Pennsylvania truck driver outsmarts boss Fred and state commercial driver’s license laws, gets the license, a raise, then quits on his own terms: ‘Over that 2-week period I got about 25hrs of overtime, a CDL, and a pay raise’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 15, 2025 4:00 AM EDT

Truck driving looks romantic in movies, but in real life it is lines, forms, and someone named Fred pretending a rule will blink first. This young guy loved test drives so much he turned them into a career, only to meet the true American highway: the DMV and a boss who treats no like a management strategy. Pennsylvania swapped license numbers for letters, raised the bar, and gave every driver a deadline with a siren attached. His company needed him licensed to keep deliveries moving. Fred said he wouldn't pay. He said then I won't get it. The calendar did the rest.

He had one quiet ace. After three years in the same truck, the state would waive the driving test if the owner signed an affidavit. He got the other owner to sign, kept his mouth shut, and hit the road at 4 a.m. for Harrisburg. 

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  • How I got My (CDL) Commercial Drivers License

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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • If you've seen my other posts in this sub-Reddit, they all seem to do something with trucking.
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  • Trucking and diesel mechanics which was my entire adult careers. I think truck driving is mostly about compliance and malicious compliance.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I hope this fits here. In high school I went to tech school for auto mechanics. Since I was little, I always wanted to be a mechanic.
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  • Upon graduation I went directly to work as a mechanic. The work didn't bother me so much, but I hated the shop, One day I realized the best part of my day was the test drive.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • So, I thought being a truck driver would be the perfect job for me. So, I worked towards that goal.
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  • Soon after my 20th birthday I got a job driving a truck. I loved the open road!
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  • Back then Pennsylvania used the class 1, 2, 3, license system. Class 1 was for 18 wheelers.
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  • Class 2 was for large trucks over 30K lbs. gross vehicle weight; Class 3 was passenger vehicles. The company I worked for had 2 delivery trucks and I was driver #2.
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  • All was great, till.... About 3 and a half years after I started Pennsylvania decided to go with the Federal Commercial Driver's License.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • The classes all worked the same, with differences. Instead of 1, 2, 3, it is now A, B, C. Class A is 18-wheelers, Class B is all other trucks over 27k lbs.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • And Class C was passenger vehicles. Class 3 and class C vehicles only needed a regular driver's license to drive them.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • All other classes required extra testing to get the proper license. Once you had your truck permit you had to be able to get a truck and licensed driver to test drive and practice with.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Then take the driving test. Followed by the written test, to get your license. I have a problem.
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  • I don't know another CDL driver, nor anyone who will allow me to borrow a truck to take the test.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • My only other option is to enroll into a truck driving school. At 20 living on my own, that was not an option.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Our trucks were originally rated at class 3 because they had no air brakes and weighed 28k lbs. The company chose this route so they could pay drivers less.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • However, with the Federal class system, our trucks are now class B requiring a CDL.
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  • The line wrapped the building like a concert for people who love fluorescent lighting. He snagged the permit, then chased a pop-up testing site at a county firehouse, arriving as they closed the doors. He sat, took every written test except HazMat, and walked out with passing scores across the board while some guy mumbled that he must have failed.

     

