls this “Starving Out” I have heard people in management wince at that term but prefer “Squeezing Out”, whatever you call it; it is a deliberate CHURNING for less experienced, less informed, lesser paid Cheaper Labor.
I love trucking; I like my old truck, even though it’s in the shop today. I still don’t make much, here almost 2 years later I make .27 cents, last week my paycheck was $267.00 and I had an advance, this week it was $691.00 so it fluctuates greatly and makes it very hard to plan anything.
I was in a rather good situation to ride out the bad economy when I began this story and I had no reason anymore to complain. It was what I saw as a pattern of abuse to Student Truckers from all walks of life that compelled me to write this story.
So many people have said “OOOH you better be careful, you are going to lose your job”, you are going to get fired, you are going to get sued, and even … you are going to get KILLED!”
BRING IT!!!!
What I saw this past 2 years from the Trucking Industry was disturbing enough I will say I was WILLING to DIE to tell you this story.
Charging Employees to Idle, Students! And then getting the Smart Way EPA Award? HOW DARE YOU!!!!
Ellen Voie of “Women in Trucking” has the gall to say imply women “Bring it on themselves” YET she helps to recruit Naïve Women who may not ever have the skill to drive a truck.
The DAC reporting system which is riff with irregularities meant to keep drivers silent.
These are the reasons I wrote this story after I was ALREADY in a place I could walk away and never look back.
I read the letter my company sent to Dan Rather and it is typical denial, the fact is that “MS” has NO BUSINESS dealing with Human Life, the HR Lady is a LIAR either intentionally for the pleasure of the CEO or because she seriously underestimated this dumb trucker.
The facts are this:
Why was I prevented from finding another suitable female to drive with time and again by “MS” when in fact the Million Mile Woman I met later was also seeking one? Not once but on MANY occasions.
Why did the HR Lady LIE and say she investigated that bleach incident when in FACT she never at any time attempted to call the Head of Security almost 19 months later?
Why did the same manager who took me in the hall to reassure me that “ED” would be investigated, later take the Million Miler into the Hall telling her to stay quiet about allegation that “Lily” made about “ED” molesting her she would be fired?
Why were ‘Lily’ & “Mag” recycled by “MS” when she KNEW Full well the potential situations that could occur for me and others?
My Company says they COMMIT to CARE; they spent MONEY for that Media acronym to be created.
Now let’s see them DO IT and stop hiding behind a media package.
Whether I drive another day, I will continue to write. I’d like to be writing about how the ship was able to avert the tip of the iceberg and everyone survived.
THE END …. For now
Desiree you violated so many company and federal policies hauling that load. number one did you call in for a hazmat number which is policy.Number two did you padlock that load. number three why are you driving a hazmat load on a bad tire I know for a fact that the company you work for will send out a repair truck to fix it. Did even put the placards on that trl. So when is it your team partners responsiblity to train you on how to run solo. Also you are not sitting at the dock for free all the time because there are certain customers that do pay detention but most dedicated dont
Dear Greg:
My final story post is rather long, over 2000 words and it touches on a number of different items that absolutely should make some people uncomfortable.
That you zeroed in on a brief paragraph and gathered so many broad assumptions on fundamental items make my instincts twitch about who you are.
Yes, “Greg” I did all of the things I was supposed to do and I notified my breakdown department and did what I was advised to do. I also went potty that day Greg but I did not include it in the post.
You have also assumed way too much and we all know what it means to ASSume. This load was not part of the dedicated fleet assignment if you re-read the post. It was the load to get me into a region where I could work under my new dispatcher which included using equipment from that dedicated account.
Therefore, this was one of the last times I had to use my companies trailers which at that time in October 2008 where very much in disrepair. The point of including that in the post is that the trailers had been neglected and I am well aware of the fine system for dropping a bad trailer but I know it is not followed up on enough OR it was not at that time this event took place.
When I was in California I took several trailers into the shop to help out and I was also thanked for doing it and not complaining like some other drivers. I was happy to help out because our trailers were in poor shape and I’d rather be moving than sitting in a concrete parking lot waiting for a load.
I could go on and on about dates, times and events Greg, but you are missing the essence of what I am saying. I believe you are trying to create doubt and divert attention from the real root of what I am saying here.
Accidents and Incidents can and will happen because there are so many components and variables in the logistics supply chain. In the case of a Hazardous Materials there is an added responsibility so the best equipment should be available. I personally do not think that the Federal Government should give an Endorsement to a Student Trucker from day 1 for multiple reasons.
1. It is a National Security Issue
2. Most Student Truckers never make it through their first couple years and of them many are involved in accidents.
3. To properly understand the many log procedures WITHOUT HAZ MAT takes a good deal of time so expecting Students to add another book load of regulations in their memory banks in such a short period of time adds another stick on the camel’s back.
4. Not providing Students the very BEST equipment to haul those loads is inexcusable and stacks the odds against their favor.
