Bathroom breaks, haha. I have worked with guys who are in the bathroom 15-20 minutes at a time, 3 times a day. Then the smoke breaks are 5-10 minutes 4 or 5 times a day. I once asked how much of a break I get since I drop my duece at home and don't smoke, they looked at me like I was unreasonable. It becomes a little funnier on payday when they ask how my hours/commissions are higher. Gotta love this business.
Mike after 50 year career I can’t tell you how many “HAVE to be ready today “ jobs don’t get picked up that day and how many cars I worked on that wound up as scrap. Made me realize family is more important than getting cars fixed. F.R. sucks on diag jobs. Who is the person that decides how long it’s supposed to take to get under a dash and chase down computer wiring circuits.
I worked for a Dealer that me taking a day off i got the do you really need to take time off we need you here. Now mind you this was me notifying them a month in advance. Dealer only tools they did not have most of them. Needless to say i dont work for them anymore i left. I was their only Master Tech.
Getting pulled off a 16hr job 9 times in one day is when I made my biggest mistake, F service a-holes. When its time to focus is when management can f you the hardest.
Not to come off as toxic, but when others "need time off" or have "family emergencies", I am expected to carry your workload as a result. It gets old when the same person is in the bathroom 45-60 minutes a day, every day, needs to come in late, leave early, needs a bunch of accommodations - I as a responsible person am now stuck with their BS.
There is a difference between someone who is always missing work, and a good worker who deserves a break or justifiable vacation or down time. If someone is always missing work, that's an issue, that should not be taken out on those who are owed time off. You know whats worse than someone who abuses time off? The deadbeat who shows up and gets all 8 hours in and does nothing. He can show up on time, leave on time, skip his breaks, then dodge work all day long, all while taking up time and space and resources. I will take a hard working guy who is hit or miss on attendance over a deadbeat who shows up for work on time every day and does absolutely nothing. The hit or miss guy will carry his weight off and on, the deadbeat will make you carry his work every day, and fight being fired because "I'm following the little rules so I can break the big rules".
So where im at, ive got guys who take all day to work on 2 cars… we have more cars that get done and since I can get them done quickly and efficiently everyone gets mad Im getting all the work, writers have tried giving more work to other guys but then they just sit on it all day and it never gets done… they whine about hours but always have to blame someone else
When I worked for Pro-Care we referred to them as pep rallies. And let me tell you nobody wanted to go. Everyone there from the different shops was loosing money.
Be the best possible tech you can be. Don't fall into the trap of joining techs in the shop that a miserable. That is commiserating.. Be outstanding and you will get paid well and can absolutely find another opportunity at another shop or dealership. Fleet techs is where it is at.. No bs just getting your work done and never getting hassled by service writers. Top tier techs have zero issues finding a job. Some service departments are toxic and you need to leave there. Everyone is looking for techs
I disagree with “ golden boys getting special favoritism” I never had a legitimate schedule at all of my most recent and current GM dealers. I may come in at 9,10,11, or noon if I had errands and leave at 6,7,8, or 9. Guys used to complain about this but none of them were as productive as me or as good.
If you are cutting a bunch of boards and have 120 pieces of 1 inch 2x4 scrap laying around in a pile, do you say "Oh boy, that makes a 10 foot 2x4!" Or, do you realize that a pile of scrap is just a pile of scrap? Not every moment is productive, not every smoke break or chat around the coffee machine is a huge loss of productivity in the day it is taken, which means in many cases you lost little to nothing in terms of productivity or usefulness. A huge part of the middle class gets so greedy they see opportunity and "waste" everywhere, where there is none. They make up lost revenues and work that could not possibly exist or make any difference. They "see" lost money that was never there to begin with. Let's say it is Friday and there is no more work to be done, it is 4:30 PM and everyone spends the last hour of the day sweeping the floor and chatting burning the last part of the day, or one guy goes home an hour early. What was lost if there was nothing left to do? Hours, productivity, all of these things are real objective things. Not arbitrary. If it is rush time and people are dicking around or missing work, this is a huge issue. If it is dead and the time is almost wasted anyways, time off and breaks and taking it easy cost you nothing. Then, we can get back on the fact that breaks and time off are actually productivity boons when people return to work, and trying to "squeeze" workers actually costs you as their productivity and efficiency plummet. Don't be greedy. It costs YOU.
![Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]](/img/n.gif)
Bathroom breaks, haha. I have worked with guys who are in the bathroom 15-20 minutes at a time, 3 times a day. Then the smoke breaks are 5-10 minutes 4 or 5 times a day. I once asked how much of a break I get since I drop my duece at home and don't smoke, they looked at me like I was unreasonable.
