Entrepreneur Auto Mechanics set up discount repair shop in retail parts store parking lot

General Discussion
101

You guys seem to be competing with each other as to who went to the worst, most oppressive, most violent school . . .

“to be hired at dealership for the $50K plus jobs, you need to be able to read technical manuals, operate computer equipment, follow trouble-shooting charts, demonstrate the ability for continuous training by having a diploma, and wear a shirt among other things.”

I can do all of that, I have all the certifications, wear a shirt, etc.

Yet it’s not easy earning money at the dealership. Granted, I left the dealership 5 years ago. But when I left, earning 50K a year was far from certain. There was so much BS . . . of all kinds . . . that on some days you earned peanuts. Some of it was due to shady customers, some was due to the dealership itself, some was due to the manufacturer, etc. But in the end, BS means the mechanic is getting a raw deal.

If it was so great, I wouldn’t have left that place. I left that place and never looked back. No regrets.

Unless a mechanic wants to be a shop foreman, service manager, or something even loftier, a dealership shouldn’t be his end stop. A lot of valuable experience can be gained there . . . I did . . . but it’s rough, and you might get chewed up and spit out. I did

For now, I just want to turn wrenches, diagnose and repair vehicles, and not put up with manufactuer BS or dealership BS. That’s why I now work somewhere else. I might add, my current employer values me far more than the dealership ever did.

At the dealer, I was a dime a dozen, according to them. And I was expected to walk with my head bowed down, and demean myself at all times, by proclaiming my worthlessness each and every day. Anything that the manufacturer did not foresee was just plain wrong. You were only allowed to think what they permitted you to think.

At my current job, it’s a whole different story

102
When I say opportunity, I mean that if they put in the effort, they can succeed. This is true despite violence or poverty - If they put in the effort, they can succeed.

I agree with that…but the problem is many times they are restricted from putting in the effort. And that is a problem.

I'd also add poor home environment can lead to the same and the same.

Agree also. Home environment is extremely essential to doing good in school.

When you have many obstacles blocking you…it’s harder and harder to achieve. Home, violence in school, Violence to and from school. Non of my kids had to endure that. And they all succeeded extremely well.

103

db, I didn’t mean to imply that the dealership was a great end all, just that it would seem to beat working in the parking lot under the hot sun. It also might be a stepping stone to their own shop, although that’s a rough one too.

I always think back to how our folks or at least mine, made it through the hard depression times and never resorted to violence or crime. Many times not enough to eat or not enough to keep the house warm, clothing, and all the rest. They all made do, grew food, shared, cut corners, scrounged, and got creative. When my folks were married in 1940, their furniture was made from discarded orange crates-they were wood back then. Coming from a farm and dairy, my dad had more access to food and would help support my widowed grandmother and her daughter, my future mother. Poor and wanting does not create violence in my view anyway.

Again I’m not saying everyone and not any particular race, but there is a particular culture of a lack of motivation among some folks. I remember in the can plant, there was a mechanic that was very highly paid and he was white. At least a couple times a week he’d just leave early. Then once a week not come in at all. He made enough money and didn’t need any more. Drove an old truck and just wanted to get by. He would have been fired if he wasn’t so good. He just plain wasn’t interested in a new truck, new house, investments, and so on.

We had a program at work to hire the disadvantaged. Found work to do, paid them well and promised a permanent job if things worked out. Only one made it past 6 months before quitting. The one made it a couple years and had benefits, pension, inside work, good wage, and so on, but one day he just decided to quit. We hired disadvantaged carpenters and that was an experience. Once we hired a disadvantaged cleaning crew owned by a school principal and paid them $7000 a month. I’d listen to the vacuums go on for 10 minutes then shut off for 15,000 square feet per floor. Rest rooms not cleaned, floors not mopped or vacuumed. The filth took a month to clean up again. I went in on a Saturday to check on the stripping and waxing of the lab floors and the guy had a mop in one hand and a boom box up to his ear with the other dancing in the aisle. After that I fired them and they tried to sue me for discrimination.

There was plenty of opportunity, but opportunity is just the start. You have to produce something useful after that. Again, not everyone, but there is a certain number of people where failure is part of the culture and not anyone else’s fault. I really tried but we were paid for results, not to run a social program.

104

But does your experience indicate that there is no hope for millions of ‘lazy’ people, @Bing? If we let them get hungry enough will they finally toe the line? What we’re doing now is apparently not working. What will work?

105
What we're doing now is apparently not working. What will work?

What doesn’t work is what we are doing now: simultaneously reducing the importance of religion in public life, while moving rightward on social services.

In years past, being a member of a tight-knit parish or other religious community tempered the “rough edges” of capitalism: God told you to tithe, or similar, and you looked after your fellow parishoner.

Then we reduced the importance of the Church, but enacted “great society” programs to take up the slack. Then, we decided we couldn’t afford the G.S. stuff, but there was no mass movement back toward…uh, Mass…as politics moved again rightward.

(Actually, a LOT of what religion did–dietary laws, charity, one day off a week–served social order by tempering the “school of pihrannas” tendencies of the world. Now, we may feel that we’re too sophisticated to go for some Rabbai saying, “Hey, God whispered in my ear last night…no Pork!”…and maybe we ARE…but we need an adequate substitute, because I’m sick and tired of eating burnt burgers!)

106

The story stimulated a lot of thought, but I have observed the thread move (and stay) far enough away from the issues closest to the community’s intent. I say it without judgment or preference for one side over the other, but I am going to close this one now.