The damage to this particular tire was a round flat spot that was not visible upon my initial inspection because it was the portion of tire on ground. After receiving the placards and bills, I called my friend and he called his friend so they could step by step DOUBLE CHECK everything I had done.
That is when I did a second inspection with a flashlight under the carriage and saw the flat spot which was not visible until now that the tire had moved.
Greg, you are shooting in the dark try to shift blame, obviously for a reason.
Once the issue was detected I worked with my company to do what I was told. Since that night I did have a paint spill for a poorly packed load that was CONFIRMED as that Shippers Fault.
That gave me another perspective on this topic. It was handled really well but it still made me see with my own eyes that requiring a Hazardous Materials Endorsements for Students is not prudent for the Student or National Security.
Even at this time I had over a year of experience but was UNDER the 2 years I would need to go to the next level in a trucking career. Should an incident occur it would be the driver left holding the bag and ultimately have something on their DAC.
So Greg, if you are trying to incite a federal investigation into this topic, I will be happy to elaborate on all of the details and procedures.
My company and I handled the situation and worked together just fine. It is the equipment that needs and entire replacement and the licensing system with the Federal Government for its national security breaches I am speaking about. I have spent a good deal of time examining this so perhaps you should do the same before you try to split hairs with me.
Now, I feel compelled to mention “Greg” that the last time you were upset was when I mentioned Employees being charged to Idling and Smart Way EPA award.
You did not mention that in this diatribe.
It is curious that you are provoked on 2 issues that have to do with the Federal Government in particular.
Thanks for writing….
Desiree
I would further add that what business is it of “Greg” if polices or reg’s were violated? What long-time, experienced driver has not violated some kind of policy or regulation? Anybody ever fudged on their log book? Turns out that Desiree DID contact her company . . . turns out the company WAS aware of all matters . . . one should not “speak” about matters they know nothing about . . . like she said, it’s – “shooting in the dark.” —- Allen Smith
AS a Master Trainer I am a member of the the Saftey Dept. Also as a general member of the traveling public I believe it is my BUISNESS. To ask questions on whether a hazmat load is traveling safley down the highways and byways of these wonderful UNITED STATES. I thought that you wanted to make the roads a safer place to travel. So you ALLEN have no problem with a driver violationg policies or regulations? So are you as a driver or former driver admiting to violiating policy or regs?
A driver should not violate policies or reg’s. Too many variables that cause this to occur however. Of course I have . . . not intentionally, but due to all the circumstances that drivers face . . . it happens . . . here you go again “shooting at the stars” – safety is always priority . . . as a “master trainer” you should work towards preventing the constant battle between Safety and Dispatch – dispatch pushing drivers to pull loads that they cannot do legally and safely, and Safety coming back on them . . . I’m sure you know what I’m talking about . . . you have the opportunity to discuss more if you care to on our show 11-4-09 – http://tinyurl.com/yj2gs8q —- There are plenty Safety advocates out there . . . My main focus are the scams of the OTR industry …. thanks for the post —- Allen
Bravo!!! Hey “Greg” I had a beer once or twice before I was 21. Take a rest man.
Really thats awesome dude did you drive also after those beers. I am on a rest right now cuz I am on my 10hr dot break
Just one simple question How long are companies and or trainers suppose to hold an adult male/ females , student/rookies drivers hand? I would really like to know the answer to this question is it 5yrs or 3yrs or 15yrs what is it?
That is SO how it is. Preach it.
It’s very disappointing that the dispatchers tend to listen to the males, but until you came along, no one was really voicing this where anyone would listen. Thank you for doing this; please continue!
-G
“With another 80 or so students arriving each week all bright-eyed and bushy tailed ready for a new career, dosent it stand to reason that everyone is expendable?”
It’s true; I have heard it said that the government pays a stipend to each company per driver hired and kept for a certain amount of time. This is to increase hiring in these fields and decrease unemployment, and goodness knows that the trucking industry provides the backbone of our economy; however, you noted the schools as “CDL Mills,” and a lot of these first-tier companies, like the one for which Ms. works, are also mill-like in that they are only interested in keeping drivers for that amount of time before firing them, laying them off, or shorting them on miles until they are forced to resign, the latter of which happened to me with this company.
It doesn’t seem to matter to these companies that the entire purpose of these government stipends is to encourage people to start new, lifetime careers, or that they would be better served by doing things that would encourage employee retention rather than complaining about the high turnover and engaging in practices to encourage it to continue!
An orientation staffer at Ms.’s company even told me the following joke, in February of 2006:
Q: What’s the difference between a toddler and a trucker?
A: The toddler eventually stops whining.
You’ve got to wonder what’s going on with the CDL schools and companies with training programs. You hear from the schools that there’s a shortage of drivers but you see companies like Schneider dropping their training program since they can get experienced drivers without the hassle from the surplus that’s out of work. You have drivers with years of experience living in homeless shelters that can’t get a job.
It’s like a racket almost, schools get government money to train students, training companies get inexpensive drivers, the majority of which get disillusioned with the whole thing and drop out in less than a year. Then the whole cycle continues to roll around at the taxpayer’s expense.
