A day in the life of an Auto Tech

[Nomak]

Here is an article that about sums up my life (at times anyway)  

I dunno if anyone is interested but I wanted to post it.

..........He starts off his day awaking from a short nights rest, accompanied by all the aches and pains his profession induces on his body. His back is tight, his leg’s slightly numb, and his hands ache of cuts and scraps. He sits on the edge of the bed while trying to build enough strength to get up and get on with his day.

He saw his wife and kids sleeping in their little rooms and with a smile, he heads to the shower. He returns to his room where he retrieves from the closet yet another neatly hung uniform with his name on it and gets dressed. He heads to the kitchen to fill his mug he got from some convenience store with coffee. And with no time to spare, he kisses his kids and wife gently and heads out the door.

He has a little trouble getting his ride to start as it is ailing from numerous troubles that he has never got around with the money or the time to fix it. Running a little behind, he skips his chance to stop and pick up some breakfast as he always does. He is running a little low on fuel, but thinks he can make it to work on what he has, and hopes he will have the opportunity to make a little money today to fill it up on his way home.

He arrives at work in the parking lot and is surrounded by new cars that he will never afford to buy himself and parks in the back of the lot where the Dealer prefers he hides his old ride. He begins his long walk to the service area through the back doors along with his fellow co-workers. He notices that each and every one of them is either slightly bent over or limping from their injuries that this profession has caused.

He heads to his box, unlocks it and heads to the time clock while lighting his morning smoke. He clocks in, and heads to the dispatch booth in hopes of getting his first job. All the while, he notices that everyone in the shop is doing the same. He pulls a ticket and notices that it is a warranty ticket and it is a waiter. He puts out his smoke and heads back to the parking lot to retrieve the car. He opens the door and notices that the seat is too far forward and must be moved back. He places the seat cover and floor mat in their respected spots. He then gets into the car and pulls it around into his stall.

He gets out of the car, reads the ticket one more time and then starts his diagnostic process. The sounds in the shop resemble a production line, so he knows he must fix it quickly so he can move on to his next car. His first step is to retrieve a scan tool from the shops tool inventory. He sets off to find it and discovers that someone else is already using it. He then heads off to find the shops other one, only to find it is currently in need of repair, so he must wait for the only working one the shop has to offer.

Twenty minutes pass and he finally gets his turn. He hooks up the scan tool and retrieves his code and it is an unfamiliar one to him, so he heads to the library to retrieve a shop manual to aid in the diagnostic process. On his way to get the manual, he saw many cars moving in and out of the shop. He saw this as others are getting done before him and the pressure to produce starts to raise its ugly head. He comes to a conclusion as to what is the concern with the car he is working on, and heads to the parts counter. The line is long and the parts guys seem like they are moving at the great speed of a snail. He waits his turn in line and then finally is next to asking for his part. The part’s assistant listens to his plea, and then he starts to look up the part. His catalog system is not quite showing the exact part and asks for an engineering number off the old part. He heads back out to his car across the shop. He saw that the part can not be easily accessed from the view he has, so he must remove it to see the numbers. This takes him 15 minutes, but he gets the number and heads back to parts. The parts guy mentions that he must order the part because it is not in stock. So they jot down the RO information, and then he heads back to the car to reinstall the part to move onto his next car. He has wasted over an hour in a half with this car and advises the service writer of the parts situation. The writer takes it from there and the tech returns the car back out front for the customer.

He returns back to the dispatch booth to draw another ticket. By this time, it is 9:30 and he has made no money at all. Feeling the mounting pressure to produce he quickly heads back out into the lot to retrieve his next car. The car requires a test drive to reproduce the symptom, so a test drive it will get. He notices that the brakes via the customer concern are pulsating and is accurate so he knows that the rotors must be turned with the possibility of needing additional brake system repairs. He pulls the car in to his stall and sets the lift. He removes the wheels and performs his inspection. He creates his parts list and heads to parts to make his estimate. The lines are still long, so he tries to wait patiently for his turn. During his wait, the mid-morning food truck enters the shop. Most of the techs flog the truck to get something to eat and so does he. Again, he is faced with a line to pay as the lunch on wheels is self serving. He notices that he does have enough money to pay for his purchase, and knows that he needs gas to get back home tonight, so he charges it like many other of the techs do, then they pay off their weekly tab on Friday after they get paid.