  • So, the characters. There is me (OP). A 20M truck driver. Fred 40ishM (the company part owner) John 30ishM (my manager under Fred).
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  • Pennsylvania had a 3-month deadline to get your CDL, or you cannot drive. One day John asks me "Are you going to get your CDL"?
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  • I say "I don't know. Is the company goanna pay for it?" "I don't know" said John "Lemme talk to Fred".
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  • At this point I am the only driver they have. John and I work together well.
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  • I have a great working relationship with everyone in the company, and our customers as well, well, everyone but Fred.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Fred bought into to the company a year ago. From day one he had an issue with me.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • He always assumed I was doing the wrong thing but never had true cause. Since day one, he would only speak to me if he had to.
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  • No small talk, no smile. A month passes and I do not get an answer one way or the other. Till Fred asks me one day.
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  • "Are you going to get your CDL"? | say, "Are you paying for it"? "No" he says. So, I reply "No" as well.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Another month goes by, and Fred and I have the same conversation. But this time Fred asked, "What are you going to do for work"?
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  • I looked at him de d in the eye and said, "This isn't the only job"!
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  • The malicious compliance. What I knew that Fred apparently didn't realize was that in just over 2 weeks they could not deliver product unless they hire someone for a lot more money to drive.
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  • So, they were going to have to comply to my demand or lose 85% of their business!
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  • With almost 2 weeks to go till the deadline John says to me, "On Saturday take the company pickup, drive to Harrisburg, and get your permit.
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  • You will be paid for your time"! I found a few weeks earlier that if I drove the same truck for 3 years, I could get a waiver of the permit.
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  • As long as the company owner is willing to sign an affidavit that I drove there 3 years or more, I could skip all of the driving portion, get my permit, then take the written test and get my CDL.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I did not tell Fred that. Instead, I went to the other owner of the company and had him sign.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Saturday comes, I get on the road at 4am to be in Harrisburg DMV by 5:30 or 6am. When I get there, I am surprised.
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  • The line for the DMV runs out the door and around the block! I estimate when they open at 7:00am I will be about 500th in line!
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  • Back again at 3 a.m. for the final license, still 300th in line. By noon, 1,500 people deep and growing. He left with a CDL, overtime, a raise, and the quiet satisfaction of winning a staring contest with bureaucracy and a stubborn boss. Call it malicious compliance if needed. What actually happened is simpler. He wanted to drive. He figured out the rules. He drove. And later, he left on his own terms, CDL in pocket, career options wide open.

  • It took another 2.5hrs, but I walked out with my permit. Now for the test!
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • To Pennsylvania's credit, they had a firehouse in every county as a temporary CDL testing site. Due to the volume of people who needed testing.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I tried to get into 3 different testing sites, but they were packed and closed before I navigated the line to get in.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • After that my office called around to reserve a spot for me. Finally on Thursday afternoon I get a call to get to a particular testing site in one hour, and I have a seat to take the test.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • The problem... I was an hour and a half away from the site! Well, I floored it, bent a few laws, but I got to the site as they were closing the doors, and got in.
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  • To get a CDL you must pass the general truck test, and the air brake test. Then you can take the test for endorsements on your license.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • They include Tanker, School bus, Passenger (bus), double busses (think long bus that bends in the middle), double and triple trailers (commonly seen behind Fed EX and UPS trucks), and lastly HazMat (for trucks hauling hazardous materials over 50lbs.).
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I was there to take two tests; I took all but one! I took every test but HazMat.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I was the last person to walk in and sit down with my test. I was the first to leave.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • As I was walking out I heard one guy say to his friend "I guess he failed", In the back of the room was a computer that graded your test and gave you the score right then.
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  • 80 and above to pass. Fingers crossed my test was ran through the computer. I passed all tests with my lowest score being an 87, each test scored individually!
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • That Saturday same deal. Take the pickup, drive to Harrisburg, get my license. But this time I left at 3:00am and good thing I did.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • This time I was about 300th in line. It still took about 2 hours once I got inside.
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  • By the time I came out with my license the line was over 1500 people and growing.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • All in all. Over that 2-week period I got about 25hrs of overtime, a CDL, and a pay raise.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • I left the company about a year later; I continued to drive trucks for the next 11 years. Before becoming a diesel tech.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • Having a CDL was very helpful through my diesel career. In most cases having the CDL got me to the front of the line and/or increased my starting salary.
    via Primary-Ladder8310
  • In some shops I worked I was the only tech legal to drive a truck on test drives!
    via Primary-Ladder8310

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management boss workplace-stories hr manager pennsylvania bosses work driver PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses truck work-life balance
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