Trucker's family very stressed out

My daughter & I are very new of being the family of a trucker. Maybe others have found luck in trucking but we seem to be hitting road blocks all the time. Let me tell the story.

Well my husband started trucking 4 months ago. After his orientation he went out with a trainer for 30 days & he enjoyed it & learned a lot. The trainer is not the problem.

Well after the 30 days he went back to the terminal & took his final test & he passed & they gave him a truck & they gave him a team driver to drive team. They got along fine.

Well the team driver was a 21 year old that when the kid had down time my husband heard him in the sleeper berth talking about his friends going out to bars & having fun & he told his friends that he missed that.

The truck broke down & the company put my husband & his team driver in a motel. My husband came out of the bathroom & heard his team driver say on the phone OK I'll be there in about 10 hours. He left the company cold turkey, leaving my husband to defend for himself going as a solo driver.

After the truck got fixed, my husband went out solo & he asked his fleet manager to give him another driver & the FM told him that he had nobody to give him. Well after 2 weeks going solo, the FM called my husband & told him that this kid was coming back & he had a family emergency which he did not because this kid told my husband that he wanted to leave so he could party with his friends.

My husband told the FM that he did not want this kid back on because what he did to him. Well as of this writing, the kid left my husband again for the second time. My husband just came off having leave time & this kid was supposed to pick up my husband yesterday & he called my husband saying he got lost & he would be picking up my husband tonight.

My daughter & I wanted to have a family day going out doing things & my husband said that we can't because his team driver told him he would be picking him up at 9:30 am. Well this kid pulls up by our residence to pick up my husband at 7 pm & told my husband that he can't take this crap & that he is quitting.

He gave my husband the truck & asked where he could get the public transit bus so he could go back home & my husband called me & told me that he told the kid to get his (colorful expletives added) crap & get the hell out of my truck & told him to go by the pole to wait for the bus & my husband told me that if the FM tells my husband that he can't give my husband another driver to drive team, my husband said he will tell the FM to send him home till they give him another driver.

I told him hell that could take weeks or months & then my husband said then he will look for another job. Now this is stressful because if he quits this company, then medical benefits will stop & then we will be without benefits & we got to wait another 3 months or longer for benefits to kick in, all over someone screwing my husband over twice & for the FM not to help my husband.

Can't believe that out of these terminals & with people graduating, the FM can't give my husband another more reliable, dependent driver that wants to drive team & going solo you sure don't make the money like you do when you do team driving.

The first time that my husband & his team driver took time off, my husband drove his team driver home because my husband took the truck home & it's really fun when the team driver is 4 states away to live & your husband tells you he'll be home tonight & then you get a phone call later telling you that he is sorry that the computer told him he is out of drive time & he has to park the truck & not being able to drive anymore because he ran out of drive time all because he ran into a lot of traffic & so my husband had less home time than his team driver did & then the gall of it was the first time this kid walked off the job & convinced the company to take him back, the FM told my husband to physically pick him up at his parents home.

For what the kid did, they should have not taken him back or they should have had this kid meet my husband at one of his loads he had to drop off.

Right now as I am writing this I am Mt. St. Helensing! & earlier before this kid quit & my husband was getting aggravated at him, he was ranting & roaring about this kid that my daughter wound up putting on a headset playing her Wii to drown out her father & I also wound up putting on my headset listening to music.

Then tonight my husband calls me & is ranting over this kid & I have a neighbor that her son wants to be a trucker.

I told her what happened & she told me that now she is going to talk her son out of this career move because she said it sounds like nothing but aggravation.

Trucking is not for everyone! If there are truckers out there or wives of truckers that have went through this, I would gladly appreciate any advice on how to handle this or what my husband should do about this situation because he does not get into these sites & he does not post anything on these sites.

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Sep 12, 2013
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OMG NEW
by: Anonymous

really? whats the big deal go solo.....
WAHHHHHHHHHH.....

Sep 12, 2013
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I agree with anonymous NEW
by: Anonymous

he should go solo....make more money..and have a scheduled run most of the time, and then he can be home for planned events.....

well at least this is how it is for my trucker... maybe not for all truckers... but he has been driving for 25 years with little or no hassles...

of course there is the usual crap that happens at ANY job...you have the slackers, whiners, liars, milkers, fakers, so what is so new about that?????

loads not being ready, layovers, breakdowns, being sick on the job, accidents, tickets, he knew all this before he began driving.... deal with it and let him deal with his job like everyone else in America is doing right now...

I get so tired of hearing the same thing over and over on this site women crying about how bad there husbands are being treated...let the MAN be a MAN or you will have nothing but a little boy at your frkin feet...and is this want you want another child to raise???? because this is what happens when you go along with a man's whining....

just sit back and listen... keep mouth shut about his job, and live your life happier without all the dang drama...

coming from a true truckers wife....I knew what he was getting into and if I didn't like the sound of it in the beginning I should of ran... so I accepted it and I am one hell of a happier woman for doing that!!!

Sep 12, 2013
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hi NEW
by: Anonymous

First out where did you get the idea that you can't make good money running solo? Yes you get more miles together as a team but when you split with your team driver you end up with the same amount as driving solo. What your husband needs is a job paying a decent amount per mile and just drive solo. Teaming takes away from family life and if your team driver is not a very good driver the you take the chance of something bad happening while you are asleep. Your husband can make good money driving solo i have for. 23+ years now. Sounds like the problem is not with trucking but with the teaming headache that you feels he needs to do. I know he is new to trucking but with experience comes better jobs in the field. The key is keeping a clean driving record give himself a chance to get 2 good years experience with a clean record then the big pay jobs will come his way. To sum up give solo a chance either way being a new driver you are going to have to allow yourself a chance to get some experience.

Sep 12, 2013
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agree, but.... NEW
by: Melisa

I do agree to a certain extent. The company never should have taken this kid back. perhaps he should try solo driving? Its less aggravation, and perhaps even if he goes to a new company he can find one that benefits in 30 days instead of ninety. I know my husband would never do team driving, jus because he really doesn't want the aggravation of having to deal with someone else's crap. Hope everything works out well for you!

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