Today I went back to the walk in clinic to see about getting help to put this sickness to an end! Seriously! I usually never get sick and since Thanksgiving, that's all I've done. First, what seemed like the flu, then the thyroid surgery, then the middle ear infection, then what seemed like the flu again. Now, I have a sinus infection.
This is the first time I've ever had a sinus infection and I hope it's the last. My entire body has been aching for a week. I've been living on Tylenol for the pain. I have to blow my nose nonstop. I have a horrible cough that scares me to death and makes me think I'm going to cough up a lung. I can't take it anymore!
The Dr. today prescribed two medicines and I'm really hoping they work fast. I didn't get any sleep last night and very little all week and I'm becoming a real bitch because of it. I took the first dose of medicine and laid back down hoping that it would knock me out and I could finally get some rest, but that didn't happen. Ever since I had the thyroid surgery, my body clock has been out of whack or something. I'm not sleeping much at all. When I'm not sick, it doesn't seem to be a problem, but now I really need to sleep and give my body a chance to heal.
Our company that we drive for today called and asked when we were planning to come back to work. Boy, did that dispatcher pick the wrong to call! I had just gone into Walmart to pick up my prescriptions that the Dr's. office had called in, only to be informed that they were marked "pickup tomorrow". I nearly snapped. I told them to cancel it, called the Dr's office back and told them to send the order over to CVS. I am not dealing with that Walmart pharmacy's stupidity anymore. The last thing a sick person wants to do is sit and wait for hours on their medicine. By the time we drove across the street and pulled into the drive thru at CVS, they already had my prescriptions ready. They will be getting my business from now on! Job well done CVS!!
Right after I got back into the car in the Walmart parking lot after learning they messed up my order, dispatch called and wanted to know if we were enjoying our vacation. I kinda went off on his and feel bad about it, but this sickness is kicking my butt and I'm really not being nice to anyone right now. Hopefully he understands as I explained to him all that's been going on.
It sucks that we've been home this long and I haven't been able to make more progress on projects that I want to get done, but that's the way it goes I guess. I still have some bookkeeping work for the business to get done. Need to thoroughly clean the house. Especially with all the germs in here. Need a big bottle of lysol for that!
Guess I've whined enough for now. Can't wait for bedtime...
Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Orientation Completed
We made it through! Yay for us! It really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Of course, all I had to prepare me for the experience was the orientation we went to at Conway. Wow, what a difference between the two.
At Conway, we were treated like second class citizens and they really played with your head. Always letting you know that you could be sent home at any minute and that they thought their company was so good and that if we got selected to be a part of their company we should really feel special. The whole experience left us traumatized and I'm not saying that lightly. I am dead serious.
This time around, it was so much better. Our son Stephen ended up driving us here and we had a blast on the drive there and in the motel we stayed at during the orientation. We had only planned on 2 days but it turned into 4 days due to the extra class we opted for to get our DOD stuff out of the way.
As we got to the motel we passed a truck going the opposite direction and I pointed it out to John and told him that I thought it looked like our truck. We continued up to the motel and parked the car and as we got out there was a lady next to us unloading luggage from her trunk. She looked familiar so I took a chance and asked her if she was Arlene, the owner of the truck we were going to drive. Turned out that it was her so we stood and talked for a bit and she explained that her friend that drove there with her had just taken the truck over to the truckstop to leave it in the parking lot because the motel wouldn't let them park it there. So it was our truck that we passed earlier.
We made plans with her to meet up the next day and go over paperwork and get the grand tour of the truck and because it was so cold and snowy outside we all headed our separate ways. We got checked into our room and warmed up then we all headed out to eat. We ended up going over to the truckstop and eating there and our son, who used to drive for Conway, showed us around the truckstop and pointed some things out that we would need to know. We were thankful because neither of us had a clue about so many things since we had no experience whatsoever with truck driving, truck stops or anything else related to the job.
The next day was Sunday and we slept in. Arlene called and asked if we were ready to eat. We agreed to meet her at the other truckstop in the area. We found her and she bought us breakfast and went over the contract that we would have with her. The contract detailed how we would be paid as independent contractors. We would be getting 60% of the gross revenue to the truck in addition to 100% of the fuel surcharge since we would be responsible for buying fuel. She would be responsible for 100% of truck repairs and maintenance. We would get a 1099 at the end of the year and be responsible for our own taxes as nothing would be withheld from our pay. It's a pretty standard setup for expediters who are driving for owners.
