Any shops in Charlotte/monroe hiring?

Bigbluechevy

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Location
indian trail
Hey I am unsure if this is the best place to post this but I'll give it a shot.
I have been a Technician for over a year now, and I am just too stressed out with my current employer. I am asked to do jobs that I feel are too much of a liability for my pay rate, and it keeps me up at night. I have formal training from my current employer, and I feel that it is time to grow. I am looking for a change because my employer puts to much stress on what I do for my pay rate. I know I am not certified by any means yet, but I plan to do such, in a different environment. I do well where I am at, but I don't have the incentive to stay. I thought that when I became proficient I would see results but I don't get paid for the right amount of hours, over work myself, and work in an unorganized situation at times. I go to a lot of different shops for certain reasons, and I see things I like in other environments. I am only 22 and have a lot to learn, but I want to be comfortable with where I am and what I am doing.

It is not about money, yet I would rather be happy at the end of the day. I would take a pay cut to see room to grow, or less stress. I cant sleep at night because I am in a "what if" panic attack. I get so scared to mess up because I don't want to lose my job, and it makes me hate it.

If anyone has any help, PM me and I can send my resume, or meet you. I am open to options as any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Connor.
 
You are a technician. That is the way life is for us. You aren't ever going to make the amount of money that you feel you should for your stress rate as a tech. All jobs are going to ask you to do stuff you aren't comfortable with. It's how you grow both personally and professionally. I still wake up in the middle of the night going "Did I tighten down such and such on that car?" And I've been in the business for 11 years. It's just something you have to live with. You have to trust that you did the best you could and that has to be enough. Most shops aren't going to fire you over a mistake. They are going to make you fix it, but they probably won't fire you over it. It's not like you are the first guy to do so. I remember shortly after I started, one of the guys I started with forgot to put the hood latches back on a fairly new BMW. By the time he remembered it, the customer had already picked the car up and was on their way down the road. Guess what, the hood flew up, ruined the hood and the windshield and damaged the roof of the car. The dealer didn't fire him they just sent the car to the body shop and had it fixed. It happens. But, you can bet that he never forgot to put the hood latches on another car ever again. You just need to relax. What if you got hit by a meteor on your way to see your girlfriend? You can't live your life asking "what if?" You'll die of a heart attack at 24 if you do. Life is that way.
 
Just as an FYI, your current employer appears to be in your sig... so I may not want to broadcast in an open forum that you are about to leave, may make work even more stressful.

On topic, you have to go with your heart, and you have to be happy with yourself at the end of the day.
 
there are pluses and minuses to being a tech. first of all you will never feel that your pay rate equals your work, it's part of what we do.
the best thing you can do, is sit down with your boss and explain how you feel. if you want things more organized, make suggestions as to why you would like them that way.
how many techs do you work with?
how long has the business been open?

part of the problem is that you are 22. not that it's a bad thing but all the things you describe are things that you learn to deal with and how to overcome them. i have been a tech for over 20 years and i still wake up in the middle of the night and wonder if i tightened something or forgot something.
 
There are three of us total. Me and one other tech, and the boss. The other two combine like 35 yrs experience, so I definitely have help when I need it. My biggest issue is the organization. I get very poor directions as far as repair orders. I dont get the written directions like a "firestone" per say. I just get keys to a car and a verbal list of what to do. I get so concentrated on one task that I miss something. Or ill put pads and rotors and calipers on, and forget that he said to do an oil change also. Just to many verbal directions at once to keep everything organized. I know its mostly my fault, but I go so many weeks doing fantastic, but as soon as I forget to put a sticker in the window in an oil change for 5k instead of 3k on some cars, the world ends.

Maybe I just need to be a better tech and the money will come. I wish I could have good communication with my employer but the other tech once told me in march "ask for a raise and see what happens" (sarcasm). Made me feel like shit. The type of place I work at would be somewhere where someone with WAY more experience should be, and I am expected to perform on their level.

Yesterday I pulled a steering gearbox on a 2003 ram 2500 cummins 4x4, and rebuilt it, and it still leaked in the same spot. It took me four hours to do it all, and when I saw it leak at 6pm last night I had nightmares. I had to pull it again today, and put a new gearbox in it, and I had one hell of a time getting the pitman arm off the box. I had to use torches, pitman arm pullers, and chisels to get it off, and the whole time I just kept getting rushed with my boss saying that we had a shitload more work to get done. It took me like 2 hours to do it, but damn the stress I got from the boss verbally.

Maybe I am just young and dumb and have a lot to learn but venting out on here last night and hearing ya'lls replies definitely helps. I think I was taking it for granted but when I see what my other 21 Y/O honda tech friend makes I get disappointed.

I don't want to change jobs because us three work well together, but sometimes I get let down when I move 15-20 cars a week and still get paid for forty hours after I turn 52-53 hours.
 
if your boss was smarter you wouldn't have been building a steering box. when you said you were rebuilding it,the first thing i think of is "it's going to leak", besides the fact of the time vs. cost factor doesn't work well in the profit side of things.
if you have an issue with remembering everything your told to do to a car, bring a pad and write it down as your told to do it.
are you paid book time or salary?
there are some jobs that book time will never work, you just have to take the good with the bad in this field.
 
Bigbluechevy said:
I think I was taking it for granted but when I see what my other 21 Y/O honda tech friend makes I get disappointed.
Click to expand...
The grass is always greener on the other side. Go get whatever certs your friend has and get a job as a honda tech.

