So I have trained two new drivers since the beginning of last year, the first had about 3 months of experience and the other was fresh out of driving school. The first has recently left the company in pursuit of a better opportunity for him and his family. Good luck Corey. I know you have the skills to be successful. The second is still going strong with us. Travis, thank you for making those eight weeks a good and enjoyable teaching experience for me and thank you for being a good student. I had my doubts about you in the beginning but I'm glad I was wrong and I am happy that we became friends. I think I learned just as much from you guys as hopefully you learned from me.
So I decide to return to school last year and I started online classes with the University of Phoenix this past August. I got a B+ in my first two classes, failed my third, and barely passed the fourth. I decided to put my classes on hold for a bit. Beth was offered a huge promotion with her company (I am so proud of you) and things are looking up for me with my company so I decided that school would have to wait. We are relocating and I will be transferring to another location. House hunting was stressful to say the least but we found a great place that is exactly halfway between our work places. We close on April 28 and the transition will be another stressful ride but in the end I think it will be well worth it.
As for my career, I am now a Senior Driver Trainer and most recently I have become an Advanced Smith System Driver Trainer. I feel the target on my back getting bigger. It's okay because this stuff is my passion and it leads me to my story.
The Senior Driver Trainer position has been offered to a couple of our top drivers in the past and they were quick to turn it down since there was no pay increase. When it was offered to me, I jumped at the opportunity. When these others told me that it wasn't beneficial to them because it meant more work and no additional pay, I told them that the money isn't the important thing and one day it would be beneficial to me, they laughed. To me, it's about that one time when a driver is in a situation and something I taught him pops into his head and it saves his or someone else's life. That is exactly what happened yesterday and the feeling of accomplishment was like nothing I have ever felt before!
A couple of years ago, a new hire driver with military tractor trailer experience rode with me for two days. I was just supposed to show him how to operate our on board computers, how the routes and the paperwork was and tell him a bit about the company and some of our policies. He asked me about one of the features that all trucks possess, the trailer hand brake. Yesterday this driver called me at work and told me that I had just saved several lives including his. I was speechless and didn't know how to respond because I hadn't drove the truck in a couple of weeks. He told me that on his way back to our location, it started raining hard and was mixed with freezing rain. Viability was extremely low and he came across a minivan full of people and slammed on his brakes to avoid a collision which put him in the start of a jackknife. He told me that as he felt his trailer starting to come around, what I had told him a couple of years ago about that hand brake, for some reason, popped into his head and it pulled him out of the jackknife. The collision was avoided. My friend went home to his children and the people in the minivan went home to see their families. The driver relayed his story to my boss and me feeling good about myself, went home.
That my friends, makes my work worth every hour, extra money or not but as it turns out, I will be getting a raise after all.
Be safe my friends
