Jeff Foster Trucking Abandoned Me At A Closed Bus Station

[Southern Fried]

It's always a "nightmare" when folks get tossed into the shark pool called "reality".

Not sniping at the OP here, just a general comment. We most all spend our early years in an environment where we're looked after by parents, teachers, etc who mostly take time to pay attention to what we think and do. We think we're important.

Then we hit the Real World where everybody has their own problems just making a living and looking after their own families and such. Suddenly we're not important anymore. We're just another warm body that has to figure stuff out by our ownself.

Some make the transition, some don't. Either way, it's nobody's responsibility but ours.

I think the "older generation" had an easier transition into things like trucking because we were raised by and lived among folks who were used to "getting their hands dirty" and "making do". We had no expectation that things should be "made easy" for us.

 

[Mike]

How many here have been kicked out of a truck at a bus station? Generally a bad location to be, and you are stuck there with your belongings.

Not sure how I would handle it, but I am guessing a local police dept. would have to be involved.

People don't go to driving school with the knowledge that some jackass trainer is going to dump them out of the truck somewhere like that.

No excuse, barring a potential hostile situation, where this should be allowed or tolerated. Beyond that, you need to get the trainee back to the terminal.

 

[Southern Fried]

How many here have been kicked out of a truck at a bus station? Generally a bad location to be, and you are stuck there with your belongings.

Not sure how I would handle it, but I am guessing a local police dept. would have to be involved.

People don't go to driving school with the knowledge that some jackass trainer is going to dump them out of the truck somewhere like that.

Yup, gotta agree..... badly handled.

I've had a couple of instances where the "trainee" had me eyeing roadside ditches and considering how long it would take to find the body.... but..... there is no certifiable evidence been found.

Really, only once have I ever "abandoned" a trainee. Booked a motel room for her to await a ride back to the terminal. And yes, I did check to see if she'd got back ok.

No excuse, barring a potential hostile situation, where this should be allowed or tolerated. Beyond that, you need to get the trainee back to the terminal.

 

[Rigjockey]

when I was a trainer if you ever abandoned a student you essentially abandoned your job. You would be fired.
I agree that the O/P should have been brought back to the terminal. They did make arrangements for him however.
As a rookie I would not know how to handle that.

As a driver who has been around the block I have learned how to flow. The truck broke down in Nebraska a few years ago. I got a wrecker out there, Hopped a ride with him. The dealer was closed on Sunday. (Good Christians right there!) I got a ride to a hotel, Found a place to get some beer. In the morning it was a continental breakfast and a nice shower.

I remember standing out front of the hotel during a snow storm waiting on a cab to take me to the dealers and thinking to myself, Holy Hell! I am Somewhere in Nebraska, A million miles from home. What an adventure! 9-5's never get their Gypsy on like this!

 

[Mike]

The first thing I thought about when reading this thread and the responses it received was...

What if...
What if this had been a female driver who was dropped off at a bus stop. Bus stop location is closed, and during the 5 hours of waiting, gets attacked and ultimately murdered?

Had we been reading that scenario from a news posting, the tone of the thread would have completely changed, with nothing but bashing of the company, and them being held accountable for what happened.

This was just a stupid move by the trainer, and by the company for allowing it to happen. It is stupid for any company to allow this.

 

[Injun]

The first thing I thought about when reading this thread and the responses it received was...

What if...
What if this had been a female driver who was dropped off at a bus stop. Bus stop location is closed, and during the 5 hours of waiting, gets attacked and ultimately murdered?

Had we been reading that scenario from a news posting, the tone of the thread would have completely changed, with nothing but bashing of the company, and them being held accountable for what happened.

This was just a stupid move by the trainer, and by the company for allowing it to happen. It is stupid for any company to allow this.

All you'd have to do to get company bashing is change the name of the company to one of the favorites to bitch about.

As for a female being dropped at the bus depot, how the hell do you think females get to the company to start with? I dare say, the same way the males do: By bus...which would mean hanging around the bus depot.