I know there’s a lot of good schools out there turning out some well trained students but there’s also a lot out there playing the system for tuition/tax money and placing drivers on the road with a lot of potential to destroy some equipment and possibly even result in deaths. Ain’t worth it.
Just think.. I passed my cdl permit with hazmat endorsements, DOT exam for Schneider, then their school went out of business a scant two years later. It would have taken over two years to pay off the exorbitant amount for the trucking school, and would have likely had to endure the 6 month otr with complete stranger as a partner. Think about this, people.
My grandfather was a trucker’s partner way back in the 40’s and 50’s. We heard the stories growing up, even then! He did not drive, he did all the heavy loading and unloading on a local route.
Just going to make a short comment about the CDl schools that are done in house at some companies……MONEY! not only are they making money off you, but they also are recieving money from the govt as re-imbursement per student, upwards of 6 grand per student. So,IMO it is a racket
Wow. She sounds like a passive-aggressive, insecure, usurous, lazy piece of crap. I’m really glad that you’re rid of her.
-G
It seems that my 1st Trainer’s “Friend” has been wanting to defend her on my wordpress in the name of “Tamara” , as it turns out, another former Trainee Graembo has posted about her experience with this same Trainer …. Check It Out: http://truckerdesiree.com/2009/04/20/why-did-i-do-it/
Here is my TwitPic Phots Link if those who do not understand Twitter can see some of the things that go into my live stream.
http://www.twitpic.com/photos/truckerdesiree
AND… Don’t forget that @TruckinDogKarma has her own opinions and perspective and list of what is important in the World.
http://www.twitpic.com/photos/truckindogkarma
Here are some comments on my Wordpress about the Dan Rather Response from ATA there are also lots of people writing the Show now with their experiences & the Trucking Forums are a buzz with people coming forward to give their stories. Make Sure you read Allens information to Stop False DAC Reporting which is the next component is the Student Trucker Industry which helps generate the shortage also.
http://truckerdesiree.com/2009/10/25/my-response-to-the-trucker-com-dan-rather-trucking-video/
We’re noticing comments on this and a couple of other posts on AskTheTrucker, that are making assumptions and/or deliberate accusations towards the writer of this post, ” A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker.”
If you can not verify your “quotes” of what you say the author said, or confirm your assumptions of something “you feel” the author “did”, your comment will not be approved.
Why has she not asnwered questions posted by co-workers and why hasnt she anwered about the Texas Rape Legislation testimony I asked about I would be very interested in finding the law and reading testimony. I have searched for it and thus far have been unable to find case law and her testimony
So asking questions about what Desiree has written in her post about company policies and procedures about hazmat loads and the training program, is off limits now? I thought the whole idea of her story was to get the truth out about training schools and training company. I am as a Master Trainer at Covenant Transport am I not suppose to ask questions about her story now? As a master trainer I am quite knowledgeable of company policies and procedures and the training program as i have been a trainer for 7yrs and a member of the saftey dept. I am not making accusations or allegations I am asking questions pertaining to statement she has made in her story.
Greg, There’s nothing wrong in asking questions, when it is written in question form. Assumptions, and accusations of those assumptions, are totally different and appear to be written in a way as an attempt to discredit the writer.
If indeed you believe that you have important information that can add to the truth, then I believe you should contact Dan Rather Reports, as both we, and they (Dan Rather Reports) have requested.
The “Truth” is what we are all seeking, and if you can offer that info we suggest you do so.
Again, questions about the post are welcome, along with Facts. However, hearsay and accusations are not. We do hope that Covenant has contacted them also.
If you have a discrepancy in something written in this Post, please refer back to the authors statement, copy and paste it in quotes, and then comment.
As far as the Texas Rape Legislation, there was a major write up about it. I believe the Wall Street Journal also had a write up recently. Donna
Donna I would be more than happy to speak with Dan Rather reports but I have no way of contacting them
Dear Greg:
I drrive almost every day because the dedicated account I am on stays steady.
This story has links to my site & relevant articles all over & throughout the “Ask the Trucker” websppace so saying you can’t find something means you are too lazy to look or you are continuing to imply doubt.
This could be for two reasons:
You ae representing the company to be a troll OR you have something to hide.
Your conduct & your status as a Master Tainer & representitive of the Safety Department are only serving to strengthen my point that that being a Trainer does not mean you can Teach.
A Trainer at the time I was trained spent about 35 days with the student. That first 2 weeks I needed her to teach mme & then I needed her to help me perfect what I was taught so I could do it alone when she was gone. That did not happen.
I went with a second trainer who helped me get through the loose strings & between him & a nice guy in the Safety Dept. who helped me more I was able to learn things my trainer FAILED to teach me.
I never had someone to call for questions but I met helpful folks along the way who let me fine tune things.
Your conduct here makes me feel compelled to say I would NEVER ask you forr directions to a toilet let alone for assistance becoming a PROFESSIONAL DRIVER.