After breakfast, we all drove over to the truck and she went over how to work different things, like the apu, the ceiling vent fan, which has a rain sensor to automatically close if it starts raining. She showed us where all the storage spaces were located, and how to raise the bed if we wanted to convert it into a dinette table. She gave us a lot of information and it's a lot to process but she said to feel free to call her anytime if we needed to ask questions. The truck is really very nice and well maintained and I think we are very lucky to be driving such a nice truck. Most people who start out doing this job with no experience usually start out driving a "starter truck" and then move to a nicer truck after they've proven themselves.
In addition to all that, she gave us some tips on how to handle different situations that might come up with dispatch and the loads they offer. Being new, we welcome all the help we can get.
After a couple of hours, she handed us the keys and wished us good luck and told us she was going to head back home. What an overwhelming feeling that was to suddenly be responsible for this truck that we had never driven and knew almost nothing about. And we were going to be driving it all over the country to places we have never been and dealing with shippers and freight and oh my...Panic mode set in. Thank goodness our son was there with us. He calmed us down and assured us that we could do it.
The next day was the first day of orientation. We had to be there at 7 AM. Stephen got up and drove us over there since we weren't authorized to drive the truck yet. Until we completed orientation and all paperwork was done, we couldn't legally drive the truck. We were both having flashbacks of our horror at Conway, but we tried to keep a positive attitude.
There were about 20 of us in class. Some of us would be driving straight trucks, some cargo vans, and some tractor trailers. The first day was a lot of paperwork that we had to fill out. Thanks to all the government regulations, there is a lot of information that you have to give to drive a truck. They want 10 years work history and it all has to be verified. We were prepared for it all since our boys had already been through this and we had done it all at Conway so we had our info in order. Others in class were not so prepared and had to make a lot of phone calls home to try and get all the info they needed.
We all had to pee in a cup, get our vision tested, blood pressure checked, and then a physical. They had a Dr. right there on site so that was convenient. We got photo id's made. Lunch was served and was delicious. We got several breaks throughout the day and on the classroom portion of the talks they were giving out valuable information so it was not boring like I expected it to be. We were given company policy and procedures so that we would know how to be legal out on the road and get paid properly.
The second day was more slide show presentations, question and answers, going over how to use a qualcomm, etc. Again, things we really needed to know. A lot of people there already knew all this stuff since they had driven before, but for us, it was all new. Everyone we dealt with was respectful and friendly.
We could have been done at the end of the second day but because we had elected to go for our DOD clearance to give us access to more and better paying loads, there was an additional class that we needed to do. We went back on Wednesday and it was an all day session. Then we were told we would need to come back on Thursday to fill out the application for clearance on the computer. We had no idea what we were getting into on that one. No application in my life has ever been as in depth as that one! We were there from 8 AM until a little after Noon completing that thing. No wonder so many people won't get their clearance. It really is a time consuming chore. I'm not sure how long it will take to find out if we get the clearance, the company said they will notify us when they find out.
The shop took our truck in on Wednesday and added the decals with the company logo's and dot numbers, so it's all legal for us to drive now. We drove it to class on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course it had to be snowing both days, but not too bad.
After we wrapped up on Thursday, we went back to the hotel, checked out and sent Stephen on his way to Indiana. We had such a wonderful visit with him during this time that we will always have special memories of this trip. He taught us how to get the truck scaled and how to get it washed. So many things that truck drivers take for granted but for newbies like us, we have to learn.
We drove the truck over to the local Walmart and set off on a major shopping spree. There is so much stuff you need to set your truck up for life on the road. We got everything we could think of right now, but I'm sure as time goes on we'll find more that we need to make life more enjoyable.
Now we are back at the truckstop and waiting on our first load. Oh My God!!!
At Conway, we were treated like second class citizens and they really played with your head. Always letting you know that you could be sent home at any minute and that they thought their company was so good and that if we got selected to be a part of their company we should really feel special. The whole experience left us traumatized and I'm not saying that lightly. I am dead serious.
This time around, it was so much better. Our son Stephen ended up driving us here and we had a blast on the drive there and in the motel we stayed at during the orientation. We had only planned on 2 days but it turned into 4 days due to the extra class we opted for to get our DOD stuff out of the way.
