Helene
Elgin,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, January 26, 2009
I love Dallas,Texas but I had to leave because I was being terrorized and Stalked by some creeps from a private security guards contracting company. I have been looking forward to finding a reason to go back.Dallas is my home. Prior to leaving the Dallas area, I did attend most of the classroom training of a now defunct truck driving school and it wasn't Stevens. From the name of it, they had a name that was eerily close to a trucking company that was still in operation at that time --whether or not this school funneled good students to the trucking company, I don't know,because when I heard the instructor tell one of the male students that none of the women students were going to be hired by any trucking company ( But we could sure be held responsible to repay all that tuition that we would have wasted), I found out who was going to be issuing my student loan and I called them and I canceled my loan with them and never went back to class. I guess learning how to drive was a scam back in the 1980s too. I only heard from one person in my class and he became a Grayhound bus driver. THEY WERE GOING TO **** MR OVER SO I OUTSMARTED THEM. The last recession we had here in 2002, I was very receptive to the Stevens Spiel here they always hold it upstairs in the LaQuinta Inn at I-35 and William Cannon, I think. The first time I went I was met with open arms and I was hired and I had no problems. SOMETHING KEPT ME FROM GOING THOUGH. A year later, the local economy was in the storm sewer and I felt desperate enough to try to go back but there was a gap in my employment history and the same guy who was so encouraging before acted like I HAD MY NEVER TO EVEN SHOW MY FACE IN THE DOOR! There were so many people crammed in the room that they had to open the additional ballroom and still there was not enough room for the people to fit in and they stood outside in the hallway trying to hear and see and there were barely enough applications for all. I wondered how in the hell all these people were going to be able to work because there used to be an old African American saying I heard in New Orleans --just one of many wise sayings I heard -- and that is "IF THEY ALWAYS BE HIRING, THEY ALWAYS BE FIRING TOO." Suddenly, my eyes were opened and I realized that these guys might be making money off hauling freight but they were also going to make a hell of a lot more money allegedly teaching people how to drive the trucks and taking up time in their lives for which they are NOT going to be paid. IS THIS LEGAL?: IS THIS ECONOMIC PEONAGE WHICH IS ILLEGAL UNDER STATE AND FEDERAL LAW OR WHAT?????? I couldn't get out of there fast enough. So I decided if I couldn't find a relative to teach me how to drive a truck --and I already know how to drive a Peterbilt nine-speed and any standard stick transmission then NOBODY was going to teach me and from what my cousins tell me who do drive, there is so much prejudice and hatred against women out there that how women get abused and discriminated against in the private security guard business is NOTHING compared to what can happen to you in the trucking business. I ALSO HEARD THAT YOU CAN GET BLACKBALLED IN TRUCKING FOR NO REASON AT ALL AND THAT THE COMPANY CAN LIE ABOUT YOU JUST LIKE IN PRIVATE SECURITY. I WAS LUCKY BECAUSE I CALLED ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN TO TEXAS AND I HAD MY NAME AND ALL CREDENTIALS REMOVED FROM THE DATA BASE OF THE TEXAS BUREAU OF PRIVATE SECURITY TO KEEP THE STALKERS FROM FINDING OUT WHERE I WAS AND ELIMINATING ALL TWO OF MY NEGATIVE EMPLOYMENT REFERENCES --MOST OF THE OTHER COMPANIES I HAD WORKED FOR BEING OUT OF BUSINESS... BUT ONCE THE CROOKS AT THE TRUCKING COMPANY DECIDED TO MESS YOU UP, THEY WOULD LIE AND DO WHATEVER IT TOOK TO GET YOU PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM THE BUSINESS --JUST BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO AND THEY FELT LIKE IT. So I guess it is just as well that I never went to work for Stevens transport. I was ready to live in the truck and do whatever it took to be a truck driver so I could make a living and it also seemed neat because you would have a place to stay and be warm in the winter and be relative cool in the summer and you can afford something to eat too. Any left would have been a bonus. That does not sound unreasonable to me, it is rather modest BUT IT IS TOO MUCH TO THE BLOOD SUCKERS AND EXPLOITERS OF THE WORKERS FOR THESE d**n TRUCKING COMPANIES. One thing I will say in favor of Stevens Trucking, their personnel clerk told me what my previous crooked private security guard contracting companies had to say about me --I wish that I had gotten them to sign a statement or send me the faxes that these previous employers sent to them and I would have SUED! But all I was thinking about for at the time was being eligible to train in Dallas, Texas because I WANTED TO GO HOME! I am now out of work again and training for a job which I probably will not be able to get because of the continuing AGE and GENDER DISCRIMINATION but I found your comments of great interest because I was so DESPERATE for a job that I went to the Stevens presentation too. Good luck with getting out of that HELL that Stevens Transport unfortunately turned out to be for you. It would have been much worse for me as a woman and a solo driver, I hate to say.
Ripped_off_drvr
Fort Collins,#3Author of original report
Sun, January 25, 2009
The rest of the story.... After completing the orientation, about 2/3 of the class was gone. The rest of us were assigned to trainers, and here's where the story gets REALLY interesting. As I've reported the company to OSHA for MANY, MANY violations, I can't get in to too much detail until that's all settled, but I will tell you that your trainer will likely insist that you and he violate hours of service regulations, and in my own experience, if you report these violations, you'll be out of a job. I'll update this as the Federal investigation proceeds-but in summary, a word of warning: STAY AWAY FROM THESE CROOKED B******S!!!!