by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Oct 17, 2018 | BLOG
I wanted to share with you about my PTSD. I am not going to go into details of my past trauma but I wanted to show what living with my brain has been like all these years. When people hear I have PTSD most do not understand which is normal actually, its hard to describe and subject to individuality.
To start I am going to describe what I remember when I realized the full scope of what I had to deal with. Imagine living in fear with a flight or fight response continually. That’s what I remember as well the panic attacks, the anxiety and feeling bad that I felt this way. I tried so many ways to cope and nothing would or could relieve me. When something traumatic happens it actually causes your brain to change, neurons are made and your brain changes to cope. It is individual because there isn’t just way one for things to change.
In 1997 I had a boyfriend who transferred vehicles, trucks for a living and I used to go with him. The garbage trucks were stinky but for the most part I enjoyed hanging out. I got in my first Peterbuilt, it was an old one and I was agog over the dash and gauges. I decided right there I was going to do everything I had to drive one. I was 27 and never even had a driver’s license when I went to get my first permit. I was terrified as usual but determined and I made a firm plan of 5 yrs and how I was going to accomplish my goals. My boyfriend enjoyed torturing me for 2 yrs teaching me to drive, he never let me drive during the day and always during the worst weather mother nature could throw at me. I panicked all the time, would stop and center myself and begin again. Over and over this cycle continued until I could cope and not panic, then he let me drive on a sunny day. I am always grateful to Bill Coates for taking on me with my issues and making sure I knew how to drive and to be able to do so without panicking. I did accomplish my goals and end result being my AZ and it was a difficult journey but not my last. I made myself work at a job driving through every license, GZ, D, A. I stepped up as I was capable and felt comfortable. I planned and executed this despite my PTSD.
In 2007 the auto industry went to Mexico and drivers were laid off. I was one of them and I decided to attend college and study accounting. School was exhausting really because dealing with people for so long in a day stressed me out considerably. Determination and hope I would get used to it kept me going and I finished with a decent average. So now I had my AZ and a college diploma and was quite happy because I started with just a damaged brain really and no education, no hope for the future. I got a job just out of school covering a maternity leave as a CSR with a trucking company. I have to say I hated the job but I needed to make money so I went and did my job. It was then that I found out about a brain retraining program for PTSD. I was excited and attend the orientations and was interviewed and accepted into the program only to have my boss say it’s the program or the job and since I needed the money I stayed with the job. I decided to research and try to change my brain myself. I discovered my limitations but slowly with self analysis I figured out what kind of triggers, what happens during a trigger and how to catch myself before my brain does what it does to shut off a lot of the panic. I learned how to ignore my impulses to react that used to frustrate me to no end.
So now I have my new challenge which is owning and I have slowly through the years become quite balanced. I still have a brain that has impulses to panic and fear but I have learned how to do what I want anyways. I still am struggling with relationships and until I figure out a way to get through that limit I am just loving, accepting myself with all my flaws, there’s really no use beating myself up over something I cannot change.
Carol and Sassy
Carol Pritchard is an owner operator at Pride Group Logistics. Carol is also a director of the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada .
You can reach Carol at carolp@wtfc.ca
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jul 3, 2018 | Career Board
Virtual Hiring Event for Truck Drivers on Thursday, July 12th, 5:00pm – 8:00pm EST.
Drivers should have their Class 3 or DZ license. Linde offers lucrative pay, generous sign-on-bonuses, and premium pay for nights and weekends.
The event will allow interested parties to use their mobile device or computer to live chat with Linde recruiters to determine their qualifications and fit for job opportunities. We have dozens of positions across Canada, so please share this information widely.
To register for the event, interested candidates can go here:
https://voh.6connex.com/event/linde/login or call (855) 4MY-Driver with any questions.
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jun 29, 2018 | BLOG
Trucking was part of my entire life. I never thought much about it. My dad, grandpa, and most of my uncles were truck drivers. They wore cowboy boots and nice plaid, snap-button shirts. When I was young I wanted to be a policewoman or a teacher. Since then, I have had people tell me I should go into one of those professions.
