Am I the problem?

[Brett]

So I recently took a part time job at a private repair shop. My real job, is a 7days on 7 off kinda deal. So one week I’m fixing airplanes, next week I’m fixing cars and pulling 2 paychecks. It’s great. I mainly took this job because I was bored on my week off and wanted to kinda expand my own personal skill set (and get paid while I do it)

So my boss is paying me $550 a week cash for 5, 10-12 hour days (so lets say $10 an hour). I’d consider this a very fair entry level/apprentice pay (about what I made when I first got into aviation in highschool). I’ve always done the whole automotive/diesel thing as a hobby but my money maker is aviation. Anyways, I keep getting bitched at for not making flatrate. Like we all know the industry standard for an oil change is .25hr. If I have to rack the car on a 2 post lift, depending on the vehicle I may have 15 minutes tied up in pulling the car around and getting the vehicle racked (sometimes alot less, really depends, jacked up jeeps are a royal pain in the ass and some of the newer ford trucks with factory running boards). I’ll have about 20-25 minutes in the oil change, tire service/inspection, fluid service, light inspection, air filter, brakes, general engine bay inspection, undercarriage inspection, etc.

So worse case scenario is I have to put the vehicle on a 2 post lift and it’s super awkward to get racked, 40-45 minutes from the parking lot and back into the parking lot. best case scenario our 4 post list is actually open, it’s parking lot to parking lot in .5hr or so. I think this is perfectly acceptable, I’ve spoken to other auto techs and they say this is about normal. Yet I’m consistently getting bitched at for my speed (in regards to oil changes)?

Another awesome example of getting bitched out, boss has a jeep TJ. AC compressor took a dump and he asked me to replace it, I looked it up in alldata (that’s what we use). All data says just take that bitch right off and throw it right on… Yea okay, except you can’t get to the 2 top bolts with any decent amount of break away torque (gear wrench is all that fits) with the powersteering pump on. So I dicked around trying to get it off without taking the powersteering pump off, said to heck with this. Took the pump off then took my compressor off. So I had about 1.5 hr tied up in the removal and .5-.7 in the install/AC oil service/adapter plate swap. All data says it’s a .8 R and R and I got my ass reamed for it.

So I’m starting to question my mechanical ability all together, like with anything the more times you do it the better you learn a system and the quicker jobs become (you know what has to come off, how it comes off and what tools work). I’ve been working on airplanes since I was highschool, I’ve made a solid 6 figure income from that since I was 19 from it… I was a lead mechanic for a while at a very large company (over 300 mechanics) in colorado before I left to take my current job back home in Georgia. In my weird area of specialization in the aviation industry I’m a badass, and paid accordingly. I’ve never had an employer complain about my work performance, quality, speed or anything. I’ve had companies go into full on bidding wars against eachother to get me to come work for them.

Yet at my automotive job… I feel like no matter what I do, it’s never good enough. When things are slow and I don’t have anything to do I’m cleaning the floor, cleaning the shop equipment, organizing our cores, taking out the trash, etc, etc. Always busy, or atleast looking busy. I don’t take a lunch break, I’ll maybe take 4 or 5, 3 minute smoke breaks because there’s no smoking in the shop.

I just don’t get it, I’m at a total loss and I’m starting to question my entire mechanic ability…. I know the guy goes through alot of people, I assumed it was just because of the area and market but I’m starting to assume it’s his personality. So what advise do you guys have for me? Because despite how hard this guy is to deal with, dealing with him is still better than sitting around the house doing nothing on my weeks off as sad as that sounds.

Topic

[Brett]

Well I applied for a few other part time jobs. Got a job as a lube bitch, I have an interview for another lube bitch job tomorrow (see if they offer me more money) and I’m currently talking to a Mercedes shop… See where that goes.

[Greg]

Glad you are taking control of your situation I’ve seen a lot of good guys driven to the ground by shops like that

[David]

I wouldn’t think so much that you’re the problem. A failure in management is very bad for a technician. They rely on their management because if they don’t have someone distributing work evenly, efficiently, and effectively, then there’s hard feelings. There is no place for nepotism, or favorites, because we all have bills and we all gotta eat. Your boss needs to re-evaluate his position and think about how he runs things. Especially if he’s going through people like crazy.

[Author]

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