Will I Have A Job Tomorrow??

brino said:
Yeah but they believe it's a selling feature!

For me it a warning.

-brino
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You nailed it Brino. People have come to believe that more electronic widgets are inherently better somehow, and the result is
a lot of simple, reliable products now have become much more complex and expensive because of the electronic content tacked
on. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it isn't. We have a Honda van with 60K which has been completely
reliable, but we recently had to change a motor mount and the part cost $560.00! Why? Because it's an electronically controlled
hydraulic mount that changes dampening depending on driving conditions. Clever idea, but I for one would rather have a simpler,
cheaper part that lasts longer than a few years since I apparently have more mount replacements in my future.
 
Ulma Doctor said:
Don’t ever discount the worth of a mechanic
We mechanics are the ONLY thing between repair and the boneyard
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I always told my customers....

Maintenance is cheaper than repair

Repair is cheaper than replacement

If it wasn't I would tell them that too....

John
 
Larry$ said:
For any employee that knows more about the business than the owners, that employee should start his own business. He could correct all the errors and become rich.
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Do you really believe that all business owners are completely knowledgable, intelligent and never make mistakes? Is there anyone
that knows it all and can't benefit from the knowledge and experience of others?
 
Nogoingback said:
I grew up in a family of air-cooled VW owners: my Dad, my Brother and I all had them. In the 70's I bought one of those Rabbits and it
was the worst car I've ever owned. Absolute piece of junk, and it was too bad because I liked the way it drove. The air cooled. cars
were well made, but somehow VW forgot that quality matters when they designed the water cooled cars.
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I started as a mech in an all VW wrecking yard doing nothing but rebuilding one engine after another. The dealership HATED my boss who was an old wildcat machinist who taught himeself how to rebuild the engines then taught me. 6yrs later after buying my Rabbit I ended up at the dealership and the service manager did everything in his power to mess with me. The rest of the mechanic's thought it was funny, I didn't. But I saw from the inside how the whole thing went awry. I don't know if you remember the hype when the Rabbit came out that it was supposedly designed with input from a German master mechanic, huh?

There were and still are so many things that just don't make sense. I had to replace the rear seal(a common problem that would make it so you couldn't get it into gear because it would cause the clutch to drag and stay slightly engaged) on my Rabbit and luckily I got some help from the other service manager and was able to do it under warranty. I got warned this is going to be odd. When I asked what he meant by that he said the pressure plate is bolted to the crank, not the flywheel like every other car in the universe. I thought he was messing with me until I took it apart. WTH were they taking or smoking? Insane stuff like the thermostat went on my wife 05 Cabrio. The rats nest of plumbing is just insane but nowhere could I find the thermostat. Went to the parts store who had one and asked if I could see the parts blow up. The thermostat was on the intake of the water pump!
 
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Larry$ said:
For any employee that knows more about the business than the owners, that employee should start his own business. He could correct all the errors and become rich.
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I had an employee that actually wrote me a letter stating pretty much the above. He was also an alcoholic which I found out from my HR friend could be considered a disability under employment law.

It was a small town so I kinda knew this when I hired him but small engine mechanics aren't exactly falling out of the trees so I was willing to take a chance. He was good for a while before he started drinking again which was shortly before he wrote this letter (I had been gone for 2 weeks getting my dad moved out of his home).

Turned out he was also pretty unreliable coming into work when scheduled so I put him on an improvement plan and did my best to become a better boss.

He eventually left on his own accord and got another job which he seems to be pretty stable in.

We're still on good terms and I can honestly say I helped make a good worker out of him.

John
 
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