I loved summer vacation because each of my siblings and I got to take a turn in the truck with my Dad. I remember one trip, going over the 1000 Island Bridge, (thinking how neat it was, but that you couldn’t live on most of the islands; but that it would be cool to go on a boat through them). We picked up scrap cars in the Bronx, New York and delivered them to Oshawa Ontario. We had to be out of the truck during the loading (which makes sense now; as it was dangerous). There was a huge fence around the place, (obviously to keep people from stealing parts or breaking in and getting hurt) and Dad said it was because the city was such a scary place that “even the junk yard dogs are scared’! We must’ve been listening to ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ at the time! We had to make sure that the doors were locked when we were driving down the city streets.
Someone once said to me a number of years ago, that I “must have had a terrible childhood”. And I thought how mean, condescending and ignorant it was to assume that my life had sucked as a kid. They had no idea what ‘Driving a Truck’ was all about. To me, having a parent who drove long haul and wasn’t home a lot is no different than someone who has a parent working shift work. Sure they are home every day, but they are asleep when the kids get up, and when they get home, the parent is at work. Do those kids see their parent any more than I saw my dad?
My dad was mostly an Owner/Operator, and stopped by the house a lot on his way to/from the yard. He usually made it just in time for supper! He could also make his own schedule. So he was able to go with me on class trips. Who else had a dad go on class trips with them?
I went to college for Horticulture because it sounded fun. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a living; let alone a career. After 2 years of college and 2 years of minimum wage, living at home with a school debt, I started to look at going back to school. After talking to and researching some schools, my dad suggested looking into trucking. He set up an appointment with Kim R. at KRTS (being a long-time friend). The next day we sat in his office, and then I went out on a road test where I was taken down the road and thrown into the driver’s seat! KRTS helped me with funding and soon I was sitting in the classroom and learning how to back a tractor trailer out in the yard.
The first job I applied for would’ve offered me a job, but the company’s insurance carriers didn’t want a younger, newly licenced driver. So I went over to Zavcor, who were willing to take a chance on me, and started driving for them the following week. They didn’t have any female trainers, let alone female drivers, (They had one O/O husband/wife team), and so the dispatcher went out with me daily for a while to Toronto. For my first year I was in Toronto and surrounding area daily. I would load/unload; drop/hook either at the main yard or at the Mississauga drop yard. I don’t think I need to say that I learned how to back up quite well! My dad was always there for me whenever I had a question (or problem). He is the best driver, boss, salesman and father I know! I knew I could count on him to help me out with any trucking situations/problems or even just to discuss trucking issues.
Then I started going across the border. My first trip out was only to Rotterdam NY (which is near Albany), but as with many drivers, it is too far to go in a single run! (I remember having new drivers tag along with me a few years later and how I would have to stop for them to take a break.) It’s amazing how exhausting it can be paying attention to the signs, traffic, and weather! At the end of the day you are as tired as if you moved a load of bricks from one pile to another by hand! So I drove highway for about 3 ½ years. I thought about leaving to try something else but I had just bought myself a house and was asked to move into the Safety Office. I had a great trainer in the Safety/Compliance office and learned things like what questions to ask applicants, how to judge people, and all about Drug and Alcohol testing, dealing with Insurance Companies and keeping up to date on employee and truck and trailer files. I took a course at the OTA (Ontario Trucking Association) called “Take the risk out of Hiring and Firing”. (FYI I would never fire anyone without someone else being in the building.) I took ‘The Exceptional Assistant” through Fred Pryor and a course on Occupational Health and Safety (OHSA) through the Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario (THSAO (now IHSA)).
I would fill in for dispatch occasionally and was in charge of compliance issues, drug and alcohol testing, safety training, file maintenance, log books, annual reviews and accidents.
I left Zavcor in 2006 to work for a small 5-truck operation and would complete local deliveries and pickups with a flatbed when I wasn’t working in the office. I ended up running the entire office by myself, which included billing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, dispatch, payroll, safety, compliance, etc.
With the 2008 economy drop, we all had to walk away from the company. So I tried a completely different job – filling in for a 1 year maternity leave position as potted salesperson at a large greenhouse. I got married that year to a guy I went to high school with and asked out at our 10 year reunion. The next summer I worked in my husband’s family owned greenhouse (so my Horticulture diploma sort of paid off!).
