My name is Tammy. I hope you don't mind listening to my story. My husband decided after driving a school bus for 2 years to get into trucking. I am a truckers daughter and was against it at first. I know first hand of the hell my dad went through.
Anyway, they put him through truck driving school and sent him out with his 1st mentor. That mentor treated my husband like a dog and when my husband complained. The mentor left him stranded in Atlanta. My husband stayed in Atlanta for almost a week. One morning. My husband had enough money to call me. He said he had tried to get a hold of his DM. I called up at Eden and finally got a hold of her. Told her that my husband had been on the road for 3 weeks and just wanted to come home for a few days. She got him the bus tickets. Her and I talked and she asked me if I had given thought to becoming a team operator so I could be with my husband. I told her that I was toying with the idea and before I knew it I was put through to a recruiter. I was sideswiped in a way. I talked briefly to the recruiter and when I went to pick up my husband later that day. I had the news for him that I was going to Richmond, Virginia to the Swift Academy to truck driving training school. He said, Why didn't they send you to the one they sent me to? (Future Truckers of America.) I told him. They said I wouldn't be charged if I went to the training facility in Richmond. If I went to the other one. I would be responsible for the tuition. He came home and spent a few days and they linked him up with another trainer, but didn't work out the arrangements for him to get to Eden. He had to call dispatch and get a driver from Kannapolis NC to pick him up and take him to Eden because his DM had left without making arrangements for him to get up there. I took him to meet the driver in Kannapolis and he made his way up there.
The following week. I went to Richmond. I got up there at 1:30 in the morning. I had to pay my own cab fare to get to the hotel. I got to the hotel and the desk clerk said we don't take Swift anymore. He gave me the name of the other hotel to go to. I had to run out and stop the cab driver and get him to take me to the other hotel. It cost me 52.00 and my driver recruiter said I would be reimbursed when I get my first paycheck. Just turn in the receipt. I never got reimbursed. The said I needed a PO and DM never called me back to give it to me. I never got my money back.
I got to the hotel at 3:30am. I never slept that night. I just unpacked and got ready for my first day in class. It was awful. I got up to go to the bath room and Mary... Classroom instructor told me to go sit down. I replied I really had to go. She said, "Go ahead and I'll have to write you up." Other students just looked at me. I sat there quietly and cringed, but held it. She bad mouthed the students like she was some kind of queen. After 1 week in class. I was happy to be out on the 'Range'. It was no better. We basically taught ourselves as instructors just stood around. I had never driven a stick before. I had alittle help by a poor fellow instructor the Academy mistreats a lot. He helped me learn how to put it into gear, but after they saw he was helping me. They put him with some other students. Anyway... The next week came the road training. I was put with Lee... Mr. Super Trucker and he stayed on the phone all the time when the we were training. I had no experience on the road shifting gears. We went to the so-called shifting pad and drove around a few hours. The next day he let the guys take the rig on the road. He told me as soon as they were done. He would take me back to the shifting pad so I could practice. It came my turn to drive. He made me go out on Broadway and drive through downtown in lunch hour traffic. Yes I was very uneasy and he didn't care. Then came the big hill. I sorta lost my nerve when I saw cars pull right up on my bumper as I sat on the hill. I finally got it rolling and took it back to the yard. I had to stop to let the rig in front of me in the entrance to clear before I proceeded in and he started yelling at me, "What the f* are you doing? Your gonna get us killed. I couldn't make the truck in front of us move. So he made me get out of the seat and cursed at me under his breath going in. The next day I was called into the office and they wanted to send me home. They talked to me as if they were talking to a little girl. I agreed to try just this one more time today and went on back out with the group. They agreed if I didn't get it. They would send me home and bring me back in a few weeks. Well things got really nasty when I couldn't shift properly on the hill again and he yelled at me, " Get out of the seat! You are through... You are through!" The students in the sleeper just looked at me. I sat in the sleeper and listened to them holler out the window at college girls and laugh like nothing happened. He could had taken a few minutes to talk to me like a human. See during the time I was out there with him. He was having marital problems and fought with his supposedly ex wife out loud on his cell phone while all of us had to listen to him. He often made remarks about women in front of me and didn't even think about if it bothered me or not. It didn't bother me, but did make me think he had a attitude toward women by some of the remarks he made about his ex-wife. He did treat me different that the male counterparts that were in training with me. I am 48 years old. I have had alot of bullshit in my life, but never of this magnitude. When we got to the turnaround at the Home Depot on Broadway. I had finally gotten sick of the sexist remarks and hollering out the window. When they got out to go to the bathroom. I sat there a second and replayed the scenario in my head. I knew what was going to happen and I had 3 more hours to ride around with these guys. I just got out and figured I'd walk back to school. I was so humiliated and so ashamed at the same time. Finally they had to pick me up and Lee took me back to school. I was called in to the office. They didn't say much. They told me to given them my log book and I would be taken back to the hotel and sent home. I asked if I would be given a bus ticket home and I was told that I had to get my own way home. Nothing else was said. I was not told I would be brought back as agreed to retrain... Nothing. I went to the van and got in. I told the driver... A female trainer named Marta if they could get me a ride home. She just sat there silently. I had no money in the bank. Husband was with his trainer in PA. On his way back to Eden. I went back to the hotel. I packed my things. I went to the ATM. I only had a few dollars. I then called my husband and told him what happened. He freaked out and had to pull over to let mentor drive. I told my husband if there was anyway he could come by this way to pick me up. He conveyed the message to his mentor. Mentor had a too bad attitude and replied he didn't have time to go that way to pick me up. The mentor had a family reunion to go to and couldn't go just a few miles out of their way to pick me up. Husband was hysterical and I told him I had no other alternative than to hitch hike. I carried all my things to the I-95 on-ramp and stood there for 2 hours. I finally got a ride 10 miles to the next on-ramp. I hitched there for another hour and finally got a ride to the Pilot truckstop. I went in and talked to the people that worked there and told them I was not a lot lizard and to not become alarmed if i had to approach drivers for my dilema. I explained what had happened. The lady there was horrified at Swift doing that to me. I went back outside and get a driver to let me use his radio and conveyed my message to others out there that were going to Eden. Where Swift put him in a hotel when his mentor was off duty. I finally was approached by a driver and he said he needed to sleep to 10:30pm and he would be glad to take me to Eden to be with my husband. I went and sat in the grass and talked with other drivers til about 10. I waited and the guy finally woke up. I went and he put my stuff in his rig and we went in to get a cup of coffee. I finally made it to my husband about 3:30am.
