Sean,
Don't be patronizing. I know that's pretty big word for someone who struck out at SWIFT and WERNER to understand.
I worked for SWIFT and they tend to get rid of bitchy drivers very quickly. As for WERNER you met every qualifcation they ask for. You have a CDL and a pulse.
I read all of your posts. I also have seen my share of drivers who **** companies off and always blame the companies and never themselves. I don't blame you for not cutting corners on DOT regs or driving illegal. I applaud you for sticking to your guns on that.
Don't CONDESCEND me - that's exactally what you did with your first sentance. My "striking out" with Swift and Werner had nothing to do with me. And I know full well what patronizing means. I did not patronize - I'm being a smart ass.
Too many seem to think I was born yesterday.
FYI - When I started with Swift, I was not "bitchy". I am a far different person now than I was when I started in this endeavour, so DON'T put me in the same category as the drivers you have seen who **** companies off - SPARE ME. I went in with a positive attitude, and looked forward to driving for a while in spite of the crap pay, and the fact most in the industry are "bitchy" themselves. So there you go again - assumng I was a certain way from the start based on how I am now. The screw ups and attitudes started with Swift - not me. Swift and Werner turned me into what I am now. Also, I return the same tone and moods given to me. Too often I have been given a bitchy mood from others in this industry when it was uncalled for. Too many people in this industry act as though someone pissed in their cheerios every day, and/or did not get laid the night before. After a while, I gave the same attitudes in return. I don't care who someone is in this industry - they should learn to take what they dish out.
Hence the bad attitude on my part. But silly me. I should have keept a good friendly attitude in the face of bad moods and attitudes, and D.Ms. making my life a living hell everyday. That's NOT patronizing - I'm being a smart ass.
I see this as in industry where you can be given a crappy attitude and be pissed off by D.Ms., supervisors, shop workers - etc., and you just have to lump it and like it.
I don't believe you really read my posts - you did not understand.
Your final sentance - AGAIN you are saying it was probably MY fault. AGAIN I reiterate: I went in with a good attitude from the start. I went through my Swift Training with no real issues. I did NOT "**** off the company". THEY are the ones who screwed up telling me I'd be in a truck in a week or less after training. Then having me without an income for over a month. I called Matthew Thompson in Ocala DAILY to be updated on the truck list. THEY had plenty of time to inform me of the Smith System which came up AFTER my training was done (I covered my bases before I left the terminal with safety - etc., and at that time there was nothing for me to complete). They had no trucks. They purposly waited until the day I had to leave on a long trip to tell me of a task which takes most of the day that I had to do. And this is a task one has to start in the beginning of the day to be able to complete. I was 3 hours from the nearest terminal. I was told of the Smith System at 10:30 AM (by that time, you better have started the Smith System). YOU drove for Swift; therefore, YOU know trucks must be seated within 24 hours of being notified. IF you really read my posts, you should know that my getting the truck within 24 hours was impossible after being called back and told of the Smith System.
I tried to work with them in spite of THEM "dropping the ball", as Matthew Thompson in Ocala put it. I asked if I could sign on to the truck, then get to the Jonestown terminal to do the Smith System. This would have been on my own time. I was told no. And the truck would not be held over even though THEY dropped the ball. Knowing for a fact I'd have lost the truck because of them not telling me of something they had plenty of time to tell me, and the fact they would not work with me in the matter, on top of them having me without an income for near two months, I was not wasting my money (they would not be reimbursing me for my fuel 3 hours each way to the Richmond Terminal) and time. Therefore, Matthew terminated my driver code saying I was a V.Q..
Swift set me up to fail. Any safety issues that crop up would have been on Matthew Thompson's screen as soon as he entered my driver code. This guy was a SUPERVISOR where truck assignments go. He purposly kept the information from me until there was no way for me to accomplish what I needed to do as a prerequisite to being seated in a truck. They had more drivers than trucks - I saw that when I got off the trainer's truck (or mentor as Swift likes to call trainers). I served my purpose. They got their subsidy money for hiring me, and able to keep it and not pay the school by calling me a V.Q.. I was USED - plain and simple. And there are other people who have been forced out to keep freeing up slots for students to come in, and the company collect the subsidy money for creating jobs that never existed in the first place. I am tired of folks like you hinting or telling me that where the problem lay was probably with me. The only way it could have been me from the start is I did not physically liss butt or physically bow down to cement the good attitude I went in with.
As for Werner: I am NOT a selective regs person. It's all or nothing. I say to any carrier: Don't want me following a certain reg because you don't like the reg, or it's an inconvenience, or easy to get away with if you don't follow it? You should not have given me a book of regs. I followed a reg just about everyone ignores (easy to get away with) because it was a conveinence for me. It assured that I would not be groggy because I refuse to be (technically) working more than 70 in 8. Sure, if I really wanted to, I could. But because of the uncaring for the drivers - I WON'T. This is not some office job pushing papers that won't hurt someone if you fall asleep at your desk because of working too many hours. This is a job driving up to 40 tons down the road that will flatten several cars before thinking of coming to a stop. There may be some carriers who don't run their newbies more than 2,000 miles a week. But Werner wanted to run me like I have 10 years or more in a semi because I was at the bottom of the pay scale (cheap miles), while they kept veterans on my same region and even same D.M. sitting for days waiting for a load. SCREW THEM!
So with Werner I DID screw up in one instance: I did not call the F.M.C.S.A and/or the D.O.T. after my D.M. told me he was running me the way he was because of how I logged.
Excuse and pardon me all to hell if I am being "bitchy" in an arbitrary sense with this industry.
To all other readers: AHHH, hell. I practically re-wrote the "book" I previously wrote - sorry. Couldn't help it. It just turned out that way in my trying to figure out just how I was to blame for my situation. It'd be different if I were lying about any details, or added things that did not really happen. But I'm not, and I didn't. And I derailed the Werner topic this thread is supposed to be - take me to the gallows.