I then went to work at a sod company delivering bags of soil and mulch along with skids of sod on a tri-axle flatbed with a piggyback tow motor. In the winter I took a job delivering scrap metal around Burlington and up to 5 hours across the border. I spent a lot of time at the recycling plants off of Burlington Street in Hamilton (so again, lots of backing up). I drove scow and dump trailers, but it was a little too dangerous for me. Standing on top of a load of scrap metal in the snow is not my idea of fun.
In the spring I went back to driving the flatbed with the piggy back tow motor; and in the summer I drove the live-bottom trailer for pick-up and delivery of various soils, peat moss, gravel and sand. I got to see a few quarries and drive into the middle of fields! At the end of the summer, I decided to stay home for a while. We were trying to start a family without much luck. I went back to the sod company the next 2 springs as a sales rep on weekends.
I was then called by a small company who had been referred to me, to handle compliance. So I also did that part-time for a couple years. I was approached by a local farmer to work 1 day/week delivering grain to his barns. It turned into hauling pigs from Norwich to Dunnville on a triaxle every Friday, and going down the escarpment to deliver to the grain mills or to haul back pig feed.
During all this time, my husband and I were still trying to get pregnant. With lots of help, in the spring of 2013 I was pregnant with twins; and was unable to work at all. My son and daughter were born early January 2014. (But that’s a whole other story!)
In 2015 I was approached by my first trucking boss to drive 1 day a week hauling dry vans to/from Wainfleet, Brantford, London and a little bit of Toronto, for another of his companies. It was mostly drop/hook, except that you usually had to place the new trailer in the same door – which means extra drop/hooks! (Eye roll)! Actually, I loved it. It was a reprieve of days with just me and 2 babies. (I struggled greatly with PPD (post-partum depression) and thought this would help; but it only helped me to avoid it.) I had a sitter show up in the morning, and she stayed until my husband came home, so I was free to get home at whatever time I was finished. If there was no run that day, I would help with filing and vehicle maintenance records.
In 2017 I started working full-time back at Zavcor in the new role of Director of Zavcor Training Academy. With my experience in so many previous roles, this was a great fit for me. I’m back in the industry I love, working with great people and assisting those wishing to learn more about our industry and become a Licenced Driver. I wouldn’t say that I’m a role-model, but I think that I am doing my part to make this industry better and safer; and to show/prove that it can be, and is, a viable career; regardless of age, sex or race! I love trucking ☺
Sarrah Dekker – Director Zavcor Training Academy
Email: sarahd@zavcor.com
Zavcor Training Academy
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jun 16, 2018 | BLOG
Ester Rony
I joined the trucking industry in 2010, by that time I was pregnant, here when you get pregnant after high school you become a disgrace in society, I was 19 and naughty as any young teenage girl would be, I was told to get out of the house by my Dad who was so angry about me getting pregnant, I wasn’t annoyed at all because that’s how any parent would have reacted, I was strong yet I had nothing, but I don’t know where I got the courage to move out, the father to my pre born baby was a high school sweetheart so he couldn’t do much.
So I went in an abandoned house and started a life, let me get to trucking now.
Esther Rony
Female truck drivers face a lot of challenges in my society, its a job of single mothers, orphans, drug addicts and any bad behavior you may think of, so the public talks poorly about anybody in the trucking industry, I joined the trucking industry, at first I approached a female driver and asked to be her helper, I told her my story of being a single mom and she took me in, we started traveling together from Kampala heading to the east to the border in Malaba then crossing over to Kenya which is another country.
She didn’t know my intention was learning to drive, but I helped her whenever she needed my help, as time went on, I learnt routes, how l am supposed to behave on the road, she became my friend and she taught me slowly how to drive, how to identify problems and fault, how to handle simple mechanical problems , we got along well.
Esther Rony
I finally got in to business, started getting money and applied to a university where I pursued a degree in information systems, I got my father’s attention and other family members back, it was through a lot of hard work, toil and sleepless nights that I achieved my degree, I started talking to different female drivers whenever i met them on stop overs, they thought they are doomed, I started empowering them and I told them we also are needed in this society, if we cut off supplies of food the society will lack. I used my opportunity of being exposed and we formed a women’s committee in a big Association called Uganda National Lorry drivers and Transporters Association.
