A crazy day...
My friends, being a Over-The-Road truck driver is hard enough, training student drivers is moreso.
I'll give you an example based in part on a recent day.
Midnight - 0330, Having started driving before midnight, I find a truckstop for a cup of coffee and a break.
0400 - 0700, I drive out the rest of my hours, having made good time and gotten our projected eta to 1130 for a 1215 delivery.
0700 Student starts driving, I start logging my off-duty time in the sleeper. I am not, actually asleep nor in the back yet.
0700 -0830 Student drives much slower than I do, and in one and a half hours our projected ETA slips to 1149. I finally lay down because we are on the open road.
0830-1100 I manage to get a nap. Student wakes me at 1100. He wanted to stop to hit the head, turned wrong and ended up missing the truck entrances for BOTH truckstops at that exit. Ignoring my groggy instructions he waits until we go 4 miles down the road to a Wal-Mart to turn around. He uses restroom at Wal-mart while I turn the truck around in the crowded parking lot.
1115 We are back on course, but now the ETA has slipped to 1213. My truck is governed at 65MPH and we are on a interstate that has a 70 limit, he is doing 56. Rather than get in his face i try and lay back down.
1115-1215 I toss and turn, nearly get back to sleep and get a phone call from home. AFter which I look at the time and put myself back together and sit up front to see that my Student has listened for once as is running 65MPH and the ETA has creeped back to 1211. We reach our exit and he promptly blows the turn, and I have to shout at him not to attempt the cloverleaf at 55+ MPH. After going around the cloverleaf (at 8 MPH, because shouting made him nervous) we get back on course.
1220 We make it to the Consignee (the place of delivery). They don't say a word to us about being late, and my Student makes the mistake of apologizing before they mention it. It also takes him almost 45 minutes to back the rig into the assigned parking space, the whole time I'm supervising outside, rather than in the bunk sleeping.
1300 - 1445 I manage to catch a short nap while waiting our turn at the dock. I give my Student three attempts to back against the dock, but with the Yard Driver getting impatient I take over and in one attempt fix my Student's blown approach and bump the dock.
1450-1530 I manage another catnap while they unload us. Afterwards we get our next assignment. I stay up until we are again on the open highway.
1530-1745 I get a little more sleep, though I get another call from home that wakes me.
1745-1800 talk on phone without being rude.
1800-2000 manage some broken sleep.
2015 Woken up by my student who is afraid he is running out of hours (he is) and can't find a place to switchout. While walking up, I see a sign for a rest area ahead. Student blows through the off ramp at such speed that he can't make the turn for trucks and ends up in the area for cars. Where a State Trooper happens to be sitting.
2015-2045 talking good naturally with the Statie about my greenhorn doing greenhorn things and share a cup of reststop machine coffee. The Trooper acts like a human beiong and laughs off the incident, it could have been a ticket.
2100-Midnight I drive my own hours....
While this is a composite of several of my days, its why when I have a few minutes I've been seeking out my friends that are showing online. Its why I've not been making as many phone calls, and why my activity has been way down too.
My student got on my truck on Oct 18th, with a goal of 250 logged driving hours. As of this morning at Midnight he had logged 142,5 With the way they have been throwing team miles on me lately, I don't see it taking more than a fortnight to get him to his goal. Then I'm going to need a good rest.
So if the unicorn seems snappish or curt, just ask yourself, 'What did that dumb student do this time?' before considering that I'm annoyed at you for interrupting my precious, precious sleep. *grins*