There are circumstances under which a student can and will be dropped at a bus depot or even left at a truck stop. If the environment in the truck is hostile or becoming dangerous for either party, one or the other will need to be removed from the truck. The logical one would be the student, since he or she is not cleared (or perhaps not licensed) to drive solo. Sometimes, this will mean getting off the truck when not at a terminal.

I will give a couple of examples later and critique the video posted here with my own take on it.

 

[Mike]

@Injun, I already mentioned the hostile environment scenario. No choice there.

As for taking the bus to get to the terminal, the situation there is completely different. You have the chance to at least have someone taking you there (hopefully), and you are making the decision to be there, not having it forced upon you for reasons out of your control.

If the trainee can't drive, let them ride in the jump seat til you can get them back. Relay with other drivers to return them to the terminal, do something other than what happened here.

Only in trucking can this be considered normal.

 

[Duck]

Only in trucking can this be considered normal.

Trucking isn't normal. If you want anything even remotely close to "normal", you're in the wrong industry.

About 7 or 8 years years ago our recruiter fired a driver for failing a whiz quiz. They asked another driver to take him to Chicago where he'd be passed off to another truck that would take him to Youngstown where he lives.

The driver taking him to Chicago was our old trainer, before the current friendly radical right-wing British guy we have now. The old trainer was an old-school hard-ass type.

They didn't even make it to Sioux City & the fired guy pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out of one of his bags.

Trainer pulled over on the side of Iowa Route 60, a 2 lane road at the time, and kicked him out. He told him to get out of the truck & he would pass his bags down to him, but instead he threw them into the ditch, slammed the door & took off. He called the recruiter & told him where he left the guy.

I was in the recruiter's office at the time & I heard every word the asshole trainer said because he was yelling. Recruiter said he'd send someone in the company car to pick him up & take him to the bus station in Sioux City. I stood up & said "I ain't doing it".

Recruiter ended up doing it himself because he couldn't find any CDL holders willing to risk having who-knows-what in his bags if the pigs do an illegal search.

 

[Mike]

Trucking isn't normal. If you want anything even remotely close to "normal", you're in the wrong industry.

About 7 or 8 years years ago our recruiter fired a driver for failing a whiz quiz. They asked another driver to take him to Chicago where he'd be passed off to another truck that would take him to Youngstown where he lives.

The driver taking him to Chicago was our old trainer, before the current friendly radical right-wing British guy we have now. The old trainer was an old-school hard-ass type.

They didn't even make it to Sioux City & the fired guy pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out of one of his bags.

Trainer pulled over on the side of Iowa Route 60, a 2 lane road at the time, and kicked him out. He told him to get out of the truck & he would pass his bags down to him, but instead he threw them into the ditch, slammed the door & took off. He called the recruiter & told him where he left the guy.

I was in the recruiter's office at the time & I heard every word the asshole trainer said because he was yelling. Recruiter said he'd send someone in the company car to pick him up & take him to the bus station in Sioux City. I stood up & said "I ain't doing it".

Recruiter ended up doing it himself because he couldn't find any CDL holders willing to risk having who-knows-what in his bags if the pigs do an illegal search.

That driver had it coming, doing something stupid like that. I never would have agreed to let a fired driver in my truck to begin with.

No, trucking isn't normal, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to make it that way. Just because the public thinks we are all filthy wild animals doesn't mean we should act like it

 

[Duck]

That driver had it coming, doing something stupid like that. I never would have agreed to let a fired driver in my truck to begin with.

No, trucking isn't normal, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to make it that way. Just because the public thinks we are all filthy wild animals doesn't mean we should act like it

A few years ago, ... 2009 I think. I brought my camper to a KOA north of that Love's at exit 81 in Utica, IL because of a truck pull event thing going on at the LaSalle Speedway. Everyone else brought tents.