I stayed with him and when Monday came. I went straight to my recruiter and she was horrified. She apologized and said she would send me home and in about 2 weeks would send me back to the ACADEMY. I told her I couldn't go back up there. Then my husband asked if they could send me to Future Truckers of America. She agreed and set me up and even told me they would waive the Academy fee. They sent me home. I attended truck school. I passed and got my CDL. I went to orientation and husband had some classes he was suppose to attend. So he went to his classes as well and also went to mentor class. 2 weeks on the road. Out of the blue... in Kansas. We had a load going to Olathe, Kansas. We made that appointment 1 hour ahead of schedule. We dropped and hooked the empty. We got a load going from Councel Bluffs, Iowa to Redbluff, CA.
We stopped at a truckstop to get ready and to plan our route. We got our route planned and went in to get coffee. We came back with a little dance in our steps Finally husband said. I'm getting miles now. I said yeah... That's cause we're together. As soon as we got into the cab. The Qualcom beeped. They put my husband on hold and took our load away. Within a few minutes. We were redirected to Edwardsville to pick up another load not knowing what was about to happen. Once there. They fired my husband and told him that his wife (me) was going have to bring in the load solo. I refused. I hadn't been on the road along enough to be driving out there alone. They told my husband he was fired because of some bogus accidents. One he didn't do. One his mentor caused him to have and the other he did do. One thing the training sucked. They didn't teach about the Qualcom. My husbands mentor never let my husband touch the Qualcom and only let him back 3-4 times in 5 weeks. The mentor never helped my husband with the log book. Husband is a inexperienced trucker and had a hard time understanding all the rules cause the mentor never went over everything with him. They made my husband my mentor knowing about all his little problems and told me everything had been straightened out. My husband was constantly being harassed by the DM about missing logs. I was with him several occasions when he turned them in and the same logs kept coming up missing. I was getting furious. He always turned them in and I even went over them so I knew they were done right. I used to help my dad with his. My poor husband went to apply for unemployment and was just denied on his appeal. That lawyer and the Safety guy lied about everything and now we are about to become homeless. My pickup was re-poed and Swift won the fight and they screwed us royally. There's got to be something we can do. For what they did to him and me. Now Swift is billing me for 7800.00 for all the hell they put me through. My husband has asked for his check stubs several times and they have sent him nothing. They told him they don't have his correct mailing address, but they sent his bill for truck driving school to our right address. He has called and left his address several times, but no check stubs. I am a tough lady. I am a firefighter/EMT and a mechanic. I have attended alot of different types of training, and I have never been shit on this bad before. Husband and i are honest hardworking/Godfearing people. Now this.
I am looking for a way to clear our names so we can get work. I haven't never had it this hard finding a job. My dad told me that I may have been put on a black list. My dad has been a trucker for 40 years... Now retired. He said if I am on a black list. Most trucking companies won't hire me and most employers won't touch me either. I had a excellent work record before this. So did my husband. We aren't used to being unemployed. We are losing everything behind Swift. About to become homeless. I feel like I am living in a nightmare and Swift created it. I can't sleep and I stay worried and depressed. I was a happy person once. Now I am actually scared. Swift did this to us. We both had good jobs before this company. I was a service writer for Pep Boys and husband was a school bus operator. We both had class B CDls and driving jobs was no stranger to either of us. I had mine since 1997 and he got his 2004. We just upgraded and decided it would be good to drive a rig and see the country. Our kids are grown. I just keep asking God for guidance, and help us through this.
Hopefully you can offer me and my husband some advice. I would appreciate any advise or help on this matter...
Have a Blessed and Safe day, Nicolas and Tammy XXXXXXX
TammyAlbemarle, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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