Do you ever tip your mechanic?

[adizziedoll]

Being a car mechanics wifey, I would say absolutely. When I found out how these professionals get paid, I was shocked.

95% of shops and dealerships go by flat rate (they call it flat rape, not to offend anyone). Every job, like replacing a starter or alignments etc... has a certain amount of hours that it pays to the mechanic, and is different at every shop. Like replacing rotors pays lets say 3 hours. If the mechanic does it faster, he still gets 3 hours worth of his hourly pay. If he does it slower, same thing - 3 hours of his hourly pay. The mechanics get shafted if it is a job under warrenty as those always pay significantly less.

The WORST part about this is this: If the shop doesnt bring in any work, and the mechanic doesnt get any hours, they get paid NOTHING. They will sit at their job for 40 hours a week and get paid JACK. We are currently relocated from CT to Maryland because my boyfriend was PAYING to get to work (gas). And with the economy being so slow, the entire industry is doing poorly. These talented people who enjoy their jobs and have spent years if not their whole lives learning more about what they do are being forced to either eat tuna fish out of a can, move their families from their sentimental homes into a smaller less-than-sufficiant house, or change professions (which most wont do because they have been doing this for yeeaars). It's completely devestating.

Oh, and did I mention that they have to buy their own tools??? These things are NOT cheap - the number of different types of tools they need to do their job is ridiculous. And they do not/cannot come from Sears. Many are make/model specific, and are only used once in a blue moon. But you gotta have it for those few times, no matter what it costs. Just a tool box of adequate size is at least a few thousand dollars.

When you pay for a whole door when all you needed was a latch, it's not the mechanics doing (unless you are going to a small mom/pop shop). It's much like Petco - there are places the parts have to come from, and procedures that must be followed. Many talented mechanics know that all he would need to do is take this thing and put it in that thing and give it a little welding or whatever, but they just are simply not allowed to do this sort of thing. It would mean $$$ loss for the company, especially if a customer got hurt resulting from the MacGyver job and sued.

I too used to get very upset at the mechanic, but in all reality, they are the ones being undermined and taken for granted when they are actually running the show. Most love what they do, but did not expect that the workforce would be the way that it is.

The things they go through you couldnt even imagine. In the winter they are getting cold cars to work on in a freezing shop under a car with snow dripping on them all day, handling cold metal. They have oil sprayed in their faces/eyes constantly. Parts come apart easier than expected and fall on them. Parts are rusted together and all their hours are spent trying to get them apart. They get hurt all the time. Machines are less then adequate for the jobs they are supposed to do. My boyfriend has seen a car come down more than once, nearly killing a few people. He has also damaged his back, and he can not do the things he used to without being in horrific pain for a length of time (like riding his motorcycle, go on rollercoasters...). He's 24. But he loves to work on cars. It was what he was made to do.

Give them some compassion, take a look at the big picture - if he's good, tip the man!! lol I will get off of my soap box now haha