Written and submitted by :
Esther Rony
Uganda East Africa
Spokes person of Uganda National Lorry and Transporters Association
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Apr 18, 2018 | #BeTheException, BLOG
Diezel oil running through her veins and a fiery passion only the Diezel Diva can explain! Born into a family of drivers, it is no surprise that Diezel Diva’s career in the trucking industry would lead her to where she is today.
It all started when she was just a little girl, her dad would bring his bobtail rig home and you would often find Crystal having sleepovers with friends, listening to music and pretending to be a trucker and every time the little Diva made sure to clean the truck for her dad before he would leave to head out on his next trip.
Always a bit of a dreamer and unlike a lot of other little girls Crystal knew from a very early age that she was destined to be a trucker.
At 16, Crystal went to an information session for a career planning program and as they went around the room asking what the participants wanted to do, when it came to the little Diva she stood up proud and shocked the room when she said she was going to be a truck driver and that is when Crystal started paving the road to becoming the Diezel Diva she is today.
Crystal was determined to make a name for herself in the trucking industry and although there were many curves in the road she travelled to get here, that little girl always stayed true to her vison. She was the youngest participant in the career planning program that she attended and was the only one out of the entire class who actually ended up doing what she set out to do.
In that career planning program she learned how to prospect potential employers by carefully selecting employers that she wanted to work for and doing her research before approaching them for work experience opportunities as part of the course she was attending and from that point, Crystal started work experience in truck shops and went on to work in wash bays, truck stops and other odd jobs before finally putting herself through Reimer Express Driver Training in 2001.
Obtaining her commercial license didn’t come easy for her though, Crystal failed her written tests 10 times each, as here in Manitoba, the tests for the professional driver’s license and air brake endorsement are separate tests on the written and practical exams but failing didn’t stop her from doing what she set out to do because when everyone was telling her to give up or that it wasn’t for her, she went on to prove them all wrong and it was the belief that she had in herself that kept that little girls dream alive. She thought to herself, “If I give up on myself, who else is going to believe in me” and it was that determination and drive that kept her wheels in motion.
At the age of 19 Crystal worked a full time job at one of the big shopping malls in Winnipeg as an exterior maintenance technician, she would wake in the early hours of the morning to go clear snow and clean the exterior grounds of the mall for 8 hours before going to class at the driving school for the rest of the day so, she was already no stranger to long days and hard work even before she started driving.
Crystal was the only female in her class at the driving school and was the youngest in the group yet again lol but that didn’t bother her as Crystal has a way of standing out no matter where she is or the circumstance, whether good or bad it is just who she is and she wears that with pride. Crystal passed her provincial road test December 10th 2001 with only 5 marks docked and finished the program with 98 percent, She told the boys “ Not bad for a girl hey”
Being 19 when she got her license it was hard to find employment as everyone wanted experience and required the driver to be 21 and able to cross the border Crystal had No experience and was nowhere near 21, another road block right? WRONG! That wasn’t going to stop her though. It lit a fire inside her and made her work twice as hard to get what she wanted.
Crystal got her first big break when she met a man named Darryl Westbrook; he owned three trucks at that time and hired Crystal to haul rail containers to and from CN Intermodal yard in Winnipeg on weekends for Vitran. Although this was a part time position, it helped her to gain some valuable experience as a driver and set the Diva up to pursue some bigger goals. Being in the industry you meet a lot of people and fellow drivers and sometimes opportunities come out of these meetings much like her next big break! When she turned 21 Crystal met a driver who was working for a small driver service company out of Gravenhurst Ontario and he prompted her to apply to his boss and that’s when she got another break in her career and the opportunity to experience what the open road was all about.
Crystal remembers packing for her orientation in Toronto like it was yesterday, her boss picked her up in Winnipeg and to his surprise it seemed as though the young Diva was moving her whole house for that trip lol upon her arrival in the big city she was full of excitement but when she got to her hotel she felt a little nervous and scared and just wanted to turn around and go home because she had never been that far from home and all alone L but that changed the very next day when she met a classroom full of fellow drivers attending the orientation and because Crystal is an outgoing burst of energy she has no problem making new friends wherever she goes. After the week long orientation she ran team for a couple years hauling all over Canada and the United states with Quik X transport, she got to see and experience so much as a young driver and even remembers stalling the truck out on some of Canada’s big grades lol her excuse was that she learned to drive in the flat lands where the steepest grade she learned to shift on was an overpass bridge, and we all know that’s no comparison to the Montreal River Hill on Highway 17 through Ontario or the steep hills in beautiful British Columbia. Oh, How the memories come rushing back like they were yesterday.
