Walked out of my job today.

[Rev_D21]

I couldn't take it anymore. Too much political BS and the hours were going to s***. For the last 3 months my boss rode me like a pitbull telling me what a horrible job my team and I were doing then when presented the numbers we were kicking some serious a**. There was so much double-talk coming out of my boss it had me second guessing myself all the time. Today was the final straw when he told me that I needed to curb my teamates hours and pick up 12 more myself (me= salary while co-worker= hourly). I asked my boss to step outside where I handed him the keys and told him I was done as of that moment. Not the smartest thing to do I know but I was stressing so hard everyday and hating every minute of being there. The political BS within the departments is at an all time high and I was stuck right in the middle. I am currently floating myself around with some leads and I hope something better comes along but I think I am looking at some real tough times ahead of me. Wish me luck!

[300ZXttZMAN]

Damn man sorry to hear this.. I hope you get another job soon. Good luck.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It's not worth working a job that makes you miserable. Your job should SUPPORT your life, not control it. When you end up in the latter situation, it's time to reconsider. Walking out is definitely not ideal, but maybe you sent the message needed for the Boss to get his act together. Of course that doesn't help you at all...

[krash]

Kudos for putting your foot down man. I'm sure bigger things are up ahead. Its definitely not good to stay at a job that sucks the life out of you.

[themadscientist]

I can appreciate where your head was at. It took big balls to walk with no plan. I hope this turns out to open a new door for you.

[sx moneypit]

Life is WAY to short to put up with s*** like that !

[alms24sebring]

Its true. A communist job never works out. Something better will turn up. The difference between you and me is that I regretted so hard the last, and only job, I have ever walked out of. My situation was a big mistake. I wish luck to you.

[audtatious]

My sister did the same thing recently

Good luck!!!

[Rev_D21]

Thanks guys. I do hope you are right and something good comes along. I have a couple irons in the fire but nothing locked up tight yet.

I guess what makes me the maddest was weeks ago I had suggested a solution to the hourly overtime problem that was shot down. I heard later on the boss had floated my exact idea to the hourly co-worker and he was on board with it. The boss ultimately shot the idea down, probably because he wasn't the one to come up with it. The touching part was another co-worker who I recently friended called me out of the blue tonight to tell me he was pissed to hear the news of my leaving. That moved me.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

That sucks man, I agree with TMS. Good work.

Did you at least leave it open-ended, like "call me when you're through with all these s*** crazy ideas", or was it more like "I'm done, I never want to see you again, I hope you die"?

[themadscientist]

Sounds like he has one of these ready for the boss.



You've done the hardest part, walking away; don't look back. f*** that place.

[jdansmith]

Good luck hunting for work, sound like a suck situation. I have only walked out on one job in my 44 years and was working two at the time. It really is easier to find a job if you have one and no one really questions someone who is looking for a better situation. Just some food for thought.

Too much stress is not good for anyone, sounds like you didn't burn the bridge or blow it up. Wise move, who knows the boss might get booted and need a replacement.

[Rev_D21]

Hunting for work sucks for sure. I have a couple leads that I am going to follow up on today. I am also thinking it may be time to look at getting my CDL and driving a big truck. I might go all out and get my HAZMAT as well. If I drive on contract for one year they will pay for my school. After that I am free to drive locally and with the HAZMAT I could make some decent money after a while. We'll see. After jury duty I am going to head out to a couple places I know and see what the situation is.

[Rev_D21]

That sucks man, I agree with TMS. Good work.

Did you at least leave it open-ended, like "call me when you're through with all these bullsh*t crazy ideas", or was it more like "I'm done, I never want to see you again, I hope you die"?

I just said "I am done. Can't do it anymore. You are trying to draw blood from a stone. I am not the guy. Sorry but I am done as of right now." Then I handed him my keys, gathered my stuff and said goodbye to some peeps in the shop. Got in my truck and left.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Hunting for work sucks for sure. I have a couple leads that I am going to follow up on today. I am also thinking it may be time to look at getting my CDL and driving a big truck. I might go all out and get my HAZMAT as well. If I drive on contract for one year they will pay for my school. After that I am free to drive locally and with the HAZMAT I could make some decent money after a while. We'll see. After jury duty I am going to head out to a couple places I know and see what the situation is.