He then heads back to parts to get his prices and availability. Parts has most of the stuff he needs so he relays this info to the advisors who are very busy running back and forth taking care of the customers who continue to over run the service desk. The advisor sells the job, tells the tech, then the techs heads to parts to retrieve what he needs. The parts counter guy tells him his is missing one part, but will have it by this afternoon. The tech takes what they have now, and heads to the car. He starts his repairs knowing that it will be this afternoon before he can finish completely, but he hurries anyway hoping he can fix other cars while this one is waiting for parts.

More......

[Nomak]

He gets half way through the repair and is called to the dispatch booth for a quickly needed repair that has been in the shop before but has returned for the same concern. He did not work on this car the last time in and notices that the technician, who did work on it, is busy doing a shopping list of maintenance work and is making his day. He takes the car anyway, and heads back out into his stall and prepare to bring the car in. Having no place to put it, he puts his brake job back together unfinished and pulls it outside so he can use his only lift to raise the new car. He inspects the car after it is raised and notices that it has an oil leak coming from the rear main area. The tech before him had replaced the pan gasket, but not fixing the source of the leak, it being the rear main seal. He informs the advisor of his findings and the advisor tells him that since it is a police vehicle they will need it done ASAP. He heads to parts to retrieve the seal. After the wait and to his amazement, they have the part. He then heads back out to start his repair.

He will need the transmission jack for this repair and notes that the Trans guys are using them. He asks for an estimated time to be able to use one and they inform him of a 45 minute time before being ready. He heads back to his car and starts removing everything needed to pull out the transmission to gain access to the damaged rear main seal. This takes him some 30 minutes and knowing he has a few minutes, he eats his cold mid morning meal off the food truck. The service mgr comes by to ask him why he is not busy. The tech informs the manager of his progress and delays. The manager insist that he find something to do while he is waiting for the trans jack, so he heads to dispatch to draw another car. The car he draws is a recall paying 0.3 hr, so he heads to parts and gets the necessary part, then heads back to his box and sets it down. He then runs out to the parking lot to get the car, which does not start due to a dead battery. So heads back into the shop to get his jumper box and goes back to the car. After starting it, he pulls it into the shop and installs the part. He mentions to the advisor that the battery was dead and wants to know if they want him to find the source of the dead battery. The advisor tells him just to leave it running after you get the recall repair done as they have no time to deal with it currently. 35 minutes have past, so he pulls the car out and leaves it running as he was instructed to do and heads back over for the trans jack. He pulls the jack over into his stall across the shop and starts his repair. He gets the repair done within 2 hours then checks his repair. The manager also comes over to check the repair and after the go ahead from the manager, he pulls the car back outside.

He receives notice that the part he was waiting on had arrived so he heads to parts and retrieves it, then back out to his stall and prepares to put it on. He pulls his brake job back in, puts in on the lift, and removes the wheels. He finishes the repair and test drives it to insure the repair fixed the concern. He realizes that he spent more time on this repair pulling it in and out then it paid to repair it. The pressure mounts to produce as lunch time comes around. He decides to skip lunch knowing he must make some money, plus, he did not have the money to spare to eat anyway.

He heads to dispatch to pull another ticket only to find that they do not have any work at this time that fits his specialty level. So he waits for one to arrive and kills this time cleaning up his stall that he does not get paid to do anyway. Finally after a 20 minute wait the dispatcher calls him to her booth to hand him another ticket. This ticket is another warranty ticket and it has a shopping list of concerns. He heads back out to the lot to retrieve the car and test drives it to duplicate the concerns. The list entails rattles, broken interior trim, water leak, and an intermittent electrical problem. He addresses each of the concerns one at a time. The rattle was from a converter shield which he repaired with a clamp that he got from parts. The broken interior trim piece was a door handle which he had to order. The water leak was from the trunk seal which he had to order. And the intermittent electrical problem was still under investigation. He spends the next 2 hours trying to find the source of the electrical problem. He calls hotline during this time and they give him two areas to investigate, both turning up dead ends. The heat of the day drags on, and the clock has reached 3:30. Everyone in the shop is busy working on their cars and it seems like none of them are having any troubles at all. The tech feeling the pressure continues to rush trying to at least repair something to the finish, in hopes of being paid. His aches and pains of his profession are setting in on his body. His attempts of finding the electrical problem require him to remove the dash to inspect a splice. He spends the next hour in a half pulling it out to gain access, then spends another 20 minutes just finding the splice that was incorrectly marked via the electrical manual. He calls hotline back only to find that there was a revision in the service manual about the incorrect location of the splices. The hotline engineer apologizes for the error and he returns to the car. Now it is 5:00pm and most of the techs are busy cleaning up getting ready to head home after making their day financially. He finds the bad slice finally, and makes the need repairs. Realizing it is after 5:00 he informs the advisor of his progress and is told he can finish it tomorrow. He cleans up and heads to the time clock to clock out. Then he heads to his car limping the whole way with his aches and pains. He gets in is car and has trouble getting it started then heads to the gas station to give it a splash of much needed fuel. He only has 7.00 dollars and the price of fuel is 1.98 a gal. He crunches, but uses all of his money hoping it will get him through the week.

