What Did She Say?

                I swear, sometimes I make my job way harder than it needs to be.  It’s my nerdiness coming into play.  I try to be detailed when I’m explaining something to a trainee while also explaining the “why” behind it.  Sometimes I go a bit overboard.  There have been times when I’m hearing myself talk and think “This is making no sense.  I’m confusing myself.  There is no way she is understanding this.”  I’m usually right.

          Really, this job is not rocket science.  If I were to boil it down to the simplest form my job description is this: To pick up and deliver freight safely, efficiently and on time. 

How do we do that?  There really are only four things we need do.

    1.   Know where we’re going.

    2.   Know how to get there.

    3.   Manage our schedules so we can get there on time.

    4.   Stay in communication with dispatch.

Obviously, a lot of information needs to be factored: Appointment times, Hours of Service, routing, directions, fuel stops, etc, etc.

Most new drivers are very surprised to find out that there is a lot more to this job than sitting behind the wheel.  Driving is what we spend most of our time doing, but it’s really the least of what we do.  A lot of mental preparation goes on before we can even start driving.  I know it’s very overwhelming for new drivers and it doesn’t help when they have a nerd trainer who makes it harder than it has to be.