Here is the Wall Street Journal Article it is about a 20 year old cold rape case solved in Dec 08 & it also spawned online trolls who wanted to insert themselves into my story. I am heading for hometime & will meet these Ladies while I am there. http://mobile2.wsj.com/device/article.php?CALL_URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125167372604370775.html?
(Desiree) First I don’t apprecaited the personal attacks on me. I have not attacked you personally nor have i discredited you, if you feel that I have it was unintened and I apologized. I am not a troll and I do not speak on Covenant Transport behave nor have I ever stated that I was. You made an assupumtion that was lazy. I google your name and texas rape legistation only it didnt bring up any
testimony that you gave that is what I was asking about I am very intersted in how legislation is passed. Please be more specific and give examples of how my conduct was inappropriate. ” Your conduct & your status as a Master Tainer & representitive of the Safety Department are only serving to strengthen my point that that being a Trainer does not mean you can Teach.” Well if a post I had made had not been deleted I stated that I have been training for 7yrs. Also as a Master trainer I am part of the Saftey dept never said i was a representive. I also have nothing to hide. I train students to the best of my capablities. I also tell them which is a true statement that the majority of the things you learn is on the job training cuz even after 14yrs driving over a million safe miles I still learn new things everday.
Dear Greg:
This is how a Bill is Made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVo3nbLYC0
and Please Support “Jason’s Law” for Safe Trucker Parking
http://bit.ly/KC7L3
You Can Help Pass Legislation By Getting Involved….
Call Your Representitives
Everyone has a voice, many just don’t use it
You can reach the Dan Rather group by writing viewer@hd.net. We have it posted in our articles in this blog and many people are replying.
Have you been reading the articles pertaining to the video? There are 2 main ones concerning the video.
YESTERDAY AND TODAY I, KC, AND SEVERAL OTHER HAD A NICE CONVERSATION WITH XXXXX AKA TONY! HE ALSO TOOK THE TIME TO READ SOME OF YOUR VERY ENTERTAINING STORY AND FOUND IT TO BE VERY AMUSING!. I WILL SAY HE DID SAY SOME THINGS THAT YOU SAID WERE TRUE BUT NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH. HE DID AGREE ON THE FACT THAT NO HE DIDNT COME ON TO YOU, BUT THAT IT WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE! HE REALLY COULDNT BELIEVE THE THINGS YOU SAID BC YOU DID GO TO SCHOOL TOGETHER AND OTHER THAN NOT GETTING ALONG WITH JJ, THE REST OF THE CLASS PRETTY MUCH GOT ALONG.
I WILL HAVE TO GO INTO MORE DETAIL LATER FOR I HAVE A LOAD TO GO DELIVER THEN GET HOME! I WILL KEEP EVERYONE POSTED AS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE “TONY” STORY FOR IT IS VERY INTERESTING! THATS ONE CO-DRIVER DOWN A FEW MORE TO GO!
Dear Cherie:
Donna did not want to moderate your comment because you are trying to take third hand comments and state them as facts. This is precisely why many of these occurrences are so intertwined it is because of the never-ending gossip mill.
So, already you are validating my story by associating who you believe fits the character description. The Rumor Mill, Junior High School He Said/She Said climate that our company conducts its training under.
This Student Trucker Story was written on a PDA 1 letter at a time over the course of a year and after I had sent over 88 emails of correspondence to the company documenting to superiors what was happening as it happened.
This story is a story from those documented events and because I wrote it on a PDA so there is a lot of information that is not included and I feel confident in saying “Tony: would not want all of those things published.
The story is meant to be both entertaining and informative to show the variety of personalities a prospective student will encounter in a “Team Business Model” Training experience and they should take that into account knowing that their crucial first 2 years will depend on getting through the training and the 6 month of team requirement.
You seem to be missing the entire point.
Also, as I said in my story, they were some posts that were lost because when I was trying to post with my PDA it crashed out and those posts were lost forever, some of those were about “Tony” who I named because of his manner. He seems to pride himself as being a very tough over dramatic “Tony Montana from the movie “Scarface”. He is cartoonish in his over dramatizations of events and he likes to make lots of grandiose statements.
I spent a good deal of time with “Tony” we went to school together and we lived in a truck together. At our CDL School as I said in my story, I had two friends I rode the train with everyday and we were called “The Three Musketeers”, “Tony knows that.
He also knows we all had a great camaraderie at CDL School; he was the only one who engaged “JJ” who was a freak. “JJ” actually was kicked of the truck during our final testing day at our CDL School by the instructor. “JJ” did not complete his test that day but was given a certificate anyways and landed up at our company.
There were 5 of us I think who came to our company from that class. When the administrator from our CDL School came to the course to schedule us for Orientation in Chattanooga we ALL asked to go the following week so we WOULD NOT see “JJ” again. Our administrator commented to me when I made the same request that I was the 5th person to say the same thing about “JJ”.
