Saturnista
Seasoned Expediter
This is a post that most of you have probably been expecting, if you've read the post my wife made asking for advice in the past couple weeks. We just weren't expecting it to come about in this exact way.
Well, I've had so many fellow students informing me the big T/T company I signed with was looking for ways to cut students, I thought it possible, but didn't think it would happen to me, at least that's what I hoped.
I've been away for several days without internet while attending orientation. I just got home after being DQ'd during orientation.
I've already gone to their CDL Mill, got a IN license that I need to transfer back to TN if I even can.
I've told pretty much everyone, from the recruiter, to the school, to now my ex-perspective employer, that I had a left knee injury resulting from a car accident, and wasn't sure I could pass the DOT physical, and wasn't sure I could drive a clutch / manual transmission for extended periods.
Well, the recruiter and the school took me in, and told me don't worry about it, the company you are going to has almost all automatics. I passed the school's DOT physical, even telling the school's DOT doc that I had a knee injury.
I got all the way through the CDL Mill, even though they only had 10 speed MT's. It was a bit painful and trying, normally my knee doesn't hurt much if at all, but after all the time in the school trucks, it was starting to ache. I graduated from the CDL Mill, and got sent to Orientation at the company.
The company, once I arrived at their terminal, I then learned only had a few automatics, almost all of their fleet is manuals, and all of their trainer trucks are manuals. So they asked me to see their DOT doc and get re-examined. The DOT doc said my knee is offset, likely needs to be examined by an orthopedist, and may even need surgery. The Doc said he couldn't sign off on my DOT physical knowing that I would be going into a manual, that they would only be able to approve me with DOT for an automatic only.
At this point with my DOT standing at automatic transmission only, I was DQ'd. They furthermore claimed that my medical records from the school indicated that my knee wasn't as bad off as their doc felt it was, so they felt I was being dishonest, and that very likely, I would still owe the $6,000-7,000 cost of training. They advised I should try and find a company that is willing to hire me with no OTR experience, and would guarantee me an automatic from the start. What gripes me the most is I told them going into all of this, with the recruiter, that I had a knee injury resulting from a car accident and now they're telling me that I lied to them. It looks like the recruiter may have fudged the paperwork to make me look better to the company to start with, and now I'm taking the blame.
I also learned while at the company that the other thing I had asked about before starting school, that the recruiter was "mistaken" [sic] in what he said, and that I would not be able to do both.
That issue was this: Currently I am a reserve police officer in TN, and have an address in that state that I use for my work with that department, while my primary residence is in OH. I need to spend about two-three weeks a year in TN to work for that department to stay certified as a police officer. Keep in mind that's not three weeks straight, but about three weeks worth of off time (so: a day here, weekend there, is ok usually).
I figured that might be easy enough... I'm a hard worker. I figured I'd go out for 5-6 weeks straight, then take my allotted 4-5 days off in TN, fulfill my obligations to the Police Department, then next time I had some off time closer to Ohio, spend it with my family.
I was told they would not be able to do that, and that even though I had two permanent addresses, as employment was offered through OH not TN, that I would have to have an OH CDL.
I'm at a loss now. I don't have $7 grand. Hell, i'm in the hole by a grand. I've been laid off since December. I want a job, I need a job. The jobs are scarce here. There is more people looking for a job than actual jobs available. The Police departments aren't hiring in OH, and i'm not sure I'd pass a strenuous PT with a new department if I tried.
Since I didn't pass DOT (the doctor said I would pass with auto-only if the company would take it, but the company wouldn't so I didn't pass) so I'll have to do that over again except now it'll all be on my own dime.
I'm not asking for a hand out, I don't want anyone's money. I do want a job, but I'm only posting this here asking for advice.
If you have a genuine need for a driver and think you can work with my needs and help me out, great! Let me know. I'm not asking for anyone to go out of there way for me though, I really came here for advice.
I'm married, with no kids. I have obligations (at least for now) to my police department, and to my family, we moved from TN to OH for family reasons on my wife's side, and unfortunately we can't back "root" to TN. I could move back to TN on my own if I needed to, that's the reason why we kept two addresses, but my wife would not be able to come with me, and the job availabilities doesn't appear much better in TN right now with the state of the economy.
I got interested in trucking to begin with because I was interested in Expediting. I used to work for FedEx Express, and through that made relations (now lost) to truck drivers and FXCC Expediters. I was hoping to get a year of OTR with the big van company, and then move into expediting. Now it seems more like my entire life as of late has been one huge nightmare.
In the last ten years, i've had one not-at-fault accident, which is what resulted in my knee injury, and no tickets. I've got a clean driving history. I've got a squeaky clean drug, alcohol and criminal history as a cop. I don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, and try to be as trustworthy as humanly possible.
I want to say again, I'm not asking for a hand out, I'm not asking for anyone to go out of their way with a job offer, If the best you can offer is advice, please do so. I've looked through the classifieds and found two postings that looked promising and I will contact, but I'd like to look for other opportunities also and would like your advice in finding them.
