BrownTruckWannabe
Active Member
Hello everyone, I'm a 26 year old college grad. For some crazy reason decided I would rather break my back than sit in front of a desk all day.
I applied as a seasonal driver, but that didn't go so well. I really wasn't expecting to get thrown behind the wheel right away. Man was it nerve-wracking. I probably should have asked if I could drive it around the facility a couple more times before leaving just to get a little more comfortable with it. I've driven a couple U-Hauls before, thought maybe it would be similar.. nope. I wasn't doing to bad at first. I searched around on here before the test to get an idea what to expect, and unlike a lot of people, I didn't have any trouble shifting or anything. The clutch was easier to use than the one in my car, and after I was told to forget about first gear, man did it become easier.
Biggest problem was getting used to the width. That and calming the hell down, I was a nervous wreck. I got a couple demerits for driving too close to the white line. Harder than I thought to keep the thing in a straight line. Started getting the hang of it and finally got some a little confidence and I vocalize that, but then the guy says "yea, you are shifting good but I'm more worried about you staying in your lane!" This was after I already had corrected it. Can't blame it on him, but there went my confidence. Got on the highway, that went pretty well. Got off the highway and turned into a shopping plaza. As I'm about to merge onto another road in the plaza, the traffic going straight had a stop sign, I was coming from the right and didn't have one. There was a car at the stop sign and when we were just about to merge the guy goes. We each had our own lane, but from my perspective it looked like he was going to hit me, so I freaked out and took it into the curb. I was so disappointed in myself, I scratched up the front wheel and both the front and back tire sidewalls got damaged. I felt so bad, I thought there goes my shot at ever driving here again.
Anyway I was shocked that they offered me an inside position. I'm going to do part time preload 4am - 9am. Definitely not as fun, but it's permanent and comes with benefits so I'll live with the $7 an hour lower pay for now. In a way it kind of puts me ahead because that was probably where I would end up after the peak anyway. I was told that I would probably get another shot at driving once I hit seniority, but do you guys think they will really let me behind the wheel again after an accident like that? I mean I know it would have been worse if I hit a car, but they might have to replace those brand new tires because of me. I just love the road and I don't mind working my ass off for 4+ years to get there, but do I honestly, realistically have any chance of that? Also if anyone here started out a preload and made it to full time driver, how long did it take you? I'm not trying to rush thing I'm absolutely willing to work for it, just trying to get an idea what I'm getting myself into.
I applied as a seasonal driver, but that didn't go so well. I really wasn't expecting to get thrown behind the wheel right away. Man was it nerve-wracking. I probably should have asked if I could drive it around the facility a couple more times before leaving just to get a little more comfortable with it. I've driven a couple U-Hauls before, thought maybe it would be similar.. nope. I wasn't doing to bad at first. I searched around on here before the test to get an idea what to expect, and unlike a lot of people, I didn't have any trouble shifting or anything. The clutch was easier to use than the one in my car, and after I was told to forget about first gear, man did it become easier.
Biggest problem was getting used to the width. That and calming the hell down, I was a nervous wreck. I got a couple demerits for driving too close to the white line. Harder than I thought to keep the thing in a straight line. Started getting the hang of it and finally got some a little confidence and I vocalize that, but then the guy says "yea, you are shifting good but I'm more worried about you staying in your lane!" This was after I already had corrected it. Can't blame it on him, but there went my confidence. Got on the highway, that went pretty well. Got off the highway and turned into a shopping plaza. As I'm about to merge onto another road in the plaza, the traffic going straight had a stop sign, I was coming from the right and didn't have one. There was a car at the stop sign and when we were just about to merge the guy goes. We each had our own lane, but from my perspective it looked like he was going to hit me, so I freaked out and took it into the curb. I was so disappointed in myself, I scratched up the front wheel and both the front and back tire sidewalls got damaged. I felt so bad, I thought there goes my shot at ever driving here again.
Anyway I was shocked that they offered me an inside position. I'm going to do part time preload 4am - 9am. Definitely not as fun, but it's permanent and comes with benefits so I'll live with the $7 an hour lower pay for now. In a way it kind of puts me ahead because that was probably where I would end up after the peak anyway. I was told that I would probably get another shot at driving once I hit seniority, but do you guys think they will really let me behind the wheel again after an accident like that? I mean I know it would have been worse if I hit a car, but they might have to replace those brand new tires because of me. I just love the road and I don't mind working my ass off for 4+ years to get there, but do I honestly, realistically have any chance of that? Also if anyone here started out a preload and made it to full time driver, how long did it take you? I'm not trying to rush thing I'm absolutely willing to work for it, just trying to get an idea what I'm getting myself into.