After he fuels up, he reviews his day knowing that he only flagged 5.2hrs, thanks to the generous pay from Ford warranty, knowing he has his work cut out for him for the rest of the week. He arrives home only to discover that his caring wife has prepared some type of hamburger helper in a skillet as that was all they could afford this week. His kids jump in his lap happy to see him as he tries to take his old worn out boots off and places them next to his kids worn out shoes. They sit down to dinner together and he hears stories of how the family’s day went. He finds out that one of his children is getting a cold and must go to the doctor soon. Knowing he can not afford the insurance, he assures the wife that he will find a way to come up with the money somehow. After dinner, he notices the day’s mail sitting on the counter and saw that most of it is bills and a bright shinny PTS flyer from Ford telling stories of great progress for techs and promoting this profession.

He steps outside to take a smoke knowing he has to come up with money this week to live on, so he heads to his garage to finish a vehicle that his neighbor brought over needing repaired. He spends much of the night only stopping at 10:00 to come in and tuck his kids in bed and kisses the wife who goes with them. He then heads back out in to the garage to finish up. At around 12:30 he finishes up and heads into the bathroom to clean up before retiring to bed. His body is worn down and he aches all over.

The next morning he starts this vicious cycle all over again. He first calls his neighbor to report that the car is finished, only to find out they do not get paid until Friday, so he will have to wait to be paid. So he lines up another vehicle for later that night, so he can at least make something. He returns to work and has a similar day as the previous one until Friday rolls around. He finds out that he flagged 31.6 hrs for the week and after uniform fee’s and taxes, that his check will not be enough to pay the bills. So he is totally relying on side jobs to help with expenses. He takes Saturday to take his small child to the local clinic only to find that she will need a prescription and the bill was more than he can muster with what he has left. So they bill him for the rest and they head to the drug store to get the prescription filled. Having trouble starting the car like always, he decides that he must work the weekend as well to drum up enough money to at least get the needed fuel pump for his car. He makes some money, and has to dip into what he had left from his check to pay for the rest. He has less than 20.00 left for the week and the stress mounts.

They return home and spend the rest of their weekend together except for dad is busy working on side jobs to make ends meat. He realizes that his family is really living without his presence and this hurts him so. Finally late Sunday night, before the kids go to bed, his daughter who is recovering from being sick says to her dad as she sits on his lap “daddy, when are you ever going to spend time with us and take us to the zoo???”

More....

[Nomak]

Being a professional technician today, at least everyone has been in this story or is in it now. The drive to continuing to do this profession weakens when you get to work and see your GM walking around in expensive shoes that cost more than a weeks groceries at your house, telling you that you need to produce more for the store. The constant tool jockeys arriving every week at your store wanting payment for over priced tools you had to buy just to work on today’s cars. The ever rising cost of health care that you can’t afford on your ever decreasing income. The constant reduction in warranty pay times as the jobs becoming increasing harder to do. The price of transportation just to get back and forth to work is in many ways overwhelming to some. Just the general cost of living for a technician is usually more than they make. They dealer says they can’t afford to pay them for what they are worth, but manage to go home to a more than 1 million dollar home every night while many techs go home to their rented apartment or trailer or house that they can barely afford.

All the while, we techs see ads for technicians promoting this profession, whether it is for college or trade schools saying how great it is to be a tech these days. We know quite the contrary, and from experience can see through the irony of all this no matter what is brained washed into this profession.

“The rich man is busy dancing, while the poor man is busy paying for the band” comes to mind about this profession. If you lived in or are living this life from above, then you need to stand together and get what you deserve. You are a professional and if you stand idly by crying about your financial state and if you choose to do nothing about it, then you deserve to live that life.

