By Will Stearn

ost talented technicians have
the equivalent of four years
university within 10 years, are

overseen by ignorant superiors who in the
vast majority of cases have a dogwood
diploma and no automotive experience, and
get treated like uneducated slaves whose
jobs are readily filled by the wash boy.

Techs are made out to be the source of
“tip offs” due to the utter lack of automotive
knowledge, communication skills and
schedule organization by management and
advisors. You will be asked to compromise
your licenses, integrity, and reputation or
lose your job. People know when they’re
being ripped off and 99 per cent of the time
it’s not because of the technician.

There are so few shops where a
“How can we solve this” or a “Let’s
work together” attitude exists, even for a
moment, that I dare say they are as real as
leprechauns. You will need to cover your
behind 24/7 because the odd human mistake
you make, however rare, will be pounced
upon as others relish in making you pay for
it. Everyone hates their job, they can’t get
out themselves and getting someone else
fired makes them feel more secure about
their own position as well as give them a
tiny bit of underlying hope that someone
will return the favour.

The customer arrives angry that their
car is broken, they leave angry having paid
to get it fixed (or not fixed). I’ve never seen
a more thankless avenue of employment.
Your interactions with almost everyone
you meet at work contain differing levels
of anger, distrust, disappointment, loathing,
or sadness. No exaggeration. You will go
your entire career without hearing anything
positive about yourself, your job or how
you efficiently diagnosed and repaired over
250,000 cars. Surviving in this environment
for any length of time with no ill effect to
your home life isn’t possible.

A study done by the Snap-On tool
company states that in 1960 (when the tech
was paid half the “door rate,” the hourly

rate charged for automotive work) a ratchet
cost one day’s wages. Now at 24 per cent
of the door rate, a ratchet costs three days’
wages and is one of the very least expensive
tools needed, as opposed to back in 1960
when it was one of the most expensive
tools. One preposterous argument for this
gap is the rising cost of shop equipment.
Shop equipment costs have risen due to
increased complexity and natural inflation,
(of which the owner can write off) but more
and more “shop tools” have been designated
the responsibility of the technician. And
unless you are in your first few years of
apprenticeship, the $30,000 worth of tools
which you are required to purchase in order
to perform at a similar level with other
successful technicians cannot be written off
like all other trades or arts.

Pay does not commensurate with
knowledge or skill. Contrary to expectation,
no matter how many extra licenses you
attain (i.e. Government Vehicle Inspection,
Air Care, First Aid etc, at your own
expense), you will probably never get any
remuneration for it. General repair shops
(where you must learn the intricacies
of several brands and possess superior
diagnostic skills with little official technical
information) pay slightly less, and come
with fewer benefits than at a dealership.
Knowing more equals more diagnostics
equals less money.

Please don’t believe the delusion
that you will be paid more working at a
Mercedes Benz, or at a BMW dealer (where
you will be expected to attain a level of
perfection akin to a god and deal with
customers the likes described only in Steven
King novels). You will make more per hour
and bonuses at Honda or Toyota as opposed
to being expected to work for the “prestige”
of it at Audi or Jaguar. It may be impressive
at a party when someone finds out you work
for a high end luxury auto dealer but not so
much when you drive away in your 1990
VW Golf.

In this job your back will take a
beating like in no other. You will be asked
to bend over at ninety degrees, knees locked

for hours, lift weights of over 400 pounds
above your head, and Houdini yourself
under a dash, arms twisted above you,
flashlight in mouth, brake pedal digging into
neck, hips dangling over the doorjamb for
hours as you repair some obscure wire or
squeak while water drips on your forehead
and slush soaks your back.

Danger of eye and ear damage
from sharp projectiles and toxic fluids is
ever present, along with blunt trauma to
head, chest, etc. Every year one to three
technicians in Canada are killed by hoist
failure due to lack of maintenance. This is
management’s responsibility and is sadly
an industry standard. You may be required
to do your own hoist inspections but this is
illegal and any requests for needed repairs
may go unanswered indefinitely.

You will go deaf in certain tone
frequencies. Alarms going off, air tools,
or your neighbour dropping a brake drum,
the abuse never ends. Those fancy air tools
we love so much that make our job easier
and faster eventually cause carpal tunnel
syndrome as well.

By far the largest and most common
danger to your health is the chemicals.
Almost every sprayable agent in the
automotive world contains a “T” chemical,
a chemical that causes “life-threatening
and serious long-term health problems.”

It never leaves your body! It accumulates
eventually causing anything from
neurological disorders to organ failure.
Getting transmission fluid on your skin or
in your lungs carries with it the side effects
of major skin or lung cancer. Similar effects
are caused by brake fluid and coolant. There
are many more chemicals for you to find in
the WHMIS book at your local garage (It is
required by law for the shop to have such

a book and all its employees to be familiar
with it, but don’t be surprised if they can’t
find it).

Wearing gloves, a respirator and ear
protection would be good but you will not
be able to attain your required efficiency
level like this, and you'll be fired. Not to
mention the fact that you have to take your

 

ear protection off and strain to hear minute
squeaks, rattles, and leaks, get your gloves
cut open, filled with sweat, and snagged

by sharp objects several times a day. Your
respirator will be drenched in sweat not to
mention impossible to wear during many
close quarter tasks. Inadvertent spills will
go right through your fancy uniform strait to
your receptive skin and the whole shop will
in no way “stop” while you search for your
mystery noise. Most shops will also make
you pay for this equipment (this is illegal

as per WCB) or they will purchase the most
inadequate, cheaply priced trash forcing you
to purchase working safety equipment out
of pocket anyway.

Go to any doctor or chiropractor’s
office and ask him what profession he or
she sees most often in their office. Without
hesitation you will hear that it is the lowly
mechanic,

Advancement! If you want a job
with no physical or diagnostic demands
but all the joys of a middle management
gang banging, and the customer service
experience of taking complaints for the IRS
you can work your way to the prestigious
service manager job! Take a short night
course, a hefty pay cut, and become a
service advisor. Play the lottery for several
years searching the classifieds for a position
you don’t really want but won’t realize
until it’s too late. Your only real hope is to
become a shop foreman but you have to
be the best, most senior, and most popular
technician that can be buddies with the
service manager and lie to the technicians
while keeping their support.

Consider your choices carefully.
Timing gear systems resembling the guts of
a watch, 167 computers in a single vehicle,
mid-harness diodes, and fibre optics don’t
even scrape the surface of what you'll
be intimate with. Even these challenges
subside in their lustrous appeal and your
working day will be filled with the pains of
an ever advancing industry that has sadly
forgotten its labouring masses.

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