It becomes a little funnier on payday when they ask how my hours/commissions are higher.
Gotta love this business.
Mike after 50 year career I can’t tell you how many “HAVE to be ready today “ jobs don’t get picked up that day and how many cars I worked on that wound up as scrap.
Made me realize family is more important than getting cars fixed.
F.R. sucks on diag jobs. Who is the person that decides how long it’s supposed to take to get under a dash and chase down computer wiring circuits.
If the shop owner is never around, the people running the place won’t care about much. They will only do the minimum to keep their job.
False. When is the last time you saw the owner of a dealership? You never will. That’s what you hire good managers for
I worked for a Dealer that me taking a day off i got the do you really need to take time off we need you here. Now mind you this was me notifying them a month in advance. Dealer only tools they did not have most of them. Needless to say i dont work for them anymore i left. I was their only Master Tech.
Getting pulled off a 16hr job 9 times in one day is when I made my biggest mistake, F service a-holes. When its time to focus is when management can f you the hardest.
Not to come off as toxic, but when others "need time off" or have "family emergencies", I am expected to carry your workload as a result. It gets old when the same person is in the bathroom 45-60 minutes a day, every day, needs to come in late, leave early, needs a bunch of accommodations - I as a responsible person am now stuck with their BS.
There is a difference between someone who is always missing work, and a good worker who deserves a break or justifiable vacation or down time. If someone is always missing work, that's an issue, that should not be taken out on those who are owed time off.
You know whats worse than someone who abuses time off? The deadbeat who shows up and gets all 8 hours in and does nothing. He can show up on time, leave on time, skip his breaks, then dodge work all day long, all while taking up time and space and resources.
I will take a hard working guy who is hit or miss on attendance over a deadbeat who shows up for work on time every day and does absolutely nothing. The hit or miss guy will carry his weight off and on, the deadbeat will make you carry his work every day, and fight being fired because "I'm following the little rules so I can break the big rules".
Agree completely
So where im at, ive got guys who take all day to work on 2 cars… we have more cars that get done and since I can get them done quickly and efficiently everyone gets mad Im getting all the work, writers have tried giving more work to other guys but then they just sit on it all day and it never gets done… they whine about hours but always have to blame someone else
When I worked for Pro-Care we referred to them as pep rallies. And let me tell you nobody wanted to go. Everyone there from the different shops was loosing money.
Be the best possible tech you can be. Don't fall into the trap of joining techs in the shop that a miserable. That is commiserating.. Be outstanding and you will get paid well and can absolutely find another opportunity at another shop or dealership. Fleet techs is where it is at.. No bs just getting your work done and never getting hassled by service writers. Top tier techs have zero issues finding a job. Some service departments are toxic and you need to leave there. Everyone is looking for techs
This is actually incredibly accurate. Because I wasn't grumpy and I actually did my best, I actually got picked up by an OEM. Worth it.
I disagree with “ golden boys getting special favoritism” I never had a legitimate schedule at all of my most recent and current GM dealers. I may come in at 9,10,11, or noon if I had errands and leave at 6,7,8, or 9. Guys used to complain about this but none of them were as productive as me or as good.
In the military you shit in five minutes or less preferably three minutes.
10 minutes a day is 40 hours at the end of the year.
If you are cutting a bunch of boards and have 120 pieces of 1 inch 2x4 scrap laying around in a pile, do you say "Oh boy, that makes a 10 foot 2x4!" Or, do you realize that a pile of scrap is just a pile of scrap? Not every moment is productive, not every smoke break or chat around the coffee machine is a huge loss of productivity in the day it is taken, which means in many cases you lost little to nothing in terms of productivity or usefulness.
A huge part of the middle class gets so greedy they see opportunity and "waste" everywhere, where there is none. They make up lost revenues and work that could not possibly exist or make any difference. They "see" lost money that was never there to begin with.
Let's say it is Friday and there is no more work to be done, it is 4:30 PM and everyone spends the last hour of the day sweeping the floor and chatting burning the last part of the day, or one guy goes home an hour early. What was lost if there was nothing left to do?
Hours, productivity, all of these things are real objective things. Not arbitrary. If it is rush time and people are dicking around or missing work, this is a huge issue. If it is dead and the time is almost wasted anyways, time off and breaks and taking it easy cost you nothing.
Then, we can get back on the fact that breaks and time off are actually productivity boons when people return to work, and trying to "squeeze" workers actually costs you as their productivity and efficiency plummet.
Don't be greedy. It costs YOU.