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| Stephen driving us to Orientation |
As we got to the motel we passed a truck going the opposite direction and I pointed it out to John and told him that I thought it looked like our truck. We continued up to the motel and parked the car and as we got out there was a lady next to us unloading luggage from her trunk. She looked familiar so I took a chance and asked her if she was Arlene, the owner of the truck we were going to drive. Turned out that it was her so we stood and talked for a bit and she explained that her friend that drove there with her had just taken the truck over to the truckstop to leave it in the parking lot because the motel wouldn't let them park it there. So it was our truck that we passed earlier.
We made plans with her to meet up the next day and go over paperwork and get the grand tour of the truck and because it was so cold and snowy outside we all headed our separate ways. We got checked into our room and warmed up then we all headed out to eat. We ended up going over to the truckstop and eating there and our son, who used to drive for Conway, showed us around the truckstop and pointed some things out that we would need to know. We were thankful because neither of us had a clue about so many things since we had no experience whatsoever with truck driving, truck stops or anything else related to the job.
The next day was Sunday and we slept in. Arlene called and asked if we were ready to eat. We agreed to meet her at the other truckstop in the area. We found her and she bought us breakfast and went over the contract that we would have with her. The contract detailed how we would be paid as independent contractors. We would be getting 60% of the gross revenue to the truck in addition to 100% of the fuel surcharge since we would be responsible for buying fuel. She would be responsible for 100% of truck repairs and maintenance. We would get a 1099 at the end of the year and be responsible for our own taxes as nothing would be withheld from our pay. It's a pretty standard setup for expediters who are driving for owners.
After breakfast, we all drove over to the truck and she went over how to work different things, like the apu, the ceiling vent fan, which has a rain sensor to automatically close if it starts raining. She showed us where all the storage spaces were located, and how to raise the bed if we wanted to convert it into a dinette table. She gave us a lot of information and it's a lot to process but she said to feel free to call her anytime if we needed to ask questions. The truck is really very nice and well maintained and I think we are very lucky to be driving such a nice truck. Most people who start out doing this job with no experience usually start out driving a "starter truck" and then move to a nicer truck after they've proven themselves.
In addition to all that, she gave us some tips on how to handle different situations that might come up with dispatch and the loads they offer. Being new, we welcome all the help we can get.
After a couple of hours, she handed us the keys and wished us good luck and told us she was going to head back home. What an overwhelming feeling that was to suddenly be responsible for this truck that we had never driven and knew almost nothing about. And we were going to be driving it all over the country to places we have never been and dealing with shippers and freight and oh my...Panic mode set in. Thank goodness our son was there with us. He calmed us down and assured us that we could do it.
The next day was the first day of orientation. We had to be there at 7 AM. Stephen got up and drove us over there since we weren't authorized to drive the truck yet. Until we completed orientation and all paperwork was done, we couldn't legally drive the truck. We were both having flashbacks of our horror at Conway, but we tried to keep a positive attitude.
There were about 20 of us in class. Some of us would be driving straight trucks, some cargo vans, and some tractor trailers. The first day was a lot of paperwork that we had to fill out. Thanks to all the government regulations, there is a lot of information that you have to give to drive a truck. They want 10 years work history and it all has to be verified. We were prepared for it all since our boys had already been through this and we had done it all at Conway so we had our info in order. Others in class were not so prepared and had to make a lot of phone calls home to try and get all the info they needed.
We all had to pee in a cup, get our vision tested, blood pressure checked, and then a physical. They had a Dr. right there on site so that was convenient. We got photo id's made. Lunch was served and was delicious. We got several breaks throughout the day and on the classroom portion of the talks they were giving out valuable information so it was not boring like I expected it to be. We were given company policy and procedures so that we would know how to be legal out on the road and get paid properly.
The second day was more slide show presentations, question and answers, going over how to use a qualcomm, etc. Again, things we really needed to know. A lot of people there already knew all this stuff since they had driven before, but for us, it was all new. Everyone we dealt with was respectful and friendly.
We could have been done at the end of the second day but because we had elected to go for our DOD clearance to give us access to more and better paying loads, there was an additional class that we needed to do. We went back on Wednesday and it was an all day session. Then we were told we would need to come back on Thursday to fill out the application for clearance on the computer. We had no idea what we were getting into on that one. No application in my life has ever been as in depth as that one! We were there from 8 AM until a little after Noon completing that thing. No wonder so many people won't get their clearance. It really is a time consuming chore. I'm not sure how long it will take to find out if we get the clearance, the company said they will notify us when they find out.
