I worked at xxxxxxx for 8 months, had my own apartment, etc. I went to truck driving school for CRST to get a job that would actually pay me more than barely enough to live.
I made more money working at xxxxxxx for two days than I did most of the weeks I worked for CRST.
I could never afford to eat, I had to make constant advances. I wasn't eating expensively, infact I was eating some of the cheapest, unhealthiest crap on earth. My deficit was usually around $300, at one point it was over $700 ($200 over the hard limit of $500. I had to cry to dispatch to get money so i could get stuff on the bus or eat)
I was forced to leave a truck at the TA in Troutdale, OR because a co-driver abandoned me after 3 days. (dispatch basically told her to abandon me), and take a bus home. I lost anything that I couldn't fit on the bus. My TV, fridge, a pillow, dvds, food, etc. Mostly random crap, but the TV, fridge, and food really made me mad. I was a fully qualified driver with a CDL, but they insisted that i couldnt drive by myself. I was left there for a week, they acted like they were trying to find me codrivers but they werent even trying. Seriously, i was supposed to go home in less than a week, and they were trying to get me a codriver that lived near where i live (michigan). Wtf? All the codriver candidates thought i was crazy. So i got bussed home.
I was going to quit, but I found out that even though the contract you sign with CRST is non-exclusive and says nothing about your being unable to work for another company, it is just that. They will sue anyone who hires you. They shouldn't have the legal right to do that, but guess what? They successfully sued JB Hunt and Werner over this.
So I gave them another month. I got a total alcoholic co-driver, never got enough miles to clear my deficit and get a paycheck (i was getting about $200/week taken off my deficit, and then having to make another advance every week to eat). We sat lots. I gave them another chance. I didn't have much longer to go. Atleast I now had a brand new 2009 freightshaker that ran perfectly up grades. Oh, and he abandoned me and the truck and they let me drive it home.
I got a co-driver who just came from JB Hunt. I was fine with this guy except he exagerated everything. OMFG I GOT AN INFECTION IN MY FINGER IM GONNA LOSE MY FINGER OMG, or OMG IM TWO MINUTES LATE ON A DELIVERY OMG (im never late on a delivery, but TWO MINUTES? Hell, the place hadnt even opened the gate for the day when we got there). So we were going to keep driving until i got my 8 months in and then i was gonna quit. I went home, parked the truck at home. He kept telling me that he had no interest in parking the truck at his house, but all of a sudden on our way home, hes trying to get me to let him take the truck home. Im like, wtf, you have to fill out the paperwork like a week ahead of time to get approved. So i park it at my home.
Next thing you know, im notified that hes going to become a lead driver and take my truck from my driveway. I'm starting to get pissed. Again, I wanted to quit but i didnt. I had 5 months in at this point. Oh, and we got 6000 miles a week for the last 3 weeks i drove with this guy. Got a $400 week at the end of that, after clearing my deficit. Most i ever made from the company. Second time i ever got a check after training!
I got a new codriver and went with her in a rental car to pick up a truck in pennsylvania. I was driving. As soon as she gets ni the car, shes all back seat driving, telling me where to go, etc. I never just jump in a car and start driving without knowing where im going. Shes like "you didnt write instructions down"... The route only involved 3 roads, all familiar roads, i didnt need to write anything.
So uhm, as soon as we pick the truck up, its a total pile. Half the cabinets are missing, and we thought it had roaches. She went all psycho on me and decided she wasnt driving with me, and even called the cops on me over nothing. And uhm, apparently she brought the roaches with, because they dissapeared after that.
I told dispatch that if i didnt have another codriver set up the next day, i would quit. Well, they found me someone. He came out the day after that day. Everything was fine, we sat at a truck stop for the weekend with a couple of city work loads. I do the city work loads, then go to the shipper to pick up a real load. 10 miles on the way to pickup the shipper, he flips out and starts screaming at me over nothing. I turned around and went to the terminal to drop him off. They tried to talk me into keeping driving with this guy. Seriously, if someone flips out in the first 2 days, whos going to be dead after a week? God... I knew about their policy of not soloing without 6 months experience, but i told them they were going to let me solo until i found a codriver (i was dispatched on solo freight at the time... As the usual), or i was quitting. Well, i quit. Then they tried to tell me that it was my expense to get home, and that I needed to get the hell off their truck so they could use it. I reminded them of how much they had been paying me. I looked up in the drivers handbook the obscured policy on this, which says that as long as you turn the truck into a terminal, you will be provided transportation home. It's appendix C by the way. It was only then when i was given a bus ticket home.
I lost my home for these people, and what did they lose for me? Nothing. Now I owe them $4500, and if i want to stay in the industry, i have to pay it in full. With what money? You never paid me that much!
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