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Well I started my first week as the main guy in the shop banana: and had a really good day but I got here because the other guy that I worked with for the past decade quit, so now I am the only guy in the shop all day (the service truck drivers come and go). What sucks is that this guy quit right before our busiest time of the year – fall Harvest, Now I am left hanging to do a ton of work by myself. I think I am up to the challenge and the boss has been having me do the Shop Supervisor jobs for a few years now so I don’t want to let him down because I think that he thinks I am the man for the job. I know that I can count on the ETCG community if I need any help so wish me the best, I am ready to see how much I can handle.
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Good luck it seems like a good opportunity if you prove you can handle the work by yourself you most likely will be promoted to supervisor
Well it has been one week and I would have posted this yesterday but I was dead tired. It is much more exhausting now but being more in charge is nice.
I had another busy week but topped it off nicely I had an 06 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually in and I replaced almost all of the front end parts (I know it’s a Dodge so nothing new there) but I had it for 3 days because other people needed things done as well. So when I got it all back together it came to the alignment, I did what i think was a good enough job for a 1 ton dually Gave her the bill and printout from the alignment and off she went glad to have her truck back. Today she came back in and I thought that she was going to complain about something (she had issues with another place not doing a good job). Well in front of the boss she said that it drove better than it ever had before and she had it since new, I was surprised because I thought I did okay but for her it was never better.
I am glad that my standards are higher than my customers. banana:[quote=”brokemechanic3000″ post=73595]Well I started my first week as the main guy in the shop banana: and had a really good day but I got here because the other guy that I worked with for the past decade quit, so now I am the only guy in the shop all day (the service truck drivers come and go). What sucks is that this guy quit right before our busiest time of the year – fall Harvest, Now I am left hanging to do a ton of work by myself. I think I am up to the challenge and the boss has been having me do the Shop Supervisor jobs for a few years now so I don’t want to let him down because I think that he thinks I am the man for the job. I know that I can count on the ETCG community if I need any help so wish me the best, I am ready to see how much I can handle.[/quote]
Very nice, good luck.
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I am glad that my standards are higher than my customers. banana:[/quote]As they should be. That is what is expected from a leadman, and you definitely have it in you. Great job! Bonus points for the customer saying it in front of the boss. Builds a solid basis for a raise when he gets feedback like that. The hours you are putting in due to the ag harvest season are nuts, and you’re likely drained physically and mentally. Here are a few things I have done that help when that exhaustion steps in.
1. if you smoke, go have one every now and again. Your mind won’t be in the right place without one. Its worth losing a few minutes under the hood and your focus will be better for it. If you can get away with it in the shop, light it up while working.
2. torque wrenches are your friend. When you know you’re getting worn down and there are so many irons in the fire, its easy to overlook small things like castle nuts on tie rods and lug nuts on wheels. Cotter pins are also easy to overlook. get some heavy cheap magnets from Harbor Freight or something and tie some brightly colored streamers to them. Put them on a tie rod or something when you do the front end. Do not take them off until the nut is torqued and the cotter pin installed. That way when the phone rings, a customer comes in or you just really need to take a dump you don’t forget that little crucial detail when you get back. Its a visual reminder to keep you at your best. Trust me, it helps.
3. ALWAYS double check your work. Yes, you’re in a hurry with the shop loaded and you being the go-to man. Thats a lot on your shoulders and its a lot of distractions too with so much going on. Take those few crucial moments to look hard and concentrate. Look for cotter pins in the castle nuts, look for fill plugs and drain plugs being tight, double check for leaks. You barely have the time to do this job once, you do not have the time to do it twice. Your boss is counting on you proving yourself and a lack of comebacks it going to be a much bigger factor for him than how the few extra minutes you spend double checking yourself. You may be required to work like Superman, but you are still human and humans make mistakes. I’m not perfect nor are you or anyone else. The top guys check themselves. View Eric’s vid about mechanic fails if you haven’t already. He says it better than I do.
4.Grab a beer after work and congratulate yourself on a job well done. With your diligence to your job you are building HIS reputation as a business. But people are seeing you as the man doing the work, and they do not forget it either. Even with other techs in a busy shop, the one the customers feel they can count on and trust is the one they request. Trust me, your boss notices that. You are establishing yourself as a cut above and have a logical basis to be paid as such. Let the boss catch you working. Let him catch you doing the job right. Let him deal with happy customers thanks to you. That makes both of you have a good day at the end of the week.
The nice thing about being a mechanic is they can’t outsource your job to China unless they give you a plane ticket. But we as a trade are prone to getting an ego, so think of this when you might be getting a little too puffed up: Everytime you think you are a genius, remember there was a time in your life when you were still learning to not shit your pants.
Best of luck.
Yeah it has been hectic to say the least. Sometime this week (I cannot remember when) I took a huge hit to the back and ended up with the weight of the back of a pickup on my back, the customer almost called 911 But I was okay played it off and kept going. So I have been taking pain killers and today had a customer give me a pat on the back said thanks, well I almost fell down and cried. Today was insane we usually work half a day and half crew on Saturday but we ended up with everyone working and put in a whole days work in half a day. I even put in 2 more hours in after I punched out because I was working on my wifes car and people came in thinking we were open. I will be glad when harvest season is over.
Wow it has been a while since I posted here and there has been a lot of things happening.
First off I have a new slave, he has never done automotive work before so it is interesting to see how slow I must have been when I started. So far he has needed a lot of babysitting and it has been sink or swim for him. He is slow and steady but anytime he is asked to do anything he said okay. He has not yet been promoted to answering phones or writing bills (just oil changes and fixing/changing tires).
Secondly, I did get a small raise and more supervisor responsibilities. I now am in charge of keeping inventory in stock so I have been tweaking things to suit my style more, I like to have extras so I don’t run out of things when I need them. I also have started using a different supplier of parts because the new place will run parts to us whenever I need them (even on Saturday), They are good guys that one would find working on their own stuff after work.
Finally It has been busier than ever with tires and weatherizing cars and trucks for winter not to mention the farm work. So everyone has been putting in a lot of overtime just to keep up, the boss has been very understanding of just how tired we all are but still puts his foot down just to remind us that he is in charge.
I have gotten overwhelmed a time or two so I just focus on getting the thing I am working on done then I move onto the next thing.
B) 🙂 :cheer: 😉 😛 😆 :silly: :woohoo: banana:
MAJOR NEWS:
Guys, Today I took a huge step toward being a full bona fide shop manager.
I got my own set of keys to the shop!!!
I was so surprised the boss came over out of nowhere and handed me a set of keys then told me what each one was for. Didn’t know what to say so I just put them in with my keys right away and said thanks. Now I will be opening and closing.I’m not sure what the other techs here think of having full access to everything at where they work but to me this is just awesome.
Well I almost shat myself today. I was backing a SUV out of the shop and when I tried to stop the pedal went right to the floor. All I did was a Lube Oil Filter. Needless to say I almost rolled into traffic, I ended up cranking the wheel to turn and pulled the E-brake. When I got it back in the shop and got it on the lift I found both front brake hoses had burst.
It could have been a real bad day.
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