Well, I've had so many fellow students informing me the big T/T company I signed with was looking for ways to cut students, I thought it possible, but didn't think it would happen to me, at least that's what I hoped.
I've been away for several days without internet while attending orientation. I just got home after being DQ'd during orientation.
I've already gone to their CDL Mill, got a IN license that I need to transfer back to TN if I even can.
I've told pretty much everyone, from the recruiter, to the school, to now my ex-perspective employer, that I had a left knee injury resulting from a car accident, and wasn't sure I could pass the DOT physical, and wasn't sure I could drive a clutch / manual transmission for extended periods.
Well, the recruiter and the school took me in, and told me don't worry about it, the company you are going to has almost all automatics. I passed the school's DOT physical, even telling the school's DOT doc that I had a knee injury.
I got all the way through the CDL Mill, even though they only had 10 speed MT's. It was a bit painful and trying, normally my knee doesn't hurt much if at all, but after all the time in the school trucks, it was starting to ache. I graduated from the CDL Mill, and got sent to Orientation at the company.
The company, once I arrived at their terminal, I then learned only had a few automatics, almost all of their fleet is manuals, and all of their trainer trucks are manuals. So they asked me to see their DOT doc and get re-examined. The DOT doc said my knee is offset, likely needs to be examined by an orthopedist, and may even need surgery. The Doc said he couldn't sign off on my DOT physical knowing that I would be going into a manual, that they would only be able to approve me with DOT for an automatic only.
At this point with my DOT standing at automatic transmission only, I was DQ'd. They furthermore claimed that my medical records from the school indicated that my knee wasn't as bad off as their doc felt it was, so they felt I was being dishonest, and that very likely, I would still owe the $6,000-7,000 cost of training. They advised I should try and find a company that is willing to hire me with no OTR experience, and would guarantee me an automatic from the start. What gripes me the most is I told them going into all of this, with the recruiter, that I had a knee injury resulting from a car accident and now they're telling me that I lied to them. It looks like the recruiter may have fudged the paperwork to make me look better to the company to start with, and now I'm taking the blame.
I also learned while at the company that the other thing I had asked about before starting school, that the recruiter was "mistaken" [sic] in what he said, and that I would not be able to do both.
That issue was this: Currently I am a reserve police officer in TN, and have an address in that state that I use for my work with that department, while my primary residence is in OH. I need to spend about two-three weeks a year in TN to work for that department to stay certified as a police officer. Keep in mind that's not three weeks straight, but about three weeks worth of off time (so: a day here, weekend there, is ok usually).
I figured that might be easy enough... I'm a hard worker. I figured I'd go out for 5-6 weeks straight, then take my allotted 4-5 days off in TN, fulfill my obligations to the Police Department, then next time I had some off time closer to Ohio, spend it with my family.
I was told they would not be able to do that, and that even though I had two permanent addresses, as employment was offered through OH not TN, that I would have to have an OH CDL.
I'm at a loss now. I don't have $7 grand. Hell, i'm in the hole by a grand. I've been laid off since December. I want a job, I need a job. The jobs are scarce here. There is more people looking for a job than actual jobs available. The Police departments aren't hiring in OH, and i'm not sure I'd pass a strenuous PT with a new department if I tried.
Since I didn't pass DOT (the doctor said I would pass with auto-only if the company would take it, but the company wouldn't so I didn't pass) so I'll have to do that over again except now it'll all be on my own dime.
I'm not asking for a hand out, I don't want anyone's money. I do want a job, but I'm only posting this here asking for advice.
If you have a genuine need for a driver and think you can work with my needs and help me out, great! Let me know. I'm not asking for anyone to go out of there way for me though, I really came here for advice.
I'm married, with no kids. I have obligations (at least for now) to my police department, and to my family, we moved from TN to OH for family reasons on my wife's side, and unfortunately we can't back "root" to TN. I could move back to TN on my own if I needed to, that's the reason why we kept two addresses, but my wife would not be able to come with me, and the job availabilities doesn't appear much better in TN right now with the state of the economy.
I got interested in trucking to begin with because I was interested in Expediting. I used to work for FedEx Express, and through that made relations (now lost) to truck drivers and FXCC Expediters. I was hoping to get a year of OTR with the big van company, and then move into expediting. Now it seems more like my entire life as of late has been one huge nightmare.
In the last ten years, i've had one not-at-fault accident, which is what resulted in my knee injury, and no tickets. I've got a clean driving history. I've got a squeaky clean drug, alcohol and criminal history as a cop. I don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, and try to be as trustworthy as humanly possible.
I want to say again, I'm not asking for a hand out, I'm not asking for anyone to go out of their way with a job offer, If the best you can offer is advice, please do so. I've looked through the classifieds and found two postings that looked promising and I will contact, but I'd like to look for other opportunities also and would like your advice in finding them.