I used to think my friend had the best/easiest job ever, so I got a job at the same place, and the politics, redtape, and BS far outweigh the benefits. Its still a good place to work, but a whole different set of problems. At my previous jobs, I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I did it. Now I can't get anything done because there are too many people who's job it is, and nobody wants to do it.
 
you will also see that your honda tech friend will have good times and bad. stealerships are not all they are cracked up to be. you will learn far more in an independent shop than you will in a dealership. if you think things are rough now try being the "low man on the scrotum poll" at a dealership.
 
Connor, if you're looking for dealership work I can put a word in for you at Toyota. But its a whole new world compared to working at a independent shop. It's almost over organized from the mechanics standpoint and you'll have service writers on you to get things done just like your current boss. It may work well for you though, and your current shop probably doesn't have A/C........If you're interested let me know.
Alex
 
Sounds like the average shop energy, you can make things better benefit you by staying, fear is a great motivator , heh

Step up
Organize tools
Clean shop is a happy shop
Write your own orders
Sit your boss down n tell him how you feel

But remember this , thousands of experienced mechanics cant find work BC they are too proud

And thousands of kids pay for uti type schools and cant jack up a car


sounds like you got a nice thing goin

Foot in the door

Im a tire tech , 65 hours a week every week , and under paid but work is work
23y/o

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2
 
Alex I might come talk to you this week after I talk to my boss friday afternoon if it doesnt go well.

It seems like I am dealing with the same problems as the rest of you guys. My problem is that I'm still hourly and not flat rate yet. I havent had a raise yet and its ben over a year, so I think I have earned the right to at least ask for an evaluation. I plan to approach my boss like this
"what do I need to do to move up around here?" I'm trying to move out of my parents house and if I could make a little more I can get to the next step in life.
He tells my mom and other people how much I help him, and how I perform rather well for a 22 y/o but I feel like I am doing my part based on what he tells me, I just need to figure out how to ask him to do his part by helping me a little with money. I do everything to where the other mechanic just comes in and turns wrenches. I clean everything, and organize every monday morning. I mow our grass, keep inventory of supplies, charge our AC machine, sweep, etc. If I told yall what I got paid you would tell me to move on also.

It is not entirely about money, and that is why I dealt with the pay for the last year and some, but eventually I need to be compensated for getting better and better. Its not like I have comebacks, or issues with needing help every 10 minutes so I honestly feel like I finally deserve something more than what I get.

Transman, I think he made me rebuild the box more as a test to see what I could do with it, because nobody had the part monday, and we decided to take a chance on the $15 rebuild kit while we waited for our box. I didn't think it was a good idea, but I did it because he asked me to and it was kind of cool to really figure out the steering box and how it worked.
 
he had you build the box because it was a $15 rebuild kit, and a $200 box. i've been there, i used to work for a guy where we rebuilt everything and it never works out like planned.
you are better off in a salary position(in my opinion). when you go to a flat rate position it's much harder to budget money because your check is never the same. i pay my techs salary because i feel i get a better work ethic from them because they know they are making money.
 
Some of what you are experiencing is not unique to being an auto-tech. I am not an auto-tech, but I felt very stressed out during the first few years in my career. I would lay in bed at night worrying about decisions I had made. I think any job with true responsibility is going to be like that. The more time you spend in your career, the more you get use to it and/or learn to believe in yourself and the worrying diminishes. I made mistakes during those first few years, and still occassionally make them. Everyone makes mistakes. I felt underpaid when I started, and had to ask for a raise. The economy has been in the shitter for the past few years though, and many people have taken pay cuts, or seen their salaries stagnate. Good luck. You sound like you really have your head on straight, so should do fine.
 
So tomorrow I am gonna ask him about a raise and explain why I think I finally earned it. We have good communication so I feel confident. I am polishing off a great week. We still have about 25 cars to get to and two mechanics, so it could be a rough day. Wish me luck, I'll be praying all night!

We have quite a few timing belt/water pumps to get to and those seem to be usually the most difficult since it's the main thing I never do, and today he said the other mechanic was going to give me my lessons and show me how to do them correctly soon since cars are piling up like crazy. I think tomorrow or monday I'll be doing it on a Suziki forenza 2009, so it should be simple. I have done plenty of head gaskets on OHV cars like s-10's but no OHC yet like a Millenia s. Most of what we do is Mazda though, and they have some intricate setups.


Would it be a bad idea to just ask if I could just make $xxx amount each week; salary persay? or just take what I can get and make the best of it?
 
I prayed about it all week for a sign to ask for a raise or quit, and I decided to tell my boss the following today:
I am just too stressed, and feel like crap at the end of every day. I can't do this anymore. I'll work next week if you want but other than that I am done.

He said ok and he will call me this weekend and let me know if he needs me next week.
I left my tools and truck there, but monday I'l go pick it up, and see if he has anything to say.

We have about 40 more cars sitting out there that needed to get done this week, and now there is only one mechanic. Today went horrible from the minute I walked in the door, and so I knew it was my time to go. I've been saving money for a few weeks now so I have a buffer while I look for another job. If anyone needs help doing stuff let me know.

Alex if I don't talk to you this weekend, I'll stop by this week to talk to you about Toyota.

Thanks to all of your advice guys, and remember one thing, I quit because of the extreme stress and lack of organization, not because of the money.
 
Wrong way to go IMO , gl with your job search , sounds like with yoyr attitude it shouldnt be hard to find another opportunity , seemed like a hard work environment

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2
 
Connor, PM me you phone number and your current pay rate. I'll see if I can help you out. I may have a job opening for you if your willing to drive to Matthews everyday.
 
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