Offer of a job but declined after 1 days training

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi all ,have my class 1 and class 2 licence for a few years now only experience I have is 2 months driving a 12 ton single axle truck for a ground works contractor most of the time pulling a trailer .

Anyway decided to give driving ago again and applied for a ready mix driving job for a owner driver subcontracted to a large quarry company .
Got the call and explained to him my experience so he said come in on Monday and we will go for a spin and see from there .it was an 8 wheeler

Went in and got inducted etc the owner showed me the checks on the truck and the maintenance like greasing etc so hoped in and filled out the tacho card with help from him ,drove to the batching plant he gets out and directs me under the shoot ,went to wash area and off we go .

To keep to a minimum I was nervous but kept them at bay as best i could .
Anyway i missed gears several times during the course of the day it was a 4 over 4 which i only have experience of on class 1 driving lessons on one occasion i selected the wrong gear on a hill as the low box didn’t engage ,its a total different beast to drive regarding gears when fully loaded and knowing what gear it would take on inclines .

Came to a narrow T junction where i was turning right anyway i ended up having to reverse to get around thankfully an artic behind left enough room to do so .

Got to a building site where had to reverse a long way around obstacles etc then went into a dip in the ground on the rear axle nearside never even saw it the owner said it was a spring breaker new to me of course .

Back again to the quarry where the guy in the office tells me to hurry up when getting docket for next load ,during the course of the day the owners phone would ring from the quarry “where are you now ?” “need you back here in 10 mins” "get a move on "etc

At places of delivery it was oh its too wet its too dry and turned up 2 hours late in the evening to a farm where the guys had face like bull dogs chewing wasps :laughing: in the evening i drove solo to a site approx 25 miles through heavy traffic and met the owner just before the site where he knew where it was going got to the farm which was tight to manoeuvre tried in vain shunting myself to avoid stuff owner hoped in then and with little effort got around .

Anyway he asked would i be in ,in the morning i made a decision to tell him i wouldn’t for the following reasons .

1 I told him i would need at least a week if not more in beside an experienced driver to get confident .he couldn’t do that understandably

2 it wouldn’t be fair on either of us as i would be slower than him having to hop in and out checking to make sure i don’t hit anything .

3 I only tipped on the ground whereas there are loads of other situations where to be thrown in at the deep end the next day solo never having done foundations or concrete pumps and other situations never encountered ,didn’t use the shoots that day ,would get F&&&&ed out of it by concrete crews .

4 the guy in the office wouldn’t be happy as loads not going out fast enough and in return would be ringing the owner .

5 I had it all on to concentrate on driving on the day as well as everything else involved with the bottle

The owner agreed with me even though having offered work ,for some perhaps they would have bit the bullet and got on with it for me i made the right decision as couldn’t cope with the stress levels of all the mentioned above as a newbie expected to be a pro on the second day .

Thanks for reading as far as here :laughing:

2

Right call in my eyes, irrespective that you need to start with the tough jobs to get experience, 8 wheelers are tough to drive / difficult to maneuver and are a big enough challange in themselves, I think you did very well getting through the day with everything else on top…what a nightmare

Feel sorry for the owner, sounds like he has got himself between a rock and a hardplace, with that outfit, they desperately need to fire that guy in office…sounds a right dicck head.

Something else will turn up, for example if i was an employer 'd would give you a start for having the right attitude and trying your best. Good luck

3

Thanks for the reply rsg ,a nightmare is an understatement ,just got to chalk it down as an experience and take some positives from it ,didn’t hit anything ,didn’t panic ,held my cool with that ■■■ wipe in the office ,

ya can understand it that hes getting it in the neck from customers all the time and taking his frustrations out on drivers ,if he cant cope look for another job is what I say ,

I certainly wasn’t going to last long there with his obnoxious attitude alone ,apart from that the seat wouldn’t go back far enough for me im long legged ,I thought imagine this uncomfortable driving position everyday :frowning: id be like quasi modo after a week :laughing:

anyway still keeping the faith and hope to come across a better job for a newbie to start out with .

4

You did the right thing, feeling like you can’t do the job when you’ve not been given the training isn’t a good feeling, the mistakes you’d inevitably have made could have destroyed any confidence you had, especially factoring in how the office pillock would have reacted to them. A good escape, you’ll find better.

5

Building sites are probably some of the worst places to start - I know, I started there too doing precast concrete deliveries. Everyone’s an expert, they could all drive the truck (yeah right) and they are all in a rush to get to the pub basically.

Guy in office is supposed to be there as buffer between you and clients, but sounds like he just not suited or is an arse.

Think you made the right decision and kudos to the guy for giving you a shot, but would apply for more on the road driving jobs to get your confidence.

No one cares if you squash a few BMWs. :slight_smile: