TMC scumbags

recently attended TMC orientation starting on 7/9. While almost to a T every driver I interacted with was helpful and polite and overly generous with their time and sharing of their experiences with me; the same cannot be said of my experience with the TMC training staff.

Week started off awkwardly when I get a call from a kid in Indiana saying he’ll be my ride to Iowa. (I was told they’d get me a rental car to get out there, but that’s no biggie; the kid was cool and shared a lot about his time in orientation (he had just finished his five weeks with a driver/trainer and now was going solo). * weird side note: He’s located near Indy, but they sent him all the way up to Ft Wayne to get the rental? And they have a terminal in Indianapolis; why not send him there to get his rig? Plus they originally were going to have him pick up another guy in Grand Rapids Mich, but that guy dropped out (should have taken that as a sign)

We get to hotel Sunday night, and I crash early to be ready for the 7am bus to training center. (Hotel is South side of DesMoines near the airport, the training center all the way out on the North side, which will come into play later)
Monday consists of groups separated by class; CdL class, Recent CDL graduates (thats me) and experienced CDL drivers. * We started with 33-34 guys in my section alone, along with just as many in the CDL class, and probably a good 10-15 experienced drivers. They begin our day by saying we all must get a DOT medical through them? (I already had my DOT medical card through Illinois, but I had to go through the whole physical/drug test. I can see them drug testing me, but the whole dot medical?)

About five guys were lost on day 1. One guy refused the urine test (?), another couldn’t balance on left left for 30 secs (he might’ve had gout in that leg), another passed out while doing the tarp test. In all fairness, it was 102 heat index and they gave us no water. I was gassed when I did the test, showing me how out of shape I am. Actually motivated me to workout every day in the hotel exercise room after that.

Day 2 we did ALOT of paperwork. The guy pushing it through; George, was a funny but VERY vulgar and in my opinion, unprofessional guy (he actually told the payroll lady he was gonna spank her ### for her birthday, that’s a sexual harassment lawsuit just waiting to happen!)

Day 3 we went over logbooks, watched videos on Qualcomm etc.

day 4 we took a test on logging and here’s where it got weird, the test was “open book” and further, every example of logging we ran through when we went over logging, was the EXACT logging example on the test! How does that prove aptitude when you’re given the answer?

Day 5, we got our first taste of the gunny sgt in charge of load securement. He’s a hard nosed marine from NY, and every other word out of his mouth is a vulgarity (another unprofessional bit, especially the constant use of the “get the sand out of your #####” comments). He knows his stuff though, and that’s what mattered most to me. This stuff is nothing to play around with. A 40k steel coil rolling off your truck is a man killer.
But here’s where I disagree with Mr Fischer, with all due respect to his knowledge and expertise and experience, after going through 2 days of load securement (which I felt was Too short; after all that’s the majority of the job and the most dangerous aspect,) why do they literally give the answers to the load securement test? 75 questions on the class, all of which are supplied beforehand in their securement packet, and then there is a review of the correct answers to those questions just before taking the test. Does that prove knowledge of the material or aptitude? Anybody can memorize the correct answers when they’re supplied.

To top things off; he made it abundantly clear that the one load securement you had to know precisely and to the T was their 40k coil loaded eye to the side. 19 steps to securement; that he spent maybe a 1/2 on drilling it into our brains boot camp style from A-Z, Z-A and every way in between. I studied my behind off; but what it came down to was memorization on the day of the test; with answers supplied about an hour before the test.

I scored 100% but who cares? What does that even mean? It doesn’t prove I comprehend the concepts behind the securement process. Just that I have the ability to memorize. Honestly; If I hadn’t been supplied the answers, I would’ve scored in the 75%_80% range. I think of it like this: would it be acceptable if 80% of my securement devices were solid while 20% were iffy at best, if not completely wrong? That’s the one area I disagree with Mr Fischer’s course. Supplying answers doesn’t prove anything, and testing well on that test doesn’t belie comprehension. To make matters worse, they had guys test B on the test, and even a C. Two guys I know told me they messed up the 19 steps on the 40k load. The ONE LOAD HE SAID WAS VITAL TO KNOW FORWARDS AND BACK!!!

If you’re not serious enough to even study/memorize those 19 steps, why would anybody be confident in your ability to properly secure that load if left on your own? Mr Fischer I appreciate your service, and voluntarily serving in the armed forces; and your dedication to teaching PROPER securement concepts, but supplying those answers verbatim just before testing people out of your class is just plain wrong. To me that’s just passing the buck onto the five week trainers, some of whom could be short cutting, but how would you know to question them if you don’t know the proper techniques yourself?!

Monday of week 2 we started yard skills (ie backing, using trailer dump valve, etc) as well as road driving. I went out with a Mr Dave Lustig; a crusty 73 yr old semi driving veteran (not military vet, but a guy with TONS of experience). My road trip was horrible (my shifting stunk, my down shifts were horrendous, every aspect of my driving was reprehensible). Mr Dave was really peeved, but here’s the great thing for me: he was brutally honest and spot on with his evaluation and I’ll forever be indebted to this man for saving me from a horrible mistake. When the road trip was over he said “where the hell did you get your cdl? “ (one of only two curse I ever heard him utter the other being when I got lazy footed and rolled the truck back, both more than understandable in my book) “I bet you bet to one of those cowboy school where they taught you to beat the #### out of the shifter, heavy foot on clutch, heavy hand on shifter! Probably in an old Freightliner”.

He had it down to a T. I was taught in an old Freightliner, I was taught to jack the RPMs real high when shifting up, I was taught to over exaggerate on the pedal when shifting. I was crushed, but had enough sense to ask him if all my terrible driving could be corrected in 3 days, which was when they’d send us off with a driver/trainer for 3 weeks. He gave me an honest “heck no” and for that I’m eternally grateful to that man. Mr Dave Lustig was the first guy that gave 100% genuine honest feedback. I felt like a completely incompetent fool, but probably would have continued with their training if not for that mans honesty. And I’d probably be a severe menace on the road if they bulldozed me through their program.

All that driving school nonsense was just to build up my confidence (a false confidence) garnered towards getting my cdl and my $5000, with the expectation an employer would do the real training. I thought I was competent at CDL school, but that road test showed me how bs my cdl school really was.
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Here’s where the scumbags come into play. I didn’t want to waste anymore of their time or my own. I realized I was grossly under qualified, there would be no way I could be worked into a SAFE raw driver for the Driver/trainer to work with; so I told them as much. Told them what mr Dave had said, and that I was dropping out. They spent time trying to get me to stay, but anything short of putting me in with CDL students, would just be a waste (or at least that much training, 3 days just wasn’t gonna cut it, and my safety is my #1 priority, if I know I’m not capable of getting right in 3 days, and more so a 30 yr driving vet tells me I’m not gonna be right in 3 days, I’m gonna err on the side of caution and common sense).

 

They told me fine, go wait in the cafeteria, they’d try to find me a ride home. This was Noon. By 4:30 the bus back to the hotel had already rolled through and left and I’m in the cafeteria waiting for someone to tell me something. The training director (wilsford? Or something like that...Started with a W, office end of the hall on same side as simulator room) tells me “uh, just grab the bus” “I tell him it’s 4:30 and bus left at 4:00” “we’ll just grab an Uber”. Really? You let me sit for 4 1/2 hours with no word. Then your response is to basically grab a cab?!

Well I hail a Uber, and making my way back to hotel, I get a call from hotel telling me to grab my stuff and return the key. So obviously the didn’t forget about me enough that they forgot to tell the hotel to kick me out! I get it, they’ve got cost in my training and are pissed I’m dropping out/“quitting” though I’m not yet an employee, but to be so vindictive? They pulled the same stuff on a guy in my class named Franklin from Arkansas. Kicked him home same day. Said something in his background check turned up. A misdemeanor of Blowing into a breathalyzer UNDER limit but still being cited. Here’s my take; they had our background check DONE on first day of orientation. They showed us! So why string this guy along for a week?! He jumped on the bus to hotel, so never found out how he was getting home, he’d already checked out by the time I got to hotel.

When I asked the hotel clerk if TMC was supplying me ride home, he claimed he didn’t know. While I suspect he’s seen this before, and knew TMC wasn’t gonna get me home, he took the diplomatic approach and just claimed ignorance. And I don’t blame him one bit. I tried calling TMC to see what the deal was but couldn’t reach anyone. Yeah they’d done this plenty times before. Get you to stay close to 5 pm; get you kicked from hotel late enough where you can’t find other lodging or travel, and basically just screw with you.

I ended up getting a shuttle to the DesMoines airport (that desk clerk obviously had compassion and set it up for me) and a $390 ticket back to Chicago finished up my horrible experience with TMC. They may have some great, personable drivers, but their HR/Training staff are just MFers.

For a company claiming to be “family” they sure go out of their way to mess with folks. I was so enraged, I wanted to go back and shoot that smug f’er right in the face. $390 plane ticket, $30 DesMoines Uber, $70 Chicago Uber. But the thing that got me was just that vindictiveness of letting me hang there for 4 1/2 hours, knowing full well I’d be getting my own way back to the hotel. Getting kicked from the hotel AFTER they knew I was screwed on getting back to hotel, then ignoring my way home. “Get your #### and get out” kinda pettiness. I expected to be dumped from the hotel, I suspected I’d have to find my own way home. But to be strung along with “we’re trying to find you a ride home” “wait in the cafeteria till someone gets you” “uh, grab an Uber”....that’s just messing with someone out of sheer evil pettiness. They could’ve Just told me at noon that I was on my own, instead they just strung me along, needling me each step of the way.

Just hoping other driver candidates don’t make the same mistake I did (as well as other drivers) and trust in this scumbag outfit. They are truly lowest of the low.