After a couple years of the long haul team driving Crystal was ready to spread her wings and fly and took on some regional loads with Quik X, switches to Dryden, loads to Saskatoon and other regional short haul trips were something she thoroughly enjoyed as she got to spend time at home and still was able to do what she absolutely loved! Crystal kept her position at Quik X and was offered another position with Darryl Westbrook where she would work locally on a 4 day on 4 day off schedule and on her days off you would find her hauling loads for Quik X. The Diva kept at this schedule for a couple years gaining more experience hauling all types of freight and different trailer combinations before she decided to spread her wings and fly again when she took another chance and loaded up her car and headed west to the oil patch in Alberta.
Crystal’s first job in the oilfield landed her in the Medicine Hat / Red Cliff area where she was being trained on pneumatic tankers hauling bulk cement, that experience was short lived because on her last night of on the job training, Crystal and her trainer were finishing up on a job when their product hose got jammed on the pumper they were pumping cement into and they couldn’t get the hose off due to pressure built up in the line. Her trainer failed to advise her that he was going to hammer the line off their trailer and to Crystal’s surprise, being 5’4 the connection to the pumper was 1.5 feet higher than what she could reach and when the pressure was released the product hose came flying at her so fast and ended up smashing her front teeth out prompting her to run around the site spitting her teeth out crying because her smile was broken L her trainer did not realise the impact or the damage and thought she was running in fear until she pointed her teeth out to him at which point they headed back to Medicine Hat for some much needed medical attention. While she was off on modified duties getting her smile put back together Crystal thought long and hard and came to the conclusion that accidents happen all the time but the fact that she was out there all alone dealing with this and having her family back in Winnipeg all worried, that just maybe it was a sign that she needed to move on down the line and possibly get closer to some extended family a little further West and that is exactly what she did.
Crystal lived and worked in Alberta for a couple years and learned to drive truck and pup combinations hauling all sorts of gravel and excavation materials and even had the opportunity to haul bulk liquid (raw chicken blood and guts) ohhhh that smell gets in your clothes and is horrid but she was proud of the experience lol Hauling bulk liquid comes with a whole new set of risks as well, something that leaves her scarred to this day. Six months after having her teeth smashed out, Crystal took on the bulk liquid job hauling to a processing plant in Edmonton every day and a few weeks in Crystal learned the hard way of what hauling liquid was all about. One April morning in 2006, She was on her way to Edmonton and as she was approaching a curve she over corrected her steering and lost control of the truck sending it onto its side and closing the highway for the better part of that day and resulted in a scar that is now covered with a tattoo and a ticket for failure to stay in her lane L
In the fall of 2007 she decided to move back home to Manitoba to be closer to her family again after learning of her dad’s heart two attacks and his need for a triple heart bypass in October of that year. It was at that time that she started driving for a long distance moving company doing odd trips and trailer switches before being hired on full time in the summer of 2008 and roughly a month after being hired full time Crystal stepped off her catwalk dislocating her left elbow and blowing out her radial head which required surgery and has left her with a pin in her elbow to this day.
This injury changed a lot for the young 26 year old who still had so much drive and so much more to see, learn and accomplish in the industry. Due to the nature of the injury and the fact that her employer was sick and hired a CEO to take care of things this also changed a lot and Crystal was in for the fight of her life in dealing with a very toxic in experienced CEO that took over and tried very hard to get her cut off of WCB by lying about her employment, wages and just about anything else he could think of to try and make a name for himself but being the warrior she is Crystal fought to the bitter end and WCB finally realized that as long as that man was going to be CEO of that company, it was a toxic work environment and that’s when WCB decided that they needed to retrain Crystal and that in itself caused a lot of mental and emotional trauma for her as she thought her dream was dying but in reality, it was only the beginning. Through the planning for her new direction Crystal ended up going back to school to obtain her grade 12 being that when she was young she dropped out of school in grade 7 after some very difficult traumatic events distracted her from completing her early education and once she got her diploma Crystal went on to pursue some other goals by going through the Transportation Distribution Management course offered at Red River Community College because she had already had a good history within the industry she did not want to throw that away and start something new. After completing these courses Crystal took a term position with a local drayage company coordinating imports, exports, dispatching drivers and scheduling. Although she enjoyed that job, it was only a term position but it also led her to an offer to run a local container company from her home, she did marketing, advertising and sales for this company before being hit with another blow of life that prompted her for yet another change.