It is time to stop the taking from you and get what you deserve, and then maybe, one day, I will re-write this story to reflect a new day in the life of a technician



Mark Ward
Publisher, FlatRateTech.com

Dave

[Gunslinger]

Thanks for the post.  My ex-father-in-law was a body man and he's the only person I ever knew of that prayed for a hail storm.  It kinda gives insight as to why everytime I've taken one of my cars to a ford dealership I get it back worse than when I brought it in there.

[john9001]

that brings back such fond memories.

retired auto tech that is glad he retired.

[Dago]

Guy cant afford gas but can afford cigarettes?   Great priorities.

[eddiek]

I remember too well those days, working your butt off to diagnose a problem, them having to wait seemingly forever for the "service advisor" to get with the customer and get their approval to do the work or not.
I got burnt out fast, but that was my own fault.  I was young, just out of school, married with a newborn, and I needed a job, so I didn't stand up for myself and fight for fair wages.  When I went to commission work, they started me out at $7/hour commission.  Boy was I stupid!
Other technicians told me I should have been making $12 or above, based on the fact that I had passed ALL my ASE Certifications.  I put up with it for a while, like a year, then started looking around when I realized I was the only tech in the Amarillo area who was installing air conditioners on Fords and Chevy/GMC's.....but I worked at a Nissan dealership!  
What an adventure........you had to remove the whole dash assembly, the heater core/air box assembly, then get out the ole SawzAll and start hacking and slicing........then you got to rearrange some of the ECU wires to different pins, then maybe, put it back together.  
After doing more than a few of them, I could get the Cavaliers refitted and charged and out the door in 4 hours, from the time I pulled it into my bay until I drove it out.
Only did a couple Fords...won't even mention them.
Chevy and GMC trucks........the job paid 6 hours (for some reason, they paid us the same as they did for an installation on a Nissan vehicle, but more on that later), but after about 50 installations, the fastest I could get it down to was 12 hours.  Figure if I got just ONE of those installations done a day, I was making a grand total of 42 bucks.  And I was trying to support a family.......
Fast forward a few months......
The service advisor and myself had a less than friendly relationship, but I tried to remain professional about things.  I tried to be honest about those installations and how long each one would take.  I repeatedly asked him, then finally just outright TOLD him that the trucks were 12 hour jobs, and not to promise the customer the customer would be finished in less time than that.
In the meantime, I was referred to another privately own shop across town.  I went in, talked to the owner/operator, found out what he was supposed to be all about, did an imprompt interview with him, and he offered me a job.  It sounded like a good deal:  $12.50/hour commission.
Let me do a little backtracking here:  Like I said, I had a wife, stepson, and a newborn to support.  We had one car, which I left for her to use in case our baby got sick (he was 8 weeks premature), so I rode to work with the service manager every day, as he lived out by me.
My Monday-Friday workday went something like this:
Up at 4AM, shower, smoke a cigarette or two, drink a cup of coffee, then wait for him to arrive at 5:15AM.  It was a 20 minute drive across Amarillo to where the dealership was located, so we usually arrived there at 5:35-5:40AM.
We usually had three or four used cars that needed inspecting and repair estimates done each and every day, so I would grab one, or two, do my inspection, make my parts list, then take that to my box so I could get parts prices, so I could take THAT to the service advisor or manager.
Customers usually started showing up about 8AM or so, depending on if they read the Amarillo paper and saw that we opened at 6AM for early birds.
Depending on what came in, I did everything from the heavy line stuff, which was clutches and rear end problems, to A/C installation on new cars, to new vehicle inspections, to alignments, to brake jobs.....pretty much any and everything.
At the end of the day, I rode home, again with my service manager.  By now, it was 9PM (or after) and I was beat.
My last day at the dealership started out normally.
I was doing a brake job on a customer's car, she was waiting on it, and the service advisor, in all his wisdom, drove a new Chevy truck into the service entrance, then called me to the desk to tell me, "You gotta take that car off your lift and get this truck in there.  I promised them we'd have it done by noon."
Now, seeing as it was after 9AM, I just chuckled and told him something like "haha, really funny" and started walking back to my bay.
The guy comes running over, gets in front of me to make me stop, then yells at me to get the "*****" car down NOW and get busy on that truck, cause HE promised them.....
I guess my manager saw my hand tighten on the wrench in my right hand, cause he came out of his office and asked what the problem was.
I proceeded to explain the situation from my side, which was I had a customer waiting on her car, I was right in the middle of turning her front rotors, and could not just put the car down right that second.
Nodding that he understood that, the manager asked the advisor what the rush was, and was told the same thing, that the truck was promised to be finished and delivered by noon.  And I "had better by God get it done" cause he promised it.
That was it for me.
I asked the manager if he and I could talk in his office, we went in and shut the door, I then vented a bit about the BS I was taking from the service advisor, and how he was making promises that could not be kept, and I was tired of it and through doing the A/C installs, especially for the hours it was paying.
I then told him that I had been offered another job, and where, and how much they were offering me.
He told me good luck, shook my hand, then asked me to back my truck ( I had managed to pick up an old Chevy pickup for $200 when our income tax return came in) into the shop and load all my tools up, as I was not working there anymore.  "No hard feelings, we just feel your heart won't be in it anymore since you have someplace else to go."
Anyway.............
The next job burnt me out on working on other people's cars.
True, I was making more money per commission hour, but my new employers didn't flag your tickets, so you had no idea how many hours you had put in that day.  They were trying out a Chiltons Labor Guide on computer, and they left it out in the shop.  A couple of the other guys looked up how much they were supposed to be making per job, and got mad when they found out how much they were really getting paid, so the computer and all the manuals got moved inside where the boss and his wife (also a co-owner of the shop) could keep an eye on them.
"You don't need to know how much the job pays....we take care of that".......and I started looking really hard at my paychecks.
Heavy line work usually pays really well.....we had a contract with Southwestern Bell to do the service and maintenance on all their trucks, all of which were Fords,  and those trucks are HEAVY when they get loaded up with tools and equipment, so I was doing a clutch job a day, sometimes every other day.  (Before you comment on me being slow, I will add that for some reason, a lot of the SWB trucks had transmissions and other powertrain parts with big "EXPERIMENTAL" stickers all over them, so it was not always easy to get the parts to get them back on the road.)
I knew something wasn't right, cause I was bringing home no more than I had at the Nissan dealership each pay period.
When I talked to the boss about it, his only comment was "you leave here everyday at 6, like everyone else does.  If you would stay an hour or two later each night I bet you could make more money."
I went home, thought about it, thought about how we had to call the parts houses ourselves after we diagnosed the problem, then take out work ticket to his wife so she could figure the labor cost and call the customer to get approval for the work........sometimes she got off her butt and did it quickly, but more often, you would have a one or two hour window where you did not know whether or not you were gonna get to do the work, and if you had to tear into the car to find the problem, that meant more time to put it back together enough to get it off your lift and try to get another car in so you could make some money that day......
Next day, I drove my old 1970 Chevy half ton up there, backed her into my stall, loaded up my boxes of tools, walked in to the office, told them both to kiss my arse, and away I went.
I still enjoy working on my stuff, and I do work on other people's cars, but all I ask is that they buy their own parts.  I don't charge anything for labor, and that takes away all my enjoyment, and......in my mind, it creates a liability I don't want.......