If you need any advice on this just ask me, I've been doing an a$$load of research on this since I have barely gotten a nibble since I was laid off 6 months ago. HAZMAT is a definite must have and most trucking companies actually require it. Also if you don't have a passport you might want to get it since a lot of companies have pseudo mandatory routes to Canada and Mexico. Stear clear of C.R.England, I've been reading a LOT of bad stuff about them. If you can get on with Schneider they have a ton of good feedback. I've also come to the conclusion that there are a lot of miserable people out there that will talk sh*t about every single company out there. If you do decide to go with a trucking company for the paid training Swift and Prime seem to be good bets, but you'll be locked into a 1 year contract and if you wash out or get canned before the year is done you'll be stuck with paying the balance of the training. If you have a community college with a CDL program then that is your safest bet. As it turns out I don't have that option so I'm stuck having to pick a trucking school and hope I choose the right one. If you do have to go to a trucking school be forewarned that most give you just enough training to pass the CDL written and driving test and if its ran poorly you may wind up having to share actual driving hours. So far from what I've found SAGE is possibly the best trucking school out there as you're guaranteed 1 on 1 time with an instructor which means twice as much time behind the wheel.

As far as the HAZMAT endorsement is concerned you need to endure an exhaustive process with a full background check, fingerprinting, and dealing with Homeland Security, before you can even take the test. You will also need to get a T.W.I.C. card through Homeland which cost $125 and takes roughly 6 weeks from the time you go in for your application interview to the time you can pick up your card. Fortunately I already have one because my last job had contracts with a local oil refinery and the local ship yards. Since you want to get your HAZMAT, you minus well get all the other endorsements too (Passenger, Doubles/Triples ect...) If you haven't gone to your local DMV to pick up the CDL drivers ed book go get it and if you decide to go to a trucking company for paid training take the permit test before you go so you can get on the road faster and can get your permit and cdl in your home state.

Like I said, if you're serious about this, feel free to hit me up, I have a ton of info that I can share with you as I'm about to do the same thing since no one seems to be interested in hiring me. Apparently my 6 years experience doesn't mean squat (note the bitterness). I don't know how it works in your state since you quit your job, but if you can get unemployment to pay for your schooling, then by all means do it, if you are a veteran than VA will not only pay for the school, but will give you money for up to year while you do your OJT if you can get on with a VA friendly company (like Schneider).

If you have FB look send me a friend request my name's Brandon Gramlin, I'm on TMS's friends list. My dad was an OTR trucker until the prostate cancer took him off the road and I spent a couple months out on the road with him after HS so I know how hard the life can be, especially if you have a family.

[Rev_D21]