I have kept in touch with my 2 friends from CDL School and one of them saw “Tony” a few months back in Wyoming and said he did not stay to talk to him.
The reason is this, at CDL School and at Orientation we all were like Brothers and Sister. It was “Tony” who told me to get off the truck with the first guy who asked if I was a “Rasist” for resisting his badgering for sex. I teamed with that guy to accommodate “Tony” for his time off.
It was “Tony” who interviewed this guy with me before I got on the truck with him and it was “Tony” and another guy from my CDL School who carried my bags that night when I got on the truck with that guy and told him again very firmly “She’s here to WORK, she’s like our sister “.
The other person present that night was a guy named Oscar who also went to our CDL School. He suffered a severe concussion and would never drive again because his trainer at our company had him driving nights in winter with his little bit of experience and he hit black ice. That little bit of experience that Oscar had was less than the experience “Tony” ad I had. “Tony” is a good driver albeit impatient at the time. I was also a good driver despite I learned not nearly as much as I should have from my trainer. “Tony” was more advanced.
Oscar knew enough to pull over when he slid but another truck rear ended him. Oscar’s driving career was over just a few weeks into his “Finishing School” training at our company. Ask “Tony” about Oscar.
Also, I am not sure “Tony” knows he was on TV? By the craziest coincidence the Dan Rather Cameramen were filming at our CDL School in Miami when “Tony” was on the property with his new truck.
Even a funnier side note, I was also in Miami going to a shipper just down the street and passed “Tony’s” house and saw his truck parked in front of his place very close to the Shipper I was going to. After I picked up my load, he flew past me on I-95 going north.
I am not clear why he was at our CDL School in Miami when his house is just a couple miles away and he can park there, unless he was recruiting for our company. We had been offered that opportunity when we went to CDL School to be paid $75 to come to the School after and show new students our truck to help encourage them to come to our company.
I did not ever say that in CDL School or at Orientation we did not get along. To the contrary, we all watched out for each other.
When we arrived at the company for orientation we were very popular and had quite a bit of fun. I did not participate in all the night time fun with ‘Tony” and the gang but I was one of the group and we all kept in touch by texting during our training.
“Tony” had a good trainer, I did not. Still, “Tony” did get into it with his trainer and had to go to the Hutchins terminal to “Work it out”. I say “Good” as in he was through in training “Tony” all the “ins and outs” perhaps more so that “Tony” wanted to know and it rubbed him the wrong way.
On a personal level though they did not mesh and this was the source of their “blow out” The bottom line with my experience with “Tony” is this:
I knew him better than perhaps any other person. We had mutual friends, we went to school together, and he drove all of us at lunchtime in Miami. He told me about his Ex-Wife, his Kids and talked to me about the girls he liked, even one from orientation who I thought was pretty cool.
“Tony” and I experienced a lot together; we had some good days and bad days. I had a crappy trainer, he did not. I made special accommodations to team with him and tried multiple times to wriggle out of it because of his temper & his smoking and I was concerned that he did not pass his blood pressure check first go round. I think that is fair to say as I had no experience and we would be teaming in winter and I would be sleeping while he drove. I don’t know his entire medical history and seeing him fail that test made me worried. Especially when I saw his temper and his smoking.
“Tony” knew I was top in our CDL Class, he knew I was smart and capable but he has his own issues with letting himself relax with a “GIRL” at the controls capable or not, it freaked him out.
He is a highly excitable person. He is a huge component to my story because despite the fact that we were friends, he was quick to throw me under the bus when he feared I might tell on him that he wanted to roll on ice, not ONCE but Three times.
The truth is I never ran and tattletale on him that and MANY other things he did BUT HE did begin trying to lay a path to discredit me right away and I was not aware of how low he would go.
That is why our other friend from CDL School did not want to talk to him. That is why our friend in Michigan was disgusted that “Tony” who was part of a big group of friends who kept in touch and watched out for each other would throw me under the bus and try to paint a very different picture of the truth to cover his butt.
There are a number of eyewitnesses to the scene “Tony” made in Sacramento and in Pomona as well as emails I exchanged with our dispatcher and “Sam” while “Tony” was trying very hard to create a drama to cover him.
I was later apologized to by our dispatcher who admitted he made a mistake. “Sam” knew from before I got on the truck with “Tony” that I was trying to wriggle “out of” teaming with “Tony” because of his temper.
The spectacle “Tony” made in Pomona left many grown Men embarrassed for “Tony” and the way he behaved BUT something good came from it. I made some very good friends and it was at this time I knew a few good people to call for assistance as I forged ahead.
“Mag” was someone I had been trying to Hook “Tony” up with because they both lived in Miami but neither of them would have it. My objective was to keep rolling. I wanted to work. I did not know that at the time “Tony” and I had our Blow Out that “Bella” had just had one with “Mag” or I would have never gotten on his truck.
“MS” did know and did not do anything to prevent me from getting into a potentially violent situation.
