Yeah, I am. 🙂
I got into a trucking school back in May where I learned everything I needed to learn to get my CDL-A. After that, I went out on the road with a trainer where I learned how to really handle a truck. I started driving on my own back in August and just came home for the first time. On Saturday, I’ll get another load and shoot out for another month or so before I come home again.
My first month out has shown me just how far I have to go. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly. But I am very, very, VERY thankful for all the more experienced truckers out there who have been super patient with me and helped me get backed up to doors or into parking spots when the set-up is not something taught at the academy. Without these absolute angels among men, I’d have done some serious damage. I mean, I can straight-line like anyone else but setting up for a 45° back when I don’t have the space I’m used to? Or backing up off-set up a hill? Or handling a super-tight backing? Not easy.
What I generally do is straight-up tell the shipper or receiver that I’m still new and could use a spotter and that it will go faster if they put me on an easy door. I do the same thing at truck stops if there isn’t a whole lot of open parking. I’ll find a trucker and wave him over and ask for help. I know that as I get more experience under my belt, I’ll need this less and less, but I’m very thankful for all the guys who have taken time out of their day to help me.
This help, this sense of “brotherhood,” is something that you don’t find in a lot of other fields. I know that I was pretty much thrown to the wolves as a teacher. But I’ve found that being honest about what I can do and what my experience is while driving tends to make the others do what they can to help me and to explain things so that I can get better.
The money is good, too. I drive for a great company and they pay well and treat me well. No micro-management. No mandatory daily meetings to get screamed at over things outside my control. No cult-like or abusive-relationship-like BS. I’m told where to go to pick up a load (and what time to be there), told where to deliver it (and when), and then left to determine when and where I’ll take my mandatory breaks. I’m treated like I have good sense and like I’m a person worthy of respect. And I’m paid well. Very well. My education for this industry cost me nothing up front — just an agreement to work for this company for a year in order to pay it back. No money out of my paycheck — just do the work for a year and then I could go somewhere else if I wanted.
So, if any of you out there are struggling in a field where you get treated like garbage, have crap pay, and are looking for a way out, I have some hope for you. Get into trucking. We need more drivers. There are schools where you can learn all you need to know. If you drive for my company, you’ll get additional training after you get your CDL to help you learn the things they don’t have time to teach you at the driving school. You’ll be treated with respect by other drivers and by the public who know that, without us, they don’t get food. Don’t stay in a dead-end job with a boss who gets off on screaming in your face, throwing things at you, and treating you like garbage. No, you won’t go home every day (or even every week) but the money is good, the freedom is awesome, and you’ll wake up each day knowing that the load you’re hauling is going to keep people fed and clothed. Other truckers WILL help you if you need it and are humble enough to ask for it (and having boobs helps because chivalry is still A Thing in trucking).
Anyhow, that’s part of why my updates are sporadic. When I’m on my 10 hour break to sleep, that’s pretty much what I do — get a shower at the truck stop and then sleep. 🙂 Hopefully, as I get more experience driving and backing, I’ll find more time to post little updates and even travel logs (though I’ll have to keep some details out).
Oh, one last thing — don’t be jerks to truckers. If we signal that we want to move over, let us. Don’t pass on the right. And don’t get in front of us and stop unless you want to meet Jesus. It takes us a lot of time and space to stop those rigs. If you don’t like that, go argue it with God and Sir Isaac Newton.
— G.K.
