A promotion of sorts at work

[human5]

So I pull up to work today at good ol 6am and the maintnance manager is standing outside smoking a cigarette. I get out of the truck and he starts walking towards me. "Les, got your tools?" Me "Yeah, why what's up?" I was thinking that something had broke and we needed to fix it. He reply's "good, you're gonna be working in the shop today." I knew I was getting transfered to the shop but I didn't know when. I was gonna wait till I got my next commision check to buy some more tools for work. Tonight I had to make a quick dash to Sears and use the trusty old Sears master Card and rack up like $300 on tools almost. Bought a creeper, Impact gun, Sockets and an Impact attatchment set so I can hook it up to the air. Today wasn't too bad, it was pretty decent for the most part. Pretty much all I do is change oil and other small work like tire's. The best part is that my pay went up from $8 to $9.75 and I still get a commision I belive. I still need to get a second job though so I can pay off my Sears Card and tell them to EFF OFF! Then after that I'm gonna start buying better tools. Now it's time for some !

 

[kunar]

congrats! good to hear things are going well for you.

 

[RobbieD]

Yeah! Congratulations. Can't go wrong buying good tools; you'll know that every time you use them. Good luck in your new position.

 

[Bent Bolt]

What kind of shop do you work at ?? And never, ever feel guilty about buying the best tools that you can afford. Good tools don't let you down and make a tough job easier.

Crappy tools get thrown across the shop. Not that I've done that..................

 

[LearjetMinako]

+1 on the tools, and amen to those cheap broken one.

Sounds like he is a mechanic, like me. $9.75 + Comm. is not bad. I only make $10.33 per/hr and I don't get commision. But I also don't have to buy my own tools. And then again, I still do since the shop's tools "were" Snap-On tools until they were lost or broken and never gotten replaced with correct Snap-On.

 

[red85]

Good for you, human5. I work in a very busy shop and I bought the best stuff I could afford and that really helps. Buy some really good 10-24mm wrenches and some good line wrenches for doing brakes. The other thing that I keep in my box that I won't do without is a large ball pein (40oz) and big channel lock pliers. with those items you have the bare bones of what you need.

 

[ZMan]

congrats how old are you?

 

[human5]

Thanks for all the compliments. I'm 23, I work for Dollar Rent-A-Car in thier mechanic shop. I don't think I'll be doing much brake work since we don't keep cars past 30k. They supply all the scan tools which is very cool cause those easily set you back a couple of g's. Right now I've got the craftsman stuff but it's alright for what I'm gonna be doing. I would have hit a couple of pawn shops but they were all closed so I just went to sears. I know there's some discounts with Mac, Matco, Snap-On and I think Cornwall at my school so I'll probably end up checking with them after I get my Tuition Reimbersment and Financial Aid. The best part about the Tuition Reimbersment is it's 100% since it's a field that directly relates to work.

One of the managers today said he want's me to get certified to do state inspections and get Chrysler Certified so that I can do warrenty work. They were also talking about some bus certification which will suck for me cause our bus' break down almost every other month.

 

[wahlstrom1]

I'd take him up the certifications for sure. I'm a 3rd yr HD mechanic and am loving it, going back to school in january and I'm only 20yrs old! Same thing as said before, buy the best tools you can afford, and make sure that they'll warranty their tools. Our MAC guy quit warrantying stuff, like my 3/8" impact. He said it was "too old and worn out and I can't get parts for it anymore, buy a new one", when it was less then 6 months old! Anywho, congrats on the promotion and good luck!

-andrew

 

[Simple_serf]

Congrats!

I've been working on trying to get a promotion to FT Prevenataive Maint at work, which would mean moving to etiher Erie or Buffalo (whichever they decide). I want to get certified in large scale refrigeration systems sometime, because when the cooling goes down, nothing else matters (Possible loss of LOTS of $$$), and more certs=more $$. I already know how the system works, and what do do in misc situations (Rack down, pump down, low oil, low suction, high suction, accum problems, etc), but more knowledge is always good, especually when you are running startup charges of 30 gallons of oil and 2600lbs of 404A. (and that's only HALF of the system)

Craftsman tools aren't too bad...they are alot better than some of the cheap crap out there. Most of my tools at home are craftsman or better. All of my tools at work are Made in Taiwan crap. You get what you pay for.

 

[skippy]

i use craftsman tools on the job and at home.they stand behind their tools 100%.simple serf if you want to work on the big systems look into the building trades.they train you while you earn and scale in new york should be over $30 per hour.if you are going to turn wrenches for a living make some money.fwiw.

 

[zapper2003]

Wow SimpleSerf, thats wild. I got my Universal EPA Cert. this summer for work (HVAC) and the most refrigerant I've had to deal with is about 8lbs!

 

[wahlstrom1]

If you are going to turn wrenches for a living make some money.fwiw.

Damn rights! I was making $6 an hr before I started my apprenticeship, and 2.5 yrs later I'm making $24, and back to school in a couple weeks for another raise and some more edjumukation, lol....

-andrew