In 2013 Crystal went for a visit to Alberta and while there her cousin (single father of 5 kids) had a family emergency where his oldest boy had a horrible seizure that would change their life as they knew it and required help so without hesitation Crystal came back to Winnipeg and loaded up her life and went to the rescue to help where she could and once things were settled there she moved on. Crystal worked some local driving jobs before meeting a man from Fort McMurray and making the move out there, she got hired on with Diversified Transportation to drive a coach bus transporting the oil sands employees to and from site on a split shift which she enjoyed because it was something new and different.
After only 9 months she was put into a position to make a choice of staying in Fort Mc Murray or following who she thought was the love of her life, so she made the decision to follow her man which ended up leaving her in an isolated location for the better part of a year which caused her a lot of depression and in the spring of 2015 the warrior bounced back and took control of her life making some huge decisions because deep down she knew things needed to change with her and so, she decided the first thing she was doing was getting off of the weight loss roller coaster she had been on for years and with that decision some other major life changes followed landing her back in Manitoba after her husband moved her all the way to Newfoundland only for the couple to lose everything they had. It was the last selfish decision he would make that would affect her life and so she woke up one December morning and decided she was loading her car up and heading home where she belonged.
Once she was settled back in Manitoba in early 2016 she landed a job with a local Landscape supply company and worked her ass off which she absolutely enjoyed and the truck she drove was an absolute BEAST that she took so much pride in and you would see her posting about washing that truck every week! It was that job and her love of being silly that had Crystal posting random silly pictures which eventually put her in touch with some truly amazing people and when she was presented with the opportunity to take part in a lady driver calendar she thought to herself…… Ummm Hell yeah!!
Crystal had always struggled with self-image, so the idea of the calendar had her wanting to back out so many times because she didn’t know what to wear or how to present herself specially after losing 130 lbs. Today Crystal believes that being in that calendar empowered her to step out of the comfort zone and mental block she lived behind for so many years and really go after the big picture she had of running her own business for so long and that my friends is where the Diezel Diva was born.
Crystal has never been a stranger to working long and hard to get what she wants in life or to follow her dreams wherever they may lead her and this is where her vision comes back into play, as a child she would sit in her dads truck rocking out to music, having sleep overs in the bunk and would clean that rig for her dad before he had to hit the highway J Back in the early part of her career in the industry she often had a lot of great business ideas but decided to follow through and work her way through everything this industry had to throw at her and prove all the non-believers wrong. After 20 years in the industry Diezel Diva is emerging and building a product and brand for herself as a mobile detail specialist / driver service as she says “you can take the girl outta the truck but you will never take the Diezel outta this girl” Crystal knows that building a business isn’t easy nor will it happen overnight but she is definitely prepared for the road that lies ahead and has plans to make the best of it by offering not only mobile detailing services for heavy trucks and equipment but also making her professional driving services available to select companies.
Who knows you may just see a pink, black and white Diezel Diva beast rolling down the road yet because the Diezel Diva is not stopping here!
Diezel Diva does not have select hours as she works when there is work to be done so if you have a fleet of heavy trucks, equipment or other fleet vehicles no matter where you are. Diezel Diva is willing to travel far and wide for the right opportunity to do business with you. (Yes she loves road trips and can load her equipment up and will travel so all over Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta too, Diezel Diva will come to you!)
Diezel Diva encourages other women to follow their dreams and break the molds that society has because nothing good ever comes easy! If you dream it you can do it and if it doesn’t work the first time change your approach. Never stop believing in yourself!!
Follow the Diezel Diva on her Facebook page