Also, “Tony” had stayed in touch with “JJ” who had bragged about raping his girlfriend on his time off from our company. “Bella” had suffered a heart attack while teaming with “JJ” and she was then on a Truck with “Mag”, I am unclear all of what transpired and it is none of my business except that both “JJ” and “Mag” were known by “MS” to be potentially violent and she alone could have prevented me from getting on that truck and she did not.
There is so much more good and bad I could tell but the point of the STORY is to talk about the “Student Trucker Industry” you already have your information garbled by trying to recount what “You Heard”.
NOW, if “TONY” himself wants to go toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball on facts….. That will be something I will look forward to doing but I don’t think our company or our CDL School would appreciate it too much.
I am not trying to paint my self as some kind of Snow White which many people try to label me with. I can definitely hold my own verbally and physically. I don’t take any crap off anyone and like I told one of our management… “You poke me with a stick long enough you are going to meet someone you really do not want to meet”
Any of my Ex-Husbands will atest to that
WHILE EVERYONE SITS AND CONTINUES READING YOUR INCREDIBLE STORY THEY MUST ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR STORY IS ONE SIDED AND THAT THE OTHER PARTIES HAVE NO GIVING THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY. SO BEFORE EVERYONE PASSES JUDEGMENT ON THESE PEOPLE PLEASE LET THEIR SIDE BE TOLD. THEY ARE ALL JUST NOW GETTING INFO AS TO WHERE THEY CAN READ ALL THIS AND IN DO TIME EITHER WILL POST THEIR COMMENTS OR AS xxxxx (Tony) DID WILL LET ME TELL THEIR VERSION OF THE STORY. MANY OF YOU HAVE NEGLECTED THE FACT THAT ANOTHER ONE OF DESIREE’S CODRIVERS HAS ALREADY POSTED AN REMARK & ITS SEEMS SHE ALSO SEES HOW CREATIVE DESIREE HAS MADE HER STORY: AND YES I COPIED AND PASTED CC’S POST SO EVERYONE COULD READ IT AGAIN.
“”2009.10.22 23:27, cc said:
I’m very happy for you Desiree… Your accounts of these events are a little over the top but that’s ok… There are a lot of good lessons here and I hope you ladies get what you need. You should really write a book girl because you have a great imagination. I thought I’d be upset about what was reported to me but if it’s not the truth how could it hurt. It’s too funny absolutely funny… One more thing you should really take something called self evaluation. You are too much… wish you the best girl, keep on trucking and stay safe.”"
I ALSO WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT BECAUSE YOU FEEL THAT A COMPANY TREATED YOU UNFAIRLY DOESNT MEAN THAT IT WILL TREAT OTHERS THE SAME. WHAT GOES FOR ONE PERSON DOESNT GO FOR ALL!
WILL CONTINUE LATER!
Dear Cherie:
Once again, you are skimming into a story based on event with characters are making them facts.
I will say that I did not see CC’s post until now and I am glad to see it.
Still, it was me and CC there not you and it was me and “Tony” there and not you.
You keep wanting to go on a fact finding mission from a story BASED on events NOT from the actual dated documented details.
This story was created to help new students THINK about personality differences BEFORE they choose a company and get into a “Team Business Model” experience PLUS raise other questions.
I am not offended in the least. I like CC’s comment, I liked CC, there were things I liked about everyone and things I learned from everyone.
You are doing something I chose NOT to do in this story and that is name names because these are all characters meant to keep the readers interest AND paint a picture interesting enough that someone like Dan Rather would want to Investigate the REAL actual EVIDENCE that I collected and documented at the time this was really occurring.
You have actually printed peoples real names and tried to make this story thefactual document as though it was to be entered in a courtroom and it is NOT, it is the basis of other documents that are not public but have been provided to our Company and Dan Rather and the other Documentry Groups uncovering the Student Trucker Industry.
This story is also for prospective students to help them collect notes on what might help them make better decisions before they make commitments.
From CC’s post, it seems like she see’s that. No one wants to be immortalized without their input, thats why I changed the names, they are my opinions, you are trying to makes these images more than you should.
No one like a picture of them published without final approval.
I think you are trying to make something more REAL from a story rather than see what the moral of the story is and that is. Perseverance against all odds either real or imagined
Good news, Cherie! Other sides of the story can be heard! Tomorrow, 11-4-09 at 7PM EST – Our Blog Talk Radio Show – http://tinyurl.com/yj2gs8q – 90 minute show to give everyone a chance to give their side of the story!!!!! — Show call in number: (347) 826-9170
I’ll be looking forward to your call – Allen Smith
I have removed the name you placed in the story instead of “Tony” I was curious of why you or this person felt it was him in the story? By doing so, doesn’t that show that he fit the character? Kind of like the old saying, “If the shoe fits, wear it”
Again, this is the writers story of her accounts and perspective of her experiences during CDL school and Company Training.
You are a third party trying to expose the characters in this story. Do these people know you are trying to put in their real names and in doing so associating them as the character?