Heading back to the campground at the end of Day 2, an idiot named Adam who was supposed to be following me, decided to be stupid & made a wrong turn. No idea how I lost him, I whipped into that Love's & did a U-turn & was sitting in an Invent-A-Spot by the road waiting for Idiot to catch up because he didn't know how to get to the campground.

Two Utica cops who were at the Love's noticed I had a brake light out on my ranger.

Because of a brake light out, they walked the K9 around the pickup. When it got to the passenger side it attacked the door.

My friend who was riding shotgun had weed in his pocket.

He admitted to the cops that it was his. They gave me a warning for the brake light but took him to jail, after first arguing with a state pig who showed up wanted to impound the vehicle & arrest me too.

Had the state pig got his way, I would've probably lost my CDL or at least my job that day.



So yeah, ... if I had a student or passenger in ANY vehicle & I find out they have weed or something on them, they're getting out of the vehicle right that minute, no matter where I'm at.


(that reminds me, ... he still owes me $100 for his bail. )

 

[Mike]

Totally get that. I would kick someone to the curb over that as well.

 

[Rigjockey]

One of the guys towing my broke down Pete says to me you got any contraband? ( he was all tatted up and gangsta like) I thought it was a dumb question so I shot back and said " What you need?" He was all like it is not about what I need but what you got? ( I am thinking fuck off pal!)
The other guy kind of calmed things down and made a joke saying he is from Canada he has the good shit!
The relevance of this story is it popped into my head.

 

[Injun]

@Injun, I already mentioned the hostile environment scenario. No choice there.

As for taking the bus to get to the terminal, the situation there is completely different. You have the chance to at least have someone taking you there (hopefully), and you are making the decision to be there, not having it forced upon you for reasons out of your control.

If the trainee can't drive, let them ride in the jump seat til you can get them back. Relay with other drivers to return them to the terminal, do something other than what happened here.

Only in trucking can this be considered normal.

Okay, regarding the hostile environment.

The video attached here doesn't come close to telling the whole story. First, I will start by reiterating my following statement is not a direct reflection on the O/P, but it is a possibility.

The O/P is the one making the video. The trainer didn't appear to know he was being recorded. The O/P was, according to his story, justifiably annoyed by being turned loose at the bus depot. At the same time,"Dennis" didn't raise his voice or swear at the O/P, unless I missed something. When someone is recording something, he or she will be on best behavior and do everything exactly right so as to appear reasonable in the eyes of the viewers. Despite this, the O/P was the more aggreessive of the two. "Dennis" simply handed the O/P's gear to him and answered the question, "So, you're just gonna throw me out like a stray dog?" with a simple "yes" and no editorializing. Keep in mind,he didn't know he was being filmed.

I suspect there was some sort of hostility between the two. It may have stemmed from a simple case of cabin fever, which is the primary reason I refuse to train. However, cabin fever doesn't take long to evolve into violence and people have been killed for some really petty crap in cases of cabin fever.

It may have been in both their best interests to drop the O/P at the bus depot. I had never heard of this company until this thread. They probably don't have trucks all over the place to simply meet up and put the O/P with another driver. The most expeditious option was to bus him home.

 

[Mike]

Okay, regarding the hostile environment.

The video attached here doesn't come close to telling the whole story. First, I will start by reiterating my following statement is not a direct reflection on the O/P, but it is a possibility.

The O/P is the one making the video. The trainer didn't appear to know he was being recorded. The O/P was, according to his story, justifiably annoyed by being turned loose at the bus depot. At the same time,"Dennis" didn't raise his voice or swear at the O/P, unless I missed something. When someone is recording something, he or she will be on best behavior and do everything exactly right so as to appear reasonable in the eyes of the viewers. Despite this, the O/P was the more aggreessive of the two. "Dennis" simply handed the O/P's gear to him and answered the question, "So, you're just gonna throw me out like a stray dog?" with a simple "yes" and no editorializing. Keep in mind,he didn't knoww he was being filmed.

I suspect there was some sort of hostility between the two. It may have stemmed from a simple case of cabin fever, which is the primary reason I refuse to train. However, cabin fever doesn't take long to evolve into violence and people have been killed for some really petty crap in cases of cabin fever.