Added you on FB. Thanks for all the great info. There is a CDL school not more than 10 miles from my house and since I have plenty of free time I think there is a good chance I will end up there. Here's what I know so far. The school tuition is $4200. I have $1000 to spend. They informed me that the Dept of Labor in my county has a $3000 grant program available and I could qualify since I am unemployed. A information meeting is coming on Oct 23rd which I plan to attend. I was thinking Schneider or Werner Enterprises and from what I hear Schnieder will pick up the tab on the rest of school if I pass and drive for them for a set amount of time. I am also told there is a serious shortage of drivers right now. NY state doesn't allow triples so I would have to get that out of state so the plan would have to start out modest. CDL-A, doubles and HAZMAT for starts then go from there. I am sure I will have plenty of questions not only about school but also about the industry. The cool part is all my years working for both Kenworth and Peterbilt dealers allowed me to talk to a lot of drivers from all over the country so I picked up a lot of the lingo along the way. I am crossing my fingers...all arrows are pointing me this way right now. I am an anti-social creature and it pains me to look for jobs as 95% of them are customer service...the only customer service I know is a 357 magnum.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I too am relatively anti social, but being a service tech I have to fake a smile. Most companies have a tuition reimbursement program, but you really need ti be careful. Either way whatever company you decide to go with you'll have a trainer for the first 6 months that will share the driving duty with you, so be forewarned that you'll be stuck in a cab with another person for weeks at a time. Most companies don't force runs to NYC which is a good thing, it's hard enough driving a car into the city, nevermind trying to take a truck. I would highly suggest you get the Passenger endorsement as that will open a lot of doors, since most states now require limo and taxi drivers to have a cdl w/ passenger plus there's always bus drivers and greyhound pays pretty decent. You need to go with a company that has a depot near you since most companies don't really like you taking their trucks home, for me Werner is a 45 minute drive to above Allentown and Schneider is out by Carlisle, I believe Swift is about the same distance so I have a few options that are about an hour away but nothing closer which sucks. No matter how good a company.may sound if they don't have a depot near you don't sign on with them bc they won't reimburse you the gas money to drive to pick up your truck. Also want to take into account how good their maintenance is, if your truck is broken, most companies wont pay you while your waiting for it to be fixed and some won't pay you while you are being unloaded or waiting for a load. Schneider offers layover pay for all instances plus they have tons of different options should you decide you want to be regional, intermodal (trains and ships), or local plus they have an oil field division. If you can get that first year out of the way your good to go as pretty much every company wants a year of OTR experience some want 2 before you can get that signing bonus. It may take a while to find a company and dispatcher your truly happy with, but money can be made as long as your smart. Also a key note, depending on what you are pulling determinesbyour pay rate, reefers pay more thanbox trtrailers, flatbed pulls more than reefers, tankers and hazmat pay more than flatbeds. I jsut want to haul cars.

Oh and some words of warning, watch out for lot lizards, always lock your truck, and if it looks to low dont drive under it, I watched my dad rip the top off a trailer in Chi town trying to go under a train bridge marked 13' 6" but was actually 12' 8" because they paved the road wrong.

[Rev_D21]

Roger that on the lot lizards and I'll have the dog with me for security. I too would enjoy hauling cars but that comes with time on the job.

[PoorManQ45]

You're welcome to join my crew.

[Rev_D21]

You're welcome to join my crew.

Your ship would probably hit an uncharted rock in uncharted seas and we'd all be screwed.

[nissangirl74]

You're welcome to join my crew.

Your ship would probably hit an uncharted rock in uncharted seas and we'd all be screwed.

[rwlesher]

good luck man jobs are hard to come by these days

[Rev_D21]

Forgot to announce this but... I was hired by a local Navistar dealer as a parts guy!!! I started yesterday. It's a little bit more of a commute but it's hourly so no complaints here.

[Kompresshun]

Congrats Devin! Hopefully they treat you better than the last place. I enjoyed my time working for Kenworth and most people that worked for the other brands enjoyed their jobs too, aside from Freightliner.

[Looneybomber]

Forgot to announce this but... I was hired by a local Navistar dealer as a parts guy!!! I started yesterday. It's a little bit more of a commute but it's hourly so no complaints here.

Glad you did not go the trucking route. I'm going on 5.5yrs in logistics as a dispatcher, meaning I work with truckers all day long (along with vendors etc…). Ever since the recession, the amount of available drivers has gone up, and the amount of pay per load has gone down. Rules are getting stricter, benefits are going down, and fewer and fewer people speak English. Anymore, being an owner operator is getting real hard and stay in the black (i.e. make money) with rising fuel costs and maintanence costs. You either need to drive for a company with their leased truck (that can pays fuel, repairs, etc...), or become your own small local company with a small fleet of trucks (that way YOU can underpay the new drivers in order to pocket some profits).

Either way, you don’t have a lot of freedom as to what load you will take, where you’re going, or what the load pays. Instead you have to deal with guys like me with a multi-million dollar budget that negotiate load prices, fuel prices, and assign loads. There's no pick and choosing. You're always the last to know something and if anything ever goes wrong, the driver is the one who gets hurt the most. It's tough for drivers and I feel bad for them.