Also, you can not speak for these people. If these people want their comments and opinions posted, then they must post themselves. After all, you could be saying anything….anybody can do that.
It would seem that someone that has multiple degrees in various disciplines where they would know the consequences of posting someones real name without permission must have an agenda that they would like brought forward. Seems the best person to tell ones side of a story is that person themselves.
Dear Mick
Yes I agree & I know there are personal agendas , the point of this story seems to be entirely missed by these few people but it is also an indicator of what goes on at my company.
This IS the climate & it is normal there unless one removes themselves from the daily gossip & strives to get a clear icture of ALL the trucking schools, training Companies, experienced companies, O/O & the major governing organizations like the ATA & OOIDA uon examining all of this you see this story simply was a catapult into a lager topic that many people in student trucking companies are not meant to ever understand.
Thus the Gossip Mill is encouraged & even longtime veterans engage in it
Dear Cherie & Greg:
Here is my personal Rape Story which includes some of the online stalking I have experienced since I began writing this story & some other information about how this crime played into my student trucker horror story.
There are links in it to look at the final legislation & the Wall Street Journal Article after the Texas Bill was passed.
“Tony” was the only one who knew I had a rape in my past & may have had some renewed trauma from being on that first truck.
“Tony” was my friend from CDL School we confided in each other many things.
This story is not about “Tony” but he is important because even someone who you have been friends with will change once they are put in a stressful situation.
Here is my Rape for your reading pleasure:
http://truckerdesiree.com/2009/04/21/texas-bill-hb-2932-sb-1558/
Alright truckers, I’m coming to this post because it seems to be the most frequently read on this page!! I’m going to post a link below and I really and truly hope that we can get some positive from the truckers in the country who read this. This young boy (senior in h.s.) was injured pretty badly in his last football game of his h.s. career! It’s questionable if this young man will ever walk again! He can use as many prayers as he can possibly get at this point!! Thanks in advance!!
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/korywiita/journal
I know this isn’t trucking related, just trying to get this young man in as many prayers as possible!!!
Never underestimate the power of prayer! Take one moment from whatever you’re doing for this young man….Allen & Donna
Thanks guys! Appreciate you approving this even though it’s not trucking related!
Let me start by saying I am a 29yr driver who has seen firsthand exactly what you describe. My wife was a trainer for a large carrier in the ’90’s. She told me about one of the male trainers touching her and then acting like he did nothing wrong when she decked him. HE was the injured party! Found out he was routinely giving his female students the “option” of the easy plan or just be a student. He was also involved with one of the female dispatchers and he was married.
Of course, my wife had to deal with female students who did not want to learn how to drive, as they were intended to be an extra logbook for their husband/boyfriend. One actually took a swing at her!
The company we were with would not allow male students to train with female trainers, but female students could go out with male trainers. I thought that was silly. But, not as silly as two newbies trying to learn together. Or as silly as trainer/students running team right out of the box. How do you teach from the bunk? How do you learn when you are exhausted? The politicians will tell you truck driving is an unskilled job anyone can do. I once tossed my keys to a state congressman with a challenge to get it out of the parking lot bobtail. He declined.
Not everyone understands the trucking industry, even the people inside. Companies have been using college-educated dispatchers for years, not always to good effect. Trucking is not like any other industry. Driving is not like any other job, the reason few people are suited to it. And a former driver is not necessarily a good dispatcher, nor a college-degree holding otherwise smart person.
As you might have guessed, I am not enthusiastic about our future. This industry has problems, no doubt. Allowing criminals to prey on unsuspecting people, male or female, is unexcusable. Allowing inexperienced people to train the needed new people is simply stupid. I personally will not ever turn a blind eye to sexual abuse or physical abuse. Bullies get no free pass. I always treat everyone I come into contact with like I would like to be treated. I never yell at dispatch or receivers or shippers. Sometimes, that isn’t easy. Trucking isn’t easy. And I have no easy answers. But I admire Desiree’s courage. She is remarkably similar to my wife.
Dear Christie:
I have taken the link you posted & put it on Twitter with a #Prayer Hash tag
There are lots of groups of people in Twitter who “RT, ReTweet” or forward and continue to circulate info… I find this caring circle of activity to be healing for my soul. Finding others who care about strangers from around the world has been the greatest gift I have gained from this writing experience.
If you actually go on the website, the father keeps a pretty frequent update going on his condition, some happy some sad, but very informative on his condition!!
Dear Rick:
Thanks for your comment. In a nutshell yes these are frequent well known problems but that the Trucking Industry has failed to take initiative to implement training & self-policing to correct.
Rather they spend more effort to cover it up & even this “Women in Trucking” Organization seems to be intended to facilitate the cover up by having a forum but actually its meant to corral & censor complaints much like an HR Dept. Operates.
Many of these situations require further training like as you would see from law enforcement investigators who PROFILE behavior.
That is costly but for a “team business model” you are bring this liabilty on yourself ( I mean the companies) because you are actually inviting the misconduct from poor support & training.