The shop took our truck in on Wednesday and added the decals with the company logo's and dot numbers, so it's all legal for us to drive now. We drove it to class on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course it had to be snowing both days, but not too bad.
After we wrapped up on Thursday, we went back to the hotel, checked out and sent Stephen on his way to Indiana. We had such a wonderful visit with him during this time that we will always have special memories of this trip. He taught us how to get the truck scaled and how to get it washed. So many things that truck drivers take for granted but for newbies like us, we have to learn.
We drove the truck over to the local Walmart and set off on a major shopping spree. There is so much stuff you need to set your truck up for life on the road. We got everything we could think of right now, but I'm sure as time goes on we'll find more that we need to make life more enjoyable.
Now we are back at the truckstop and waiting on our first load. Oh My God!!!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Last Day at Walmart
I thought this day would never get here! We are both so happy that our time at Walmart has come to an end and we are moving on to a more exciting career. We have been counting down the days. We both got unexpected surprise parties at work. It was very sweet of our co-workers to do that for us.
John's Department Manager put a party together for him and had a cake made. It had a semi tractor on top of it. My Department Manager, who has also become one of my best friends and the only thing that I will miss about working at Walmart, also put a party together for me. She had a cake made for me also and it had a full Walmart semi trailer on top. Very cute and very much appreciated!
It was the first time that a lot of my coworkers knew that I was leaving. I didn't tell too many people because I didn't want them to think that I was better than them by leaving, or whatever. Just really didn't want to cause any hard feelings. Everyone who talked to me in private said they wished us well and wished they could find a way out of Walmart. I feel a little bad talking bad about Walmart, but it truly is a lot of work for very little pay. The only way we survived working there was by having almost no bills and no kids at home to support.
We now have 10 days before our Orientation starts in Ohio. We're working on a plan of how we're getting ourselves and all of our stuff that we want to take with us there. Most likely our youngest son will drive us up there in his car and then he plans to drive on over to Indiana and spend some time with one of his cousins. All I know is that however we get to Ohio, it will definitely NOT be on a Greyhound Bus!!
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| Trucks that were on top of our going away cakes |
It was the first time that a lot of my coworkers knew that I was leaving. I didn't tell too many people because I didn't want them to think that I was better than them by leaving, or whatever. Just really didn't want to cause any hard feelings. Everyone who talked to me in private said they wished us well and wished they could find a way out of Walmart. I feel a little bad talking bad about Walmart, but it truly is a lot of work for very little pay. The only way we survived working there was by having almost no bills and no kids at home to support.
We now have 10 days before our Orientation starts in Ohio. We're working on a plan of how we're getting ourselves and all of our stuff that we want to take with us there. Most likely our youngest son will drive us up there in his car and then he plans to drive on over to Indiana and spend some time with one of his cousins. All I know is that however we get to Ohio, it will definitely NOT be on a Greyhound Bus!!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Warmer Today
It's starting to warm back up here in "Sunny" Florida. Thank Goodness! My foot felt good enough today that I went back to work. I can't put any pressure on the front of it so it completely messes up how I'm walking. I did make it through the day though.
Got home and checked my email and had one from the lady we will be driving for. She gave us hotel information and we firmed up the date for orientation. Feb 15th!! Orientation will be two days from 7 AM to 6 PM.....I'm sure that will be somewhat of a drag to get through.
At work today, the store manager came up to me and let me know that she heard my husband and I will be leaving. She asked me a few details about what we would be doing. She couldn't get past the fact that we would be together 24/7 in the truck. Her comment was that we must have a far different relationship than she and her husband do because there's no way she would spend that much time with her husband...It's funny, I've been there for 11 months now and this is the first time she came to me and had a conversation with me. It took me leaving for her to come talk to me. She said she was sorry to see us leave but congratulated us on our new venture. Then informed me that she was going to work the snot out of me till I was gone. And she wonders why no one likes her?
Got home and checked my email and had one from the lady we will be driving for. She gave us hotel information and we firmed up the date for orientation. Feb 15th!! Orientation will be two days from 7 AM to 6 PM.....I'm sure that will be somewhat of a drag to get through.