Sorry for rambling.......you just brought back some old, OLD memories....

[nirvana]

If that's the story of your life Nomak, you need to work for a good independant shop instead of a dealership.  My step dad doesn't walk around in fancy clothes, and we don't live in a million dollar house (working on moving up to a brand new $315,000, but that's another story).  work a 10 hour day, 7:00 til 5:00.He's had one tech that has been there for at least 10 years, i'm not sure exactly how many.  Great guy, great tech, but his wife and him adopted a baby daughter 3 years ago.  His wife doesn't know what a spending limit is either.  Dave, the technician, works paycheck to paycheck, takes his daughter to daycare before work and rolls in at 7:25.  Between the bills he shares with his wife, and his truck payment, he's probably lucky to do any extra stuff.  His life is by no means easy.  

Fridays at my step dad's shop are an hour less.  Put 30 minutes into degreasing the floor, then shoot the **** and have a beer (i'd have a coke).  New guy, 26 years old straight from Denver Automotive and Diesel College is working there now too.  You can see how much these guys give to their jobs and they are going 40 hours a week usually.

Auto technician isn't an easy job, I did it for a month this summer before school started.  It's looking like a way of life though for my next 30-40 years and i'm fine with that.

[mora]

Gotta agree with the article, even though the procedures sound like from the 80's. I've worked as a tech for a year and as an advisor for 2. I'll be never going back!

[Nomak]

Thx for taking the time to read/reply.

I went straight into this job out of HS in '91.  I didnt go to any tech school or fancy training.  I just learned on the job.

Its almost 15 years later now and lacking any real education and supporting a wife, 4 year old and 6 year old I now feel trapped.  Its a horrible feeling.

