The following is a true chronicle of my venture to become a professional truck driver. I’ve thought about what this whole endeavor might look like on the page if I wrote about it and a journal format seems appropriate. This entire experience has been quite perplexing to me, and my hope is that you read it the same way I lived it. In other words, I hope it makes your head spin a little, but keeps you mildly entertained, at the very least.
Mid April ’09: Begin to ponder the idea of getting my commercial drivers license (CDL) and becoming a truck driver after seeing a job posting for C.R. England.
Some days later: Apply with C.R. England, who provide training and guarantee a job if you successfully complete their program. I receive an email moments after applying, confirming the receipt of my application, which states that someone from recruiting will be contacting me soon to guide me through the employment process.
A week or so later: Still no word regarding alleged guidance. Decide to call C. R. England recruiting, but put on hold under the suspicion that the rep. on the other side is saying to herself: “who is he and what does he want.” Subsequently decide to focus my efforts elsewhere.
Early May: Efforts elsewhere commence. I research independent truck schools with the tools instead of trucking companies that provide training. One such lead looks promising…at first: Waukesha County Tech. Col. has a CDL course, but said course is 9 nine weeks long, waiting list to enroll is Sept. Ouch! After some more research, I decide on Diesel Driving School (DDS) in Sun Prairie, WI.
Apply for the 2-week (80 hr.) CDL program at DDS. A school rep. reminds me that I need to have a DOT physical and acquire my CDL learner’s permit PRIOR to starting my training. I Schedule my physical and go to DMV to pick up booklet to study for learner’s permit exam.
5/13/09: Call DDS to check if they received the fax of my physical, which they did, but the doctor gave me a general physical, not the DOT one.
5/15/09: Obtain DOT physical form from learner’s permit manual and drop off at doc’s office to completed. Doc calls me and needs me to come in for a vision test before phys. form can be faxed back to DDS.
5/19/09: Enrollment approved, set to start at DDS on 5/26/06. Last day at Airport Connection after 6 long years.
5/22/09: Go to DMV to take learner’s permit exam and fail despite adequate preparation.
5/26/09: Go back to DMV before starting class and fail exam again after even more adequate preparation (at this point I begin to wonder if the exam and the material I studied are really the same thing). Must wait 24 hours before retaking test and as a result my training is pushed back two weeks.
The next day: Third time is a charm, finally pass exam.
6/8/09: Finally start training at DDS. Find out that the physical from 5/15/09 was still not a DOT physical (“you’ve got to fucking kidding me!”). I begin to wonder why my doctor’s office cannot get it right.
The next day: DDS sends me to their clinic to have the proper physical thus ending the all the frustration regarding the damn physical
6/12/09: Fax an application to Werner Enterprises in the morning, hired by that afternoon. Sweet! Werner recruiter, Kevin, fills me in on the details for orientation and training, which is set to begin on 6/26/09.
6/19/09: Pass all required tests, acquire my CDL, and graduate from the two-week program at DDS. I have a greater sense of accomplishment on this day then on the day I graduated college.
6/25/09: Leave Milwaukee via Greyhound, bound for Indianapolis. Arrive in Indy, wait 2 hours for hotel shuttle to pick me up while panhandlers and hustlers attempt to do what they do best.
6/26/09: Begin two-day orientation with Werner
6/27/09: Complete orientation.
6/28/09: Picked up by Werner trainer (yet another story, but I won’t humor you) and begin 6-8 week training period.
6/28/09 thru 7/8/09: Train for 11 days. States driven:10, miles logged: 4500+
7/9/09: Destination: Dallas, TX. After layover at terminal the previous night, my presence is requested in the safety office, for what reason I have no idea. During the meeting I am told that Werner only hires drivers who have completed 160 hours of truck school training, and of course I only have 80. Scott Hollenbeck, the bearer of bad news, seems as confused as I am as to why I was hired without the required hours, minus a few choice words of course. He also wonders why DDS even allowed me to apply in the first place, but I wonder why it took Werner 11 days to figure out their oversight. Although he is polite, he quickly moves to damage control mode and encourages me to contact the school to finish the required training so I can return to Werner. He schedules me on the next bus out of Dallas free of charge. Today is the same day that my dad is scheduled for his dreaded spinal fusion surgery, and I am angry that I’m not there for him when I could have been.
While waiting for four hours at the nearest bus terminal I call my recruiter, Kevin, because I need someone to blame. I find out that Kevin no longer works with the company, which I find very, very interesting.
Bus leaves first terminal, 20-minute ride to downtown terminal to wait another 3 hours before my 23-hour bus ride home begins.
The next evening: Home sweet home. Visit dad in hospital.
The ensuing weeks: Play nurse for dad during his recovery and realize just how essential it is for him to have my help, do some volunteer work, and enjoy a family wedding weekend, which I probably would have missed. I contact and apply with other trucking companies, while contemplating a return to DDS and/or Werner. I eventually decide to return to DDS to finish training, but continue to apply with other trucking companies.
8/3/09: Start second phase of training at DDS.
8/11/09: Re-apply with Werner after all other leads were declined.
8/14/09: Finish training, application from Werner is accepted
8/24/09: Return to Werner!
?/??/??: Hoping I don’t have to add anything else!