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| John enjoying a peaceful moment before our new journey |
At work today, the store manager came up to me and let me know that she heard my husband and I will be leaving. She asked me a few details about what we would be doing. She couldn't get past the fact that we would be together 24/7 in the truck. Her comment was that we must have a far different relationship than she and her husband do because there's no way she would spend that much time with her husband...It's funny, I've been there for 11 months now and this is the first time she came to me and had a conversation with me. It took me leaving for her to come talk to me. She said she was sorry to see us leave but congratulated us on our new venture. Then informed me that she was going to work the snot out of me till I was gone. And she wonders why no one likes her?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My first Post....
Wow, am I ever behind the times. I have followed other peoples blogs for quite some time but never felt the urge to have my own. Until recently. It looks like my husband and I are finally going to get to do something that we have been wanting to do for quite some time and I want to keep it documented so that I can look back on it and see if it was anything like we expected as well as keep track of our travels.
If all goes well, next month (Feb 2010) we will start our new career with expediting. Expediting is a form of OTR truck driving with a twist. Our truck will be a straight truck with a 20' box for freight. It will have a daycab with a 96" sleeper with most of the comforts of home. No shower or toilet, however, there are trucks out there that do provide those. Just not our truck. At least not the one we will start out with.
Since this is my first post and just in case someone out there in the world may happen upon this blog and take an interest, I suppose I should give a little background on us. We have been married for 27 years, have 2 sons in their 20's who live out on their own. We are both in our 40's with no real ties at home. We were born and raised in Indiana and lived there until 2005. We moved to Florida because we were sick of the cold winters. We both got very lucky and found jobs here in Florida that actually paid more than the ones we had in Indiana. However, then along came the economic recession and by by went the jobs. After not working for a year, we decided to go to truck driving school and get our Class A Cdl's. We went to a very good school at Mid Florida Tech, a community college which is part of Orange County Public Schools in Orlando. I very highly recommend this school for cdl training. We graduated and got our cdl's in Feb of 2009, all ready to go off on our new adventures only to find out that the recession had worsened and now driving jobs were even hard to come by.
We had applied to Conway Truckload and and were accepted by them. We went to their orientation in Feb of 2009 in Joplin, Mo. We made the mistake of thinking that we were hired. After all, they had done all of our paperwork and brought us out there, right? No. They take you there and put you through their testing and then select who they want to keep and who gets sent home. Needless to say, in our group, we got sent home and the drivers who already had experience got to stay. What a nightmare that was!! We had to take a Greyhound Bus home from Joplin, Mo to Orlando, Fl. First time either of us had been on a greyhound. Not planning to do that again!!
Anyway, got home and called every trucking company we could think of, and there were none that were hiring student drivers at that point. We were very discouraged and had no idea what we were going to do to survive. Luckily for us, one of our friends is a manager at Walmart and she helped us get jobs there. All I will say on that subject is that it kept us from starving.
We were so traumatized from the way we were treated at Conway that we didn't even think of driving anymore after we started at Walmart. At that point we were just so thankful to even have a job. However, as anyone who has ever worked at Walmart would probably tell you, it is not easy nor enjoyable, nor profitable working there. After about 7 months there, I started researching driving jobs again and somehow managed to stumble upon information about expediting. I mentioned it to my husband to see what his reaction was, and basically he said, Hell Yeah! When can we start?
I am the type of person who has to thoroughly research something before I am willing to get involved in it. So I began scouring the internet and learning all I could. I posted some questions on an expediting forum and received a private message from a lady who offered us an opportunity to take over driving her truck. Very sadly, her husband passed away from a heart attack and she will not drive it without him. She had read my posts on the forum and said that we reminded her of her and her husband. We began communicating by email and I let her know that we wouldn't be ready to start driving until after the first of the New Year and she said that was fine.
We had to go ahead and get our Hazmat Endorsements and our Passports, which we finally received in the mail yesterday. We will also be working on getting a clearance from the Dept of Defense for government shipments. Those actually pay better than regular loads.
We gave our notice at work yesterday and let them know that Feb 5th would be our last day there. That was an awesome feeling (and scary). It's really hard to give up a job in this economy. Even though the job sucks, but sometimes, you have to have faith and just do it or your fear will never allow you to live your dreams!
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| This is the truck we will start out driving. 2006 Sterling |
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