Your class was only 4 days? That was much shorter than mine. Either way, my instructor road tested us again about 2 days prior to the class ending, and asked me to recite as much DOK as possible while driving. Sure, you can half ass it and not take it seriously, but why would you not take a job with such high pay seriously? Especially with the opportunity to prove yourself and make a career out of it? The instructor records the details on your performance in your student handbook.
On the last day of class, we had a written final exam. We had to list the 5 Seeing habbits, 5 rules of backing, 8 keys to lifting and lowering and 5 keys to preventing slips and falls VERBATIM. We also had to list the 10 point commentary key phrases and the why VERBATIM, while being able to explain how to perform each one in our own words.
Then, our instructor took each person individually into his office, and had us do the exact same final verbally to prove we didn't cheat.
Let me just say, this is just barely the beginning. I was told that as soon as I reported to my center, that I would be grilled by supervisors about my DOK.
I was not.
However, when I actually started work, and going with my on car supervisor, I was then asked to recite the entire DOK while he drove the first few days.
You will be asked again from time to time in your 30 day trial, and when you go with your centers supervisor on day 20, they will ask you to recite the DOK while driving and performing your job.
What you don't learn in school is 75% of the DIAD training, your route (area knowledge), all the tricks to saving seconds at each stop, because that is what your entire day is about, saving seconds to make "scratch", which is what they call achieving the time ORION says it should take you to complete your deliveries per day.
If you don't have much experience driving their vehicles, which all of the trucks in my center are 5 speed manual transmissions, this also takes some getting used to, and you don't get any practice until you start the job. Not to mention adjusting to the dimensions of the vehicle.
You also don't really learn how the packages are sorted and loaded on your truck so you can find them within seconds.
Your DIAD lists each stop with a commit time if it has one, the address, how many packages for that stop, and a 4 digit code which is the location of the package on your truck. My supervisor wanted me to start with trying to remember my next 3 stops without having to look at my DIAD, but potentially 5 stops when I improved.
In all reality, its not super extremely hard to do all of these things, but at first its difficult to do all of these things at once, while trying to follow the methods, work safely, and at a quick pace without mistakes. It won't happen overnight, but stay at it, listen to your supervisor, because if you got this far, they want to see you succeed, especially because it is their name going next to everything they write about you in your student handbook.
Be well rested, know your DOK, stay hydrated, do not panic and rush. Scratch will come.
Most importantly, have a good attitude and WORK SAFELY.
Today was only day 15 of my 30 day trial. So far I have gone out by myself for about 10 days, however my supervisor came out with me today to monitor my performance. Yesterday, I came 20 clicks over scratch time, which I think may be 18 or 19 minutes over what I should be doing when I am seasoned. Today, I think I would have scratched, I finished over an hour before my last pickup, but I had to wait for my last pickup to have their packages ready. My supervisor knew this and understands this. But don't get discouraged, it is going to be very tough at first, and I know I am still new, and probably on an easier route, and it still is tough to do well.
Its not an easy job where you just drive around and deliver packages, it is hard work, and you must always keep moving forward while following the methods and working safely. Each day you will feel yourself getting better and better, but don't get cocky, because that is when you will make detrimental mistakes.
So far my personal experience has been very pleasant and I really enjoy this job.