The truth is the article is a bit more bleak than my life really is.  However I do go through alot of the same struggles that the author does.  The most frustrating part recently is the reduction in gross income.  In 2001/2002 I was able to gross 74-75k.  This last year I did 52k or so.  Yeah.... losing 25k a year is a bit rough, although I am thankfull to be making what I am.  I do get a decent rate per flat rate hour ($29.00) but each year it seems harder and harder to turn the hours.  The hardest part about that is wondering if the lower production is due to my just getting old.   Of course it doesnt help that since '99 Ford has cut the SLTS (Warrenty times) by 40%.

I would love to get some of the Ford "Suits" to come down and turn a wrench for a living for a while.......

I guess thats all I have..... again thx for reading.  

Dave

[Dago]

It is nice to know some people out there really do work hard and care about what they do.  

At the airline I work at, I watched so many of our mechanics  get so lazy it was amazing.  These guys were pulling down between 70 -75k annually and some didnt seem to believe they should be required to actually do anything for it.  Without exagerating, I know guys who didnt do 30 minutes work in an 8 hour shift, but drank enough coffee to keep an elephant awake for 3 days and nights.

Now, most of the work is outsourced and they are on the street due to a strike.  I regret seeing all the good guys who did work hard and care struggle, but the other lazy slugs are now finally facing a cruel glimpse of the real working world and it is long overdue.  Rumors coming to me say they dont particularly like it much.

Hope you guys find the right place to be and have good careers doing what you like.

[Roscoroo]

I started out in a similar way ....stick welding my wierd creations around 12yrs old
(go cart, log splitter , ... mystery stuff)

 I got into a good service station job while in high school (2.25 hr with parts bennies)... took summer classes at community collage  for some of the more complexed stuff (Trans, diff, alignments ) My Uncle taught there..

late at nite I cut up a perfectly good 69 cougar eliminator (428cj ) one of like 249 built . did my own 4 link, tubs,full cage,lexan,ect ...raided dads 427 stuff (yes Ford mid/hi riser stuff) ...saved up darn near 2 months of pay for the tunnel ram and 660 holleys . (my  bday's went like so  " Well dad ya know those forged Con rods ya got in the box on top of the blower.. ... oh and those titanium valve springs" )
 
a yr later and 18 coats of gloss black lacquer w 13 coats of clear  all hand sanded every 3 -5 coats . it made 700+hp and could knock off a  9.68 sec 1/4 mile on a really good track (lots of vht )  

At the end of hischool the economy dropped bad and work was getting scarce so i went further with my education and did my 4 yrs air force  .... ending up in one of the biggest crusin /drag racing areas in the country so it was race at the track, race at midnite ..race in the other towns... this was what got   me all the way to full Chassis ,mechanical, suspensions , engines, headers,welding, fabrication,,Restorations,,, ect

I'm a master now at what I do and have an eary ability to make things run .
26 yrs of doing ... do i make money ... sometimes yes, other times not really .
Do i work normal hours ... hell no
I do it because I love fixin and creating stuff .

[culero]

Nomak, speaking from experience you do get slower as you get older. I was a flat-rate-smashing animal who worked all day and into the evening then partied late and started again at 7AM at age 35, but 10 years later noticed the aches and pains the article cites.

That said, I could pick that article apart at the seams in terms of how the writer exposes many problems of his own creation and demonstrate that his situation could be much better if he'd simply make it so. However, I agree with the writer and you that making a living in that trade has been getting really tough the last 20 years or so, and its starting to spiral in a bad direction more rapidly all the time.

Rosco, you're one of a few who are blessed. I like many others had the same passions you did when young, but when the time came to turn my skills into a living my passions weren't involved in the opportunities available. I made my hay working on heavy trucks, farm and construction equipment, then eventually cars and light trucks. Turning wrenches for a living ruined my passions - I still love "bench racing", and often cast wistful looks at hot rods, but when I think about actually doing the work I move on to some other interest.

I hated my trade the last 4 or 5 years I practiced it, and am glad I "broke out" into another career. My ASE Master's certs expire in 2007 and I'm never looking back.

culero

[Roscoroo]

I did some dealer work for a yr or so  ..talk about a pain.. beating the book wasnt to hard for me back then .. but now days forget it..
the only thing good about dealership was all the additional Classes i got .. antilock brakes ,, computer diag,ect all the stuff I needed at that time .. Along with doing tour cars (Nascar basically )at that time.

[capt. apathy]

the guy in the article needs to spend his cigarette money on union dues.