By
Rick & Christine.
 .
Well,
I can’t believe it, but our time here in Fresno (or as my brother Keith’s
college Baseball team called it “The No”) is almost over. By the
time you read this Rick and I will be in the BEAUTIFUL Pacific Northwest,
land of clean air and cool temperatures. And while we could not have
asked for a more pleasant stay with Rick’s parents, I just can’t wait to
get out of here!!
Nothing
against family life, but the predicted temperature for the next two days
is 107 degrees! No joke. It may not reach that temperature,
but I’m sure we’ll still get into triple digits. Secondly,
the smog here is every bit as horrible as it is in L.A., or “Smell-A”
as I like to call it. In fact, I think a lot of the smog here in
The No comes from L.A. After ten years of clean air living in Eureka,
CA and Maui, HI, I simply cannot handle brown air. It’s so depressing!
And
lastly, I’m so anxious to drive a truck again (we haven’t been in a truck
since June 7), and see what our company is all about. We begin orientation
on Monday, June 19 in Tacoma, WA. However we will be traveling to
Tacoma the Friday previous in order to visit our good friends Mike and
Julie over the weekend. That will make Washington the third state
in which we have mooched off of friends or family. Such is the lifestyle
of the carefree and homeless. I’m loving it so far!! And we’ve
got LOTS of friends whose hospitality we can abuse in the Seattle area.
I’d like to thank everybody in advance for putting us up.
Anyway,
our itinerary for the next couple of weeks holds a four- day orientation,
and a week of drive training in which our company will evaluate and decide
if they want to officially hire us. I know we’ll
get
hired, but I am a little nervous considering how woefully short of drive
time we are. Our school HAD promised us forty-four hours EACH behind
the wheel, but we ended up with about twenty hours each.
A letter
to the owner of the school expressing our dissatisfaction has been mailed.
We feel entitled to a refund for half of the schooling we paid for since
we received less than half the time promised, both in their literature
and verbally. We’ll see if this situation has a happy ending.
If
you are considering attending a truck driving school, I would recommend
speaking with current students and getting EVERYTHING in writing.
Also, keep accurate notes of your time and how it is spent everyday.
That’s what Rick and I did, and it was a constant source of curiosity to
our fellow students. I could have paid my full tuition if I had a
nickel for every time I heard “Christine, what are you writing on that
notepad?”. Ohhhh, I’m just keeping track of how many hours I’m getting
boned out of so we can nail these greedy S.O.B.’s to the wall after we
graduate.
Keep
the shiny side up,
Christine |