Tracy Tuttle-Hamm of the CRST Sex Harrassment Case joined us on the Blog Talk Radio show & expressed the idea of a watchdog advocate. This is a great idea & NOT a PHONY ADVOCATE like Ellen Voie or Sandy Long who are wanting to accomadate Men to “Fit in” & moderate posts by Women who seek support & berate them for seeking help.
Tracy posted on facebook she was disapointed our radio show was consumed so much we could not tap into a solutions debate & I was also bummed as well as many listeners who emailed me afterwards.
Hopefully we can have another show very soon for REAL SOLUTIONS …. in the meantime Both Tracy & I can be found on Facebook (its easier that Twitter) and we have got lots of Male & Female Truckers finding us & Supporting this Wave that is building for CHANGE in the Trucking Industry
[...] his Wife Donna provided me a place to tell my story and not be moderated away. It was my story “A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker” that captured the interest of producers who had no real understanding of the trucking industry [...]
Yup, you got it. We’ll be writing a post about it soon.
I voiced my opinion in a new blog at my site. Women, in fact, have been treated badly in just about anything considered ‘man’s world’ although things have actually improved over the past 20 years or so.
I think attitude carries a lot of weight and hope I can help women in the trucking arena.
Hi Judy, Thank you for posting. If I’m correct, you’ve been driving since the 70’s. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of stories to tell and we wouldn’t mind having you on our Blog Talk Radio Show to share with the many women followers we have. I’m sure Desiree would love to be on that show also, as well as quite a few women we know in trucking.
Thanks again for your comment and we’ll be sure to re-visit your blog again.
I am a woman that is sincerely looking into trucking as a profession. I hate to hear all the horror stories, and there is plenty that I am wondering about. I am just looking for a position that I can do my job and do it well, without all the BS. I just came from a company where I was the only female in that part of the company, and many of the guys didn’t like it. I have been yelled at, and told not to touch that because I was stupid. There was equipment that they refused to let me learn about, and the supervisors were in on that. That was thier problem, and I didn’t let it become mine. I did my job to the best of my abilities. I admired them for the knowledge and experience they had, and worked very hard to keep it civil. Some of the guys were great, and wanted to share everything they knew. I think trucking will be about the same, I just hope there are more good guys than jerks this time. If not, well, to bad, I am not a quitter.
Hi Lisa: There are “horror” stories for many industries and OTR trucking is no exception – for both men and women. There is no doubt that many newcomers to trucking still have to “pay their dues” in this business, and the ones who make it are those who stick it out and have the attitude that you have … “not a quitter.” With all the recent insights about women trainee harassment, etc., I can understand your concern. Just keep in mind, that there are thousands of women drivers who are driving successfully and enjoying their careers. You have the right attitude . . . with the right cdl school and the right company, you can make it work.
I am a lady driver that has lost my job do to a Federal felony hit and run. I like you Lisa heard the horror story’s but that did not keep me from it. I was born to drive. What i mean is that i was born in a Peter built on the side of the road and my hole family were at one time driver. I love been OTR, i could not get enough of it. hell you get payed to travel who could ask for a better job then driving.
I have meat some ppl when i was OTR that would make you question your self but with the right frame of mind any one can do it. If i could find the right company to go back OTR i would do it in a heart beat. I miss the road a lot. Its always nice to hear from other lady drivers out there and to see that i was not the only one that had to put up with the harassment from ppl. I could sit here and name names but i will not for each and every one of them know how they were.
be safe out there every one
[...] been produced based on the clues I touched on from my Student Trucker Horror Story called ” A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker [...]
[...] gentleman was “Sam” from my student trucker story on “Ask the Trucker – A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker“, he passed away unexpectedly Christmas weekend , it was a shock to everyone in our [...]
[...] gentleman was “Sam” from my student trucker story on “Ask the Trucker – A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker“, he passed away unexpectedly Christmas weekend , it was a shock to everyone in our [...]
Hello:
I paid for my own cdl. training, I did not go to a company school I did alot of research and found a very good qualified school in my area. I enjoyed the training of my instructor… I made it fit what i needed, I even took two extra weeks because I wanted to have extra time to be comfortable backing up. We as ladies and gentlemen have more control and influence over our training and our JOB! Yes some want to continue to live in the dark ages…. but we are not in the dark ages!!!!! My codriver and I work for a great company out of Bryon center, MI. We are treated as the same, get the same pay which is good and are made to feel valued as a person, driver and team member. I say if you are being abused move on to a better company!! they are out there. I do agree document every thing…. it is better for you as a driver if a question does ever come up you can look back at your records by date and load numb. and give name, numbers and important info…. We have a copier scaner in truck and use it alot. To any Ladies looking in to driving otr it is a tough job, but if you are cut out for it well worth it if you get with a good company!!!! I have had a few macho additudes but I rise above it and allow them to look stupid. for the most part I have had very positive experiances and I love my JOB choice : )
Got to go drive in the sun now, Be safe and GODS SPEED!!!
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