It may have been in both their best interests to drop the O/P at the bus depot. I had never heard of this company until this thread. They probably don't have trucks all over the place to simply meet up and put the O/P with another driver. The most expeditious option was to bus him home.

I suspect there was some hostility at the point where the guy was being kicked out of the truck. I would be hostile (see my police comment earlier). As to anything before that, simply assumptions that get us nowhere.

I simply cannot get on board with this sort of action toward a driver, trainee or not, unless there is a serious situation that is forcing it.

It's too easy to get paired up with a jerk trainer, and as soon as things go south, a totally innocent trainee can not only have their career put in jeapordy, but they can also be put into a potentially dangerous situation like this.

 

[Rigjockey]

Nothing against the O/P. I had a trainee walk across the parking lot and bitch me out about how he had to wait two weeks on a new trainer because I would not take him on my truck ( Smoking issues) . Really? Mah fucker?
He got on the truck of another trainer, he was dropped off 2 days later at the terminal and terminated.

i dont know who think you are talking to but, I am not him alright slim? (DMX)

He held an attitude toward Americans and that does not float well with us! Better stay your ass in Canada. the trainer did you a favor!

 

[Injun]

I suspect there was some hostility at the point where the guy was being kicked out of the truck. I would be hostile (see my police comment earlier). As to anything before that, simply assumptions that get us nowhere.

I simply cannot get on board with this sort of action toward a driver, trainee or not, unless there is a serious situation that is forcing it.

It's too easy to get paired up with a jerk trainer, and as soon as things go south, a totally innocent trainee can not only have their career put in jeapordy, but they can also be put into a potentially dangerous situation like this.

There was already friction in that truck. This stop at the bus depot wasn't something that was decided at the edge of town. From the initial post:

The first time "Trainer" (Dennis) they put me with decided he didn't want to train me anymore and we were in Miami FL at the time he told me this. We got up the east coast and the company bought me a bus ticket just to get out of his truck.

Something precipitated this decision and the stresses were exacerbated by the O/P's continued presence on the truck. The company probably told "Dennis" to just hold on a few more days, we'll route you through the yard, but that didn't happen soon enough and the conditions became intolerable to the trainer. The trainer might have been told to fire the O/P when he was dropped at the bus depot,but couldn't bring himself to actually say the words.

You just said above you would refuse to have a terminated driver on your truck. Perhaps the O/P didn't get the memo he was termed before being kicked off the truck. Perhaps this was by design, similar to when @Duck had to be the guy to tell the other driver he was fired.

We don't know because we're only hearing half of the story.

 

[Mike]

We don't know because we're only hearing half of the story.

Exactly. The only thing we know is that the driver was left at a bus terminal that was closed and with the wrong bus ticket.

The other side has been invited to detail what happened.

Meanwhile, this story made it to many more people that I thought it would thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter.

I would love to hear from the company as to what happened that required this guy to be kicked out at a bus station, and who the incompetent person was that failed to get the correct ticket.

 

[Injun]

Exactly. The only thing we know is that the driver was left at a bus terminal that was closed and with the wrong bus ticket.

The other side has been invited to detail what happened.

Meanwhile, this story made it to many more people that I thought it would thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter.

I would love to hear from the company as to what happened that required this guy to be kicked out at a bus station, and who the incompetent person was that failed to get the correct ticket.

The O/P said the ticket thing was a numbers mix-up. Ask me about mixing up numbers. I'm slightly dyslexic and can't tell you right and left without thinking about it. I always have to double-check numbers.

 

[DubbleD]

What u say? The trainee was dyslexic?

 

[Mike]

The O/P said the ticket thing was a numbers mix-up. Ask me about mixing up numbers. I'm slightly dyslexic and can't tell you right and left without thinking about it. I always have to double-check numbers.

But at least you double check maybe this person doesn't need to be dealing with numbers, because they didn't even get the correct terminal location.